'indie' modern rock radio hits of 1994

Why only these five?

ilm scene is crazy
polls start up
each and every day
i read another one just the other day
a special new poll

and then I feel nothing...

I often think of how the summer of '94 was kind of the last gasp of these kinds of late '80s/early '90s college radio darlings getting major Billboard Modern Rock chart action (only one of these bands, the Meat Puppets, appeared on the chart at all after '94, and even then it was a minor hit in '95). '94 also saw the last top 20 Modern Rock hits by the Lemonheads, Morrissey, probably more college radio acts, and by the end of the year Bush and 311 and Live had started their reigns of ubiquity and the big permanent shift away from this kind of stuff had begun.

If you think of other songs that possibly belong among these 5, please suggest them, in a way I'm trying to job my memory about more. Thought about including "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" (which went to #1!) but that kinda fudges the US indie/Our Band Could Be Your Life angle of the above 5.

Sonic Youth, although all these are at least OK.

The year before saw the last of the limeys (Oasis and Moz's '94 #1 excepted).

Whoa, Morrissey got #1?

I often think of how the summer of '94 was kind of the last gasp of these kinds of late '80s/early '90s college radio darlings getting major Billboard Modern Rock chart action (only one of these bands, the Meat Puppets, appeared on the chart at all after '94, and even then it was a minor hit in '95). '94 also saw the last top 20 Modern Rock hits by the Lemonheads, Morrissey, probably more college radio acts, and by the end of the year Bush and 311 and Live had started their reigns of ubiquity and the big permanent shift away from this kind of stuff had begun.

― some dude, Thursday, February 4, 2010 3:39 PM (38 seconds ago) Bookmark

i was 13 and british and recognize three of these, and yea, it felt like (with not much hindsight) that things changed big time soon after. they did in the indie-world here coz of britpop.

xpost

"The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get."

xpost

oh god, cut yr hair in a walk.

Having got into them through their SST catalog, major label Meat Puppets was never my thing, but Backwater is undeniable. I didn't really appreciate it until seeing them at a festival though. That lead line sounded so huge.

headache vs backwater for me.

Mainly this stuff sticks out to me because I was in the thick of still learning about cool alt-rock music via the radio and MTV, staying up to watch 120 Minutes and listening to the 'Out of Order' countdown every weekend and being excited to be able to listen to WHFS when I'd visit my dad in Baltimore. After that point when I started buying albums by a lot of those bands and getting into more obscure stuff via other channels.

xpost to Alfred, ah right - at least it was one of his decent ones.

wow I was entirely divorced from this world at this point; I don't think I listened to anything during this year that wasn't:

- hip-hop
- trip-hop
- jungle/d&b
- industrial
- Green Day's "Longview"

I went with Frank Black b/c I dug its goofy retro sound at the time, and it still comes to mind a lot. I never loved the Pixies, but I liked their big pop moments like "Gigantic" and "Here Comes Your Man", and "Headache" fits with those.

Actually, for each of these bands except SY I like their big pop moments a lot but can pass on the deep cuts (I'm still trying to "get" Pavement all these years later; I'm persistent, what can I say).

oh, also PJ Harvey's 4-Track Demos

I did see some of the deluxe Pavement editions in Fopp, £8

But they looked too, um, full!

i was 13 and british and recognize three of these

I have needlessly distinct memories of Lamacq&Whiley caning all of those apart from the Meat Puppets.

Does 'Loser' belong in another niche or...?

loser was way bigger than these, and came from an act with way less history.

I have needlessly distinct memories of Lamacq&Whiley caning all of those apart from the Meat Puppets.

Does 'Loser' belong in another niche or...?

― kinda sad that everybody gets a blur band (DJ Mencap), Thursday, February 4, 2010 3:52 PM (31 seconds ago) Bookmark

it's the SY one i can't remember. 'loser' was relatively mnstrm i think.

The funny thing is I don't feel like I started paying attention to this stuff in '94 (I was only 12 but I'd been a big alt-rock nerd since Pearl Jam/Nirvana etc. in '92), but Dinosaur Jr. had an even higher charting hit in '93, "Start Choppin'," that I straight up do not remember at all -- don't have the album it on so I'm not even sure I've ever heard the song -- but "Feel The Pain" seemed huge to me.

