This was the second biggest album of the decade in Australia, it’s easy to see how this connected with so many people back in the day as it’s the perfect blend of the bands core sound mixed in with more contemporary sounds of the day. The big hit single did cause some controversy due to perceived homophobia, although aside from that it remains a classic to this day.
This was an album that took its sweet time in finding an international audience back in the day, I’m guessing this was due to having a rocky album cycle where the best songs on the album weren’t released as singles until late into its existence. Whitney was an undeniable talent, although one criticism levied against her is that she often squandered her impressive vocals on mediocre ballads. I don’t agree for the most part, but I can see why people felt that way.
You’d think with how iconic their music has become over the years that these guys would’ve had more success with their earlier material in Australia, in fact their previous album Speaking in tongues was one of the biggest albums of the decade in NZ and yet it was a massive flop here for some reason. Fortunately, this album was a huge success for the new wave band largely thanks to the still iconic singles found on here.
This was the magnum opus for Phil Collins both solo and with Genesis in his career, perhaps because this had the perfect blend of his more experimental music from his band as well as the more mainstream ballads that audiences were accustomed to by this point of the decade. It’s a perfect middle ground for his career, one that did receive backlash for many years that has since lost its meaning.
This is technically a remix album for Jimmy’s first solo album Bodyswerve from the year prior, although it did contain an E.P’s worth of additional tracks which I guess makes it eligible to be a separate album from this previous work. This album did receive an international release as a self-titled album where the new tracks are better incorporated to the original Bodyswerve album.
Following the demise of the Police, Sting made good on his word by embarking on a solo career which regardless of how you feel about it (he’s a good singer but terrible songwriter in my opinion) was off to a great start commercially with this album of his. While he would never again reach the dizzying heights he achieved here or on his earlier work with his band, he remained popular for many years later.
There were plenty of British new wave making it big this decade, however I don’t think many people were expecting this duo to be among the most successful of the bunch given how much of a commercial failure their debut album was. Of course, appealing to an American market with this album likely helped it become one of the most successful albums of its day, that and also not being as morose as their previous effort.
Considering this wasn’t among the more successful albums in Bryan’s native Canada, it’s impressive to see how well it did internationally given how its second single became a Billboard chart topper for him. I guess you can say this was a success due to him being a part of the heartland rock crowd which made the likes of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp huge megastars around this time.
This was the album that finally broke INXS into an American market, mainly due to the lead single becoming a surprise hit over there months after its initial release here in Australia. While this wasn’t as successful as the two albums its sandwiched between, I have to say that it remains my personal favourite from them as it’s a middle ground between their new wave beginnings and superstar goals.
Well, I don’t think there’s been a more successful greatest hits package that presents itself as a double album meant to collect the best moments of an artist’s career more than this entry from Billy Joel. Indeed, the American piano man decided to bundle both phases of his career into one entry which resulted in it being a huge success for him at the time of its release. Volume 3 would eventually be released in 1997 with considerably less success.
Following the massive success of their debut album, Sade went back into the studio to make another album where they combined jazz with RNB which proved to be equally successful for the British band. These two albums would be the last we hear from them for a while, although they did have a surprise comeback in the early 90’s with Love deluxe shortly before the success of their spiritual successor M people.
I guess Bruce Springsteen did have one of the biggest albums of the decade with Born in the U.S.A, so it only makes sense that John Mellencamp’s popularity would skyrocket given that heartland rock was one of the biggest genres of music because of that album. In a way, John stole Bruce’s momentum with this album as not only was it a massive success, but the singles have lingered on oldies stations arguably more so than the one’s on Bruce’s album.
This was where the Eurythmics decided to appeal to a more mainstream market which proved to be a wise move for them commercially as while their previous two albums were a success for them, they weren’t exactly among the most successful of the decade like this and their next album Revenge were. That said, I’m sure there’s fans out there that prefer their more synth heavy new wave tracks.
Their debut album Stoneage Romeos may remain a cult classic to this day, however it was the band’s second album where they started seeing mainstream success likely due to how catchy the singles were as well as the charisma of lead singer Dave Faulkner on the record. This led to them sparking international interest in them which resulted in them developing a cult following internationally.
