Modern Rock #2 Hits, Pt. 4: From Grunge to Alternapop (1994–99)

I feel like I won't get many chances to vote for Matthew Sweet in these polls, so "Sick of Myself" just over "Connection."

Sick of Myself is one of my favorite songs ever.

pj

Great sequence:

PJ Harvey – "Down by the Water"
Elastica – "Connection"
Matthew Sweet – "Sick of Myself"

Good sequence:

Garbage – "Stupid Girl"
R.E.M. – "E-Bow the Letter"
Soundgarden – "Burden in My Hand"

to quote Coug, the best we could do:

Fatboy Slim – "Praise You"
Smash Mouth – "All Star"
Pearl Jam – "Last Kiss"
Blink-182 – "What's My Age Again?"

in previous polls tons of the #2s were songs that haven't been played on any station in ages, but this is the peak era that the currently standing alt-rock stations are most nostalgic for, so i hear most of these songs all the time still. "E-Bow The Letter" probably the most glaring one that permanently disappeared from playlists probably the minute it stopped charting. "Thirty-Three" was a weird one, i don't remember hearing it on the radio nearly as much as the other Mellan Collie singles that mostly charted lower. i get excited to occasionally hear "This Is A Call" or "Big Bang Baby" or "Sick of Myself" on the local '90s at noon' request hours.

Pretty Noose

always thought that song was such a huge buzzkill, even relative to the rest of Down On The Upside, which i like as an album.

Quite a few of these are in the 'second- or third-best single off the album' category for me.

"E-Bow the Letter" is definitely a classic case of a short chart life but a high chart peak due to radio curiosity for album lead singles by huge bands - #2 within three weeks of its debut, followed by a couple more weeks lingering in the top ten, and finally a fast drop off the chart altogether (see also: Pearl Jam's "Who You Are", U2's "Discotheque"). "Bittersweet Me" only got to #6 but ended up being a bigger hit in the long run.

Unfortunately the New Adventures in Hi-Fi era pretty much marked the end of R.E.M.'s domination on modern rock radio (save for a few sporadic appearances in later years)

Not a bad list as far as these things go, but there's only one song on here that I've continued to listen to on a regular basis...

Despite all my rage I'm still just rat in a - CAAAAAAAAGGGGGEEEEEEE!!!!!

i'm voting Big Bang Baby cos that song was a lotta fun

fuck that Green Day song with a rusty needle

always thought that song was such a huge buzzkill, even relative to the rest of Down On The Upside, which i like as an album.

Down On The Upside is one of the quintessential overlong rock records. It would have been a classic 40 minute record. I love Pretty Noose. Burden In The Hand is the one I skip.

Voted for "Praise You". Gives off some serious good vibes, and I replayed You've Come a Long Way, Baby to death for weeks after first getting my hands on a copy. Was also tempted to throw in a vote for Spacehog, however. Other honorable mentions:

Soundgarden – "Black Hole Sun"
Weezer – "Buddy Holly"
Oasis – "Live Forever"
Matthew Sweet – "Sick of Myself"
The Smashing Pumpkins – "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
Garbage – "Stupid Girl"
The Smashing Pumpkins – "Thirty-Three"
Fuel – "Shimmer"
Smash Mouth – "All Star"
Blink-182 – "What's My Age Again?"

Who was responsible for blocking Soundgarden and STP?

I threw a bone to Sick of Myself. Live Forever would be my second pick.

Went for Burden in My Hand, terrific tune.

Who was responsible for blocking Soundgarden and STP?

Soundgarden:
"Black Hole Sun" – Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Fall Down"
"Pretty Noose" – Tracy Bonham's "Mother Mother"
"Burden in My Hand" – 311's "Down"

STP:
"Vasoline" – The Offspring's "Come Out and Play" and Green Day's "Basket Case"
"Interstate Love Song" – R.E.M.'s "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"
"Big Bang Baby" – Oasis' "Champagne Supernova"

Just out of curiosity, is this list comprehensive? Feels like the last half of this time period is only represented by about 7 songs.

On the mainstream rock charts, "Interstate Love Song" was, I believe, the biggest hit ever at the time -- 15 or 16 weeks at #1.

I think this is my favorite #2 group -- I loved every single one of these at the time, and as stated upthread, most of these are still in regular alt-rock rotation or "90s at noon" rotation.

In the end, voted for "Vasoline" because Purple was my favorite album of all time in 1994.

Alternate universe for the "disappointing 1996 albums" thread from earlier: Would these albums have been bigger hits with different, catchier lead-off singles more representative of their earlier success?