"Loser" definitely gets an honorable mention as coming from someone who was kind of in the Sonic Youth/Pavement circle, but yeah Beck had no hits before '94 and plenty after so it didn't really fit here imo.

start choppin is great.

id never heard of frank black or any of these other cats so kind of heard 'loser' as part of the same thing. obviously it wasn't tho.

nowadays you'd just become an ilm googler i guess.

"Feel the Pain" had the golf video, which was aired very frequently on MTV.

spike jonze

well sonic youth, meat puppets, and dinosaur jr had all been around since the earyl 80s (actually they all released records on SST) and were arguably in the first wave of american indie rock. frank black was the lead singer of the pixies.

yeah I thought about taking out the Pavement and Frank Black and just making this the "'94 radio hits by SST alumni" (although I guess then all those Soundgarden hits would count too lol)

"Start Choppin'" is more classic rock riffin' than "Feel the Pain" and fit in better with the grunge stuff dominating alternative playlists. I'm sure the video for "Feel the Pain" had a lot to do with the song's chart success. Seems like that window was already closing by late '94, as nothing else hit off that Dinosaur album and Sugar's second LP tanked.

Sorry yeah didn't catch the paying-yr-dues angle, that makes sense

also I am only familiar w/ the Modern Rock chart as a name as opposed to what criteria might exist for appearing on it

yeah I thought about taking out the Pavement and Frank Black and just making this the "'94 radio hits by SST alumni" (although I guess then all those Soundgarden hits would count too lol)

― some dude, Thursday, 4 February 2010 16:08 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Rollins Band 'Liar'?

ah good call -- feels like "Liar" was kind of divorced from audience/vibe of the other songs in this thread but it's totally worth mentioning

Whoa, Morrissey got #1?

On the Modern Rock chart. He only got to #46 on the Hot 100. However, that is his only Hot 100-charting song in the U.S.

Relevant:
15-year-old Jaymc rants about the increasing homogeneity of alt-rock radio

other big indie-ish MR hits of '94: Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" (#3) and the Dambuilders' "Shrine" (#13)

omg the dambuilders--they were gonna write a different song all 50 states right? pre Sufjan

I LOVE that first Dambuilders album.

also in close proximity: The Flaming Lips' "She Don't Use Jelly" hit in '93 and I think one or two singles off Mike Watt's Ball-Hog Or Tugboat? charted in early '95

also: Jesus and Mary Chain's "Sometimes Always". not sure how it did on radio but got a lot of play on Mtv.

well if the Lips count then why not Porno for Pyros, "Pets", MR #1 1993

also Love Spit Love, ""Am I Wrong", MR #3 1994

I LOVE that first Dambuilders album.

You and me both! I also love the two that followed.

ah yeah -- don't remember that one but it got to #4. also on the UK side of the things, "Love Spreads" was huge on US rock radio, weirdly I think bigger than anything from the first Stone Roses album.
xpost re: Jesus & Mary Chain

'94's also the last year REM was a real chart presence.

xp but I guess the Psychedelic Furs weren't commercially under the radar so scratch that one

Sugar's FU:EL rode the previous album's momentum into the top fifty, and scored a top 20 college hit ("Your Favorite Thing"), so it wasn't a flop. If it seems so, that's cuz it was real easy to find for YEARS in used CD bins.

'94's also the last year REM was a real chart presence.

Nah, "Bittersweet Me" and "E-Bow the Letter" were both in the Modern Rock top 10 in '96.

The Flaming Lips' "She Don't Use Jelly" hit in '93 and that Meat Puppets song were played constantly on the "modern rock" radio station that I listened to at the time.

I remember Urge Overkill having a single that got played a lot around that time (not GYBAWS) and can even picture the video but can't remember what it was. Anyone?

probably "Sister Havana"? that's the only one I remember hearing a lot, albeit mainly on 120 Minutes.

Yes! Thank you :D. This was also the time when I would sneak downstairs to watch 120 Mins. every single week so that's probably where I heard/saw it too.

