Modern Rock Chart 2/1/1992

Talking Heads were still a thing in '92?

caribbean blue! caribbean blue!

the only other song on hear that i'd consider voting for over enya is "girlfriend"

er here*

Heh -- Enya still had weirdo cred with this crowd. I owned the "Caribbean Blue" cassingle.

Great:

U2 - Until the End of the World
U2 - Mysterious Ways
St Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Pixies - Head On

Good:

Talking Heads - Sax and Violins
Lou Reed - What's Good
Lloyd Cole - Tell Your Sister
Enya - Caribbean Blue

Nostalgia:

The Ocean Blue - Ballerina Out Of Control
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss

Past peak:

Dramarama - What Are We Gonna Do
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Fear (Of the Unknown)

Don't know:

Teenage Fanclub - Star Sign (still never heard Bandwagonesque
Cliffs Of Dooneen - Through An Open Window
Midge Ure - Cold, Cold Heart
Social Distortion - Bad Luck
Live - Operation Spirit

Talking Heads were still a thing in '92?

Two new songs on a best-of (Sand in the Vaseline). I don't think I've ever heard "Sax and Violins," but the other new song, "Lifetime Piling Up," was distinctly disappointing/unremarkable, and did not make one pine for a new Talking Heads album in the least.

That exemplary comp was released later in the year. 1992 was not a good year to discover Bowie, Ferry, and Talking Heads.

Ha, true, but at least Bowie/Tin Machine did that amazing "If There Is Something" on SNL (though the studio recording wasn't nearly as good).

Might vote for one of the U2 songs, but the Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet songs are fabulous. I remember it being equal parts thrilling and bizarre to hear a Robert Quine solo on MTV with some regularity.

"Star Sign" definitely. "Bad Luck" is great but has the misfortune of following "Cold Feelings" on the album.

and he's on "Tell Your Sister" too, on which Matthew Sweet plass bass. Cole returned the favor by playing rhythm guitar on "Girlfriend." Fred Maher drummed on both. That Lloyd Cole album is a minor gem.

Same thing to a lesser extent with "Operation Spirit" vs. "Pain Lies on the Riverside."

"Star Sign" might be one of my favorite songs of the 90s tbh. Though imo "End of the World" is Achtung's high point

Oh wait I've heard "Caribbean Blue" too! That's def one of my favorite songs of the 90s as well, but I just now learned the name of it

i think that's the talking heads track that's on the until the end of the world soundtrack (which was pretty huge)(an aside: the director's cut of until the end of the world is showing nearby soon - should i definitely check it out?). cmj roots very much still present - there's nothing here that wouldn't have done well on college radio prior to this (even live, who obv would have greater success at the height of altrock, were the kinda u2/rem inheritor that always did well on college radio) while there's plenty here that would soon be pushed out of the market. st etienne is pretty surprising and i'd probably vote for it in a different context and there's a few other contenders as well (i even like that rhcp song a lot) but voting 'girlfriend', typifies what i liked about the moment alt broke more than anything else up there (plus quine obv).

yeah my college station played Depeche Mode's "Death's Door" (a forgotten soft shoe shuffle) and "Calling All Angels" from the UTEOTW soundtrack for a while in spring '92.

really really love 'mysterious ways' fwiw, i hear it get slagged a bit but i think it's glorious. that bridge. i like 'until the end of the world' and 'one' as well (i like every damn song on achtung baby), but they're very much in u2's comfort zone. 'mysterious ways' is slightly out of it, more of a piece w/ 'the fly'. plus belly dancers.

uteotw ost has to be the first time i'd actually heard can (and i have no memory of what can track is on there or odds are what it sounds like since i'm guessing it's not ~classic can~). i can remember hearing about them prior to this, i think i'd read hype like 'can are going to be to the 90s what the velvet underground were to the 80s' (which turned out to be true enough) and thought 'fuck i need to hear some can then i guess'. i don't miss these days or think these kids today don't know but that is something that is virtually gone, that phenomenon of hearing about an album or book or movie (though to an extent it's still true w/ movies) years before you got an opportunity to experience them.

lol for years I thought "The Adversary" WAS the Can song.

It's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQhZk_8pb-U

btw 1992 was the last time I remember boomer icons topping this chart: Talking Heads, Lou, Peter Gabriel (twice!) later in the year.

my dad used to listen to this all the time when i was a kid, so its got a lot of sentimental value for me, but, damn, i love this sdtrk

― max, Tuesday, February 9, 2010 7:17 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

busted this out after reading that the bands were instructed to write songs that sounded like songs would in 1999--interesting exercise both from the bands pov and from the listeners: did dm really think that they would be writing songs like 'deaths door' ten years later? 'sax and violins' meanwhile just sounds like a TH b-side (tho its probably the last good song they ever wrote). love the lanois track.

― max, Tuesday, February 9, 2010 7:19 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how old are you??

― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, February 9, 2010

"Until The End of the World" Soundtrack - Unacknowledged Classic?

lol

yeah trying to think of ollllld dudes (prepunk) that would've gotten altrock airplay post-93 - neil young, bowie to a lesser extent. tony bennett for a minute there.

never heard Neil Young on college radio -- any radio -- in the early '90s

Talking Heads were still a thing in '92?

― Austin, Sunday, January 31, 2016 5:41 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"The music was written during the rehearsals and recording that led to the Naked LP," recalled David Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime. "I wrote the words later for the opening scene of Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World. The movie is supposed to take place in the year 2000, so I spent a lot of time trying to image music of the near future: post-rock sludge with lyrics sponsored by Coke and Pepsi? Music created by machines with human shouts of agony and betrayal thrown in? Faux Appalachian ballads, the anti-tech wave? The same sounds and licks from the 60s and 70s regurgitated yet again by a new generation of samplers? The Milli Vanilli revival? Rappin' politicos… sell your soul to the beat, y'all? Well, it was daunting… so I figured, hell with it, I'd imagine Talking Heads doing a reunion LP in the year 2000, and them sounding just like they used to."

Dramarama's such an odd band. Never heard them down here either; they're a KROQ phenom. Christgau a big fan.

any fans of Pixies' JAMC cover?

Huh, apparently "Harvest Moon" wasn't a hit in the US.

2xp

never heard Neil Young on college radio -- any radio -- in the early '90s

Hmmm. I was watching music videos a lot more than I was listening to the radio at that time, I think, but I bet songs from Freedom were still getting radio play in the very early 90s.

(I don't know about post-1993.)

yeah i was thinking post-93, neil young probably the only old dude that does better on altrock radio after it's shed it's college radio and kroq roots. tbf the only neil young i did ever hear either had a pearl jam connection or a quasi-nirvana connection. the only bowie i heard was because of nin connection ('i'm afraid of americans'), no idea if anything from outside got alt radio airplay.

'harvest moon' got a lot of video airplay but billboard never factored mtv or vh1 into their charts. it sold pretty well also and got grammy love. the only thing i heard from it on the radio was 'unknown legend' like maybe twice on country radio.

Harvest Moon went double platinum -- his best selling studio album of the last 30 years.

like it more than harvest tbh

Harvest < Harvest Moon by virtue of the latter not containing "A Man Needs a Maid."

Here's a Spotify playlist (minus Cliffs Of Dooneen and Lloyd Cole) for those of us who need a refresher: https://play.spotify.com/user/cryptosicko/playlist/3gQxysO8PDat2rbGSfZzFy

yeah trying to think of ollllld dudes (prepunk) that would've gotten altrock airplay post-93 - neil young, bowie to a lesser extent. tony bennett for a minute there.

― balls, Monday, 1 February 2016 00:13 (6 hours ago) Permalink

heard Johnny Cash doing "Delia's Gone" and "Hurt" on my local alt-rock station

yeah trying to think of ollllld dudes (prepunk) that would've gotten altrock airplay post-93 - neil young, bowie to a lesser extent. tony bennett for a minute there.

― balls, Sunday, January 31, 2016 7:13 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

never heard Neil Young on college radio -- any radio -- in the early '90s

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, January 31, 2016 7:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Only Neil I heard on post-'93 altrock radio was Mirror Ball stuff; never heard "Harvest Moon" on the radio. Only Bowie I heard was "Jump They Say," which was played a lot.

can't believe i forgot johnny cash. tom petty is another one (maybe not prepunk really but still classic rock)

Cash's appeal spanned genres, generations, and radio formats, maybe even more than Neil Young did

yeah i was gonna say petty. but i think on another thread i was hazarding his continued success in this format and people convinced me i was really just thinking of enduring VH1 airplay and my looseness of dial-spinning between 99X, 96 Rock, and Z93 in those days.

no he did alright on alt rock radio (a helluva lot better than springsteen or mellencamp that's for sure). i'm just thinking that declaring him an old that got airplay on altrock radio but not counting elvis costello or blondie cuz they're more clearly new wave feels a little bit like splitting hairs.

'Mysterious Ways', for the opening guitar riff.

the three U2 singles are wonderful imo

this is really the last time U2 felt like a deserving juggernaut of a band to me. I had no idea that they were capable of following up the absolute worst album of their career with their absolute best and all of the singles are unstoppable (including the hideously overplayed "One")

Anybody who knows me well knows exactly how I voted here

so you're voting for "Ballerina Out of Control"?

