We are halfway through this marvelous decade, and U.S. President Ronald Reagan is sworn in for a second term in office.

In Hollywood, California, the charity single "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa. Harry Belafonte originally wanted to put together a benefit concert featuring black musicians to raise money for Africa. Ken Kragen (who became president of the organization United Support of Artists for Africa) thought an American version of "Band Aid" would be a better idea. Ken Kragen is an owner of a personal management and television production company. One of his clients was Lionel Richie, so he called him with the idea. Lionel's wife talked to Steve Wonder's wife and arranged to line him up for the song. Quincy Jones was the producer and conductor, and Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie were the song writers. The recording took place on the night of the American Music Awards, January 28th, 1985. This was the perfect way to assure that most of the artists would all be free on a single date.

The instrumental tracks were recorded ahead of time and sent out to the interested musicians. With each tape, he sent a letter that stated they should "check their ego at the door." When they arrived in the studio, there was a piece of tape on the floor for each person to stand on, arranged around six microphones in a semi-circle.

800,000 copies arrived in stores on Tuesday, March 7th 1985. There were sold out by the first weekend. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 on March 23rd, at #21. At the time it was the highest debuting single since John Lennon's "Imagine" and was number one in three weeks, which at the time was the fastest rising chart-topper since Elton John's "Island Girl" in 1975. It was the eighth consecutive year the Lionel Richie had written a #1 song. It won Song of the Year and Record of the Year. A worldwide commercial success, it topped music charts throughout the world and became the fastest-selling American pop single in history. The first ever single to be  multi-platinum, "We Are the World" received a Quadruple Platinum certification.

Awarded numerous honors—including three Grammy's, one American Music Award, and a People's Choice Award—the song was promoted with a critically received music video, a home video, a special edition magazine, a simulcast, and several books, posters, and shirts. The promotion and merchandise aided the success of "We Are the World" and raised over $63 million (equivalent to $141 million today) for humanitarian aid in Africa and the U.S. .

Dan Aykroyd also sings on We Are the World. You can see him in the top row in the video. He was in the Blues Brothers band before it was a SNL sketch (and then a movie), hence he was a musician.

The artists involved were :

Dan Aykroyd

Harry Belafonte

Lindsey Buckingham

Kim Carnes

Ray Charles

Bob Dylan

Sheila E.

Bob Geldof

Hall and Oates

James Ingram

Michael Jackson

Jackie Jackson

LaToya Jackson

Marlon Jackson

Randy Jackson

Tito Jackson

Al Jarreau

Waylon Jennings ("Pop-Up Video" stated that he left the recording session due to a dispute over the lyrics.)

Billy Joel

Cyndi Lauper

Huey Lewis and the News

Kenny Logins

Bette Midler

Willie Nelson

Jeffrey Osborne

Steve Perry

The Pointer Sisters

Lionel Richie

Smokey Robinson

Kenny Rogers

Diana Ross

Paul Simon

Bruce Springsteen

Tina Turner

Dionne Warwick

Stevie Wonder

Here is the end result of this phenomenal collaboration :

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The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS, used since then to screen all blood donations in the United States.

Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than 3 months.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayor Wilson Goode orders police to storm the radical group MOVE's headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 61 city residents in the resulting fire.

An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley on May 15th. Then on June 13th in Auburn, Washington, police defuse a Unabomber bomb sent to Boeing.

Famous Route 66 is officially decommissioned. Established in 1926, Route 66 was one of the first highways created in the United States Highway System. It was immortalized in television, film, song, and literature. The iconic road spanned a total of 2,448 miles in length, running from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. The road traveled through parts of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, and was a popular path through the American Southwest during the 1920's until the 1960's. It soon fell into disrepair as it was replaced by the Interstate system. During June of 1985, the historic Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System.  

The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbor by French DGSE agents.

The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who begin to excavate $400 million in coins and silver, and a joint American-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

An 8.1 earthquake strikes Mexico City. More than 9,000 people are killed, 30,000 injured, and 95,000 left homeless.

Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Columbia erupts, killing an estimated 23,000 people.

Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.

British scientists discover a hole in the Earth's ozone layer.

The Nintendo Entertainment System is released on US shores. It was first released in Japan in 1983 and the Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows - Windows 1.0.

The first .com domain name, symbolics.com, is registered by the Symbolics corporation. However, .edu domains, for educational institutions, still predominate over the commercial .com ones

Compact discs are introduced to American consumers, and the first mobile phone call is made in the UK by Ernie Wise.

Michael Jackson buys ATV Music and every Beatles song for $47 million.

The popular comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" debuts in newspapers.

Christa McAuliffe became the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. 

In New York City, Mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead in front of Spark's Steak House on Dec 16th, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family.

This was yet another great year for TV and film. Shows such as Moonlighting, The Golden Girls, Growing Pains, and Twilight Zone grace our television sets while iconic films such as Back to the Future, The Goonies, The Neverending Story, The Breakfast Club, Fright Night, Weird Science, Teen Wolf, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Cocoon, The Color Purple, Rocky IV, and Rambo : First Blood Part II hit theaters.

Here are just a few of the songs from this year, in no particular order, taken from Billboard's Hot 100:

1.) Madonna - Like A Virgin

2.) A-ha - Take On Me

3.) Foreigner - I Want to Know What Love Is

4.) Dire Straits - Money For Nothing

5.) Billy Ocean - Loverboy

6.) Madonna - Material Girl

7.) David Lee Roth - California Girls

8.) ABC - Be Near Me

9.) Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels

10.) Prince - Raspberry Beret

11.) Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

12.) Madonna - Crazy For You

13.) Huey Lewis & The News - The Power of Love

14.) Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me

15.) Phil Collins - Sussudio

16.) The Honeydrippers - Sea of Love

17.) Billy Ocean - Suddenly

18.) Limahl - The Neverending Story

19.) Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

20.) Falco - Rock Me Amadeus

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A/N : And there you have it - another gnarly year in the 80's. What song(s) and movie(s) were your favorites? Let me hear from you! 😎

⭐️Please be sure to vote and comment!!!⭐️

Info on 1985 events, movies, and songs credited to:

http://www.liketotally80s.com/2007/08/80s-capsules-1985/

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1985.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1985

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World

http://www.inthe80s.com/weworld.shtml

Now on to 1986...