Every Billboard Modern Rock/Alternative #1 Single (Part 1: The 1980s)

Finally went and looked at the chart for Sept. 10, 1988. "All That Money Wants" is a great track, as is "What's The Matter Here" by 10,000 Maniacs. And down at #28, "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS is one of my favorites. Kinda surprised at some of the acts, and there's a few I've never heard of!

 

Agreed, "Crash" is terrific. I prefer it by a wide margin to "Just Play Music", which for me is not one of BAD's better singles.

It's interesting to see a couple entries in the top 10 that fared even better on the pop charts: "Wild Wild West" and "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" peaked at #1 and #3, respectively.

 

I'll have to join in on this. Last year I had a similar idea and I started listening to the #1 Alt rock songs the way you're going to do it but I started this decade to get caught up on some stuff I missed. Then I went on to do some other stuff without doing too much. So I'll try to keep up here.

 

Here's the next chart-topper:

3. "All That Money Wants" by Psychedelic Furs



#1 for 3 weeks

"All That Money Wants" is a song by the English rock band the Psychedelic Furs, released by Columbia Records in July 1988 as a single from the band's best-of compilation album All of This and Nothing.[1] The B-side was "Birdland". In the UK, the same single was released on Columbia's CBS label.[2]

The single reached No. 75 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 1 in the U.S. on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.

 

All That Money Wants
I dig the Furs. I think they had a great sound and Richard Butler was an excellent and charismatic vocalist. While 'All That Money Wants' isn't my favorite of their hits (I'd take Pretty in Pink, Love My Way or The Ghost in You over this one) I do really enjoy it. It has that cool sort of Bowie-lite sleaze to it with a good riff, great vocal and strong hook. This was the first of this band's three number one hits on this chart, and I think they certainly would have had a few more if the chart had started up just a few years earlier.

 

I'm going to call this one a failed experiment. Thank you for those who showed an interest, but this thread idea unfortunately seems to be a dud. I'll just tip my hat and move on. I've got to call it like I see it.

 

I hate that, as there isn't much discussion of '80s alternative around here, outside of a couple of bands.

 

Yeah, this thread is right up my alley but I guess that's the minority opinion around here.

 

Re: the Furs, I remember buying All of This and Nothing on kind of a whim at the record shop near campus during my freshman year, several years after the compilation's release. At the time, I was only familiar with "Pretty in Pink", "Heartbreak Beat", and "Love My Way", but that was apparently good enough for me as the CD only cost a few bucks. I was pleasantly surprised at the set's depth of quality songs. "Heaven", "Sister Europe", "The Ghost in You", and "All That Money Wants" are among my favorites and these should have all been bigger mainstream hits.

I'm glad that the Modern Rock chart started up in time for ATMW to find success. That opening riff is perfection!

 

Ok, that Furs tune is one I liked and like you said, Bowie light, describes it well. As you stated, much of this material was UK stuff pimped on MTV and I didn't really like much of it- too bland and pop. BUT as you also said it gets better as the tunes get more diverse. Blondie was nice.

 

One reason I think that Siouxie and the Banshees' song made it to number one is because of the popularity of the band and that they had been around for so long. The college radio stations were going to play it regardless.

 

Don't give up the thread yet! I just found it!

For my money Peepshow is S&tB's best record–I've always found them a bit overrated; great singles but spotty albums. Peepshow and Tinderbox are the two that really hang together, 'Peek-a-Boo' was an odd left turn for them–sparse and strange with some unconventional instrumentation–and a bold choice for first U.S. single from the record. Brilliant 12" mix. Not surprised this was a Modern Rock #1, but very surprised that it came near the Top 40's neighborhood; is sounded like nothing on pop radio at the time.

That first Top 10 is a bit of a surprise–some mainstream hits (Escape Club, Info Society) and Adult Contemporary-adjacent stuff (10,000 Maniacs, Ziggy Marley, late UB40), but I would have never guessed Shriekback's 'Intoxication' was a top 10 modern rock single (although that track suffers from horrible 80s production; there's a band that lost the plot). But no indie music; this chart would be really different if they sample non-commercial college stations.

