Billboard Number One Modern Rock Hits 1990

from this chart: last year of the 80s or first year of the 90s?

I feel obligated to vote for The Sundays when The Sundays appear, but I'm going to think about it for a bit first.

btw, I'd be perfect fine with never hearing "Cuts You Up" ever again. I've heard it enough for three lifetimes.

voted 'nothing compares 2 u' just barely over 'cuts you up' just barely over 'stop!'

Johnny Fever not OTM

voting "Cuts You Up"

I loved it too, y'all! The first 20,000 times I heard it (I'm barely exaggerating).

this is a little bit before my time, and so appropriately I'm voting for one of the only ones that stayed a recurrent on alt-rock stations after grunge: "Stop!"

song up there i seriously never need to hear again:
http://www.freewebs.com/joeyonline/joey5.jpg

kind of dug the cover of "Joey" that Ted Leo posted on his twitter earlier this year

Voted for the Murph. In 1990 I owned all these albums except the Railway Children.

Billboard Number One Modern Rock Hits 1990

top five:::::

Peter Murphy - "Cuts You Up" (7 weeks)
Sinead O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1 week)
Depeche Mode - "Enjoy The Silence" (3 weeks)
Depeche Mode - "Policy of Truth" (1 week)
Jane's Addiction - "Stop!" (2 weeks)
The Cure - "Never Enough" (3 weeks)
Janes Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing" (4 weeks)

okay okay, top 7.... tough to narrow it down past those and yes i know that cure song's horrible but i'm a fanboy okay?

hmmmmmmm

was gonna say depeche vs. jane's but fuck it, i'm voting PETER MURPHY

"cuts you up" 100% flawless tune

I can't believe I wasn't all over that thread last year. This was the height of my musical discovery golden years.

soto did yall do the entire 90s?

We did a lot of'em.

My top six:

Enjoy The Silence
Cuts You Up
The Emperor's New Clothes
House (reaaaaally underrated)
Never Enough
Here's Where The Story Ends

Billboard Modern Rock Number One Hits: 1991
Billboard's Number One Modern Rock Songs - 1992
Number ONe Modern Rock Hits of 1993
Billboard Modern Rock Hits - 1998

looking ahead one thing that struck me w/ 90s modern rock #1s is that grunge has nowhere near the presence you might assume (the relative lack of pearl jam - during an era when the big atlanta modern rock station had billboards that just said 'PEARL JAM' and then '99x' in the corner - was really surprising). scrunge otoh was very very well represented.

god i'd forgotten just how much of a push that midnight oil album got - columbia really thought they had the next u2 on their hands.

^^^ yep. "Blue Sky Mining" even crossed over (briefly) onto my top 40 station.

holy shit 1998 was a fucking awful year

sight unseen i suspect i'd take 1998 over any from this century

Wow, I don't believe I've heard anything but "Nothing Compares" and "Been Caught Stealing."

"Blue Sky Mine", "Joey", and "Here's Where the Story Ends", are all songs that can choke me up to this day. I think I was very depressed back then.

I had to youtoogle Midnight Oil after the BP explosion to really get into the spirit of the event earlier whenever that happened.

quite a good year, really. lots of lovely tunes. i find it amazing that 3 aussie bands were up there.

