1985 has got to remember as the year when one of the most spoiled, wasteful, self-indulgent and ephemeral industries on earth suddenly woke up, not only to the urgent insistence of its conscience within the person of Bob Geldof, but to its power to actually achieve something, (to raise money and thereby save lives), given the right motivation and mechanism.

The result is history, as the man in the peaked cap was wont to say. Millions have been raised, and millions have been saved. Live Aid has become a self-fulfiling prophecy, and industry, and somewhere in the dust will be found many who give thanks.

That apart, U2 and Bruce still dominated, despite not releasing new records. Their 1984 offerings burned on into 1985, right through to two epochmaking concerts on seemingly the only two fine days in the most washed out, worthless waste of a summer in living memory.

U2’s Croke Park gig was the last stage on a mammoth trek that saw them established inarguably, as one of the top five acts in the world, and on the back of their best album yet!! Simple Minds should take note.

In the album stakes, invigorated by his 1984 contract with Island, produced his second album for them, another extraordinary work. Kate Bush returned to the fray with the wonderful ‘Hounds Of Love’, exploring the hidden, forbidden zones of the emotions.

Three years was all she’d been away. John Fogarty hadn’t recorded for all of ten years, but his ‘Centrefield’ was worth the wait. A soaring autobiographical tour-de-force of modern American rock’n’roll.

Other notable works come from Talking heads, whose ‘Stop Making Sense’ movie has brought them vibrantly and unequivocally to the mainstream, Van Morrison, majestic as ever, the Beat Farmers, Madness, De Danann, The Waterboys and Moving Hearts and from Katrina and The Waves an album full of … great pop music.

Then there’s the real new wave Americans, REM, Jason and the Scorchers and the Long Ryders, and the Irish Auto Da Fe, light A Big Fire, Clannad, Those Nervous Animals, Blue In Heaven and the Blades.

Hidden among them all all, though are two gems. Suzanne Vega’s first album is full of quirky, tawny, strong acoustic music. Hers is a voice we’ll hear more of. And then there’s Ry Cooder’s extraordinary, eerie, lonesome soundtrack for the movie ‘Paris, Texas’. One of the most moving records of the decade.