Every Billboard Modern Rock/Alternative #1 Single (Part 2: The 1990s)

1990 was a funny time for Alternative Music. It was kind of all over the map until "grunge" put Alt Rock into sharp focus. And that is the fun of a 1990 chart. Great diversity.

Metropolis didn't know whether it wanted to be mysterious or just a great pop song. There were a lot of great pop songs masquerading as something else around this time.
Blue Sky Mining - you either liked Midnight Oil or you didn't. If you did they were one of the most consistent bands out there. This track was not unlike any of their other songs. I happened to dig them.
Nothing Compares 2 U - I agree with OP that the first two albums by Ms O'Connor were superb. I recall the video for this song being everywhere. Not unlike the video for Elvis Costello's I Wanna Be Loved, but so much more emotional.
My recollection of the time was that Peter Murphy was huge for about twenty minutes - then hovered about for a long time quietly. I'm sure your mileage may vary. But everyone was playing & singing Cuts You Up and then it all just disappeared. That's my memory anyway.
I loved Electronic being any one of a half dozen other bands. Very cool collaboration.
My fave of this period was Birdhouse In Your Soul. This song has enough "clever" for ten Alt Music tracks. The Flood album was their masterpiece. Big quality drop after that until the "No" album, which sounded to my ears like Flood part two. The No album came out when my kids were little and they loved it. TMBG was their first ever rock show.

 

As famous as it is, grunge never actually really dominated this chart. Looking at the 'big four' of grunge:

Alice in Chains never topped the chart during the Layne Staley years. They only got a #1 in 2009 (Check My Brain) after they reformed. They had just 2 top ten hits during the classic years (No Excuses and Heaven Beside You).
Soundgarden never topped the chart. They had five top ten hits, including 3 songs that got to #2 (Black Hole Sun, Pretty Noose, Burden in My Hand). Nothing from Badmotorfinger even charted.
Pearl Jam has 4 #1 hits, and they probably aren't the ones you would guess--they were Daughter, Who You Are, World Wide Suicide and Brother (a promotional single from the anniversary issue of Ten). They've had the most consistent success on the chart of these four (being the longest lasting and probably the most widely appealing).
Nirvana had 5 #1 hits, and a couple of weird failures as well--Lithium got to #25 and In Bloom didn't even chart.

If you throw in their contemporaries Stone Temple Pilots (one #1 in 2010 long after their classic years, none during the '90s), it's a different picture than one might expect. During the height of grunge, it was actually more successful on the mainstream rock chart than here. As Wiki writes,

"In the chart's early years, the chart was closely associated with college rock, new wave, post-punk and electronic genres with a large presence of British, Irish and Australian artists, as only 24 of the chart's first 82 number-one hits were by American acts.[9]Bands including Depeche Mode, Pixies, The Cure, New Order and R.E.M. were amongst the most popular acts on Alternative radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1991, with the release of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana (which reached No. 1 on November 23, 1991),[10] grunge became a new form of alternative rock to chart. However, grunge did not have a dominating presence on the chart in its heyday; over time, grunge would grow into popularity as a representation of alternative rock in the mainstream. Iconic grunge songs fared decently on the Alternative Songs chart but better on the Mainstream Rock Songs.[9] For example, "Black" by Pearl Jam peaked only at No. 20 on the former but No. 3 on the latter.[11][12] This was because the college rock and new wave of the 1980s remained the dominant styles of the format, while grunge became an alternative rock style that was popular on the Mainstream Rock format."


The mainstream rock chart has traditionally been heavier than this alternative chart (and more focused on heritage acts). That focus on heavier music would explain why grunge did well there. That chart was also a home for bands who had no real presence at all on the alternative charts despite a lot of success in the '90s, like the Black Crowes and Aerosmith. (My personal opinion on the mainstream rock chart is that it was okay in the '80s and '90s. It featured music that I think holds up well, like Tom Petty and U2, along with stuff I find cheesy and outdated, such as Huey Lewis and Mr. Mister. It turned to absolute crap in the 2000s when it veered almost entirely away from heritage acts and filled up with awful bands like Godsmack and Shinedown).

 

"Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor...I remember when I used to hear this version back in the day and didn't know it was written by Prince. It's a really good song and she didn't change it much. From what I hear, Prince didn't like this version. Prince had an original version that I prefer to this, but I don't think it was released until much later. The Family's version was released first which I don't think is as good as this. Chris Cornell also did a cover of this.
My favorite version:


"Hello" by the Beloved...I don't think I've ever heard this before. It's ok.

"Deliverance" by the Mission U.K....I like this song, but it's too long and takes forever to get through the intro.

"I Don't Know Why I Love You" by the House of Love...This one sounds familiar but I didn't hear it much. It's reasonably good.

"Fools Gold" by the Stone Roses...My favorite Stone Roses song that I know is "I want to be Adored" and this sounds nothing like it. It doesn't do much for me.

