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

So just comments on some of the stuff posted so far;

Siouxsie and the Banshees- Peek a Boo Of course, Siouxsie sounds great in her odd way and it’s not quite as good as some of their other tracks, but this is okay alt dance pop. It shows the diversity of the alternative charts when it first started. There was a strangeness to alternative that disappeared later.

Big Audio Dynamite – Just Play Music
I too had enough of a Clash infatuation to get into their other work and I like a number of songs though sometimes I have trouble with their full lengths. This is a strong one that I was still surprised hit #1. Sometimes there music isn’t quite single ready but I guess this one had a certain something.

The Psychedelic Furs – All That Money Wants
One of their songs I think is closer to hum drum and I’m not hearing anything special in it though it is good. Kind of straight rock with some mild hookage.

U2- Desire
While I’m not a huge U2 fan, here they are still kind of alternative though way more mainstream than just a few years earlier and this song is pretty undeniable. I don’t really listen to this band but they do have those songs where its tough to argue against it being great and this is one.

The Sugarcubes – Motorcrash
Pretty good and pretty short – it was enjoyable while it lasted.

 

Hey! Thank you so much for all the participation. Let's try to keep some momentum going. Here's the next number one:

5. "Orange Crush" by R.E.M.


#1 for 8 weeks beginning November 26, 1988


"Orange Crush" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released as the first single from the band's sixth studio album, Green, in 1988. It was not commercially released in the U.S. despite reaching number one as a promotional single on both the Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks (where, at the time, it had the record for longest stay at number one with eight weeks, beating U2). It peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's then-highest chart hit in Britain, where they promoted the song by making their debut appearance on Top of the Pops.[1]

The video for the song, directed by Matt Mahurin, won the band its first VMA, for Best Post-Modern Video. "Orange Crush" was also the first song to win in the category.

The song was placed on R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. Records compilation In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 in 2003, and a live version appears on the R.E.M. Live album recorded in Dublin in 2005.

The song's title is a reference to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange manufactured by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical for the U.S. Department of Defense and used in the Vietnam War.[2][verification needed][dead link][3][verification needed][dead link] Stipe opened the song during The Green World Tour by singing the famous U.S. Army recruiting slogan, "Be all you can be... in the Army."[4] Stipe's father served in the Vietnam War.[5]

 

I rank "Desire" behind "All I Want Is You" and "Angel of Harlem", but enjoy 'em all well enough. At the time, though, U2 didn't really click for me for some reason. Achtung Baby was the first U2 album I owned, and thankfully after that I worked my way back through their discography and grew to appreciate -- and love -- a lot of their earlier stuff.

For the longest time I thought "The Great Commandment" was a Depeche Mode song - nice to see it in the top 10 here, along with Cocteau Twins and the Sugarcubes.

 

Orange Crush
I really love R.E.M. through the mid '90s, but this isn't one of my favorites of their singles. It's enjoyable, but quite repetitive. If the chart had started just a year sooner in '87, I think they would have topped the chart with The One I Love and It's the End of the World as We Know It, both of which I like better than Orange Crush. That said, R.E.M. is one of the most important alternative bands of this or any era, so it's great to see them here.

 

Hey, I just discovered this wonderful thread! Awesome idea for a thread! I started college in fall of 1988 so this music was literally the soundtrack to my life. I'll play catch-up real quick then I'll definitely stay tuned in real time.

1. "Peek-A-Boo" by Siouxsie And The Banshees
I always loved this song and it was out at the time I was just starting to go to clubs and I found a great "alternative" club that let underage kids like me drink. So this would be a great song to go "dance" or whatever you want to call it that we did to songs like this.
2. "Just Play Music" by Big Audio Dynamite
Great song but it's also one of the weaker IMHO songs off my favorite album by them. Tighten Up Vol. 88 is so great that this song just seems so-so in comparison.
3. "All That Money Wants" by The Psychedelic Furs
I don't remember this song at all. It doesn't help that it really pales compared to their earlier stuff either.
4. "Desire" by U2 Ok song off an alright album. As another poster earlier in the thread said, I too like "Angel Of Harlem" & "All I Want Is You" much better.
5. "Orange Crush" by R.E.M.
I got into R.E.M. when Reckoning cane out so I was familiar with their "sound" and I have to say, this kinda threw me for a loop when it was released. Didn't sound like classic R.E.M. at all. I warmed to it quickly enough and now its parent album Green is one of my favorite albums by them.
Ok...all caught up. I'll stay tuned for further developments.

