Of course, 1984 was the year that U2 completely kicked everybody's ass with the greatest album of all time.

It was also the year of the utterly ridiculous with Spinal Tap, Band Aid and Spandau Ballet dominating despite seminal albums by U2, Bruce Springsteen and Talking Heads.
For me, the year is best defined by it's absurdity, so here is my list of the most absurd moments from the most absurd year in music history.
10. This is Spinal Tap - Hilarious and a great comment on where music was at the time
9. The honeydrippers - Put the front half of Led Zeppelin back together with Jeff Beck and you're bound to get a great album, right? Five tracks is all they could muster, and they totally sucked
8. The debut of
Now that's what I call Music Christ on a bike this was awful
7. Michael Jackson released the follow up to the Thriller Album. Nobody noticed, and to this day people think "BAD" was his next album. It wasn't. His next album was 1984's totally ignored "farewell my summer love"
6. A band called Frankie Goes to Hollywood had the second biggest hit song of the year. It was about premature ejaculation. People wore T-shirts. Frankie says relax.
5. Leonard Cohen released the song "Hallelujah." NOBODY.FUCKING.NOTICED!
4. The drummer of a mostly unknown band called Def Leppard lost his arm in a car accident and insisted on becoming the worlds first one-armed drummer. Amazingly, it worked and they went on to become huge.
3. Michael Jackson is forced to issue a public apology because his
Thriller video looked a little too ghoul-like
2. Ronald Reagan, not realizing that the song "Born in the USA" is not supposed to be patriotic, uses it in his re-election campaign
1. A bunch of rock stars get cajoled against their will by a scruffy second rate punk icon into recording
Do they know it's Christmas. The song is so popular that nobody even notices the ridiculous lyrics (There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time? There wasn't any snow in London either)
For me, 1984 was the year 80's excess reached its peak, and music reached a low point.