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

Gin Blosssoms – Found Out About You

It was this very song that got me back into the groove of pop/rock music. It sounded great on the car radio! For me, it was a sign of good musical things that were coming.

I didn't realize this thread had advanced into the era I like in the 90s.

The Cranberries – Linger
I can't listen to this song without remembering how much I heard it on MTV's "The Real World". I love the song and enjoy hearing it from time to time

Radiohead - Creep
Try playing this in a night club! Watch all the guys trying to hit on women slip into a corner somewhere. Then put on "Liar" by Rollins Band to get the other a-holes trying to smoke the panties.

 

This new chart has two songs that scream '90s to me: Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" and Collective Soul's "Shine." I know that Collective Soul is pretty much dismissed nowadays, but they had some good tunes. I was recently reminded of this at a used CD store where they were playing a Collective Soul best-of. "December" was the best thing they ever did, and it's one of my favorite songs of the decade.

 

For my money, Live were one of the worst bands of the era--dull, self-serious mope rock with unappealing vocals. But I guess I'd take "Selling the Drama" over most of what they followed it with; it's a little more tuneful.

I've realized that 1994 seems to represent a tipping point for me with this chart: I've gone from liking the majority of songs in the top 10 (as I did up to 1993) to disliking the majority of them and only liking a few. On this particular top 10, I don't really love any of the songs--if I were to choose a favorite, I'd probably go with Sarah McLachlan's atmospheric "Possession." I also wouldn't flip the station if the "Night in My Veins" came on, but it's not among my favorite Pretenders songs.

And here is the arrival of Green Day. Much like with Beck's breakout "Loser," I really disliked "Longview" and was annoyed that it was such a poor representation of the form that finally gave punk a commercial foothold. I was put off by Green Day for a while, but when "Basket Case" came out I had to admit that it was a solid pop-punk song in the vein of my old-school favorites like the Undertones and Buzzcocks. I never became a massive Green Day fan, but I've liked a fair amount of their stuff. I still don't care for "Longview," though.

Oh, sorry, it looks like "Longview" is a future #1 and I should have held off on talking about it. It wasn't marked as such . . .

 

I personally dismissed Collective Soul then and now--but much to my surprise, Dolly Parton's cover version redeemed "Shine" for me!

 

That was really good! Gotta love Dolly...

 

1. Live – “Selling The Drama”
I really liked Live's debut EP, aggressive but not dumb alt rock, like R.E.M. with a badass postpunk bassist. My the second record they pretty much incorporated that polished post-Nirvana-grunge sound and their lyrics were 1000x worse. We'll always have 'Pain Lies By the Riverside' tho.

2. The Pretenders – “Night In My Veins”
Not a huge fan of the band but this is a lovely song (and an underrated stadium anthem, I heard it a lot at baseball games in the mid-90s).

3. Morrissey – “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get”
These chart reviews remind me how big Morrissey remained in the early 90s; I'd kinda forgotten about that. He still has it here.

4. Green Day – “Longview”
Ah, on the cusp of another shift here as grunge begins to give way to pop-punk.

5. Sarah McLaughlin – “Possession”
Just a brilliant song; her first three albums are very good. Though I always feel she left something on the table career-wise: her subsequent move to be kind of an AC folkie really didn't do her talents justice. She has a great voice for electronic music (see her single 'Silence' with Delerium), and she could have taken a Bjork-type route that would have been amazing. I know she had crippling writer's block and some performance anxiety for a few years and that's what shifted her sound, so I wish she'd gotten together with a producer or collaborator at this point who could have helped her a bit..

8. Counting Crows – “Round Here”
As with Sheryl Crow on the previous chart, we're at the point where record labels are promoting conventional rock artists as 'alternative', using the label as kind of a minor-league system.

9. Erasure – “Always”
Even today you can count on great singles from Erasure.

10. Enigma – “Return To Innocence”
I would not have guessed that Enigma would have had a top-10 alt single in 1994, but I guess most commercial stations saved a little time for tastefully exotic Enigma/Deep Forest-type songs.

 

98. "Longview" by Green Day

#1 for 1 week starting the week of May 11, 1994.