Soundgarden - "Burden in My Hand" (just catchy as all hell) over "Pretty Noose"
REM - "Bittersweet Me" (sounds like an Automatic for the People-era track) over "E-Bow the Letter"
Counting Crows - "A Long December" ("Round Here" redux) over "Angels of the Silences"
Sheryl Crow - "Everyday is a Winding Road" (as radio-friendly as they come) over "If It Makes You Happy"
Pearl Jam - "Hail Hail" (resembles louder leadoff singles like "Go" and "Spin the Black Circle") over "Who You Are"

the world is a vampire

Just out of curiosity, is this list comprehensive? Feels like the last half of this time period is only represented by about 7 songs.

Yeah, pretty sure this is the full list - only 3 songs hit #2 in 1997 and 1998 combined (though a lot more stalled at #3 during those years)

I don't know if "Bittersweet Me" would have done the trick for REM.

Otm, any follow-up to Monster would have suffered the fate of New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

of the three singles I heard "Bittersweet Me" most but "Electrolite" has found a second life as a supermarket/CVS favorite.

spacehog

I have definitely heard Electrolite at CVS.

Defintely Sick of Myself. Wasn't that the Quine era too for Sweet?

'wake up bomb' shoulda been the leadoff single from a biz standpoint but i love 'e-bow', love that it was a hit (for a minute at least), and the only way that happens is as leadoff single. the fall off was happening regardless. until the green day i like or at least tolerate w/ bemused nostalgia everything on this list. only thing after that i'd salvage is 'praise you' and maybe blink 182

Who was responsible for blocking Soundgarden and STP?

Soundgarden:
"Black Hole Sun" – Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Fall Down"
"Pretty Noose" – Tracy Bonham's "Mother Mother"

...

STP:
"Interstate Love Song" – R.E.M.'s "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"

Only in the 90s.

Wasn't that the Quine era too for Sweet?

Yep. I think it's just Richard Lloyd on this one.

I heard "Praise You" last night at the mini golf course, between Mariah Carey's "Emotions" and "Nuthin But A G Thang".

voted matthew sweet

Just out of curiosity, is this list comprehensive? Feels like the last half of this time period is only represented by about 7 songs.

Yeah, pretty sure this is the full list - only 3 songs hit #2 in 1997 and 1998 combined (though a lot more stalled at #3 during those years)

― Frontier Psychiatrist, Thursday, May 29, 2014 9:14 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Really shows how much 96 was the last year for a a particular vibrant period of mainstream modern rock. Maybe the lack of variety of Peak-#2 singles from 97-99 is just a random fluke, but I feel like it must mean that playlists were seriously smaller and less varied during those years.

You see the same trend in the #1s too. You go from 18 different #1s in 1994, and then each year is a decrease until in 1999 only 9 different songs hit #1

Voting Buddy Holly for sentimental reasons. First time I heard it was kids singing it in school and I thought it was some silly rhyme they had made up. Plus the guitar heroics on the first album are incredible.

Voted for 'E-Bow The Letter'.

Interstate Love Song is probably the correct answer, but I'm gonna vote for Blink cause I'm afraid no one else will.

Alternate universe for the "disappointing 1996 albums" thread from earlier: Would these albums have been bigger hits with different, catchier lead-off singles more representative of their earlier success?

Soundgarden - "Burden in My Hand" (just catchy as all hell) over "Pretty Noose"
REM - "Bittersweet Me" (sounds like an Automatic for the People-era track) over "E-Bow the Letter"
Counting Crows - "A Long December" ("Round Here" redux) over "Angels of the Silences"
Sheryl Crow - "Everyday is a Winding Road" (as radio-friendly as they come) over "If It Makes You Happy"
Pearl Jam - "Hail Hail" (resembles louder leadoff singles like "Go" and "Spin the Black Circle") over "Who You Are"

― LimbsKing, Thursday, May 29, 2014 12:07 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm gonna say no -- putting a less catchy/accessible/familiar lead single before the sure thing 2nd single is a luxury for established artists and many of those acts could've slowed their commercial decline by not indulging in that tradition at that time, but all those declines seem pretty inevitable to me.

Also I'd argue that "If It Makes You Happy" and "Angels of the Silences" aren't really bad first singles at all. And "A Long December" is kind of a morose ballad, so I definitely understand not using that as your lead single.

In any case I'd say that the runaway success of the first Sheryl Crow and Counting Crows records had a certain lightning-in-a-bottle component that neither of those artists were going to top, regardless of how the rest of their career worked out.

I'd argue there's no real "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" On New Adventures.

