they were the Flock of Seagulls of the mid nineties, down to the ludicrous hair and non-entity band mates.
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:30 (eleven years ago) link
to the faithful departed was a pretty good album actually
― fauxmarc, Friday, May 25, 2012 6:23 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
http://jjscoaching.com/wp-content/uploads/ConfusedMan.jpg
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:33 (eleven years ago) link
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, May 25, 2012 6:30 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
The British press found it really fucking funny that the bassist used to be in Transvision Vamp, if I remember.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:35 (eleven years ago) link
ha I'd totally read a 600-word defense.
xpost
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:35 (eleven years ago) link
This is a really, really bad list. Comes down to 1979 vs. Pepper though, and I've always loved Pepper for whatever reason so that one gets it.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:39 (eleven years ago) link
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, May 25, 2012 6:35 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
If only because it would be funny in ways that the actual album isn't!
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:46 (eleven years ago) link
It's funny to me that "E-bow" is cited as REM's last big hit, because I don't recall ever hearing it on the radio. OTOH, "Bittersweet Me" was fairly huge here during its run, but then disappeared afterwards.
― Hare Kinsey (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
well, that was back when some bands were big enough that their 1st single would get played to death for at least a few weeks no matter what it sounded like, but there was usually a 'safter' follow-up waiting in the wings to at least attempt to restore momentum
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
see also: "Hail Hail" trying and failing to save No Code from driving away fans in droves
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
That's true. I remember reading in Rolling Stone that Warners begged them to have "The Wake-Up Bomb" as the first single.
― Hare Kinsey (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:51 (eleven years ago) link
that '96 RS interview is terrific btw
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:52 (eleven years ago) link
do u feel the way u hatedo u hate the way u feel
― call all destroyer, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
link? (xp)
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
meanwhile "Electrolite" lives on in supermarkets across the land
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
xxxxpost:
I don't recall 'E-Bow The Letter' getting much radio play either. I remember the video being broadcast on a couple of shows, but that's it. 'Bittersweet Me' seemed to get more play, but disappeared just as fast if I remember. I remember 'Electrolite' getting the most play out of all of the New Adventures In Hi-Fi songs. I saw the video to 'How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us' only ONCE, and that was a very very late night on MTV. Having said that, I don't rememeber any singles from Monster getting any kind of serious airplay here in the UK aside from 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth?' and 'Strange Currencies'. I recall 'Bang And Blame' getting one or two plays, and I don't remember 'Tongue' or 'Crush With Eyeliner' getting any at all.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
well, it might be behind the RS firewall; it was a cover story, I think.
My first issue! (But I actually got it for the Garbage story in the lol "College Section") xpost
― Hare Kinsey (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:55 (eleven years ago) link
hell even "Star 69" got airplay in my neck of the woods
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:55 (eleven years ago) link
i remember i was just getting into Patti Smith when it came out and i was like "oh jeez guys you're killing me, i was starting to really dig Horses!"
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:55 (eleven years ago) link
"Star 69" was a top 10 modern rock hit! definitely one of the bigger non-Pearl Jam radio hits without a video at the time
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 18:56 (eleven years ago) link
Monster charted like 8 songs in the Modern Rock surveys.
― Hare Kinsey (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 25 May 2012 18:58 (eleven years ago) link
'Star 69' definitely was neither a single here and nor did it get any airplay.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:00 (eleven years ago) link
I don't think it was a single here either: one of those things we call airplay or album rock tracks.
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:02 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.radiohitlist.com/KROQ/KROQ-1996.htm
E-Bow got some perfunctory play in L.A. before drowning...
"Bulls on Parade" was everywhere, did that not qualify as a "Modern Rock" track? Also surprising that "The Distance" didn't hit #1.
LOL at Porno for Pyros' Tahitian Moon in the top 10. I listened to KROQ every day and can barely remember that track.
― skip, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:10 (eleven years ago) link
"Bulls On Parade" only hitting #11 is pretty crazy
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:11 (eleven years ago) link
tahitian moon got a lot of mtv play
― fauxmarc, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:12 (eleven years ago) link
can't wait for 1997, that's when things REALLY go off the rails.
― skip, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:12 (eleven years ago) link
I saw a lot of E-Bow on Muchmusic, I loved it in the same way I love Video Games - laidback melancholia kinda vibe.
― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:12 (eleven years ago) link
1997 - The Verve Pipe, Third Eye Blind, The Wallflowers, Chumbawumba, Marcy Playground, Tonic, "Good Riddance"...good riddance
― skip, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:14 (eleven years ago) link
Smash Mouth
― skip, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:15 (eleven years ago) link
"Swallowed" sounds like Pixies B-Sides.
― billstevejim, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:31 (eleven years ago) link
The album went #1
― billstevejim, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:32 (eleven years ago) link
oh i know, but the single was pretty inescapable on radio
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:33 (eleven years ago) link
YO IT'S TIME FOR RAGE
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:34 (eleven years ago) link
xp I heard "Star 69" on the radio a LOT but more in 95 than 96.. At the time it seemed way easier for non-singles, album-tracks and b-sides to receive heavy spins, depending on how big the artist was.
― billstevejim, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:34 (eleven years ago) link
― billstevejim, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:35 (eleven years ago) link
i really think Pearl Jam not making videos, and not releasing some of their more obvious hits as singles, might've opened things up for radio programmers to pick songs they wanted to play
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:38 (eleven years ago) link
Well, remember too that this was right before the age of Clear Channel (iirc, the bill allowing "Big Radio" was signed in late '96).
― Hare Kinsey (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:42 (eleven years ago) link
There probably just wasn't as much room for proto-nu-metal rap/rock fusion on the charts back then. It was sorta breaking new ground. It's kinda on par with how "Have You Seen Her?" made it higher on the mainstream charts than "U Can't Touch This" (which is a fact that still stokes massive cognitive dissonance in my brain).
― Quiet Desperation, LLC (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 25 May 2012 19:43 (eleven years ago) link
the only way I can explain the chart placement of "U Can't Touch This" in relation to how it conquered culture from my pov is that it was mostly purchased by (or for) elementary schoolers
― da croupier, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:46 (eleven years ago) link
xp Good call, I'm sure it did have a lot to do with Pearl Jam.. but even with them, "Yellow Ledbetter" was kinda huge by 95/96 and that was a straight up b-side.
― billstevejim, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:47 (eleven years ago) link
it is kind of ominous that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed that year, maybe that really did end up helping to kill off the vitality of alt-rock radio just as much as some predicted
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:48 (eleven years ago) link
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnltp7RyiL1qdau1zo1_500.jpg
I blame these guys for not even tucking in their shirts
― da croupier, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:50 (eleven years ago) link
yeah or it somehow had more influence on song choice.... they probably figured out some marketing strategy where non-album tracks make the listener more likely to change the station before the next commercial break, or something
― billstevejim, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
as i mentioned in one of the other threads, 94-96 was a big time for songs that had been out for years suddenly bubbling up out of nowhere and becoming chart hits -- "Yellow Ledbetter," Cowboy Junkies' "Sweet Jane," Sublime's "Date Rape"
― some dude, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:52 (eleven years ago) link
1979
― Look at how funky he is! (jer.fairall), Friday, 25 May 2012 21:22 (eleven years ago) link
"Have you ever made out in dark hallways?" is one of my favorite lines to laugh at in music, so "Down".
― how's life, Friday, 25 May 2012 22:21 (eleven years ago) link
These threads are reminding me why I bailed on the radio around '94-ish.
― Trey Imaginary Songz (WmC), Friday, 25 May 2012 22:44 (eleven years ago) link
the only way I can explain the chart placement of "U Can't Touch This" in relation to how it conquered culture from my pov is that it was mostly purchased by (or for) elementary schoolers― da croupier, Friday, May 25, 2012 12:46 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― da croupier, Friday, May 25, 2012 12:46 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
That defines my situation perfectly. I was in fourth grade when "UCTT" became a hit - every kid had the cassette single in my class. It was fun/catchy and parental approved.
― musicfanatic, Friday, 25 May 2012 22:53 (eleven years ago) link
I was 15/16 during '96 so this poll does contain nostalgic memories for me, even though I cringe over most of those choices now. Saying that, I did hear that "Standing in a Phone Booth blah blah blah" song a couple months back and I still liked it, so that.
― musicfanatic, Friday, 25 May 2012 22:57 (eleven years ago) link