The Psychedelic Furs - "House" (3 weeks) - Proto-Jawbreaker. Has aged well! Good production. Don't remember this.
Peter Murphy - "Cuts You Up" (7 weeks) - Classic.
Sinead O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1 week) - Still great, but I prefer Prince's version tbqh.
Midnight Oil - "Blue Sky Mine" (1 week) - I owned this LP and this was one of the highlights for me. It feels a little stiff and aged. I've always liked this drummer, nothing special but simplicity is often disregarded.
The Church - "Metropolis" (1 week) - I don't remember this but its pretty nice. Something about all this early 90s production sounds pretty good to me right now.
Depeche Mode - "Enjoy The Silence" (3 weeks) - Never been a big fan. Sorry. Bass arpeggiation is pretty dope, that's about all I'm feeling.
Sinead O'Connor - "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1 week) - SexyDancer posted a rad live version of this a few years back. Some heavy 2-chord organ drone outro. Love this.
Midnight Oil - "Forgotten Years" (1 week) - I had no idea this was released a single. Weird. You can always count on PGarrett for inserting "tetanus" into a pop song.
The Sundays - "Here's Where The Story Ends" (1 week) - I didn't recognize this by name, but I'm guessing this is their signature hit right? Reminds me of Sh@nn0n R0b3rts0n, freshman dorm crush.
Depeche Mode - "Policy of Truth" (1 week) - Again, not a fan. Very dated, but not retro-cool. Sorry goths, no SBs please.
World Party - "Way Down Now" (5 weeks) - Never heard this, was pretty Stonesy and harmless.
Concrete Blonde - "Joey" (4 weeks) - I have no idea if this is what happened but I imagine this is one of those songs that the record company execs is pushing for against the band's wishes and the band caves and does it.
Gene Loves Jezebel - "Jealous" (2 weeks) - I totally forgot what these guys sounded like, this sounds like Ozzy lol.
David J - "I'll Be Your Chauffeur" (1 week) - 1990 was a weird time, this went to #1? Well was running dry for a lot of the names on this poll.
Jane's Addiction - "Stop!" (2 weeks) - This was exciting. I was stuck around this time. I was losing interest in college-alt and hip-hop and this was like on MTV. My first week of college Janes + DinoJr. Next day was Beat Happening w/ Treepeople (before Dug left to start Built To Spill). Janes put on an epic show.
The Railway Children - "Every Beat of the Heart" (1 week) - wtf is this fake new order?
INXS - "Suicide Blonde" (1 week) - fuck this
The Cure - "Never Enough" (3 weeks) - I tried to listen to this. I didn't know it but it sounded dreadful. Toward the end I was like, "oh this song!" but still fetid pestilence. No SBs please.
The Replacements - "Merry Go Round" (4 weeks) - Weak single by a decent band well past their peak. "Nobody" should have been the single
Janes Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing" (4 weeks) - Not my fave.
Sisters of Mercy - "More" (3 weeks) - Let's be real. I was no anglophile goth. And I get that most of you were(/are). That's cool but this is awful. Please no SB.

Voted "Cuts You Up"

New board descrip?:

Let's be real. I was no anglophile goth. And I get that most of you were(/are). That's cool but this is awful. Please no SB.

shasta way more lenient than i would have guessed, 80% of this is shit awful

The Railway Children - "Every Beat of the Heart" (1 week) - wtf is this fake new order?

i dunno, i never found them especially new ordery even despite their factory connections..

"Nothing Compares 2 U" in a walk.

"Here's Where the Story Ends" is great but too depressing.

Sinead O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1 week) - Still great, but I prefer Prince's version tbqh.

Serious challops. Even most Prince fans prefer her version.

I don't remember most of these based (checking them on youtube), and I'm not surprised since they don't seem very memorable.

I knew every single one of these very well, except the David J track which I just familiarized myself with last week.

the vocal interplay on that Prince/Rosie Gaines live duet is really entertaining imo

"Emperor's New Clothes" easily, over the other Sinead song. Most of these I've never heard or have forgotten.

This is yet another prime example of how poorly the charts track quality. Or is it that, in general, the masses have such poor taste (or do we blame the record execs for choosing to wrong single or for making artist write a single specifically designated for release). Most of the albums from whence the above-selected singles came from offer vastly superior tracks so I patently reject them on principal. That being said, some do actually get it right;

Sinead could not have picked a better way to make 1990 her money year (and I prefer the Prince-version, too).
Depeche were almost always a better singles band so they get an automatic pass.
Church are always solid, but their singles tend to stick out like sore thumbs.
Cure - crap track from an even crappier album.
Janes - props for "Stop" but canceled out by "Caught Stealing".
David J. - that is a surprise; and it's legit.
Peter Murphy - I wish I never heard "Cuts You up" outside the confines of the LP.