It's embarrassing to admit that I know almost none of the songs on this list, Alf

Including the one you named

I'm not the biggest fan of U2, I'll admit, but I have a lot of time for Achtung Baby, Zooropa, the highlights of Pop and 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me'

My bemusement with these charts is a matter of record but, given that I was 13 and very into rock music, and know some of these really well, I'm a little surprised by how many I don't know:

Don't know:
Talking Heads - Sax and Violins
Enya - Caribbean Blue
Teenage Fanclub - Star Sign
Cliffs Of Dooneen - Through An Open Window*
St Etienne - Only Love Can Break your Heart
Midge Ure - Cold, Cold Heart
Social Distortion - Bad Luck
Live - Operation Spirit
The Ocean Blue - Ballerina Out Of Control*
Dramarama - What Are We Gonna Do**
Lloyd Cole - Tell Your Sister
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Fear (Of the Unknown)

* never heard of the band
** have only heard of the band because of these threads

Know well (and mostly like):
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
U2 - Mysterious Ways
Nirvana - Come As You Are
U2 - Until the End of the World
Pixies - Head On
U2 - One
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss

Only know because of these threads:
Lou Reed - What's Good

Out of the ones I've heard, it's "Until the End of the World" vs "Come As You Are" obv but I might investigate further.

I'll admit, the biggest surprise in the list for me is Midge Ure. In 1992, for fucks sake!

I voted fear of the unknown but really so many of these could take it. This was a great era on this chart

Also the fly is a kickass lead-off u2 single

Ha, got to the Midge Ure song. Investigation = over.

girlfriend > only love > fear > star sign > operation spirit (shut up) > mysterious ways > caribbean blue

come as you are is my least favorite nirvana song by a mile

I always get Earth Day wrong thanks to the Dramarama one. So many of these are personal favorites, this just coming halfway through my eighth-grade year, and many showing up on the first 120 minutes I taped.

Was completely unaware of this run:

Cliffs Of Dooneen - Through An Open Window
St Etienne - Only Love Can Break your Heart
Midge Ure - Cold, Cold Heart

Not a fan of:
The Ocean Blue - Ballerina Out Of Control
Lloyd Cole - Tell Your Sister
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Fear (Of the Unknown)

Everything else is pretty much my favorite shit. Going with What's Good.

I don't mind "Kiss Them For Me" but "Fear (Of the Unknown)" dilutes the band too much for my ears.

Kiss Them For Me is great.

Star Sign

this is absolutely "Star Sign," with "Girlfriend" being the only other one i would consider voting for. even though Achtung Baby is the last U2 i bought, if i never hear U2 again i would be fine with that.

I'd no idea Teenage Fanclub commanded such attention.

Teenage Fanclub are basically one of those bands that mean a great deal to the small cult following they have and virtually nobody else.

I don't ride for Teenage Fanclub but I loved Bandwagonwhatever when it came out & "Star Sign" is a jam so I voted for that. thought about "Bad Luck" too, think that's the only song by Social Distortion I know, it got a lot of MTV play at the time. love that Matthew Sweet album but "Girlfriend" isn't why. I kinda like "Suck My Kiss" too, maybe the only song by them I like except for "Soul to Squeeze".

thought about my usual lol vote instead but decided Live wasn't funny enough to bother.

I really dislike "Mysterious Ways" and "Come As You Are".

I don't mind Bandwagonesque myself, it's an okay record, but I've never really understood the high praise for it. My favourite track on it is the instrumental at the end, of all things! I do think Grand Prix is a better collection of songs, and I love their vocal harmonies, but... I dunno... Teenage Fanclub records tend to come across to me as well done, but not astounding.

come as you are is my least favorite nirvana song by a mile

huh. "Come As You Are" is my favorite Nirvana song by a mile

You are two miles away from each other.

ironically, we probably are in real life, too

it's true

Live: A name that a band probably would not choose in today's Google era. Unless they wanted to call themselves "Live (band)"...

Girls, Women, and Stars are all Google-era bands, so maybe they would have anyway....

Stars started ca. 2000, is that included in the search optimization era?

Occurs to me I've loved Teenage Fanclub for a longer span of years than I have any other band, and "Bandwagonesque" is only a small part of that. "Songs from Northern Britain" and "Man Made" mean the most to me. Pardon the alliteration.

"Star Sign" is great, although not as great as their "Everything Flows," which is only one of the greatest songs of all time.

"God Knows It's True" is better.

When it comes to TFC, I 'm pretty much all about "Star Sign" & "Sparky's Dream"

any fans of Pixies' JAMC cover?

Oh hell yes, I rate the bands overall about equally but the Pixies version of this song crushes the original. Still wrestling between that, Mysterious Ways, and Girlfriend. I liked guitars in 1992.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJBmcwh0_C8

Damn, a mullet and a steinberger. I don't knwo what to say.

I'm not on the Teenage Fanclub bandwagon (he he) per se, but damn if "What You Do to Me" isn't an awesome 2 minutes

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Is there a poll devoted to Lou's ridiculous guitars of the 80s/90s?

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

Nice -- what a top ten.

I said thank you girl. Thaaaank you girl. I'll love you til the end of the world

My band covered Suck My Kiss during this time. Great tune