Artwork for commercial overseas releases
Single by Green Day
from the album Dookie
Released February 1, 1994


"Longview" is the lead single from American punk rock band Green Day's third album, Dookie. The song was the band's first single to top the Modern Rock chart in the U.S. The music video for this song received heavy airplay on MTV and is largely credited for breaking Green Day into mainstream popularity. The video was directed by the Bay Area music video director Mark Kohr who collaborated with the band on many music videos.

The song describes intense boredom. Lyrically, the song is about a day spent sitting around the house, doing absolutely nothing of importance, masturbating, and smoking marijuana until the days are no longer fun. The song captured the attention of many youth at the time with its overt allusions to masturbation. Bassist Mike Dirnt has stated that the famous bass line intro to this song was written one night while he was high on LSD,[3] and what remains on the album is what he and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong could recall in the morning.[4] At most shows in the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour and Revolution Radio Tour, Billie Joe picked a random audience member to sing the song or play the song on electric guitar onstage.[5]

The song is named after the city of Longview, Washington, where it was first performed in 1992.[6] The band had already written the song prior to arriving in the city.[7]

In 1995, Green Day received four Grammy Award nominations, including Best Hard Rock Performance for "Longview". The band won Best Alternative Music Performance for Dookie.[8] The song was ranked at number 3 on the list of the Best Singles of 1994 by Rolling Stone.[9]

Top 10 for the week of June 11, 1994

1. “Longview” - Green Day
2. “Fall Down” – Toad The Wet Sprocket*
3. “Selling The Drama” – Live
4. “Night In My Veins” – The Pretenders
5. “Shine” – Collective Soul
6. “Black Hole Sun” – Soundgarden
7. “Big Empty” – Stone Temple Pilots
8. “Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)” – The Offspring*
9. “Round Here” – Counting Crows
10. “Always” – Erasure

*= future #1

 

Now we are getting into the stuff I really enjoyed. Unlike some of you, but then I love rock music, and a lot of this is kind of a throw back. Soundgarden, STP, PJ, I really dug a lot of it. Not all the albums were great, but the radio hits were great.

 

Wow! I really like every single song on this week's chart! I'm not going to talk about them all for the sake of brevity but I will name my top 3.
"Longview" by Green Day
"Selling The Drama" by Live
"Round Here" by Counting Crows
The rest are really good too, but these three I can still listen to today and be just as happy and they're just as enjoyable as on the first listen.

 

Catchup...

93. Beck – Loser
Awesome song with crazy lyrics and a Spanish chorus, Beck introduced himself to the world and no one knew what to make of him. I remember people posing the question if he was gonna be like a Dylan poet type or he was just a load of junk. He turned out to be a jack of all music trades and did awesome to continue songs that think outside the box like this. Ramshackle rhythm, catchy chorus, half-spoken delivery- all odd aspects that work together.

94. Crash Test Dummies – MMM MMM MMM MMM
A song that is trying to be a companion piece to Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”, this tune about a kid that has weird things happen, it’s supposed to be a story song that tugs at your heart but the lyrics are too odd and the vocal sounds a bit like Vedder of Pearl Jam making this feel more derivative. I never liked it but actually started coming around recently after hearing it a few times. I can see how someone wouldn’t like this though.

Cracker – Get Off This
Great song almost as good as “Low” – Cracker really know how to write a hit despite their resistence to the prior decade as Camper Van Beethoven. It’s gritty alt rock that plays like 70’s classic rock.

95. Tori Amos – God
A heavily textured piano track that has a cool groove but not much melody. It feels more like an album track but something hooked people but I must be missing it.

 

96. Morrissey – The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get
He got me so bad here yes. I don’t like him solo much so I ignored him and this song hooked me with both verse and choruses so I’m closer I guess. The composition just feels well written – it’s almost a touch of 90’s Britpop in it and Morrissey fits that genre well.