Even the rockier uptempo numbers have the whiff of 'superior album track' to them.

i still hear 'if it makes you happy' all the time so no idea why it in that discussion other than the followup didn't do as well as the debut, which happens all the time w/ huge debuts from female solo acts. the second mariah album didn't sell as well as the debut, it wasn't because 'emotions' was the wrong choice for first single.

balls otm, she also continued to be a multiplatinum chart presence with multiple top 20 singles for like 7 more years after the self-titled album. Totally a different category than the artists she's being lumped in with on that list.

yeah. if it made that many people happy, it can't be that bad.

"Live Forever"

Like I said in the NJ thread, the s/t Sheryl Crow album does not feel like a letdown.

For the life of me I can't find it, but I distinctly remember an Entertainment Weekly or Rolling Stone article from early 1997 (the only two magazines I subscribed to at the time) describing all the the 1996 sophomore slump albums, and Sheryl Crow's was definitely lumped in with the others.

I guess I must be alone in thinking "Everyday is a Winding Road" is superior single. Upbeat, catchy, reminiscent of "All I Wanna Do." "If It Makes You Happy" seemed so...downtrodden and depressing at the time. Have grown to love it and the album very much since.

to my ears each single was better. "A Change Will Do You Good," with that chorus organ line, is terrific.

Tim Finn on harmonies on EIAWR iirc

Don't really vote in these things (love reading the threads tho), but WOW that "Love Spreads" went to #2.

jesus i love a lot of these songs. "big bang baby" over "in the meantime," "sick of myself," "don't speak," "live forever" and a couple songs that i will never ever voluntarily play but i will always smile when they come on the radio: "all star" and "black hole sun."

This is pretty much everything I hate. I'd possibly not skip Garbage – "Stupid Girl".

On the contrary, I love nearly all of these. Maybe a few that I'm indifferent to (Creed, Collective Soul), but nothing that I outright hate and this is easily the best selection of #2s.

The alternate lead single timeline is interesting but (as mentioned upthread) I'm not sure if "If It Makes You Happy" belongs in there - it enjoyed a good chart run (I recall it being bigger than "Everyday Is a Winding Road", though both singles were pretty successful), and Sheryl Crow wasn't all that much of a bomb relative to the other albums listed alongside it.

"If It Makes You Happy" hit #10 and "Everyday" #11.

Yeah, neither one went away fast, much to my annoyance re: the screechy chorus of "If It Makes You Happy," or maybe I have it mixed up now with my mother's mocking impression when it would come on the radio. But hearing them in my head they both sound great now, and yeah, I always dug "Change" too. The album's good too - and, refreshingly, only fifty-six minutes long, practically a punk EP by that era's standards. Check "Sweet Rosalyn" if you like the singles, also "Maybe Angels."

As for the poll, hrm.

AWESOME

Soundgarden – "Black Hole Sun"
Soundgarden – "Pretty Noose"
Garbage – "Stupid Girl"
R.E.M. – "E-Bow the Letter"

GREAT TO PRETTY COOL, BUT MOSTLY I'VE JUST HEARD THEM TOO MANY TIMES NOW

Stone Temple Pilots – "Interstate Love Song"
Weezer – "Buddy Holly"
Pearl Jam – "Better Man"
Spacehog – "In the Meantime"
Stone Temple Pilots – "Big Bang Baby"
Smash Mouth – "All Star"
The Smashing Pumpkins – "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"

GOOD

Stone Temple Pilots – "Vasoline"
Oasis – "Live Forever"
No Doubt – "Don't Speak"
Blink-182 – "What's My Age Again?"
Soundgarden – "Burden in My Hand"
Foo Fighters – "This Is a Call"

NOT QUITE SO GOOD

Bush – "Everything Zen"
Pearl Jam – "Last Kiss"
The Smashing Pumpkins – "Thirty-Three"

DULL

Fuel – "Shimmer"
Green Day – "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
Fatboy Slim – "Praise You"

JUST GROSS

Collective Soul – "December"
Creed – "One"

DON'T REMEMBER

The Stone Roses – "Love Spreads"
PJ Harvey – "Down by the Water"
Matthew Sweet – "Sick of Myself"
Elastica – "Connection"

The four songs from female-fronted bands are my favorites here. It's down to PJ vs Elastica.
"Praise You" is really good too.

i voted for Matthew Sweet but I do love "What's My Age Again?" and the Spacehog song ... and the Foo Fighters song ... and most of those STP songs ... and Elastica and "Buddy Holly," of course. good list!

Such a classic era for catchy straight-ahead alt-rock. Voted This is a Call

is that the worst song on Mellon Collie? that song is terrible.

