Billboard's Number One Modern Rock Songs - 1992

FNM pretty far ahead of everything else

It surprises me that "Jeremy" and "Under the Bridge" could have charted lower than those Charlatans UK, Sugarcubes, Suzanne Vega, or 10 000 Maniacs songs, none of which I can recall ever hearing. I'm still mystified by what these charts were based on. A handful of commercial alternative stations in California and the NE Coast??

Was Metallica considered modern rock in 1996 but not in 1991/92? (I'm guessing the answer is "yes".)

During the first several years of Modern Rock Tracks, the chart featured music that did not receive commercial radio airplay anywhere but on Modern Rock radio stations, of which there were few.

So yeah, then?

Voted Soul Asylum, but the Lou Reed is great too.

I'm not a big XTC fan despite my post-punk adorations but I love me some "peter pumpkinhead"

Pumpkin pie is tastier.

don't forget MTV, Sundar, which at that point probably had way more power than rock radio in terms of breaking rock bands or forming the public impression about who was a big deal

Every song on this list (except FNM, oddly, and Lou Reed) got massive airplay on my college radio station.

It's possible I didn't hate the Cracker or REM and Soul Asylum songs at the time, but more possible I didn't hate the Vega one. I'm voting for her.

American college radio stations are/were really like this? (Wikipedia does seem to suggest this.) These are the schedules for the Carleton and Ottawa stations. I couldn't really say that anything gets massive airplay on them. The stations around Detroit and Windsor do seem a bit more indie rock-ish though. (The Buffalo station plays NPR and jazz.)

Ha, OK, I just remembered being hit by a wave of alt/indie rock on the radio when my drive through upstate NY took me through the Finger Lakes region.

Well, modern/alternative rock was a much smaller and less homogenous format than it became in the years that followed, I imagine there was a lot more variation from station to station before the big Nirvana-led consensus congealed.

this is ilx, the cure will lol WALK this poll

that song wasn't very good ...

"Peter Pumpkinhead" ranked third?! Wow.

i can see why someone wouldn't like how it takes all our messianic martyr stories and blurs them together into a jingle, but the effect can give me chills by the end.

American college radio stations are/were really like this?

It's not so much college stations as commercial modern-rock stations. (Which ballooned in number over '92-'93.)

i can see why someone wouldn't like how it takes all our messianic martyr stories and blurs them together into a jingle,

i can see why someone wouldn't like it because it's kinda bland and forgettable.

Miccio's describing a Pet Shop Boys song that Andy Partridge never wrote.

FNM without hesitation

midlife crisis, no question

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Things I like: Both U2's, Soul Asylum, 10,000 Maniacs, Morrissey, the Cure's "Friday" and REM.

things i like: Both U2's, Soul Asylum, the Cure's "
High", 10,000 Maniacs, Morrissey, the Cure's "Friday" and REM (might like the soul asylum song, just don't know if i've heard it)

"weirdo" is the only thing here that i distinctly do not like, but i will usually rep for charlatans in general (or at least 2 or 3 of their albums)

voted for "drive"

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

Every song got a vote!

Alternative Nation lives!

I know we're about to wrap these countdowns up, but just wanted to say how glad I am that "Midlife Crisis" won this poll. Listened to it five minutes ago and it still rocks 20 years later.

can I add: the top ten finalists are the most consistently varied and excellent of the decade? I look at the list and go, wow.

Yeah... The Charlatans song is pretty badass too. And that's my favorite Maniacs song.

Man, as much as I loved Drive and Somebody to Shove, I totally wouldve had to vote for "Good Stuff"--I wonder if Spotify has that album

yeah, but title track and "Revolution Earth" are not available :(

good stuff is weirdly one of the very few b52's album they have. even better though they do not have the actual track 'good stuff'.

every time you speak
a pearl falls in my cup
i turn away, the pearl melts
before I drink it up

oh yeah

Good Stuff was one of the first dozen or so CDs i ever bought. i didn't even own another B-52s album for years and years afterwards.

Good Stuff was for years easily found in used cd shops.

but i bought it new!

wish they'd pursued this direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DaGzeOim5Q

I constantly played Cosmic Thing, Good Stuff, and Bouncing off the Satellites p much on constant rotation throughout my junior high years; Bouncing less, because the tape I had of it had weirdly horrific sound quality that made everything sound wobbly

"Ain't It A Shame" is sooo good.

so is "Dreamland"; good call, Alfred!

Rocklobster!

posted solely because I love this pic. Seriously entertaining the idea of signing up to do a B-52's ballot poll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Xc4MXjYvc