 

Not a fan of "Orange Crush", but I loved "Stand." My favorite memory of "Stand" was this guy in a bar I used to go to back then getting totally unhinged whenever this song would play because he thought R.E.M. sold out. Good times...

 

I like this song fine but it's not amazing. However, it was sort of a clearing of the decks after a period of fairly commercial slickness for the Furs, which was nice. The subsequent album "Book of Days" is pretty strong and seems overlooked.

 

I was a U2 fanatic and "Desire" left me fairly cold. That said, the single was a must-buy for the great b-side "Hallelujah Here She Comes".

I'd love to see this thread continue; this was a crucial era for me musically.

 

Amen! Me too.

 

U2 and R.E.M. having back-to-back #1's is fitting, especially during this chart's early days. I like "Orange Crush"a lot... definitely one of the standouts on Green for me.

 

I don't have REM's Green, so I'm not too familiar with all the songs on it. "Orange Crush" and "Stand" got quite a bit of radio airplay so I know these songs pretty well. I'd have to say "Orange Crush" is my favorite song on the album that I know. It sounds more serious than "Stand" and I've always thought of REM as being a serious band. The subject of "Stand" reminds me of something Barenaked Ladies would sing about.

 

"Orange Crush"
By Green, I was over R.E.M. (that sounds so fickle & shallow) having been on-board since Fables of the Reconstruction & then working back. Even though I didn't care for Green, I did like this song a bunch.

 

I'm listening to Orange Crush right now. I don't think I've ever heard it before. I have a number of REM albums / CDs but not Green.

It's alright but nothing special. It ain't no Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight or All the Way to Reno, or even Fall On Me.

U2 can be very uneven; for example Vertigo was a lousy kick-off track but Miracle Drug and the next one were quite good.

Stand I have heard but I don't care for it at all.

 

I've always thought that "Orange Crush" felt very U2-like to me. Especially the break with the guitar "solo". I think it's a decent song; it rocks and it sounds designed for the stadium. Which it probably was.There's an emotional core to the song that hits me that the lyrics kind of miss. But then that's the way Stipe lyrics are.

It's not my favorite song on the album, but I like it quite a lot.

Green was a great album, and where I was at in semi-rural Missouri that song, as well as "Stand", of course, was pretty ubiquitous on rock radio, if not pop radio. ("Stand" was the pop song. Well, "Stand" and "Pop Song.") "Stand" was an enormo-hit. It seemed to go on for months and months and months until you hated it. There was a pretty big REM push from radio in my market. But it was still "alternative", it did nothing to unseat G'NR from the throne from which they were ruled the Midwest. I didn't get into REM really for another few months, and then I did it from the beginning (Chronic Town, Murmur) and so it wasn't until 1990 or so that Green made an impact on me (as it was still pretty big album that year in college, pre-Out of Time.

 

Love Orange Crush. Love Pop Song 89 even more. Do NOT like Stand -- never have.

Green is the album that got me into R.E.M. I remember I was listening to this album the first time I drove across the George Washington Bridge to NYC in the summer of 1989.

Eventually I did hear their earlier material. I don't like their '90s and later material as much, although I don't hate it either.

 

Next up, something a bit less well-known than the last two:

6. "Charlotte Anne" by Julian Cope


#1 for 1 week beginning January 21, 1989


"Charlotte Anne" is a song by English singer Julian Cope released as the first single from his album My Nation Underground in 1988. The song was Cope's only chart-topping single on any U.S. chart, reaching number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States for one week in early 1989.