Other things from around that time that might fit:

Anything off Live Through This, Longview or Weezer Blue album?

'Come Out And Play' also I'd've assumed? (also fits the paying dues on indie label theme behind the actual poll)

Also the radio station I mentioned had this thing at the time where ppl would vote for the best new song of the week and some aspie has put them all online. The ones listed for 1994:

Stay (Far Away, So Close) U2 Jan-94
Divine Hammer Breeders Feb-94
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Crash Test Dummies Feb-94
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town Pearl Jam Feb-94
God Tori Amos Feb-94
No Excuses Alice In Chains Mar-94
You Candlebox Mar-94
Return To Innocence Enigma Mar-94
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get Morrissey Mar-94
Spoonman Soundgarden Mar-94
Gentlemen Afghan Whigs Apr-94
Longview Green Day Apr-94
Backwater Meat Puppets Apr-94
Yellow Ledbetter Pearl Jam Apr-94
Miss World Hole May-94
Selling The Drama Live May-94
Closer Nine Inch Nails May-94
Big Empty Stone Temple Pilots May-94
Sabotage Beastie Boys Jun-94
Girls & Boys Blur Jun-94
Shine Collective Soul Jun-94
Come Out And Play Offspring Jun-94
Vasoline Stone Temple Pilots Jun-94
Far Behind Candlebox Jul-94
New Age Girl Dead Eye Dick Jul-94
Labour Of Love Frente! Jul-94
Basket Case Green Day Jul-94
I Alone Live Aug-94
Am I Wrong Love Spit Love Aug-94
All I Want To Do Sheryl Crow Aug-94
Undone-The Sweater Song Weezer Aug-94
Zombie Cranberries Sep-94
Feel The Pain Dinosaur Jr Sep-94
Madam Butterfly Malcolm McLaren Sep-94
Self Esteem Offspring Sep-94
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? R.E.M. Sep-94
Interstate Love Song Stone Temple Pilots Sep-94
Welcome To Paradise Green Day Oct-94
Doll Parts Hole Oct-94
Beautiful Girl INXS Oct-94
About A Girl (unplugged) Nirvana Oct-94
Seether Veruca Salt Oct-94
Spin The Black Circle Pearl Jam Nov-94
Tremor Christ Pearl Jam Nov-94
Landslide Smashing Pumpkins Nov-94
Lightning Crashes Live Dec-94
The Man Who Sold The World (unplugged) Nirvana Dec-94
Voodoo Lady Ween Dec-94
Buddy Holly Weezer Dec-94

lol Candlebox!!

I know most of these don't fit the whole "US indie/Our Band Could Be Your Life angle of the above 5" thing but interesting nonetheless. hopefully.

New Age Girl Dead Eye Dick Jul-94

^ Don't have a clue what this is, but it doesn't look good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEDw9xgSmSc

oh shit I completely forgot about that song. wow.

Think I might pass on that?

she don't eat meat but SHE SURE LIKE THE BONE

With lyrics as awesome as those I don't see how you could possibly not want to give it a listen.

Ew.

oh come on, it was funny, it was the '90s

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Rev105-2.png

Candlebox was the beginning of the end, i.e. the first wave of post-grunge.

Q101, the Chicago alt-rock station, has had a thing for the past few years where they play their top 101 songs of each year they've been around (since 1993) during the last couple of weeks of the year, and then people vote on their favorite year, which they then replay on New Years Eve. Each time they've done it, 1994 has won.

That playlist:
http://www.rocklists.com/q101-1994.html

ENBB's list is ridic, would make a good poll

Madam Butterfly Malcolm McLaren Sep-94

This is from 1985 -- had no idea it was revived nine years later.

Maybe a big influence on Pinkerton, but '94's too early for that.

ftp ftw

I owned all Frank Black's 90s albums and don't remember that song at all. Wd vote Pavement but also wanted to murmur nostalgically in response to the mention of Seether and Divine Hammer, which is what I was actually listening to in '94 (Pavement was next year's obsession - guess you can tell I was always a year behind, seeing as DH was on Last Splash in '93).