This was the biggest album that the Divinyls released in their catalogue, although like before there were two versions of this album as the tracks that were cut from the original album on the international release were added onto this album in lieu of several tracks that were never released outside of Australia. Fortunately, it’s the original version with these internationally omitted tracks that was the big success here.
This was the biggest album to come from Mental as anything, mainly because of how inescapable the second single was to the point where it was chosen as the theme song to the Crocodile Dundee film the following year. This album’s success led to Martin Plaza briefly embarking on a solo career which was also a moderate success the following year, he re-joined the band just in time for their next album.
This was the Cure’s biggest album here in Australia, sure they always had some degree of popularity here thanks to their multiple appearances on Countdown, but they never took our mainstream by storm save for this album which spawned their biggest hit as well as their 1992 effort Wish. It wasn’t even the lead single which is why the album was a hit twice as it rebounded once the big hit became as such.
Although the Cars weren’t among the most successful bands in Australia when they released this greatest hits package, they did manage to score a massive hit with it proving that there was enough of a fanbase here to appreciate their back catalogue at this point in their career. I’m not actually sure why they weren’t bigger here as in NZ they saw massive success with their albums.
This was the debut album for one of the most prominent bands to emerge from the UK soul scene, although it’s worth noting that this didn’t produce a big hit for them here in Australia like it did in their native UK and on Billboard. Even though these guys were far from the most successful singles artists down under, they more than made up for that by having their albums be highly successful here.
There was plenty of hype going into this debut album from Kids in the kitchen, so much so that they released an E.P’s worth of advanced singles before it finally dropped this year where it was of course a massive success for them. It appears this marketing strategy was what made this album a success as their next album had a more conventional release which resulted in it being a huge flop for the band.
Given how they had only broken up the year prior to releasing this greatest hits package, it only makes sense that we Aussies would make this a success for Cold chisel given how their lead singer Jimmy Barnes was taking over the mainstream with his album around this time. This wouldn’t be the only greatest hits package they would release during their time apart as Chisel would also be a success in the early 90’s.
There were two versions of this E.P that were released in Australia, the first was from two years prior which contained a few tracks that the band couldn’t fit onto their album Shabooh shoobah which resulted in it flopping. The second had the singles from the Swing remixed as dance tracks (hence the name of the E.P) which proved to be much more successful here likely due to us already being familiar with the original tracks.
Another Australian entry for this list, this time it’s for the Models who saw massive success this year with their two big hits from the album. They already had buzz from their previous album due to it spawning the hit “I hear motion,” however it was this album which allowed that buzz to expand internationally which resulted in them having minor success throughout the world.
These guys were among the most popular bands in the alternative scene worldwide, so it makes sense that they would finally achieve massive success with their third album given how popular they had become. This album’s success was likely boosted by their appearance on Countdown this year, indeed the lead single has become a popular staple on oldie’s stations more so than their actual big hit “Shout to the top.”
This album proved to be a much bigger success than This island mainly for having multiple hit singles from it as opposed to just the one from before, although it’s worth noting that the album only became a best seller here when the third single became a huge success as it looked like its popularity would fade upon its initial release. They would release one more album before calling it quits by the end of the decade.
It took them three years to make this album following the success of their fourth album from earlier in the decade, it looks like it was worth the wait as not only was this another successful album for Foreigner, but it also spawned their biggest hit worldwide in the form of its lead single. Sadly, this was the last successful album from the band, although they did score one more hit in Australia later in the decade.
Given how she began her career on Broadway, it only makes sense that Barbra Streisand would release an album where she pays homage to the avenue of entertainment that made her a household name to begin with. It appears audiences were on board with this as it became her most successful album since Guilty from the start of the decade, and she would release a sequel to this eight years later.
This was the only notable success that the Hooters were able to achieve here in Australia, although considering this was a massive flop in their native America, the fact this was a success here should prove to you how we were still willing to look outside the mainstream to find talent during the 80’s. They band soldiered on after this trying to replicate the success they had here with this album to no avail.
