10 Best Rock Music Album Closers Of The 1980s
7. Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits (Brothers In Arms)
The emotions keep on coming, as The Joshua Tree wasn't the only massive-selling '80s album to end on a melancholy note.
Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, thanks to songs like Money for Nothing, Your Latest Trick, and Walk of Life. Whilst those tracks all have upbeat elements to them, no such atmosphere is present on the one that rounds out this nine-song LP.
The title track, Brothers in Arms reflects on the most prominent political issue facing Britain in the year it was written. The Falklands War between the UK and Argentina dominated headlines and clearly got inside the head of lead singer Mark Knopfler.
The full version of the song clocks in at nearly seven minutes long and is a slow musing on the effects of war on individual soldiers. Knopfler's muted singing is accompanied by some beautiful guitar playing, as the maestro really gets to show off what he can do.
It might be a bit of an outlier on the album, but it provides it with a proper gut punch of an ending that adds an extra layer of meaning to the project overall.