Graham Norton tells Ken Bruce why 1985 was exciting for him

Graham Norton joined Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio this morning and selected 1985 as his Golden Year for music.

He told Ken why he’d chosen this particular year: “I was in London, and it was the year before I started drama school, so I was fresh off the boat and still quite excited by the pleasures of London,” he said. “They fade I feel over the years but back in 1985 woah it was exciting!”

The chat show host and Virgin Radio presenter explained that 1985 was his first year with a Walkman.

“People are so used to bringing music with them wherever they go but back then it was a novelty and so it turned life into a movie,” he recalled. “Suddenly walking down the street there was a soundtrack.

“I remember walking down like St Martin’s Lane and Johnny Come Home by the Fine Young Cannibals coming on in my head – and this will tell you something about my life – I just remember that lyric ‘What is wrong with my life, that I must get drunk every night’ and that was me Ken. And I’m still singing it!”

Graham is a huge Madonna fan picked Into the Groove as one of his choices – again for the 80s London memories.

“What I really remember was a bar called the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and they’d have a wonky old drop-down screen and someone would turn on some terrible old projector and there would be Madonna performing at various awards things in America.

“As a young gay person in London you could feel quite marginalised, AIDS was the predominant thing culturally at the time, so Madonna and the way she used gay dancers, who were unapologetically gay, was important.” I

He told Ken that it sounds silly now but as a kid watching that screen it seemed really important that she’d given people that platform and he thinks that’s how she’s kept her gay fans all these years.

Watch Graham’s chat with Ken below.