Billboard Modern Rock Chart 9/11/1993

Not a great list but it's got to be Sister Havana

This is almost exactly the moment at which I began to listen to alt-rock. I remember the first two songs in particular on a local radio station's daily countdown.

Look at all the britishes!

I much prefer "Spin the Bottle" and "Back on Me" (also "Positive Bleeding"). So "No Rain."

Bjork. I think I've been shocked by this before, but I'm always a little shocked that Debut came out this late, because for one thing, I bought it, and it wasn't the sort of thing I was buying (or listening to) in 1993. Or maybe that's less true than I remember, especially for the first half of the year.

Have to vote "Can You Forgive Her" despite being all " ... modern rock?" about it.

So much anticipation for PJ product that a contribution to Victoria Williams tribute album got a fair amount of airplay. It did down here, a lot more than, say, "Go" or "Daughter" would (on college radio, that is).

I like these all in varying degrees: Bjork or "Sister Havana" today but New Order's "World" has that post-house arrangement that was already obsolete in '93 but sounded fab anyway, "Cherub Rock" is maybe the Pumpkins' best manifesto, and "Soul to Squeeze" >>> "Scar Tissue."

"Can You Forgive Her" was the last PSB single I heard on college radio.

i heard "No Rain" on the radio and reflexively changed the station for the millionth time today. bizarre that i actually bought the Blind Melon album back then (although that's really the only song i have a problem with).

"Cherub Rock" cause it's prob the best multiplatinum breakthrough-launching lead single of the alt rock boom years, but "Soul To Squeeze" and "Human Behavior" and "Crazy Mary" are good too.

sister havana

'sister havana' over 'human behaviour' w/ 'my sister' to show

heard "My Sister" on the radio for the first time in forever recently, sucked then and sucks now imo

Pet Shop Boys

just for the "cricket pavilion and the bicycle shed" bit

did anything from bilingual get any traction on modern rock radio or had the format changed too much by then?

"Before" peaked at #107 on the Bubbling Under chart, lol. They were still huge on the dance chart -- they're the biggest non-Madonna non-Donna Summer non-Janet force in Billboard dance history -- but I remember getting wtf looks when I volunteered to review Bilingual for the college paper.

"Where The Streets Have No Name" their last Hot 100 charting single.

yeah among the many other factors that made modern rock radio more and more dire to listen to and eventually led to it's near extinction is that move away from gay/girl friendly acts toward more jock friendly aggro acts, from pet shop boys -> limp bizkit. what this translated to was less brit presence from what was once a brit dominated format - in 1986 the pet shop boys have the number one track in kroq's top 106.7 ('suburbia') w/ 15 brit acts in the top 20, in 1990 after introduction of modern rock chart/format and increasing growth of market kroq top 106.7 has 9 anglo acts in top 20 (11 if you want to lump in australian acts like midnight oil and inxs, which since we're talking about a format growing increasingly xenophobic seems fair enough), by 96 (when bilingual comes out) there are two, one of which is bush.

Exceptions: Blur's "Girls and Boys" hit #4, Elastica's "Connection" and PJ Harvey's "Down By The Water" hit #2,

Then there's Oasis.

in 1986 the pet shop boys have the number one track in kroq's top 106.7 ('suburbia')

Wow -- didn't know this. KROQ probably one of the few places playing it and "Love Comes Quickly."

In 1990-1991 can remember college radio programmers (not the same as "modern rock radio programmers" lol but still), who were at the time at most a couple years older than me, excited about Electronic and its being a New Order-Smiths-Pet Shop Boys Wilburys type project. Kinda fascinating how the peak of Morrissey's solo career occurs in early '94 when "The More You Ignore Me..." takes off on all the formats that count and then his disappearance as a cultural force coincides with his becoming far less prolific.

one of my oft tossed around poll ideas that i should finally do is 'biggest post-Nevermind modern rock hits by alternative's old guard' (i.e. people that had been around since at least the mid-'80s but didn't catch the grunge zeitgeist and get bigger like Sonic Youth and the Meat Puppets):

The B-52’s – “Good Stuff” (#1, 1992)
The Cure – “Friday, I’m In Love” (#1, 1992)
Depeche Mode – “I Feel You” (#1, 1993)
Duran Duran – “Ordinary World” (#2, 1993)
Elvis Costello - "13 Steps Lead Down" (#6, 1994)
INXS – “Not Enough Time” (#2, 1992)
Lou Reed – “What’s Good” (#1, 1992)
Morrissey – “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get” (#1, 1994)
New Order – “Regret” (#1, 1993)
Peter Gabriel – “Steam” (#1, 1992/1993)
Paul Westerberg – “Dyslexic Heart” (#4, 1992)
Pet Shop Boys – “Can You Forgive Her?” (#10, 1993)
Talking Heads – “Sax And Violins” (#1, 1992)
Tears For Fears – “Break It Down Again” (#1, 1993)
Violent Femmes – “Breakin’ Up” (#12, 1994)
XTC – “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” (#1, 1992)

feel free to suggest more before i make the thread

obv U2 and REM stayed too successful for too long afterwards to pick one song to put in that lot (and maybe Cure and Depeche Mode are kinda borderline too?)

