The Story Behind “1985,” Bowling for Soup’s Irreverent, Adoring Parody of the ’80s

When Bowling for Soup gave us their lovingly ribbing ode to the Decade of Decadence, it was 2004 and ‘80s nostalgia had really kicked in. The song “1985” is told through a peppy pop-punk lens as the lyrics convey the cheeky tale of Debbie, a suburban housewife whose dreams of marrying a rock star and living the high life never come true. Now she’s married to an accountant, has kids, and laments how music and life have just gotten worse.

Debbie just hit the wall, she never had it all
One Prozac a day, husband’s a CPA
Her dreams went out the door when she turned twenty-four
Only been with one man, what happened to her plan?

She was gonna be an actress, she was gonna be a star
She was gonna shake her ass on the hood of Whitesnake’s car
Her yellow SUV is now the enemy
Looks at her average life and nothin’ has been alright

Since Bruce Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
‘Cause she’s still preoccupied
With 19, 19
1985

Homage Shenanigans

The video itself is pretty fun. The band members are hanging outside their house when Debbie’s husband goes off to work and she proceeds to clean up her yard. Smitten with her, the BFS guys rush into the house, change their attire, and raise the garage door to show them performing a series of vignettes to get their hot neighbor’s attention.

The first is a take on Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” with three of the four members dressing like the ladies in black from the video and barely able to groove in heels. Then they recreate a hip-hop/breakdancing scene featuring Run-D.M.C. clones. The third bit is BFS vocalist Jaret Reddick performing next to a jukebox a la George Michael in “Faith.” (Did you notice the sonic homage to The Buggles?)

It is the fourth and final vignette, where they’re recreating the vibe of Mötley Crüe circa the Theatre of Pain period (notably the “Home Sweet Home” performance video), Debbie is lured to strut across the street, rip the lower part of her skirt off, jump onto a sports car, and proudly writhe around like Tawny Kitaen did in the video for Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again.” Finally, the woman’s husband comes out and asks her what’s she doing, and she sheepishly returns home. (The model, Joey House, actually looks like Kitaen and played a character named Tawney in the 2001 movie Diary of a Sex Addict.)

Slightly Anachronistic

For some Gen Xers, “1985” was a fun lampoon of the times. However, there was one problem: The George Michael and car-splaying moments were from 1987. Also, Blondie broke up in 1982 (for 15 years), but singer Debbie Harry embarked on a solo career. One could call that nitpicky, but they are anachronistic parts.

Something many BFS fans were not aware of for the longest time is “1985” was not originally recorded by the band, but rather by fellow pop-punkers SR-71. It was found on their third and final album Here We Go Again in 2004, which was not released in the U.S. until 2010. That SR-71 release also included the song “Axl Rose (Where Did You Go?)” and a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.”

The original “1985” had a snarkier slant and included a joke about how “the condom broke” (presumably explaining how Debbie got trapped into her life) and another about her not knowing George Michael was gay. There’s also a mocking reference to the high school football quarterback, as if she thought he was the big catch. (Let’s face it, he’s often the guy who shows up bloated at school reunions.) Reddick found the lyrics abrasive when he first heard the song.

When the Grammy Award-nominated Bowling for Soup recorded their version with the blessing of their good friends SR-71, Reddick tweaked some of the lyrics and changed a couple of musical references to reflect his more lighthearted perspective. They also changed the intro and the bridge. The BFS version emphasized the woo-ooo-ooh! harmonies in the song more, and their playing and production were tighter. Both Reddick and SR-71 frontman Mitch Allan lived through the ‘80s. Allan cameos in their video, walking by and serving them with a look of disdain.

The Bowling for Soup rendition of “1985” fared well on the charts. The song went to No. 23 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, and Top 40 in the UK, Australia, Ireland, and Scotland. As of 2019, “1985” has sold 2 million copies in America and remains their most-played song live. The hit single helped push their fifth album A Hangover You Don’t Deserve to Gold sales status, the one album in their catalog to do so. They have three other Gold-certified singles. As of this writing, “1985” has 73 million YouTube views and 338 million Spotify plays.

It Still Clicks

What’s fascinating is ‘80s nostalgia feels just as strong as ever. There’s the massive Journey/Def Leppard/Steve Miller/Cheap Trick stadium tour happening this summer. The new sequel Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F recently premiered on Netflix, and Andrew McCarthy’s Brats documentary about the group of young ’80s actors dubbed The Brat Pack is streaming on Hulu. And the forthcoming final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things—a nostalgic 80s period piece which likely helped make the decade’s revival last longer—arrives next year. Plenty of pop and rock music today is still inspired by that decade.

For whatever reason, America still loves the ‘80s. And the fact every artist name-checked in “1985” is still active today and thriving just drives home that point. It all makes Bowling for Soup’s single and video just as relevant and funny today as it was 20 years ago.

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