Back In The Day: The Billboard Modern Rock Charts From 35 Years Ago

89 was a weird time. Lots of early 80s alternative acts were finally getting signed to subsidiaries of major labels but really going no where. Looking over the last few weeks of charts, a lot of bands that I know (and own) but the songs and albums from 89 were on a bit of a low ebb. Not saying they are crap, but most were past their prime. 89 was no 84
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
New Additions Cont’d
U2 - “Dancing Barefoot”


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Bohnjaggs said:
From one of my wife's least favorite songs ("Veronica") to one of her all-time favorites ("Last Of The Famous International Playboys")

And again, like "Crash" by The Primitives, I had no idea that The Proclaimers originally released this song in the 80's. It later got popular in the 90's because of the Benny & Joon soundtrack.
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I was looking ahead at some 1994 lists and noticed that similarly to the Primitives and the Proclaimers tunes, the Cowboy Junkies “Sweet Jane” would also reenters the charts in 1994 thanks to Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers soundtrack. The 90s was the prime soundtrack era.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I was looking ahead at some 1994 lists and noticed that similarly to the Primitives and the Proclaimers tunes, the Cowboy Junkies “Sweet Jane” would also reenters the charts in 1994 thanks to Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers soundtrack. The 90s was the prime soundtrack era.
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Stop peaking ahead, you will ruin the surprise
 
Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 04/29/1989
IMG_3300.jpeg

No. 1 Song
XTC - “Mayor Of Simpleton”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
Simple Minds - “Mandela Bay”
Sam Phillips - “Holding On To The Earth”
The Proclaimers - “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”
Tanita Tikaram - “Twist In My Sobriety”
Fire Town - “The Good Life”
Easterhouse - “Come Out Fighting”

New Additions
Joe Jackson - “Nineteen Forever”


Lou Reed - “Busload Of Faith”


Tom Tom Club - “Suboceana”
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
According to Spotify “Mayor Of Simpleton” ranks number 5 on their most popular behind:

“Making Plans For Nigel”
“Dear God”
“Senses Working Overtime”
“Generals And Majors”

I am familiar with “Dear God” and “Senses Working Overtime” I should probably check out the others too.
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Senses Working Overtime is an all time favourite of mine.

Funny, I am familiar with almost all the new artists this week, and yet I still could not hum any of these tunes for you. I stick by my comments last week, 1989 was dominated by indie dinosaurs
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
According to Spotify “Mayor Of Simpleton” ranks number 5 on their most popular behind:

“Making Plans For Nigel”
“Dear God”
“Senses Working Overtime”
“Generals And Majors”

I am familiar with “Dear God” and “Senses Working Overtime” I should probably check out the others too.
Click to expand...
I was at a Karen’s Hallmark the other day and Making Plans For Nigel was playing. It made me shop approximately 4 minutes longer than I had planned.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
New Additions Con’t
House Of Freaks - “Sun Gone Down”
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Holy crap, and apologies for getting dark. I was listening to this as I wasn't familiar with it at all, then went to the wikipedia entry for the band and discovered that one of the members (Bryan Harvey) had been murdered (along with his wife and kids) in 2006. It tugged at the backstory of a song written by the Drive~By Truckers - "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife", which was written about the murder of Bryan and his family.

en.wikipedia.org

House of Freaks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
According to Spotify “Mayor Of Simpleton” ranks number 5 on their most popular behind:

“Making Plans For Nigel”
“Dear God”
“Senses Working Overtime”
“Generals And Majors”

I am familiar with “Dear God” and “Senses Working Overtime” I should probably check out the others too.
Click to expand...
But could that be from us dummies listening to it repeatedly for the last month or so?
 
imtheocean said:
Holy crap, and apologies for getting dark. I was listening to this as I wasn't familiar with it at all, then went to the wikipedia entry for the band and discovered that one of the members (Bryan Harvey) had been murdered (along with his wife and kids) in 2006. It tugged at the backstory of a song written by the Drive~By Truckers - "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife", which was written about the murder of Bryan and his family.

en.wikipedia.org

House of Freaks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Click to expand...

Wow. I was completely unaware. That is one of my favorite DBT tracks too.
 
imtheocean said:
Holy crap, and apologies for getting dark. I was listening to this as I wasn't familiar with it at all, then went to the wikipedia entry for the band and discovered that one of the members (Bryan Harvey) had been murdered (along with his wife and kids) in 2006. It tugged at the backstory of a song written by the Drive~By Truckers - "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife", which was written about the murder of Bryan and his family.

en.wikipedia.org

House of Freaks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Click to expand...

Fucking hell
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
According to Spotify “Mayor Of Simpleton” ranks number 5 on their most popular behind:

“Making Plans For Nigel”
“Dear God”
“Senses Working Overtime”
“Generals And Majors”

I am familiar with “Dear God” and “Senses Working Overtime” I should probably check out the others too.
Click to expand...
I would say "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead" is pretty big for them too. And then Crash Test Dummies covered it shortly after for the Dumb & Dumber soundtrack.

But having not really discovered XTC until the early 90's it's still surprising to me to see how long Mayor sat atop this chart.
 
Speaking of XTC, while its well known that they stopped touring due to Andy's stage fright, the drummer started touring again recently with a band playing XTC songs (w/ the rest of the bands approval). Saw them last year, and it was a really enjoyable show, well worth searching out if they are near you. Fun to hear the classic songs live.

extc.band

Official website for EXTC- XTC's Terry Chambers and Friends - TOUR DATES

TOUR DATES. Official website for EXTC- XTC's Terry Chambers and Friends, a pop, punk, rock group from Swindon
extc.band extc.band
 
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