And here was the complete top ten the week this one was at the top, at the beginning of 1989:
01. "Charlotte Anne" by Julian Cope
02. "Orange Crush" by R.E.M.
03. "Fisherman's Blues" by the Waterboys
04. "Angel of Harlem" by U2
05. "The Great Commandment" by Camouflage
06. "I'm an Adult Now" by the Pursuit of Happiness
07. "Fine Time" by New Order
08. "Tears Run Rings" by Marc Almond
09. "Stand" by R.E.M.
10. "Sweet Jane" by Cowboy Junkies

 

Charlotte Anne
I can't claim to be deeply familiar with Julian Cope or his work. I know he was in the Teardrop Explodes and I know a couple of songs, but I haven't explored him much. My first thought upon hearing "Charlotte Anne" for the first time was that it seems that Elbow got their entire artistic aesthetic from Mr. Cope. Guy Garvey sounds so much like him. "Charlotte Anne" is a very enjoyable midtempo alternative song with a strong hook on the chorus. That "Charlotte Anne--I do understand" bit tends to get stuck in my head after I listen to this track. I like it quite a bit. A deserving hit.

The remainder of this week's top ten is quite eclectic. You've got the Celtic flavor of the Waterboys, the soul pop of "Angel of Harlem," a punky song in "I'm an Adult Now," hardcore electronica from New Order... I absolutely adore Cowboy Junkies' ethereal cover of VU's "Sweet Jane" but I wanted to highlight this one:

Here's "Tears Run Rings" by Marc Almond (late of Soft Cell), in at #8 this week:

Delectably melodic and likeable.

 

Hmmm...I remember both Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes but I don't remember this song at all. It's ok I guess. Sounds vaguely dark and melodic like a lot of alternative music around the late 80s. Not bad.

 

"Charlotte Anne" is a good tune. Can't say I've ever heard it before--this was during my "old life" (haha). Others on this list I've already mentioned being a big fan of are "Angel of Harlem" and "Stand."

Also here is the cool little Canadian band The Pursuit of Happiness, whom I didn't know about until a few years later when their mindless, fun tune "Cigarette Dangles" appeared on the equally mindless and fun Beavis and Butt-head.

 

U2- "Desire" - this is a great U2 single, quite a solid effort in my opinion.

REM's "Orange Crush" and "Stand" - fun, enjoyable songs by REM. The first single I remember from REM was a few years earlier "South Central Rain I'm Sorry." South Central is probably my fav. REM single overall. For the most part, the earlier albums of REM are strong in my opinion. I lost interest in REM by the 90s for the most part.

 

Yeah, I remember The Pursuit Of Happiness's "I'm An Adult Now". That's not a bad song. It got a lot of airplay on my local college/ alternative rock station, 97X, The Future Of Rock N Roll.

 

I'm not familiar with much of Julian Cope's work either and never heard that song.

I see REM has two songs in the top 10, which is the 1st by any band so far.

The Pursuit of Happiness song was originally released in 1986 and was rerecorded for this charting version.

"Fine Time" isn't anywhere near my favorite New Order songs.

"Sweet Jane" was rereleased in 1994, so that is why I remember it so well.

I like that Waterboys song, which I never heard before.

 

For derailing the thread again, PW will probably smack my hands with a ruler like the nuns did (haha), but I thought you might enjoy this cover by Hem, whose singer, Sally Ellyson, has the voice of an angel:

 

There are some REM that I love a lot, and much else that I find to be incredibly monotonous. Orange Crush is one of the monotonous ones. Stand is one of their pretty good ones.

U2 Desire was pretty good too, although they have had many other hits that are much better. The rest of the youtube clips posted so far in this thread I had either never heard before, or if I did they made no impression on me at all to remember hearing them. Honestly except for the Furs song they make me switch off to something else before a minute in so I will probably forget them by next week too. I'll forget the Furs song just because it's otherwise generic.

Maybe I'll discover something further into this thread. Though the 80's are fairly dire overall in my music listening past.

 

"Fisherman's Blues" | The Waterboys
I really liked This Is The Sea, but Fisherman's Blues blew me away. Still a record I can listen to any day, I don't have to be in the mood.

"I'm An Adult Now" | The Pursuit of Happiness
One of my friend's older brother did sound for this Toronto band, so we saw them every time they came to town (which seemed often). Love Junk is still their greatest moment, and was ubiquitous around Saskatoon at the time.

"Sweet Jane" | Cowboy Junkies
I saw the band at a small bar which never hosted bands I liked, but when The Trinity Session hit the street, there was a big buzz about this band and how different they were. What I remember most is sitting on the tavern floor (yech) surrounding this quiet ensemble hearkening back to an earlier time. I actually just spun this record last week when I got up at 1:30am when I couldn't sleep.