Back In The Day: The Billboard Modern Rock Charts From 35 Years Ago

TenderLovingKiller® said:
Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 06/03/1989
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No. 1 Song
The Cure - “Fascination Street”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
XTC - “Mayor Of Simpleton”
U2 - “Dancing Barefoot”
Mojo Nixon - “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child”
Lou Reed - “Busload Of Faith”
Sidewinders - “Witchdoctor”
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - “Madonna Of The Wasps”

New Additions
Public Image Ltd. - “Disappointed”


The The - “The Beat(en) Generation”


Tin Machine - “Under The God”
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Lotsa folks discount Tin Machine but if they hadn't happened and revitalized Bowie, we likely wouldn't have gotten many of those latter period records.

Personally, I think Tin Machine was ace. I also challenge you to produce a rhythm section with a comparable comedy pedigree...

 
Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
Lotsa folks discount Tin Machine but if they hadn't happened and revitalized Bowie, we likely wouldn't have gotten many of those latter period records.

Personally, I think Tin Machine was ace. I also challenge you to produce a rhythm section with a comparable comedy pedigree...

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Fully agree (of course I would). I had written them off for years but came around to them. I don’t think either album is great, but combined there are enough tracks for an excellent record. Definitely did not need a cover of Working Class Hero
 
@TenderLovingKiller® I'll delete this if you'd rather it not be in here, but thought this might be an appropriate place to discuss this study given the nature of this project.

Screenshot_2024-06-04-15-49-49-72_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

It's interesting to see the science confirm what appears to be the trends I see in most people. Even with how vast our musical tastes are around these parts, I suspect that many here would still generally conform to this curve if we were to account for the quantity/perceived quality of the music. Meaning that even if we love a lot that came out before or after our "peak" musical years, the majority of our top albums are likely to come from those peak years as well as our widest sampling of what came out.

But if there are exceptions then I think it would probably be from musical consumers like us who would skew the data. For instance, I don't love most music that came out in the 80s, but do love music from the 60s and 70s more, so there's a dip in my childhood years. If it wasn't for the Internet and how easy it is to find bands in the less mainstream genres that I enjoy, then I think my taste would show a big drop off as I've gotten older, but really it's only in terms of popular music that I dislike more of it as I age. There's plenty of fantastic music coming out now that I do love, it's just not popular.
 
Hemotep said:
@TenderLovingKiller® I'll delete this if you'd rather it not be in here, but thought this might be an appropriate place to discuss this study given the nature of this project.

View attachment 204900

It's interesting to see the science confirm what appears to be the trends I see in most people. Even with how vast our musical tastes are around these parts, I suspect that many here would still generally conform to this curve if we were to account for the quantity/perceived quality of the music. Meaning that even if we love a lot that came out before or after our "peak" musical years, the majority of our top albums are likely to come from those peak years as well as our widest sampling of what came out.

But if there are exceptions then I think it would probably be from musical consumers like us who would skew the data. For instance, I don't love most music that came out in the 80s, but do love music from the 60s and 70s more, so there's a dip in my childhood years. If it wasn't for the Internet and how easy it is to find bands in the less mainstream genres that I enjoy, then I think my taste would show a big drop off as I've gotten older, but really it's only in terms of popular music that I dislike more of it as I age. There's plenty of fantastic music coming out now that I do love, it's just not popular.
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Yeah, this is fascinating. Funny enough they touch on this subject in a recent WaPo article I read this weekend about how Nostalgia shapes our perception…
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America’s Best Decade, According To Data

It’s a good read and it’s funny how many people don’t understand that this is how our minds work. I see so many posts on Reddit and social media about how the 90s were the best and life today sucks but when you look at the comments everyone has a different idea on when things started to suck (9/11, the 2008 market crash, Trump, the pandemic, etc, etc.) but the real answer is things started to suck when you became an adult.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Yeah, this is fascinating. Funny enough they touch on this subject in a recent WaPo article I read this weekend about how Nostalgia shapes our perception…
View attachment 204903
America’s Best Decade, According To Data

It’s a good read and it’s funny how many people don’t understand that this is how our minds work. I see so many posts on Reddit and social media about how the 90s were the best and life today sucks but when you look at the comments everyone has a different idea on when things started to suck (9/11, the 2008 market crash, Trump, the pandemic, etc, etc.) but the real answer is things started to suck when you became an adult.
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Unconscious bias is a hell of a thing that people don't believe in 🤷
 
Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 06/10/1989
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No. 1 Song
The Cure - “Fascination Street”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
The Connells - “Something To Say”
Swans - “Saved”

New Additions
The Replacements - “Back To Back”*

*No official video for this one so I link to a 1989 MTV News interview of Westerberg by Kurt Loder where they discuss their new album, Don’t Tell A Soul.

 
Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 06/17/1989
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No. 1 Song
The Cure - “Fascination Street”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
New Order - “Round & Round”
The Replacements - “Back To Back”
Depeche Mode - “Everything Counts”
House Of Freaks - “Sun Gone Down”

New Additions
Indigo Girls - “Closer To Fine”


Royal Crescent Mob - “Hungry”**


Pere Ubu - “Waiting For Mary”*


** No Video, Not on Spotify
* Not on Spotify
 
imtheocean said:
No idea. I always thought they were a punk band but I guess not.
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just checked Wikipedia, they are an American Rock band founded in Cleveland in 1975 they are listed as “Avant-Garage” they rose from the ashes of Rocket From The Tombs. Apparently some went on to form The Dead Boys while Lead Guitarist, Dave Thomas formed Pere Ubu.

Given that background I bet @Yer Ol' Uncle D has a live recording he made of the band that we’ll hopefully share with us later this evening.
 
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