...most of the Billboard tracks offer the same trappings as the Pop Charts in that most of it represents the flavor of the week. Attention is rarely given to those seminal classic tracks that should never end-up on some future Time-Life nostalgia comp.

Also, wasn't 1990 one the last years that Billboard set the charts (i.e. Billboard tracked what the record companies wanted us to think was selling and not what people were actually buying).

The commercial success that Sinead had in 1990 beats anything else represented in the above list, so if populism rules, she gets the title.

However, the Sundays album, on whole, is a supreme artistic statement. It was a classic the first time I played it and will remain classic should I live to be a hundred. That, and for its near utter lack of self consciousness, is the only track I can consider placing a vote.

We aren't voting on albums.

The single represents the album.

The single represents itself, particularly in a poll where you are comparing it to other singles.

Okay, I can think in one dimension, too. Sundays.

Enjoy your stay on ILM.

Whoa, David J! Fill your tank with gas and dreams!

I can sing almost all of songs by heart, regardless of whether or not I like them. Even "Every Beat of the Heart".
The Replacements were my favorite band, but I'm voting for Metropolis because that song in particular reminds me so strongly of this time and being a 90 lb peewee freshman who was too scared to talk to anyone.

Didn't know Gene Loves Jezebel were still around in 1990, much less with a #1! I'd obviously tuned out on the rap-free chart, but remember Sinead, Jane's, INXS being everywhere. I did go see the Sundays because Yo La Tengo were opening for them, doing the Fakebook set. They were pretty good (the Sundays): Played their hit twice, once as an encore because they said they didn't know any more songs, which was disarming.

Peter Murphy - "Cuts You Up" (7 weeks)
Sinead O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1 week)
Depeche Mode - "Enjoy The Silence" (3 weeks)
The Sundays - "Here's Where The Story Ends" (1 week)
Concrete Blonde - "Joey" (4 weeks)

Dunno how I'm supposed to choose one of these?? (& there are about seven or eight others on a tier just below)/ I didn't end up voting in the last one for the same reason. Once again, the songs in this poll in general were gleefully consumed by myself & a pocket of friends all the way back in middle school, when we had just discovered 120 Minutes/college radio & essentially the excitement of discovering new music on what felt like our own terms. I was basically apeshit over all this & kinda still am.

"Enjoy The Silence" is so timeless, I don't even associate it with that year.

I had gone to college, cut way down on MTV, and discovered Rounder zydeco and whatever old vinyl was in the college radio-station library. Knew most of the 1989 ones, know very few of these except the biggest hits.

I actually think the two Midnight Oil tracks might be my two favorites on this list, followed by the two Jane's Addiction tracks. And I don't even like those bands very much! Or this list, obviously. Anyway, voted "Blue Sky Mine."

went w/'Stop'... first heard it in my friends car when i was 16/17 and it was so awesome i thought my nuts were gonna explode... bought the album on cassette after that and spent the next year blasting it whenever i drove my dad's minivan... pure ownage

A big thumbs-up to the word "ownage."

And yet it's her second best performance of these poll choices.

I don't think last year's iteration of this poll got so many responses. Cheers.

I was thinking about the Mighty Mighty Bosstones the other day. "I wonder if that guy ever did experience someone close to him dying."

"I hope so."

xxp - yeah! like, Vision Thing and Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde struck me as stylistically really similar. When I then listened to older albums by both the Sisters and Concrete Blonde, it was a real object lesson in how bands' sounds change over time or with different albums.

Vision Thing was all about "Ribbons" and "Detonation Boulevard", anyway.

^^ "Ribbons" is my favorite song on that album by far

Vison Thing is a really weak album compared to everything else Sisters of Mercy put out, but I still love it a lot.

it's just extremely different from everything else they put out -- except for the "under the gun" single (was there an ep, i don't remember) that came after.