97. Live – Selling The Drama
I have the first 2 albums then dropped off as they streamlined their sound closer to generic. This was the first song of 5 hits off ‘Throwing Copper’ their 2nd album and I thought it was a step up and with more muscle in their sound, they became a big post-grunge act. They have a lot of dramatic moments and dynamics that can flesh them out well and I think that’s why they hit radio better the 2nd time around after a decent debut. This song works its hooks properly and the lyrics are ear catching.

98. Green Day – Longview
What can I say. I’m one of a handful of Green Day fans on this forum and I trust me when I say if you don’t like ‘em I’m used to it so feel free. Billie Joe Armstrong’s voice can be annoying, a lot think they are punk posers, the music isn’t great, still, I like ‘em. I got into them through “When I Come Around” and to be honest, it helped me become a hardcore alt rock fan since I kept waiting for that song on radio. Then I heard and saw the video for this and loved it like many teens in the day. Great bassline, massive hooks on the verses and choruses, big explosions from the quiet like Nirvana, a bratty vocalist- it all became a new formula – pop punk and a big success sparking radio to play other bands like The Offspring, Rancid, Bad Religion, etc.

 

Some other top 10's...

Elvis Costello – 13 Steps Lead Down
Definitely Costello has entered the 90’s especially when hearing the post grunge finish on a mostly typical alt rocker from the veteran Costello. The chorus could be better but it’s got his stamp and plenty of energy.

Enigma – Return to Innocence
Geez, talk about returns – I’m returning to the 90’s – I haven’t heard this since -wow – this is pretty refreshing compared to all the guitar rock we have on chart now- like a beach soundscape rhythm with whispering vocals and glittering effects – the chanting is what I remember the most. I really enjoyed this. Goes well with warm weather.

Erasure – Always
Wow another I haven’t heard this those days – man this is pretty good despite it sounding like 80’s pop. The vocals are unique and all the electronic blips don’t take away from the song. The textures are nice – I never had issue with 80’s textures. Nice to hear this after so long.

Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
Never was a fan and this was alright but it got overplayed quick or I got tired of it quick.

Counting Crows – Round Here
Never liked this at all – and then it got overplayed too. Still don’t dig it. Adam Duritz is just overly dramatic too much of the time for me.

 

99. "Fall Down" by Toad The Wet Sprocket

#1 for 6 weeks starting June 18, 1994.

Single by Toad the Wet Sprocket
from the album Dulcinea
Released 1994
Format CD
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:24
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Todd Nichols, Glen Phillips
Producer(s) Gavin MacKillop

"Fall Down" is a single by alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. The song is included on their 1994 album Dulcinea. "Fall Down" was co-written by Glen Phillips and Todd Nichols. The music video for the song was directed by Samuel Bayer. The song was featured in the film Drop Zone.

"Fall Down" reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in June 1994 and remained there for six weeks before being supplanted by The Offspring's "Come Out and Play" in July. It also reached the top five of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, peaking at number five, and was a Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching number thirty-three. The success of the single helped to make Dulcinea Toad the Wet Sprocket's first top 40 album on the Billboard 200.

Top 10 for the week of June 18, 1994

1. “Fall Down” – Toad The Wet Sprocket
2. “Longview” – Green Day
3. “Selling The Drama” – Live
4. “Shine” – Collective Soul
5. “Night In My Veins” – The Pretenders
6. “Black Hole Sun” – Soundgarden
7. “Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)” – The Offspring*
8. “Big Empty” – Stone Temple Pilots
9. “Girls And Boys” – Blur
10. “Round Here” – Counting Crows

* = future #1

 

Personally speaking, we've entered the dark ages here. Some of these songs still make me cringe. Nice to see Blur, though! It will be interesting for me to see what "Britpop" made a dent here; it was what I was listening to and I really don't recall hearing a ton of it on the radio.

 

This doesn't necessarily mean much in itself, but I think it's telling: the first chart entry in this thread, from 20 January 1990, had seven British artists. The 18 June 1994 chart has only one.

 

If I happen to see anything maybe I could add it under the top 10.