These guys were on a roll as their second album proved to be an even bigger success than their debut from two years prior, likely due to them having more of a budget here which allowed the songs to pop more than their previous efforts. This would lead to them releasing their sell-out cover of a Lipps inc track later in the year which would in turn lead to their international success for that song.
Paul Young was on a roll when he released his second album internationally, although it wasn’t quite as huge as his debut album from two years prior due to it not having a string of hits like that album did. It didn’t really matter though as he scored a Billboard chart topper from this album with a cover of a Hall and Oates track, thus making him one of the biggest British artists of the second invasion this decade over there.
Given the success of their previous two albums, it only makes sense that Spandau ballet would release a greatest hits package which overlooked their biggest success during the first half of the decade. While this was a hit for the band, it also put an end to their winning streak as their next album was a complete flop and they would eventually break up just as the 80’s was coming to an end.
There was a bit of a battle between the two former frontmen of the Eagles this year, although while Glenn Frey had the bigger hit with “The heat is on” from the Beverly Hills cop soundtrack, Don Henley had the bigger album thanks to it being one of the more prominent adult contemporary releases from around this time. This was the last album that he found any success with worldwide as his subsequent follow ups flopped.
While the mid to late 80’s is considered a dark period in Elton John’s life, it should be noted that he did achieve a moderate amount of success with his albums during this time period even if he doesn’t look back upon them fondly. This album in particular managed to spawn one of his biggest hits in his catalogue which is just about the only thing most people like to remember from it nowadays.
While this wasn’t anywhere near as successful as their previous album due to lacking that runaway hit that “Legs” proved to be for the band, ZZ top was nonetheless able to retain their popularity with this album here thanks to their brand of hard rock fitting in rather well with all of the heartland rock and folk rock that was permeating the rock and roll scene during the midpoint of the decade.
Although this album is credited to the supergroup USA for Africa, really it was the one song they all did together plus a bunch of other songs that some of the participants donated to the album that make up its justification of being an album. For all of the bad criticisms that this album and supergroup has received over the years, there’s no denying it was made for a good cause and its novelty was impressive at the time.
The Autumn of 1985 in Australia was a wild time if this compilation album is anything to go by, it was such a huge success likely due to the rich selection of hit singles it managed to collect on its track listing.
This year really was on fire during the winter if this album is anything to go by, we have big hits from some of the biggest names in music which allowed it to find an audience with the general public.
Although it was never that much of a success, “Everybody wants to work” remains a staple on oldies stations to this day thanks to how relatable the song is. That song doesn’t appear on this album as instead we have some more contemporary songs which nonetheless proved to be a huge success for the band likely thanks to the charisma of lead vocalist Brian Mannix as well as some catchy pop rock.
It had been over ten years since John Fogerty last troubled the charts with his solo debut album where he credited himself as Blue Ridge Rangers, so here we are all these years later with his third album which came a decade after his second that became a success due to this being an excellent time for artists from highly established bands (regardless of how long ago they had a hit) finding success as a solo act.
This was one of only two albums that Do re mi released in Australia, the other was such a flop later in the decade that it caused them to go their separate ways upon its release. Here they scored success with an album so unconventional you’d swear it was promoted by some underground station (it likely was) although one thing that can be appealing to mainstream audiences are the vocals of Deborah Conway.
Released late the previous year, this was a compilation album which collected the biggest hits of spring of 1985 here in Australia which compelled it to be a massive success here during our summer holidays of that period.
Well, the packaging doesn’t lie, you do have heaps of hits from the first quarter of 1985 which is how this double album managed to become such a huge hit this year. I’m surprise there weren’t more of these albums back in the day given how many songs became popular back then.
I was a bit surprised to see Mick Jagger hold off for so long in making a solo album, after all this came out over twenty years after he first broke through with the Rolling stones and it was only this year he decided to release an album of his own. Admittedly he didn’t find much success on his own save for this album, even then it feels like this was only as big as it was due to his bands good will.
