My Actual All-Time Hot 100 in 1985

In the midst of my current series attempting to approximate what might have been my all-time Hot 100 favorite songs when I was 16, 17, and 18, (with lists for 19 and 20 on their way), here's my earliest real-life attempt at a Hot 100. This was done on 2/10/85, a few weeks after my 25th birthday. My friend Fritz Van Leaven used to update his own Hot 100 every year, and he encouraged me to take a stab at one. So I did, along with a list of my top 25 albums.



CC'S ALL-TIME TOP 100!

They're now, they're what's happening--the hottest of the hot and the coolest of the cool!
Stardate: 02/10/85

All Around The World The Jam
All Day And All Of The Night The Kinks
American Beat '84 The Fleshtones
Any Way You Want It The Dave Clark Five
Baby Blue Badfinger
Blitzkrieg Bop The Ramones
California Sun The Ramones
Chinese Rocks The Heartbreakers
Couldn't I Just Tell You Todd Rundgren
Day After Day Badfinger
Death Of A Clown The Kinks
Die Trying New Math
Do Anything You Wanna Do Eddie & the Hot Rods
Do You Love Me? The Contours
Do You Wanna Dance The Ramones
Don't Talk To Strangers The Beau Brummels
Everywhere That I'm Not Translator
The First Cut Is The Deepest Cat Stevens
Fortune Teller The Rolling Stones
Girls Talk Dave Edmunds
Glad All Over The Dave Clark Five
God Save The Queen The Sex Pistols
A Hard Day's Night The Beatles
Heart Full Of Soul The Yardbirds
His Last Summer The Barracudas
House Of The Rising Sun The Animals
I Can Only Give You Everything The Chesterfield Kings
I Can't Explain The Who
I Fought The Law The Bobby Fuller Four
I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night The Electric Prunes
I Wanna Be With You The Raspberries
I Wish It Could Be 1965 Again The Barracudas
I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart
(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear Blondie
I'm Down The Beatles
I'm Not Like Everybody Else The Kinks
(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone The Monkees
In The Midnight Hour Wilson Pickett
It's Alright Adam Faith & the Roulettes
It's Cold Outside Stiv Bators
It's My Life The Animals
It's The Same Old Song The Four Tops
Johnny B. Goode Chuck Berry
Just Like Me Paul Revere & the Raiders
Kicks Paul Revere & the Raiders
Last Train To Clarksville The Monkees
Laugh, Laugh The Beau Brummels
Liar, Liar The Castaways
Lies The Knickerbockers
Louie Louie The Kingsmen
Love Hurts Nazareth
A Million Miles Away The Plimsouls
No Milk Today Herman's Hermits
Not Fade Away The Rolling Stones
One Track Mind The Heartbreakers
Peggy Sue Buddy Holly
Personality Crisis The New York Dolls
Pleasant Valley Sunday The Monkees
Please Please Me The Beatles
Porpoise Song (Theme From Head) The Monkees
Radio Free Europe R.E.M.
Rain The Beatles
Red, Red Wine UB40
Rock And Roll All Nite KISS
September Gurls Big Star
Shake Some Action The Flamin' Groovies
Shakin' Street The MC5
Shangri-La The Kinks
She Ain't No Use To Me The Ugly Ducklings
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker The Ramones
She's Leaving The Flashcubes
Shout It Out Loud KISS
Sold Your Heart The Flashcubes
Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White The Standells
Starry Eyes The Records
Summertime Blues Eddie Cochran
Surrender Cheap Trick
Sweet Little Sixteen Chuck Berry
Syracuse Summer The Tearjerkers
Taking Inventory The Flashcubes
The Tears Of A Clown Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
There She Goes Again The Velvet Underground
They Walk Among You New Math
Till The End Of The Day The Kinks
Tired Of Waiting For You The Kinks
Tomorrow Night Shoes
Train Kept A-Rollin' The Yardbirds
The Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks
Walk Away, Renee The Left Banke
Walk--Don't Run The Ventures
Waterloo Sunset The Kinks
We Got The Beat The Go-Go's
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place The Animals
We Love You The Rolling Stones
Well...All Right Buddy Holly
What I Like About You The Romantics
Who Listens To The Radio? The Sports
Words Of Love The Beatles
Working Girl The Members
You Really Got Me The Kinks



ALL-TIME TOP 25 ALBUMS

All Over The Place The Bangles
Aftermath The Rolling Stones
Bad Reputation Joan Jett
Beatles '65 The Beatles
Beatles VI The Beatles
Blondie Blondie
David Johansen David Johansen
Drop Out With The Barracudas The Barracudas
Having A Rave-Up With The Yardbirds The Yardbirds
Head The Monkees
It's Alive! The Ramones
Leave Home The Ramones
New York Dolls The New York Dolls
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. The Monkees
The Right To Be Italian Holly & the Italians
Rocket To Russia The Ramones
Rubber Soul The Beatles
Shake Some Action The Flamin' Groovies
Something Else The Kinks
Subterranean Jungle The Ramones
Tell America Fools Face
Too Much, Too Soon The New York Dolls
The Undertones The Undertones
The Velvet Underground & Nico The Velvet Underground
The Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks



Looking back on this now, I'm surprised that I preferred The Ramones' Subterranean Jungle to Road To Ruin, and that I skipped The Beatles' Revolver. Where's Pet Sounds? Although I did own a copy of that LP, I wouldn't appreciate it that album's majesty until the early '90s. The Flashcubes tracks listed on the Hot 100 all came from a cassette of an unreleased 1978 Flashcubes live show, the only long-form Flashcubes document I had in 1985.

I still have a number of the subsequent Hot 100s that I updated over the next few years, and I may wind up committing to the overkill of sharing them here. It's pop music. We're fans. We're supposed to be obsessive about it. It's what we do--and ain't it fun?




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