 

Gotta play some ketchup. Okay:
24. Peter Murphy Cuts You Up. Really good alternative bar dancing. I liked him and it well enough.
But #2 is s total stone classic! One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite 80s bands. Head On was awesome.
#6 Birdhouse In Your Soul by They Might Be Giants. That felt like it was #1 for 4 weeks the way they played it there. Still, I have a soft spot for it and I loved the album it was on, Flood.

Then 25. Sinead O'Connor - With the Prince song. Boy, she really over the top to make it. But what a performance. Adore the rest of the album too! Terrific stuff.
Forget what # it was but my favorite song all year was "Blue Sky Mine" by Midnight Oil. Great album.

 

I am in complete agreement with you here. We've never had cable, so sitting around watching MTV or VH1 videos wasn't a thing for me. I didn't see the famous video for it until long after already loving the recording. I heard Nothing Compares 2 U just on the radio and out and about in a bar or the mall. Honestly it's not the type of song that would normally appeal to me -- slow, emotional, all sparsely keyboard heavy instrumentation with no cool guitar parts, and never have liked listening to any Prince recordings, etc. -- but that voice, that voice of hers! She totally makes the song in every way just with her voice. The Prince version certainly doesn't compare at all. Stunning and extraordinary vocals is right. Compelling. It demands attention, delivers the goods, and deserves every recognition offered. This is one of those songs I love just as much after hearing it innumerable times by now, as I did the very first time.

 

Next:

26. "Blue Sky Mine" by Midnight Oil


#1 for 1 week beginning April 7, 1990


"Blue Sky Mine" is a song by Australian rock band Midnight Oil released in 1990 as the first single from their album Blue Sky Mining. It peaked at No. 7 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart, No. 8 on the Australian Singles Chart and Norwegian Singles Chart, No. 25 on the French Singles Chart, No. 66 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on both the Billboard Album Rock and Modern Rock charts. It charted the highest in New Zealand, where it reached No. 2 for two weeks behind "Don't Make Me Over" by Sybil.

The song was inspired by the experiences of workers at the Wittenoom asbestos mines who contracted various asbestos-related diseases.[1][2][3] The "blue" refers to blue asbestos, and the "sugar refining company" refers to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company Ltd (CSR), the owner of the mines.

Top 10 for the week of 4/7/90:
01. "Blue Sky Mine" by Midnight Oil
02. "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor
03. "Metropolis" by the Church
04. "Cuts You Up" by Peter Murphy
05. "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode
06. "Hello" by the Beloved
07. "I Don't Know Why I Love You" by the House of Love
08. "Deliverance" by the Mission UK
09. "Fools Gold" by the Stone Roses
10. "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns" by the Cramps

 

Blue Sky Mine
I haven't gotten into Midnight Oil because I get the sense that they are a highly political act, which is something I generally have no interest in. However, I do like the few songs of theirs I've heard. 'Blue Sky Mine' is my favorite and I like it even more than 'Beds Are Burning.' I know the subject matter is quite serious, but the music is infectious, melodic and very enjoyable. That chorus is just excellent. I actually think there is a little bit of a disconnect between the joyful music and the lyrical content, but what do I know? I love the sound of the track.

Not much time had passed (just a week), so the top ten is mostly the same but this bizarro track from the legendary Cramps snuck into the top ten:


This is another one that was on Beavis and Butt-Head.

 

“Blue Sky Mine” really rocks.

 

"Bikini Girls With Machine Guns" is awesome! So much campy rock AND roll fun amid the dour, overly serious or self-important songs on the chart.

 

"Blue Sky Mine" has always been my favorite Midnight Oil song. It's just so catchy and has a great chorus. I still listen to it regularly.
I like pretty much the entire top 10 with special mentions going to "Metropolis", "Enjoy The Silence", and "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns".
It was truly a great time to be in your late teens-early 20s. So much excellent music coming from all directions.

 

Midnight Oil I just can't take the affected vocal style (same for Beds Are Burning), plus I'm also back to complaining about the loud boring snare drum ruining an otherwise okay instrumentation. The harmonica was probably the best part for me.

I'll leave The Cramps novelty song to Beavis, seems appropriate.

 

Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up

I like the distinctive tone of his voice, even if there's a strong Bowie influence. My favorite part of the song is the "heavier" bit where he sings the title line a few times, right after the chorus. It's got this kind of "goth" feel to it. This is such a different sounding song; it's really growing on me the more I hear it. I get why it was #1 for 7 weeks. Cool track.

Thanks for posting the vid for TMBG's Birdhouse in Your Soul. I love this song; it's my favorite track by them. About 15 years ago I bought Flood and played it endlessly. I was really obsessed with it. None of their other albums grabbed me and as time's gone on I don't really listen to Flood much anymore. I still love this song, though. Nerd Rock at its finest!

Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

I don't see this as a "modern rock" song, rather a pop chart one. It spend 4 weeks on top of the main Billboard chart and that makes sense. Her voice is so haunting, though! Good lord, Prince wrote a freaking great song here. I love the original version from the "Family" album too. The musical backing is solid and perfectly understated, but it's all about Sinead's voice here. Incredible. Nothing else sounded like this back in 1990.

Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine

Along with Sinead's track, I remember this one being all over the radio back in 1990. One thing I really like about the song is half of the chorus, the "food on the table" line, comes up before the actual first verse. Just a taste of the chorus. Really hooky chorus, at that. I appreciate that besides the "work all day on the blue sky mine", they always change things up in the chorus. Great bridge too. The song's well-constructed and I love the hard political stance in the lyrics and video.

 

Yes, Sinead's Prince cover is awesome and all that, but what caught my eye on the latest chart is "I Don't Know Why I Love You" by The House of Love. Never heard the original until a few minutes ago, though I know Ivy's version from their covers CD, Guestroom. As The House of Love's version was playing, I kinda preferred Ivy's take since in my book French female singer always wins out over a guy (haha), but The House of Love's outro is so good that I'll call it a tie.

 

Here's the original:

 

"Blue Sky Mine" by Midnight Oil is probably my favorite song of theirs. "Beds are Burning" was also really good. It was more popular and got more radio airplay, but this chart didn't exist at the time of its release. It got to 17 on the US Hot 100 vs. 47 for "Blue Sky Mine".

 

I gave Deliverance by the Mission a listen the other day, and I quite like it. I have several of their releases from the '80s and perhaps the early '90s, mostly on vinyl but at least one CD. I listened to one full LP on YouTube last year too. On the whole I think they were a pretty good band ...

 

I just gave Blue Sky Mine a listen, for the first time (I believe I've only ever heard Beds are Burning). It's pretty good, although I thought the guitar solo near the end was the best thing about it.

 

Next:

27."Metropolis" by the Church


#1 for 1 week beginning April 14, 1990


"Metropolis" is a song by Australian alternative rock band The Church. It was released as the lead single on their 1990 album, Gold Afternoon Fix, and the songwriting credits were given to all four members of the band. Marty Willson-Piper, Peter Koppes, Richard Ploog, and Steve Kilbey were all credited with writing the song. The lead guitar produced a quickly falling then softly ascending melody, with slight commercial influence. A complicated web of guitar overdubs appears later in the song, and a soft, mandolin-sounding melody was added as an additional hook.[1]

"Metropolis" peaked at number one on Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and number 11 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1990.[2] The song was well received by critics upon its release. Ned Raggett of Allmusic praised "the almost desperate edge in Steve Kilbey's vocals" as a testament to the song's quality. Raggett added that the Church's "ear for a triumphant yet somehow downbeat ending [makes] this an underrated gem in the band's body of work."[1]

I'm not going to post the top ten today as there was very little difference from yesterday (as happens when these songs only stay at #1 for one week).

 

Metropolis
The Church almost assuredly would have gotten a #1 from their signature song 'Under the Milky Way,' but it came just a little bit too early for this chart. It was released in February of '88 and the chart began in September. I don't think that 'Metropolis' is as good a song as that one (Milky Way is a masterpiece in my opinion) but it is very enjoyable. I like the guitar riff quite a bit--catchy but still in keeping with the band's moody sound. The verses don't do much for me but that chorus is irresistible and Steve Kilbey's vocals are always enjoyable to listen to. This seems to have been a period in rock music when deeper voices were in vogue and I quite enjoy those very masculine sounds.

Here's 'Under the Milky Way,' just in case someone out there hasn't heard it:

 

Now that I've heard "Metropolis", I know two songs by The Church (haha). It's nice, but "Milky Way" is a classic.

 

I hadn't heard The Church before, either song that I recall. I actually like Metropolis a lot. Great sounding song, kept me interested throughout.

Honestly I don't hear what the big deal is about Milky Way at all. It just hits me as an okay song, mostly kind of boring and generic. The only interest at all in it to me was the (bagpipes is it?) solo that pops up out of nowhere in the middle and then is gone again. Metropolis is way better for my tastes.

 

I've said in other threads that the bridge to "Metropolis" has been stuck in my head for going on 29 years.

The band has its diehards but I'm a little surprised that their cult hasn't grown much beyond that over the years. They're still making interesting music and I don't think they've ever made a truly bad album.

 

I remember the Murphy cut and House, they both were helping establish a sound that would soon coalesce into shoegaze. The best cut of them all was Sinead's, truly worthy of a long stint at number one. The other cuts never caught my attention.

 

The Church is one of those bands that have a lot of good songs but are mostly unknown other than the hit, "Under the Milky Way". "Metropolis" and "U.T.M.W." are both good, but I think I prefer the latter due to hearing it more back in the day.
"Reptile" is probably my favorite out of the minimal amount of songs I know from them.

 

I like that Reptile track better than Under the Milky Way too. Strange that would be the "hit" of the three.