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The Creators of Bowling for Soup’s ‘1985’ Look Back: The Power of Nostalgia & Why Debbie Gets the Last Laugh
Bowling for Soup's hit "1985" celebrates its 20-year anniversary in 2024. Here's what the song's creators remember about making the song back in 2004.
In the two decades since, the track has amassed over 372.7 million on-demand official U.S. streams, according to Luminate, and folks who weren’t even alive in the title year continue to gleefully sing along when it comes on the radio or plays at a party, as it still frequently does. He’d pieced together the rest of the track on a trip to Machu Picchu, asking fellow tourists in his hiking group to shout out their favorite ‘80s references — “Springsteen!” “Madonna!” — and weaving them into an admittedly cynical takedown of a Prozac-dependent suburban housewife named Debbie with some help from his drummer, John Allen. The band cosplayed as Robert Palmer, Run-DMC and Limp Bizkit in the track’s music video (which Reddick says he’s especially proud of), complete with a Tawny Kitaen lookalike and a cameo from Allan.
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