Other entries from June 18, 1994 considering, older artists, women and Britpop:

12. "Breaking Up" - Violent Femmes
17. "Cornflake Girl" - Tori Amos
20. "Say Something" - James
22. "Miss World" - Hole
28. "Hey" - Boingo
29. "Angels" - David Byrne

 

The June 11, 1994 chart is the first time there's not a song I really like in the top ten. Things shifted more quickly than I realized--as I said earlier, even at the end of 1993 I was liking more songs than not. But not anymore. Going further down the chart for that week, I do find a few good ones: "Bull in the Heather" by Sonic Youth (#15), "Say Something" by James (#21), a couple of others. But overall, this has quickly turned into something that wasn't really for me.

I already wrote about that week's #1, "Longview." As for "Fall Down" by Toad the Wet Sprocket (June 18), I didn't remember it until playing the video. It sounds morose and bland to me, kind of like a less appealing Gin Blossoms. It is at least more melodic than much of the rest of the top 10.

I like Blur, but I wasn't a big fan of "Girls and Boys."

 

Live - Selling the Drama

It did nothing for me back then and it does nothing for me now. The music is really plain, as is the arrangement. Actually, the bass has some pretty good fills and playing. That's all, though. I'm not a fan of the singer's voice and that's the primary thing here.

Others in the top 10 - I'm surprised and thankful that Shine didn't make #1. That song makes me want to punch things; utterly horrible. Black Hole Sun seems like it was more mainstream rock than "alternative". Great song, though. Really iconic.

Green Day - Longview

I really dig the walking bass line for the verses. It's a slacker anthem, but the post-punk quality really works. Great, catchy chorus and bridge. I didn't care for it at the time, but listening now it's a ton of fun and brings some life into all the boring and serious stuff like Live and Counting Crows.

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Fall Down

Cool band that doesn't get enough love. Fear is my favorite album from them, but Dulcinea has some great tracks like Fly From Heaven, Windmills & Hope. Toad is a kind of throw-back band. They remind me of groups like Big Head Todd & the Monsters. Solid songwriting for the most part. This one is a pretty good song and enjoyable to listen to, even if it's more on the generic side.

I'm really interested to see where the chart goes from here on because at this point, right after graduating high school, I stopped listening to the radio and didn't watch much MTV either. It wasn't a conscious decision to turn off the radio, just something I noticed in the fall where so many bands started popping up in conversation and I'd never heard of them. When you don't have those two huge factors to discovering new music and you're not surrounded people at school who listen to it, it's not surprising that I'd feel a bit on the outside.

 

"Fall Down" is another one I hadn't heard since the '90s until I clicked on the video.

 

The only one in this chart I haven't already spoken about is "Girls & Boys" by Blur. I first heard this song as a remix by the Pet Shop Boys and that's still my favorite version but it was the first Blur song I'd ever heard even though I knew of the band before this. Great party song. Still one of, if not my #1, top 3 Blur songs.

 

Live – “Selling The Drama” - Now that grunge or Alt or whatever you call it had become commercially viable, here comes the next wave. The more punk oriented bands of this wave, like Offspring & Green Day were quite good. Some bands, like Smashing Pumpkins, went their own way. But the copycat bands were inevitable. Enter Live. At the time I liked all of this music but today I find it boring and unoriginal. Even today my biggest memory of this song is how we used to make fun of the opening line: To love a frog. oh, but wait, Silverchair has yet to surface. Ugh!

The Pretenders – “Night In My Veins” - Always good to have a new Pretenders single. I'd long since stopped purchasing their albums, but I dug the singles as they were dropped.

Green Day – “Longview” - Dookie was a pretty fantastic album. I don't know why I was always surprised by Green Day. They struck me as a bunch of dumb, snotty kids but they made some great, lasting, intelligent recordings. And, boy, did they make a good first impression.

Collective Soul – “Shine” - I know all of three songs by Collective Soul. Again, I liked them upon release, but today I find them a bit lethargic. They suffer from second wave alt band syndrome. I saw this band live and didn't find them engaging - just familiar.

Soundgarden – “Black Hole Sun” - I don't know why I like this song so much. It has all of the elements that I don't like from the second wave of grunge/alt bands. But it's a really good song. I also like the somewhat psychedelic vibe to it. This is a winner for me and one that still sounds fresh to my ears.

