Well, this took a lot longer than it should have! Turns out that there's a lot of rock and metal for this year, most of which was decent, but not amazing, so it took quite a few listens to figure out where to rank things. While I do have an obvious winner (or two; I'll explain), the rest of the list was not easy, but eventually I decided I couldn't listen to everything and had to cut things off and choose. I'm not as confident in this list as I am about the previous ones, but I have to move on. So, for now anyway, here is my Top 5 for this quirky year.
It was tough to decide fifth place, as I was considering everything from Ratt and Accept, to Rush, but Dio's grandiosity won out. It's not as strong as his first two solo efforts, as the band was starting to fall apart at this time, but you wouldn't really know it from the music. Perhaps cheesy at times, but still a good amount of fun.
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Once again, it's a drop off compared to this band's first two, as the inclusion of Mandy Mayer of Krokus pushed the band in more of an AOR style, but I think they make it work. It's not as rich or proggy as the earlier albums, but there's enough of the classic Asia sound for me to put it up here.
As far as I'm concerned, European power metal started here. Yes, it's a very rough album, mainly in classic speed metal territory, but careful listening shows the first steps of epicness, between the neo-classical riffing and Kai Hansen's wailing vocals. While the band would definitely do better from here, picking up Michael Kiske, but I still find plenty of this iconic band's charm on their debut.
If there was an album that really defined 1985, it's this one. Pushing their roots rock sound toward more commerciality, only to land on MTV's most sarcastic hit with "Money for Nothing," the band was thrown to the forefront of music listeners around the world. Fortunately, the rest of the album is solid as well, with the somber title track, the easy-going "So Far Away," and my favorite from the album, the nostalgic "Walk of Life." While the band had succeeded before, this album made them superstars.
Okay, so maybe I'm cheating here, putting two albums at number 1, but when they're both by one of my favorite bands, I was left with a hard choice? Do let them take up two slots on a top 5? Do I drop one in favor of the other? Or maybe I just insist that it's my list and so I can make my own rules! Seriously, though, this is some solid songwriting from a talented core of people. The first carries on the formula of the previous two albums while the second sees them experimenting again a little. While I do think Vulture Culture is the better of the two, Stereotomy is no slouch and has plenty of catchy melodic rock to enjoy. Again, nostalgia plays a major role in putting these two albums at number 1, as I grew up on this band, but I can't think of any other album that can overtake either of these two for 1985!
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