It appears that Rodney Rude’s popularity wasn’t quite done yet as he had another successful comedy album this year, as his name implies, he told politically incorrect jokes (even for the time) that humoured audiences with how bad they were to good taste.
One of the most critically acclaimed films of the 80’s was Amadeus, a biopic of the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus which was a huge box office success due to the performances of both its star Tom Hulce (best known nowadays as Disney’s Quasimodo) and F Murray Abraham as Salieri. The film was composed by Neville Marriner, although it does seem a little redundant in having a composer given the subject matter.
Well, here’s an album that deserved so much better back in the day, apparently the lead single “Easy lover” wasn’t promoted here to encourage album sales of the album which ultimately didn’t work as it only did as well here as it did everywhere else in the world where the duet was a huge hit. That said, this is still the biggest album Philip Bailey had here both solo and with his band Earth wind and fire.
Autumn of this year was really explosive if this was able to compete with a double album that also covered this period of time in Australia, indeed the choices were really good on this album which no doubt led to its success here.
Winter of this year really was an explosive time for the Australian music scene as we have a second album released during our spring to look over the big hits from the midpoint of the year. Again, we have some really good choices on this album which no doubt led to its overwhelming success.
The spring of 1985 was a hectic time in music here in Australia if this compilation album is anything to go by, we have a fine selection of songs on here that were naturally marketed as summer jams to ensure its success.
I guess this album was released to overlook the full career of the Eagles given how they had only previously released greatest hits albums during their career in stages, even so I have to wonder how this managed to become a success for a band who had been broken up for six years at this point.
This was one of only three successful albums to come from the French pianist in Australia, the other was a live album from the following year which proved to be an even bigger hit for him here.
This is another album that got caught between two years on this list, this time it’s the breakthrough album from Jennifer Rush which was a decent success here due to the strength of its lead single. Even though this album did quite well throughout the world, it wasn’t enough to get her out of the one hit wonder bin even in her native UK.
This was originally released earlier in the decade to deafening silence for Billy Idol, although I’m not sure why given how immensely popular he was here in Australia with his singles. It was given a second chance when “Mony mony” became a Billboard chart topper which compelled his label to reissue the album worldwide where it became a massive success for him.
The spring of this year was an amazing time for the music industry if this album is anything to go by, we have a good selection of classic songs to become popular during that period which helped this album become a huge success upon its initial release.
For whatever reason, this greatest hits album from Barbra Streisand became a hit again this year in Australia, likely due to the song this album is named after finally becoming a minor hit for Elaine Paige due to her breakthrough.
I guess the Beach boys saw a resurgence in popularity this year for some reason, as such this greatest hits package from two years prior managed to become a huge hit for the band here in Australia.
I’m a bit shocked this wasn’t more of a success for Bryan Ferry here in Australia given how popular he was during the first half of the decade with his band Roxy music, I guess we Aussies weren’t interested in him giving into the trends of new romanticism as his solo work from the 70’s saw him going in much less mainstream directions which resulted in their success back in the day.
This was another successful album from the Angels, there’s not much I can say about this that doesn’t apply to their last few entries on this blog, so I’ll just say that their next album was what made them find a wider audience here.
We have another successful album to come from AC/DC this decade, these guys were completely unstoppable back in the day even if their album form the start of the decade is the only one most people remember nowadays.
This was another mini comeback that Kate Bush had in her career as it once again managed to spawn one of her more popular hits in her catalogue this year, unfortunately this would be her final successful album here in Australia given how none of her subsequent albums managed to spawn a hit for her like her first, third and this fifth album did.
This was the final successful album that the Thompson twins were able to score anywhere in the world, likely due to it being the final album where they were a trio as Joe Leeway would depart from the band after this (amicably it seems.) I’m not sure why this wasn’t a bigger hit in Australia as the band did perform the third single on Countdown, I guess we wanted something else from them at this point.
Given how the Power station was a supergroup comprised of Robert Palmer and several members of Duran Duran, it makes sense that their one and only album was a moderate success here in Australia. Even then, its success is more due to it spawning two big hits on our charts as it naturally didn’t chart very high on our charts.