Counting Crows – “Round Here” - I really like 1996's Recovering The Satellites. But the debut album strikes me as a bit unfocused.

“Disarm” – Smashing Pumpkins - Whether you like the Pumpkins or not, you have to admit that they had some interesting and original ideas. This orchestral punk/grunge thing is pretty magnificent.

I'm convinced that Yellow Ledbetter doesn't have any actual lyrics.

Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)” – The Offspring - I know I'm jumping the gun discussing this one but I'm usually so far behind that I'm going to take this liberty. I really dig Offspring. They came out of the gate with this highly original track and just kept putting out melodic, quality punk. I saw them live about a year ago. Fun show if you could avoid all of the fighting in the audience. I'm too old for that stuff. I digress. This song still sounds fresh and exciting to me, as does a lot of Offspring music.

“Girls And Boys” – Blur - Blur weren't really on my radar in the 90's. I knew this one and a few other tracks but they came and went on US radio so quickly that I almost missed them. It wasn't until I purchased a hits disc years later that I realized just how brilliant they are. Great track.

 

100. "Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Separated)" by The Offspring

1 for 2 weeks starting the week of July 30, 1994.

Single by The Offspring
from the album Smash

Released March 10, 1994
Format Vinyl, Cassette and CD
Recorded 1994
Genre Punk rock
Length 3:17
Label Epitaph
Songwriter(s) Dexter Holland
Producer(s) Thom Wilson


"Come Out and Play" (sometimes subtitled "Keep 'Em Separated") is a song by the Californian punk rock group The Offspring. It is the seventh track on their third album Smash (1994) and was released as the first single from that album. Written by frontman Dexter Holland, the song was the second single to be released by the band, after "I'll Be Waiting" (1986). It is considered to be The Offspring's breakthrough song, as it received widespread radio play,[1][2] with first attention brought by Jed the Fish of KROQ-FM,[3][4] and reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, bringing both the band and the punk rock genre to widespread attention.

Top 10 for the week of July 30th, 1994.

1. “Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)” – The Offspring
2. “Fall Down” – Toad The Wet Sprocket
3. “Vasoline” – Stone Temple Pilots
4. “Prayer For The Dying” – Seal
5. “Black Hole Sun” – Soundgarden
6. “Girls And Boys” – Blur
7. “Stay (I Missed You)” – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
8. “Basket Case” – Green Day*
9. “Labour Of Love” – FRENTE!
10. “Einstein On The Beach (For An Eggman)” – Counting Crows*

* = future #1

Further down...
14. "Saints" - The Breeders
19. "Closer" - Nine Inch Nails
22. "Sabotage" - Beastie Boys
27. "The Sun Does Rise" - Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
30. "Until I Fall Away" - Gin Blossoms

 

I was never a fan of grunge but I bought Siamese Dream after hearing Disarm on the radio.

 

This is gonna sound weird, but the two words that come to mind when I think of this era of Alternative are: Howard Stern. I don't know how people listened to him in the rest of the country, but the station he was on in NYC leaned HEAVILY into the modern/alt rock thing around 1994-95, so once his show was over it was almost a guarantee you'd hear the songs that were topping this chart over and over and over and over... I was way more into hardcore punk and hip-hop and thus I hated most of this stuff, but The Breeders were great and I couldn't deny how catchy Green Day were.

 

2. “Longview” – Green Day Awesome song, this song is the sound of 1994 to me. It was everywhere, but I never got sick of it.

4. “Shine” – Collective Soul -- this osng I did get sick of, but I like it for good old fashioned seventies retro fun.

6. “Black Hole Sun” – Soundgarden -- Awesome song, brings tears of nostalgia to my eyes.


9. “Girls And Boys” – Blur -- iconic classic, funniest song and band of the 90s.
10. “Round Here” – Counting Crows -- Didn't care for Mr Jones, but this song was actually quite a good piece of singer-songwriting that I liked a lot.

Disarm: great song, it's got the same progression of a million Euro-disco songs, so it's fun to sing over it

All these songs make me feel the air conditioning of a very hot and weird summer when I did too much acid and definitely hung out with the wrong people!