Modern Rock #1 Hits of 1996

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, 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.

ha I'd totally read a 600-word defense.

xpost

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.

ha I'd totally read a 600-word defense.

xpost

― 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!

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.

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

see also: "Hail Hail" trying and failing to save No Code from driving away fans in droves

That's true. I remember reading in Rolling Stone that Warners begged them to have "The Wake-Up Bomb" as the first single.

that '96 RS interview is terrific btw

do u feel the way u hate
do u hate the way u feel

link? (xp)

meanwhile "Electrolite" lives on in supermarkets across the land

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.

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

hell even "Star 69" got airplay in my neck of the woods

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!"

"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

Monster charted like 8 songs in the Modern Rock surveys.

'Star 69' definitely was neither a single here and nor did it get any airplay.

I don't think it was a single here either: one of those things we call airplay or album rock tracks.

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.

"Bulls On Parade" only hitting #11 is pretty crazy

tahitian moon got a lot of mtv play

can't wait for 1997, that's when things REALLY go off the rails.

I saw a lot of E-Bow on Muchmusic, I loved it in the same way I love Video Games - laidback melancholia kinda vibe.

1997 - The Verve Pipe, Third Eye Blind, The Wallflowers, Chumbawumba, Marcy Playground, Tonic, "Good Riddance"...good riddance

Smash Mouth

"Swallowed" sounds like Pixies B-Sides.

"Bulls On Parade" only hitting #11 is pretty crazy

The album went #1

oh i know, but the single was pretty inescapable on radio

YO IT'S TIME FOR RAGE

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.

YO IT'S TIME FOR RAGE

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

Well, remember too that this was right before the age of Clear Channel (iirc, the bill allowing "Big Radio" was signed in late '96).

"Bulls On Parade" only hitting #11 is pretty crazy

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).

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

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.

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

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnltp7RyiL1qdau1zo1_500.jpg

I blame these guys for not even tucking in their shirts

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

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"

1979

"Have you ever made out in dark hallways?" is one of my favorite lines to laugh at in music, so "Down".

These threads are reminding me why I bailed on the radio around '94-ish.

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

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.

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.

"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, May 25, 2012 6:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

or, say, played a track from your record collection? it's your mix. congratulations!

to those of us who, haters that were & are, had always disliked R.E.M., this era was a vindication of the hateration we'd been nurturing since Chronic Town

― cosi fan whitford (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, May 25, 2012 9:24 AM Bookmark

haha, this is a hilarious revelation to me, because i was describing a certain popular indie rock band to a non-music geek friend and i was like "they kind of sound like REM". (to be fair, my vocab is somewhat limited in these matters.)