Psychedelic Furs are another band I've always been meh on, at least aside from Forever Now. By 'All That Money Wants' their sound had become really streamlined and slick (the opposite of S&tB I think: 'Peek-a-Boo' showed they were still capable of surprises.)

 

I do think this thread idea is a great one and even though the forum is stuck in other areas of music, there's probably a way we can continue this. Maybe we can talk about some of the other songs on the chart each week there's a new #1. That way people can mention some of their faves along with the #1 song. But then we'd have to have like a top ten posted on here too.

 

I can post another song if a few folks are interested in continuing. I like @WilliamWes's idea of including the full top ten (at least for the first week of a song being #1). Here is the song that hit #1 following 'All That Money Wants':

4. "Desire" by U2


#1 for 5 weeks beginning October 22, 1988



"Desire" is a song by Irish rock band U2 and the third track on their 1988 album, Rattle and Hum. Released as the album's lead single, "Desire" was the band's first number-one single in the UK and Australia. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., and topped both the Modern and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, the first song to reach the top of both of these charts simultaneously. It reached number two on the Dutch Top 40. At the 31st Annual Grammy Awards, "Desire" won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.[1]

U2 cite the Stooges' song "1969" as the primary influence on "Desire,"[2][3][4][5] which is an interpolation of the Bo Diddley beat.[6]The band originally recorded a demo of the song at STS Studios in Dublin. After re-recording it at A&M Studios in Los Angeles, they agreed it sounded "tighter and more accurate", but according to guitarist the Edge, "it lacked feel". As a result, they abandoned the re-recording in favour of the original demo.[7]

The top ten during the first week of 'Desire's' stay at the top:

01. 'Desire' by U2
02. 'Peek-a-Boo' by Siouxsie and the Banshees
03. 'All That Money Wants' by Psychedelic Furs
04. 'What I Am' by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
05. 'Put This Love to the Test' by Jon Astley
06. 'Carolyn's Fingers' by Cocteau Twins
07. 'I've Got a Feeling' by Screaming Tribesmen
08. 'Back on the Breadline' by Hunters and Collectors
09. 'The Great Commandment' by Camouflage
10. 'Motorcrash' by the Sugarcubes

 

Desire
I kind of go back and forth on U2. I like them on a song-by-song basis. There are some songs in their catalog I absolutely adore but other material that leaves me completely cold. As a fan of the Bo Diddley beat, I enjoy 'Desire' and I like some of the other songs from the Rattle & Hum era as well (especially 'Angel of Harlem' and 'All I Want is You'). I like the music video a lot as well, as it captures Hollywood in 1988 and is a cool time capsule. I also liked Bono's long hair look during the late '80s.

Trivia-wise: U2 are one of only six artists to reach #1 on this chart in three different decades (for them, the '80s, '90s and '00s). The other five are Beck, RHCP, Green Day, Foo Fighters and blink-182 (who all reached in the '90s, '00s and '10s).

As for the rest of the top ten: my favorite is 'Motorcrash' by the Sugarcubes.

What with me being a gigantic Bjork fan and all. Such a great song.

'Carolyn's Fingers' is also fantastic. Nobody sounds like Liz Fraser.

 

This was about 3-4 months before I started listening to alt rock radio full-time, so I really only know a few on the chart. "Desire" has always bugged me - I think it's the harmonica. It just sounded like they were trying too hard, and I think I was getting pretty burnt out on U2 in general (especially since I wasn't the hugest fan to begin with). "What I Am" was everywhere - hated it at the time (age 16) but might seek it out for another go-round. "Motorcrash" is solid, though. "Peek-A-Boo", I only know from Beavis & Butt-head. The rest? No clue whatsoever. I guess it really was darkest before dawn.

I'm looking forward, just from a personal standpoint, to the next few years of charts - hope you keep it up, Parachute Woman!

 

Peek a boo is ok but I was lucky to have seen the Banshees on the JuJu tour and this single pales in comparison to the 1981 stuff they released. Saying that, compared to a lot of the other music that got in the charts in the late 80s Peek a Boo is phenomenal!