Have to vote "Can You Forgive Her" despite being all " ... modern rock?" about it.

― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), dimanche 4 novembre 2012 20:49 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Midnight Oil ("Truganini") and Living Colour ("Leave it Alone")?

neither had been on the modern rock scene as long as what i'm going for but those are both still good suggestions, will prob use them!

OK -- wasn't sure if you meant "since the advent of the modern rock chart" or generally "mid eighties."

Psychedelic Furs - Don't Be A Girl

"Until She Comes" a better pick -- it hit #1.

That was in a pre-Nevermind world though I think!

oh yeah

Big Audio Dynamite - The Globe
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Face to Face

Peter Murphy - The Sweetest Drop

^^^ good one

JAMC - Far Gone & Out

excellent suggestions

The Sugarcubes - Hit
The Charlatans - Weirdo

Gabriel's "Digging in the Dirt" too.

The JAMC pick would be "Sometimes Always" (or whatever the Sandoval duet was called), no?

I was defaulting to "Steam" since it was #1 longer than "Digging" (although lord knows i vastly prefer the former)

JAMC pick would be "Sometimes Always" (or whatever the Sandoval duet was called), no?

"Far Gone and Out" charted one point higher, although "Sometimes Always" is their only Hot 100 hit.

funny to think that during the summer that "Lithium" was all over MTV, it never cracked the modern rock top 20 and the top 10 had XTC, The Cure, Peter Murphy, Ian McCulloch and Morrissey: http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/alternative-songs?chartDate=1992-06-06

wow Chris Mars from The Replacements had a solo career and a modern rock top 10 hit? i had no idea

I have no idea what a "Material Issue" is.

power pop band that had a few hits before frontman committed suicide

wow i just found that "Hunger Strike" hit the modern rock top 10 before "Jeremy" or any Pearl Jam song, weird

Voted "Cherub Rock" which is just a powder-keg of soaring sweet overdubs and teenage force. But "Human Behavior" is also great, and actually "No Rain" is a super pretty, nicely-done tune that I just have a hard time seeing through years and YEARS of overplay.

The Catherine Wheel "Crank."

I have no idea what a "Material Issue" is.

― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, November 4, 2012 7:30 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

power pop band that had a few hits before frontman committed suicide

...by gassing himself w/his moped, which is both very sad and bizarre.

voting Bjork or New Order; I like every remix of "Can You Forgive Her?" more than the original

the thread i was threatening to make on here yesterday: the biggest post-Nevermind hits on Modern Rock radio by older artists who began disappearing from the chart

Weird that Soul to Squeeze is almost 10 years old. Somehow it was "late" Chili Peppers in my mind, but maybe that's because it sounds like that other later song.

I think you meant 20

I like every remix of "Can You Forgive Her?" more than the original

Yeah, this is the rare case of me voting for a song specifically for its lyrics over its musical structure.

I think you meant 20

― Gandalf’s Gobble Melt (DJP), Monday, November 5, 2012 10:54 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oof, wishful thinking

http://youtu.be/NzXZ_vAxDyw

this version from Disco 2 was my SHIT (along with the Wild Pitch remix of "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing")

*grows long grey hair and decomposes in stop-motion*

I can't hear it at the moment, Dan, but is that the mix using "dance to disco, dance to disco" as a refrain? Love that one.

That's the one! It's basically that sample over a proto-Faithless track

I remember how, according to the music press, UO was supposed to be a fun, somewhat wacky antidote to the relentless GLOOM of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Smashing Pumpkins, but "Sister Havana" sure sounds lifeless next to "Cherub Rock."

my first month of college! voted Catherine Wheel even though it's not "Black Metallic"

Sister Havana" sure sounds lifeless next to "Cherub Rock."

waht

wait

Urge Overkill is the band that did "Girl,You'll Be A Woman Soon" right?

what a fun, wacky song!