Pretty sure I heard "Headache" before I ever heard a Pixies song.

headache is catchy as fuck.

all these songs are str8 fire.

i was hugely into Frank Black at this point -- still love his first two solo albums. What the heck happened?
but yeah, this is a nice list of songs. all good. would never turn off a single one of them were they to come up on the radio.

i had no idea who meat puppets were at that time, i kinda slotted them in with, like, better than ezra and stuff until someone schooled me at some pt. "feel the pain" is just great (and easy to play on the guitar too, v important to me as a teenager). still have never gotten much out of pavement to this day. the last two i remember being kind of disappointing songs by ppl i would have otherwise fought to the death for, at the time.

I heard "Hang On To Your Ego" before I heard a) the Pixies or b) the original, as that one got played on the UK's evening slightly-indie show, as did "Men In Black" and "I Don't Want To Hurt You", but I must've missed "Headache" if it ever got played. (xp)

i was hugely into Frank Black at this point -- still love his first two solo albums. What the heck happened?

His shit got tired? I loved the first album at the time, but even with the cool new filigrees he was already repeating his I-saw-aliens-after-smoking-weed shtick.

i had no idea who meat puppets were at that time, i kinda slotted them in with, like, better than ezra and stuff until someone schooled me at some pt. "feel the pain" is just great (and easy to play on the guitar too, v important to me as a teenager). still have never gotten much out of pavement to this day. the last two i remember being kind of disappointing songs by ppl i would have otherwise fought to the death for, at the time.

― goole, Thursday, February 4, 2010 5:47 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah the first few months that i heard "Backwater" on the radio, i'd always picture the band playing it as kind of nerdy, droll, straight-laced guys maybe with glasses, so it was weird to realize soon after that the Meat Puppets were these kinda wild drug-addled longhairs who'd been making crazy underground records for years.

I remember the evening session playing Headache a lot.

finally thought of a song i feel dumb for not thinking to include in this thread -- Liz Phair's "Supernova" hit #6 in late '94

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

how i'd rank these songs:
Dino > Sonic > Pavement > Puppets > FB

how i'd rank their parent albums:
Sonic > Puppets > FB > Pavement > Dino

how i'd rank their overall catalogs/careers:
Sonic > Dino > Puppets > Pavemnt > FB (solo)

tbh I could listen to all five of these songs on an endless loop all day long and it would be close to my idea of heaven.

Was going to go with "Headache" over "Cut Your Hair" because "Headache" is by far my favorite FB song of that period while "Cut" isn't even top 3 on its own album, but I gotta say "Cut Your Hair" is by a nose the better track. "Shrine" and "Seether" would also have been contenders for me here.

I would happily listen to ENBB's list all the way through.

i went dino jr.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

what is with this ilx silent majority shit these days??

ugh

i'm OK with these results actually -- i started buying Pavement albums because "Cut Yr Hair" and "Stereo" were super catchy songs, eventually realized i kind of hate them and most of their songs, but still really like those songs

what is with this ilx silent majority shit these days??

― goole, Wednesday, February 10, 2010 6:04 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ugh

― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Wednesday, February 10, 2010 6:13 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Haha, you act like Pavement fans are the most disgusting savages or something.

I forgot to vote in this poll, but I probably would've voted "Cut Your Hair," too. It's the first song I ever heard by Pavement, who would eventually (three years later) become my favorite band, and as some dude points out, it's one of their best. These days I probably like Sonic Youth better as a band, but "Bull in the Heather" (which was also the first SY song I heard) isn't as good of a song. As for the rest, "Headache" is great and the other two are all right, but I'm not sure I've listened to any of them within the last 10 years.

i'm a pavement fan and i vote

^bumper sticker

Not disgusting savages at all. I've just never really liked Pavement although I will admit that "Cut Your Hair" is catchy.

oh god, cut yr hair in a walk.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:43 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark

i totally think we should poll that list e posted tho. i know almost all those songs.

Yeah, I will do that soon.

btw CAD:The (enduring) cult of yelling "Freebird"

!!!

Lol, I know!