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

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 09/16/1989

No. 1 Song
The B-52’s - “Love Shack”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
The Call - “Let The Day Begin”
The Replacements - “Achin’ To Me”
Fetchin’ Bones - “Love Crushing”
Boris Grebenshikov - “Radio Silence”
Syd Straw - “Future 40 (String of Pearls)”

New Additions
The Alarm - “Sold Me Down The River”


Camper Van Beethoven - “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”


Love And Rockets - “No Big Deal”

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

New Additions Continued
Exene Cervenka - “He’s Go A She”


The Rolling Stones - “Mixed Emotions”

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

not sure who this guy is but I bet he was very popular with the ladies until he really wasn’t.

 

[Wicked Dreamer]

not sure who this guy is but I bet he was very popular with the ladies until he really wasn’t.
View attachment 213875

I like that song. It's a shame that, like every other freestyle dance artist, his only #1 hit (his only top 10 hit too) was a ballad and not a very good one at that.

 

[Wicked Dreamer]

more ads from that same week...

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 09/23/1989

No. 1 Song
The B-52’s - “Love Shack”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
Indio - “Hard Sun”
Beastie Boys - “Hey Ladies”
The The - “Gravitate To Me”

New Additions
The Primitives - “Sick Of It”


The Sugarcubes - “Regina”


Flesh For Lulu - “Decline And Fall”

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

I am not familiar with any of the new additions but I really enjoy all three.

 

[Wicked Dreamer]

a duo of ads for De La Soul and an article on the biggest breakthrough act of '88/'89:

 

[Bohnjaggs]

a duo of ads for De La Soul and an article on the biggest breakthrough act of '88/'89:

View attachment 214329View attachment 214330View attachment 214331View attachment 214332

Isn't that from We Didn't Start The Fire?

"New Kids hysteria... British Beatlemania"

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 09/30/1989

No. 1 Song
The B-52’s - “Love Shack”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
Yousou N’Dour - “Shakin’ The Tree”
10,000 Maniacs - “Eat For Two”
Figures On A Beach - “Accidentally 4th Street (Gloria)
Mary’s Danish - “Don’t Crash The Car Tonight”
Pixies - “Here Come Your Man”
Fine Young Cannibals - “Don’t Look Back”

New Additions
Squeeze - “If It’s Love”


Deborah Harry - “I Want That Man”


Melissa Etheridge - “No Souvenirs”

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

New Additions Continued
Shelleyan Orphan - “Shatter”


Fuzzbox - “Self”

 

[jamieanderson1968]

I personally find the new additions this week to be pretty lacklustre. That and I can't believe how long Ocean Blue lasted on this chart.

 

[Wicked Dreamer]

RIP to the 45




meanwhile, here's an actually obsolete format lol:

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

I personally find the new additions this week to be pretty lacklustre. That and I can't believe how long Ocean Blue lasted on this chart.

Yeah, the new editions feel like vestiges of the core 1980s.

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Also, it’s interesting to see artists like Melissa Etheridge and 10,000 Maniacs, groups that were highly regarded by Prime Gen Xers but by the time I heard them their edges had softened and were more apart of the Adult Contemporary crowd than the Modern Rockers.

 

[Viking Dan]

Also, it’s interesting to see artists like Melissa Etheridge and 10,000 Maniacs, groups that were highly regarded by Prime Gen Xers but by the time I heard them their edges had softened and were more apart of the Adult Contemporary crowd than the Modern Rockers.

I never realized how hard marketing was trying to make Melissa Etheridge “the female Bruce Springsteen” until I watched that video for No Souvenirs.

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Modern Rock Tracks for Week Ending 10/07/1989

No. 1 Song
The B-52’s - “Love Shack”


Tracks that fell out of the top 30
Martin Gore - “Compulsion”
Toad The Wet Sprocket - “One Little Girl”
Texas - “I Don’t Wan A Lover”

New Additions
Depeche Mode - “Personal Jesus”


The Mighty Lemon Drops - “Into The Heart Of Love”


The The - “Kingdom Of Rain”

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Martin Gore solo dips but Martin Gore in Depeche Mode joins.

Not familiar with the other two track ls but The Mighty Lemon Drops song ain’t too bad.

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Some other fun/interesting stuff…

I did not realize Irving Berlin made it triple digits!


This is relevant in that Rhythm Nation was just featured in @Nee Lewman 1,001 song to listen to before you die thread. I don’t think I have ever seen the long form video.

Dylan drops another classic.

 

[jamieanderson1968]

I remember the days of the longform video. Thriller was another. A bit of a vanity exercise really. But count me in for the Laserdisc