On this day in 1985: Dire Straits scored their second UK #1 album with ‘Brothers In Arms’, also a #1 in the U.S. and 24 other countries. ‘Brothers In Arms’ was one of the first albums to be directed at the CD market, and was a full digital recording (DDD) at a time when most popular music was recorded on analog equipment. The album won two Grammy Awards at the 28th Grammy Awards, and also won Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards, and has gone on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide.
Also on this day in 1985: Wham! started a two week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Everything She Wants.”
“Everything She Wants” was originally released as a single in 1984 on Epic Records on a double A-side with “Last Christmas”. It was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the Wham! duo, and became their third consecutive million-selling #1 hit in the United States.
Like most other Wham! songs from this period, it was written by George Michael. He discussed in the Fall 1985 issue of ASCAP In Action:
“It’s the only song I’ve written that successfully came from a backing track first. I wrote the Linn drum pattern and found a synthesizer program I liked and wrote the backing track in one evening, took it back to the hotel, and wrote the vocal in a hotel room the next morning. Because it was thrown together that way, I never looked at it as a single ‘til everybody started saying it was great”
Michael elaborated on the song’s lyrics and the meaning behind them:
“It’s a lyric about a man who is six or eight months into a marriage which obviously isn’t going well. He’s faced with the ‘happy’ news of an arriving baby. So he’s in that situation where he can’t back out. (The song) talks about the situation (in which) many men find themselves, working really hard to support a family… and see it as a kind of trap. It’s a situation I’ve seen. It’s not the kind of thing I usually write about. Our lyrics are usually a lot closer to the kind of pop lightweight lyric we enjoy, but it’s a departure, and I think it worked’
Here’s a look at the Top 20 on the U.S. singles chart from this day back in 1985:
1 4 EVERYTHING SHE WANTS –•– Wham! (Columbia)-10 (1 Week at #1) (1)
2 1 DON’T YOU (Forget About Me) –•– Simple Minds (A&M)-14 (1)
3 9 EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD –•– Tears For Fears (Mercury)-11 (3)
4 10 AXEL F –•– Harold Faltermeyer (MCA)-9 (4)
5 5 SMOOTH OPERATOR –•– Sade (Portrait)-13 (5)
6 2 CRAZY FOR YOU –•– Madonna (Geffen)-13 (1)
7 3 ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK –•– Murray Head (RCA)-14 (3)
8 11 SUDDENLY –•– Billy Ocean (Jive)-10 (8)
9 6 SOME LIKE IT HOT –•– The Power Station (Capitol)-11 (6)
10 15 THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER –•– Howard Jones (Elektra)-10 (10)
11 17 FRESH –•– Kool & The Gang (De-Lite)-10 (11)
12 20 HEAVEN –•– Bryan Adams (A&M)-6 (12)
13 16 IN MY HOUSE –•– Mary Jane Girls (Gordy)-12 (13)
14 8 WE ARE THE WORLD –•– USA For Africa (Columbia)-10 (1)
15 18 JUST A GIGOLO / I AIN’T GOT NOBODY –•– David Lee Roth (Warner Brothers)-10 (15)
16 7 RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT –•– DeBarge (Gordy)-15 (3)
17 21 WALKING ON SUNSHINE –•– Katrina & The Waves (Capitol)-10 (17)
18 13 DON’T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE –•– Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (MCA)-11 (13)
19 25 ANGEL –•– Madonna (Sire)-5 (19)
20 23 ONE LONELY NIGHT –•– REO Speedwagon (Epic)-9 (20)