Don’t really know the others on the list apart from The Primatives and the UB40 one.

I like this thread BTW. Only just found it otherwise I would have participated earlier !

 

"Desire" is a good song, though I prefer "Angel of Harlem" (one of my favorites of theirs).

I haven't bought or heard a U2 album in almost 20 years, and their "oldies" like "Desire" now sound stuck in a long-gone time because I've lived two distinct lives musically: U2 and everything else commercially popular until around 2000, and since then jazz, Joni (shout out to PW--haha), and all kinds of stuff unfamiliar to 90% or more of the people I know. My collection will go straight to Dumpster City when my time is up...

 

Just wanna comment that I've always preferred the "Hollywood Remix" version of U2's Desire. It had it's own music video on MTV (although I can't seem to find the right version online so wdIk) and was included in an episode of Miami Vice so was pretty popular back in the day. It's like the original mix but on steroids with more siren, samples of LA newscasters, a more pronounced piano and a pair of Raelets!!):

Not quite as good as the remix of U2's When Love Comes to Town with Little Richard but hopefully we'll get to that later in the countdown...

 

I liked Desire. i liked the Bo Diddley feel they had going. I actually really liked the album, I just wished they had put the live stuff on one disc and the studio stuff on another.
It's really interesting to see Hunters and Collectors in the top ten. Great Aussie band. Human Frailty the album prior to the album this song was on was their pinnacle for me, magnificent album.

 

Nice to see the Sugarcubes up there also. The first song I heard was birthday and I had to know who owned this magnificent voice. I heard Regina a bit later on and then Debut came out and I had my answer.

 

At least in the 80s it meant what a lot of us thought it meant, e.g. the kinds of songs/albums found on this chart.

By the mid 90s 'alternative' had just become 'rock and roll bands that weren't classic rockers.'

Sorry, just a tangent but had to say that! I miss the 80s/early 90s days of college/alternative radio.

 

I am also just seeing this thread for the first time.

This is interesting to me because I suspect I know some of these songs, but don't recognize them by the title.
I was listening to "modern rock" stations in the mid '90s.
But at this time in 1988, I was still in college, studying my "rear" off, and not hearing much new music; I had to stick to more familiar material because it helped me get through the studying.

Nevertheless, I recognize a few titles here ("Desire", "Need You Tonight", "Wild Wild West").

I was not enamored of U2 at this point, I felt that The Joshua Tree success had gone to their heads, and my college friends were heavily into them, which was OK - --- but they ridiculed my older musical preferences, which was not OK, and so we had a little distance there.

Anyway, I did like "Desire" a lot, it seemed like they seemed a little looser at this point, but it wasn't until the '90s that I felt that they (U2) really enjoyed being who they were, and not who they weren't.

 

When U2's Rattle and Hum came out, I wasn't not a fan of the band. I was a kid into heavy metal and remembering some of the girls in my class liking U2. I've broadened my musical tastes since then and like U2.

The biggest surprise to me is the inclusion of The Screaming Tribesmen. I discovered this band in the last few years and had no idea they were well enough known to be in the top 10 of anything official. The 2nd song on the 1988 album Bones + Flowers called "Igloo" is one of my favorites by them. Maybe it will make a chart appearance in future weeks. I'm not looking ahead so I have no idea what is coming up.

I think that Camouflage song is pretty good and don't recall ever hearing it before. It sounds a bit like Depeche Mode crossed with New Order.

 

By Rattle and Hum, I had stepped away from U2; I discovered them with "I Will Follow" on some soundtrack album which also had The Waitresses, loved War & by 1988, I was done following. I enjoy the single now, but still don't know any of there post Joshua Tree stuff.

I still recall seeing Bjork & The Sugarcubes on one of their 1st North American concerts at Club Soda in Montreal that summer. So good. So very good.

Hunters & Collectors were among the best live band in the late 80s & early 90s: primitive and throbbing, and just pure earnest passion.

The Edie Brickell song is super groovy & chill.

By 1988, Psychedelic Furs were old news to us.

The other tracks, I don't know at all.