Kinda puzzled at why "Nothing Compares 2 U" is on this poll in the first place, this song went to #1 on the non-MRH charts for a long time. no?

i'm guessing because it was also on the modern rock chart, and that is what this poll covers?

That would be my assumption as well, seeing as Sinead was a modern/college rock crossover story.

strategically, it would be easier to include it, rather than exclude it and have posters challenge its exclusion?

xp 2 SS - It is more of a (perceived) genre overlap factor than an attempt to weigh the actual "underground popularity" of a track, which is why these charts are riddled w/ the likes of U2, REM, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP etc.

Pre-SoundScan, I can imagine how bogus so much of this data was. IIRC it was all shipped units and no-airplay right?

"shipped" as opposed to "net sales" at retail

Steve, were you listening to 91X in 1990?

never heard that Peter Murphy track until just now and it makes Live seem even shittier in retrospect than they already did.

Tim, I was listening to LPs and CDs me and my friends bought at Lou's and CD Trader primarily. That's why a lot of this was unfamiliar to me, I was kinda tuned out to radio by this point.

so you're a SoCal transplant, Steve?

This was basically the playlist for one of the three MN radio stations I cycled between during this year (the other two were the pop station and a 24-hour dance music station that sadly did not have a long shelf life but was AMAZING while it lasted)

I was briefly transplanted to San Diego many, many, many years ago. Tim and I went to school together and I read his zine but I didn't know him back then. He's one of my favorite writers. There are few that could talk about No-wave, George Harrison, Comus and classic-era REM as well as Tim!

There are few that could talk about No-wave, ... as well as Tim!

guessing Tim and I probably have some friends in common then

Oh are you friends with Von LMO and Lydia Lunch?

am I the only one who thinks "Joey" is kind of a great song

It's one of those songs that I admire more than like.

I remember being impressed by some (unplugged?) rendition of it on MTV at the time. can't find the clip on youtube

xp steve: yeah, they send me christmas cards every year and we exchange casserole recipes

I liked the hell out of that song when it was out, but I've tried listening to it lately and it falls flat for me.

Johnette Napolitano just completely fell off the radar, didn't she? Linda Perry stole her career

I'm not voting for it, mind you - there's way better stuff on here. But for some reason I have a sentimental attachment to Concrete Blonde's high points (Still in Hollywood, Birthday, Joey)

thanks for reminding me of that horrible "What's Up" song, Shakey

yr welcome

would you like to hear the techno remix

i believe i have heard the techno remix actually

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FdsC5oa8GE&feature=related

I apologize to everyone

You know who needs to apologize? Whoever played that version for Cher.

totally blaming it for Katy Perry's existence, too

but they tried

OHMAGOD they tried

am I the only one who thinks "Joey" is kind of a great song

total classic imo

I was thinking about the Mighty Mighty Bosstones the other day. "I wonder if that guy ever did experience someone close to him dying."

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, December 21, 2010 12:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"I hope so."

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, December 21, 2010 12:28 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

LOL

Somehow I've managed to be roped into going to see MMB on my birthday next week. Not really sure how this happened but a friend bought a ticket for me and now I guess that's what's happening. Haven't listened to them in about 15 years but they were the first live show I ever saw so I'm hoping it'll be at least somewhat fun and a whole lot of LOL.

I like Joey too btw.

tho one of the only CB tracks I still have any time for

xxp

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Does Geir vote World Party?

Not in the presence of "Enjoy The Silence", no.

Plus "Way Down Now" is by no means as great as "Put The Message In a Box".

am I the only one who thinks "Joey" is kind of a great song

― twat dust and ego overload (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, December 21, 2010 6:41 PM (6 days ago)

I voted for it!

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

Fair.

sundays trumping peter murphy, depeche mode, AND jane's sorta surprising to me