Which one? There are two on the list.

neither of which are anywhere close to the worst song on Mellon Collie, imo

Worst song on this list: "Down by the Water"

waht

this list has "Love Spreads"

and "Everything Zen." I'm no knee-jerk Bush hater, but that song is abominable. Can't imagine how it was chosen as the lead single for their record, let alone how it became such a success.

Snrub never disappoints

I remember doing a speech in 9th grade on "How to Play the Guitar" which was really an excuse for me to show off my (terrible) guitar skillz and I did a medley at the end of like "Basket Case" and other bullshit songs and I ended with "Everything Zen" and everyone was bobbin their heads along I felt like such a rock god and was all ready to go out and buy one of those tight fitting floral print shirts like Gavin and I had this vision of the future hit me which flashed the videos for "Mouth (remix)" and "The Chemicals Between Us" and the phrase "BENZEDRINE TELEPHONE" kept blinking in front of my face and in an instant I smashed my guitar on the ground and ripped my shirt off and ran out of the classroom screaming

got a B+

Which one? There are two on the list.

sorry, Thirty-Three. Ugh. "The music video for "Thirty-Three", directed both by Billy Corgan and then-girlfriend Yelena Yemchuk, is a series of images shot in stop-motion, ending with a re-enactment of theMellon Collie album cover."

What I don't get is that I listened to the radio much more in 91-94 than I did in 94-99, but I like this list a lot better.

I can tolerate "Everything Zen" but Gavin's lyrics are pretty cringeworthy imo

"Love Spreads" is great, BTW.

might have voted for 'interstate love song' or 'love spreads' or 'live forever' or 'connection'

ended up voting for 'sick of myself'

Still don't know what "she's alright but she's my sister" means.

And what other alt-rock hit from this era had a 1:15 guitar intro before any lyrics

none.

disappointing that it took five years for this to come out but for a lead off single they could have done a lot worse.

i'm 50/50 on that album. think a bunch of it is actually pretty damn good.

"10 Storey Love Song" fits right on the debut.

E-Bow

"Good Riddance" has the longest run at #2 in this chart's history, btw; 13 or so weeks stuck behind the equally omnipresent "Sex and Candy" (and with "Given to Fly" stuck behind them at #3 for a good portion of that time)

"Given to Fly" would make a much better #2, kind of amazed it's that high though. By rights "Good Riddance" should be #1, not that I like it at all but it's probably the most generally well-known song of any on this list.

"Good Riddance" hit #11 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart during that limbo in which Billboard didn't count airplay-only singles. It might have been a genuine top ten hit if released in physical form.

It was the Iris and Uninvited were (possibly) kept off the top spot from those old rules.

It was the YEAR...

impossible to choose between "big bang baby" and "Interstate love song". big bang baby wins if we include the video, i guess.

weiland does such a great "lennon w/ shredded larynyx" whine for the chorus

Cobain, in other words i guess lol

"Interstate Love Song" is good and all but "Big Bang Baby"'s novelty endeared itself to me more.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

A lot of pre-1999 songs in the list were famous casualties of the Billboard airplay rule (all STP/Soundgarden songs, "Buddy Holly", "Better Man", "Live Forever", etc.) "Don't Speak" definitely would've been a #1 Hot 100 hit had the label issued a physical single (second longest stay atop the airplay chart, right behind "Iris"). Pretty sure the success of "Iris" was what finally made BIllboard give in and let airplay-only singles chart on the Hot 100, which also resulted in some ridiculously low peaks for some of the big airplay hits which were already declining in popularity (#9 for "Iris", #42 for "Torn").

And the Rembrandts - I'll Be There for You

god, if Billboard had incorporated the viewership of Friends into Hot 100 metrics we would've been in trouble

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140310021400/degrassi/images/3/31/Yeah-baby-gif-joey-friends.gif

best song that reached #1 on airplay but was never allowed to chart on the billboard hot 100 1995-1998

Voted Garbage, surprising myself - it 'felt' more like a #2 genre chart hit, and I've gotten to vote for E-Bow, Pretty Noose etc. in many other polls. Some weird disparities in weight class here - some momentum-driven fanbase things, some legitimate megahits, and some oddball things that I perceive as wayyy lower-tier hits, Modern Rock #14s if you will. Much as I'd love to live in a world where E-Bow was this actually popular song just barely denied the crown (an ''O Superman'' if you will)....

If you will, if you will.

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

Hmmm, surprised about some of the goose eggs in these poll results – would've expected "Don't Speak" to get at least one vote, guess not.

It's vile, so yeah..

"Don't speak" is better than most of this crap.
Fucking stone roses.