Magnús Guðmundsson continued running his record label Mjöt and later he started the band Með Nöktum (With the Naked), which released an album titled Skemmtun in 1985. He collaborated on Hjálpum Þeim , a charity album recorded in 1986 to fight child poverty in Africa and withdrew from the music…
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Although the song ” Notorious ” was a US and UK top ten hit, the album was a relative failure globally, reaching number 16 in the UK and spending one week in the top 50 album chart. The band found they had lost much of the momentum and hysteria they…
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In 1985, the group re-formed as a ” beat combo ” (a joking reference to early 1960s beat music ), with greater use of electronic musical instruments . Wire announced that they would perform none of their older material, hiring Ex-Lion Tamers (a Wire cover band from Hoboken, New Jersey…
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After his dismissal, Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite (B.A.D.), who released their debut album This Is Big Audio Dynamite late in 1985.
Early in 1985, the Smiths released their second studio album, Meat Is Murder . It was more strident and political than its predecessor, including the pro-vegetarian title track (Morrissey forbade the rest of the group from being photographed eating meat), the light-hearted republicanism of “Nowhere Fast”, and the anti-corporal punishment…
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Finally, the song was re-released in 1985 with a new, groundbreaking video; this time, the song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number two on the UK Singles Chart .
Morrissey brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further controversy. Among his targets were the Thatcher government , the British monarchy and the famine relief project Band Aid . Morrissey famously quipped of the last, “One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia , but…
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A-ha became the first Norwegian band to have a number-one hit in the U.S. The popularity of “Take on Me” earned the band a spot on the American television series Soul Train in 1985, making them one of the few white artists to appear on the black music-oriented show. (Earlier…
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The band’s first album, 1985’s Hunting High and Low , became a worldwide bestseller, spending most of October and November in the top 20 of Billboard ‘s Top 200 album chart. The album and its four hit singles garnered international recognition for A-ha. Hunting High and Low earned triple platinum…
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Beyond this European success, the song also reached No. 13 on the US charts in mid-1985, the first appearance of a DM single on the Billboard Hot 100 , and was a Top 20 hit in Canada.