'indie' modern rock radio hits of 1994

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 'cool' station I listened to at the time played Shudder To Think's "X-French Tee Shirt" and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Flavor" a lot, though neither charted nationally

"X-French Tee Shirt" was played briefly on the alt-rock station in Chicago, but no JSBX.

Also: (the London) Suede got their last airplay on my college radio station that year ("Stay," "New Generation").

xp re REM did you guys not get the pushing an elephant up the stairs song in 98 or whatever as well?

"The Great Beyond" peaked at #33 on the MR chart; they were done as radio fixtures by that point.

Folk Implosion's "Natural One": #4 in 1995.

xp totally forgot those New Adventures in Hi-Fi singles did well. their relevance seemed to taper off so quickly after Monster that it's easy to think that's their last genuinely popular release, even though it's kind of awful.

Monster was their last multiplatinum #1 album, yeah.

Wow, really didn't know that the Meat Puppets ever had this sort of success. Did the Afghan Whigs have any hits in this era?

Folk Implosion's "Natural One": #4 in 1995.

― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Thursday, February 4, 2010 11:32 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ah, good one. Sebadoh's only charting song, "The Ocean," was in '96, which feels like a really late outlier compared the most of the other bands here.

'Flame' got into the UK Top 30 even later than that IIRC.

xxp "Debonair" got to #18 Modern Rock in '93.

So weird seeing Lou Barlow on TOTP. xp

also "Honky's Ladder' (#29) in '96. weirdly "Gentlemen" didn't chart, although that was the only one I heard at the time from MTV play.

Wow, Billboard has one of the worst websites I've ever seen.

Oh, also! Veruca Salt's "Seether": #8 Modern Rock in '94. I interned at Minty Fresh Records during the summer of '98, and they were still living off the success of that song.

I should reiterate for British people, in most cases these songs only charted on the Modern Rock chart, which meant only they were getting airplay from "modern rock" or "alternative rock" radio stations. They weren't showing up on any Casey Kasem countdowns.

so why is pavement on here and not nirvana? weird critieria issues?

Kurt Cobain died.

did these show up on casey kasem countdowns?

xpost lol

rick dees' famous fake intro to "feel the pain"

Urge Overkill sort of fit in here don't they?

Definitely Bull in the Heather for me although that's mainly because Kathleen Hanna is in the video and that was at the height of my BK/KH obsession. I did like the Dino Jr song though. Have always hated Pavement.

Urge Overkill kinda fit -- 2 MR hits in '93, then "Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon" in '94 and one more in '95

I love "Bull In The Heather" and frequently champion Jet Set-era Sonic Youth on this board, but I ultimately voted for "Feel The Pain," which is so great and singular in the context of Dinosaur Jr.'s discography, nothing else quite like it.

Honorable mention that SY's 5th and final MR hit was also in '94, that weird version of "Superstar" from the Carpenters tribute album that for some reason was in that Juno movie.

GYBAWS was super-big tho, coz of pulp fiction, feels a bit different to me

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)

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!