I still like "Cherub Rock" but it sounds like what it is, the "alternative RAWK" equivalent of Boston, carefully and meticulously arranged, note by note; whereas "Sister Havana" sounds like a burst of spontaneity.

listening to "Sister Havana" right now, which I don't remember ever hearing at the time; to my ears, it sounds slightly less spontaneous than the average Huey Lewis and the News song

whereas "Cherub Rock" basically sounds like fury in a bottle

Cherub Rock is the song I most associate with discovering what I thought of as grunge or alternative at the time, like "Whoa, a new sound is upon us" (me circa age 14)

this chart really underscores why I was spending most of this time period blasting Speed Limit 140+ BPM comps

You're right, UO covering Neil Diamond in 1994 was no doubt a 100% genuinely sincere and kitsch-free move.

cutout bin otm, urge overkill always sounded like the most boring band dressed up in some silly stage names and vague retro schtick, although to be fair the blandness of "sister havana" has kept me from hearing a lot else

lol this song was so ahead of the 'lol a cowbell amirite guys' curve

Their embrace of kitsch was stupid and and they were ugly guys but I love the "Sister Havana" hook. Plus: never underestimate the danger of singing "watching you and Fidel Castro in the sand" loudly while driving in Miami in '93.

Anything more to that story, Alfred?

The Bjork, New Order, Smashing Pumpkins and PSB are nowhere close to these artists' best work.

I don't hate "No Rain," but don't like it enough to vote for it.

"Soul To Squeeze" is a rare tolerable RHCP track.

The showing of the PJ track on the charts is kinda WTF (though Alfred offers the only reasonable explaination).

Never got into Catherine Wheel or Urge Overkill.

Voted Julianna.

*Juliana

yeah sorry but "Regret" and "Can You Forgive Her" are among the artists' best work.

yeah "Crazy Mary" got pretty heavy rotation. maybe the weirdest PJ radio hit, or at least it was at that point.

the hunger for new pearl jam in that gap between radio finally wearing out 'yellow ledbetter' and 'black' and the release of vs is very hard to overstate. stone temple pilots managed to emerge in that gap.

"Can You Forgive Her" is pretty good, but if argue that "Go West" was the essential PSB single from that year.

I was seriously ready to vote for "No Rain" but then I was like, wait, which Smashing Pumpkins song is "Cherub Rock," and I played it, and I was like, oh yeah, THIS one, the one that doesn't really have any lyrics that i can make out and so singing along with it means yelping and whining in a kind of Corganistic way and then making guitar noises with my mouth." Anyway, this is a great song and I voted for it.

'cherub rock' has maybe his worst lyrics, real harbinger of tweets to come

Yeah, I can never remember anything abt "Cherub Rock" until I actually hear it again.

Aren't the lyrics a collection of slogans cobbled together? Nothing too objectionable, not when you've got that post-MBV guitar army.

i'm amazed my love of "Cherub Rock" wasn't diminished by reading the lyrics, it was relatively easy to go back to enjoying them as phonetic nonsense

pretty objectionable imo:

Who wants honey
As long as there's some money
Who wants that honey?

Hipsters unite
Come align for the big fight to rock for you

voted "Sister Havana" narrowly over "World"; love the sound on the former, some kind of compression but the drums just BOOM

in ATL that summer "My Sister", "Soul To Squeeze", "No Rain", "Human Behaviour" & (uggh) "Crazy Mary" got lotsa radio play, but I don't remember hearing any of the others over the air. so this reads like 1/2 of the 1993 I remember

99X!

99X 4eva man

yeah to the best of my knowledge i've never heard that catherine wheel song. in athens we had this weird (younger end of) top 40-modern rock amalgam so you'd hear belly and juliana hatfield and screaming trees but you'd also hear jade and swv. this station played the fuck out of stereo mc's.

I don't know or don't remember a bunch of these but it's almost certain that "Cherub Rock" would win for me anyway. So classic, despite those lyrics. (What is that chorus even supposed to mean?)

standard corgan whining that hipsters and indie types don't genuinely LOVE the music man, they're in it for the wrong reasons like lol money

cherub rock is actually the only smashing pumpkins song that anyone needs

cherub rock is actually the only smashing pumpkins song that anyone needs

wow, i never knew he actually had the word "hipsters" in that song. that's....bad. I don't regret my vote, mind, but sheesh.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

<3 Human Behaviour & CYFH, but not enough to rate them over Crank & Cherub Rock - two of the finest slabs of straight-up guitar rawk from that era. I'm giving the edge to Crank b/c of how incredible CW, and that song in particular, were when I saw them live that year. They were def at the peak of their powers then.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

poor "Soul To Squeeze"

ilx/what remains of alt rock radio's continuing love for that track is truly befuddling shit to me

ilx's love seems pretty limited, i wouldn't worry too much about that part. feel pretty good about these results.

lol I was S2Sq's only vote?

(surprise)

yeah among the many other factors that made modern rock radio more and more dire to listen to and eventually led to it's near extinction is that move away from gay/girl friendly acts toward more jock friendly aggro acts

Then there's Oasis.

the latter not really proving any exception to the former here imo

girls love Oasis in my experience but that might be a US thing.