1985 (song)

"1985"
Single by Bowling for Soup
from the album A Hangover You Don't Deserve
Released	July 27, 2004
Format	Digital download, CD single, Airplay
Recorded	Red Ruby Productions Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genre	Pop punk, power pop
Length	3:13
Label	FFROE/Jive/Zomba
Writer(s)	Jaret Reddick, Mitch Allan, John Allen
Producer(s)	Butch Walker
Certification	Platinum (RIAA)
Bowling for Soup singles chronology
"Punk Rock 101" (2003) "1985" (2004) "Almost" (2005)

"1985" is a song best known for its performance in 2004 by the pop punk band Bowling for Soup which reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was featured on their album A Hangover You Don't Deserve.^[1] "1985" was originally written and recorded by the band SR-71, led by Mitch Allan.

Origins

According to SR-71's website, Bowling for Soup's Jaret Reddick (a friend of SR-71) heard the song (from their album Here We Go Again) and asked for and received permission to record a cover version.^[2] However, according to Bowling for Soup's website, it was Allan that called Reddick to suggest the possible cover.^[3] Either way, it was Bowling for Soup's version, with slightly reworked lyrics from the original, that has become familiar to most United States radio listeners and topped the charts.

Content

The song is about a middle-aged woman who dislikes modern pop culture, believing that mid-1980s pop culture was better.

The line "Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Way before Nirvana" was changed by the band to "Stacy, Madonna, Melting in the lava" after a tour in 2008 at the Shreikenpeep festival in Berlin, Germany after the fans chanted it before the set. Not all editions have been updated.

References to the culture of the 1980s

Because the Bowling for Soup version of the song differs in lyrics from the SR-71 original, the two versions also differ with respect to some of their references to the 1980s. Certain references were removed from the original and replaced with new ones, while some were added in places where the original song repeated lines.

Detailed references:

• Whitesnake and the music video for the 1987 version of "Here I Go Again" that featured Tawny Kitaen dancing on cars. Tawny Kitaen, portraying herself, is the housewife throughout the video who dances on the car at the end.
• The line "Never knew George was gay, hoped they'd hook up one day" (SR-71 version only) is a reference to former Wham! member George Michael who revealed many years later that he is homosexual.
• Wondering who is the lead singer of Van Halen (Bowling for Soup version only), followed by a quip of Eddie Van Halen-esque guitar, referencing Gary Cherone replacing Sammy Hagar for one album (after Sammy replaced David Lee Roth years earlier).
• Questioning when Mötley Crüe has become classic rock, referencing the recent addition of glam metal bands to classic rock stations to be played alongside staples like the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
• A time when sitcoms and game shows were popular and reality shows were nonexistent (Bowling for Soup version only).
• A reference to "...on the radio," which resembles the timbre of the voice singing the verses in The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," the first video ever played on MTV when it debuted in 1981 (Bowling for Soup version only).
• A time when music videos were still shown on MTV (MTV has been criticized for a lack of music videos since the sudden popularity of their reality show The Real World in 1992).
• Ozzy Osbourne, before he was an actor (Bowling for Soup version only)
• When Madonna and Bruce Springsteen were popular, long before Nirvana popularized grunge in the early 1990s.
• They mentioned Duran Duran (Bowling for Soup version only), U2, and Blondie.
• References made to The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire (Bowling for Soup version only) and Fast Times At Ridgemont High (SR-71 version only). However, Pretty in Pink is an anachronism, as it was not released until 1986. With the exception of Fast Times At Ridgemont High, all the movies were part of the "Brat Pack."
• The line "She rocked out to Wham!, not a big Limp Bizkit fan" is a reference to Wham! being popular long before Limp Bizkit started playing Nu Metal in 1995. (Limp Bizkit remade Wham! singer George Michael's "Faith")
• The mention of a miniskirt made out of snakeskin (Bowling for Soup version only)

Radio Disney edit

A separate edit of the song was recorded for Radio Disney. The lyric changes are as follows:

• "One Prozac a day" is changed to "One workout a day".
• "Only been with one man" is changed to "Only loved just one man".
• "She was gonna shake her ass" is changed to "She was gonna shake it right".

Charts

Parodies

• Matt "That One Guy" Hodgson has released a parody, "1955," based on Back to the Future. The song became a hit on the Dr. Demento Radio Show.
• Psycho Pat Schaefer (also on Dr. Demento) has released a parody, "1955", which focuses on a grandma and her delusions about actually living in the year 1955.
• Johnny Crass has released another parody, "Being a Jedi", based on Star Wars. This version relates the plot of Revenge of the Sith, and compares the prequel trilogy unfavorably to the classic trilogy.
• The Bob Ricci band parodied the song as "Beach Boy Soup", using the lyrics of the Beach Boys song, "Kokomo".
• Christian parody band ApologetiX released a parody titled "None Too Ladylike" on their Wordplay album, about Jezebel from the Bible.
• Dino-Mike wrote a song to this called "Another '1985' Parody" making light of the fact that so many had parodied the original song.
• Musical comedian Odd Austin recorded a parody called "That '70s Song" about the Fox sitcom That '70s Show.
• April 30, 2010, gamer-geek parody band Palette-Swap Ninja released "Arcade Gaming Shrine" for free on their website.

Cover versions

The Bowling For Soup version has been covered by Richard Thompson on the live album 1000 Years of Popular Music.

References

External links

• Full lyrics of the Bowling for Soup version at MetroLyrics