# Best #1 Modern/Alternative Rock Song of the Year 1989 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050 "2014-10-30T19:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/1 "2014-10-30T19:44:04Z")
Apologies for putting two of these up in such quick succession, but I wanted to get to one with more than 5 options. I’ll probably just do a new one every couple days after this. I have to say, this is far more in line with what I was listening to at the time (I was 19) than the singles charts. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/2 "2014-10-30T19:57:16Z")
Had I seen this one second, I might have voted for Kate Bush, seeing that I picked REM for the 1988 selection. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/3 "2014-10-30T19:59:26Z")
I went with The Cure. _Disintegration_ is the perfect mood album. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/4 "2014-10-30T20:13:33Z")
I went with The Replacements because it was their last great song (IMO), but could easily have voted for XTC. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/5 "2014-10-30T20:19:20Z")
I had to go with “Veronica” on this one but there’s really nothing that jumps out at me here, either. Weird. I was expecting better choices. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/6 "2014-10-30T21:25:31Z")
Lots of good stuff here, but I had to give it to PIL - I think they don’t get enough love, a truly great band. Cope and Costello were my next choices. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/7 "2014-10-30T21:29:12Z")
There were a couple I liked, but I went with Love & Rockets because that song really gets me moving. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/8 "2014-10-30T21:44:16Z")
Not a bad R.E.M. album (_Green_), but neither of my favorite songs from it (The Wrong Child and World Leader Pretend) are on this list. So, I went with Camper Van Beethoven (as most “of the era,” for me), though that’s not one of my favorite tunes of theirs, either. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/9 "2014-10-30T21:48:21Z")
“So Alive” is my favorite among songs I’ve heard of. I don’t know enough of these songs to make a pick for dead-ass last place. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/10 "2014-10-30T21:50:36Z")
Elvis Costello with honorable mention to Camper Van Beethoven ( but it gets marked down a quarter point for being a cover ). **Spike** is far from my favorite EC album, but I do really love that cut - pure, bittersweet, verbose Elvis. I imagine REM will win the poll, but I’ve always _appreciated_ them more than I’ve listented to them. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/11 "2014-10-30T22:13:58Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > “So Alive” is my favorite among songs I’ve heard of. I don’t know enough of these songs to make a pick for dead-ass last place. I’d say, overall, it’s a surprisingly strong set of songs - even relatively lesser-known acts like Julian Cope and the Hoodoo Gurus have at least enough material for a solid greatest hits album (Cope’s output has been so, well, copious that he’s got enough for a double, easily). ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/12 "2014-10-30T22:22:51Z")
Not a bad year at all. If it wasn’t for Lou Reed being up there, it would have been a hard decision. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/13 "2014-10-31T04:04:23Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Not a bad year at all. If it wasn’t for Lou Reed being up there, it would have been a hard decision. Not exactly sure why Lou Reed is on the Modern Rock list, in my 25 year old memory of the era he was lumped in as Rock with David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Oh well, who am I to question Billboard? Anyway, I showed the Replacements some love (someone had to). In those same 25 year memories I recall most of us who liked Modern Rock were generally satisfied with the music releases for the late 1980s, although of course we complained at the time it wasn’t like the good ol’ days of the early/mid 1980s. Only a few (a few being defined as many hundreds of thousands - it’s all relative) at the time knew what was brewing on the Modern Rock scene…I must admit I wasn’t one of those hundreds of thousands). It’s pretty easy to figure out, as the list was posted in the general #1 hits for 1991 thread earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/14 "2014-10-31T04:06:55Z")
Lots to choose from, but like the 1988 poll, most of these songs aren’t my favorite songs from the respective albums so it kind of makes it tough for me to choose. I really like Camper Van Beethoven but that cover of “Pictures of Matchstick Men” doesn’t even come close to being the best song on _Key Lime Pie_. I guess I’ll say Lou Reed-“Dirty Blvd.” followed by… The Replacements-“I’ll Be You” The Jesus and Mary Chain-“Blues From a Gun” Public Image Ltd.-“Disappointed” Love and Rockets-“So Alive”… for my top 5. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/15 "2014-10-31T04:19:32Z")
Some really great stuff here (although, and I know I’m in the minority on this, but I’ve really never liked the B-52s, and find Love Shack to be especially grating). I started to pick a few different ones before finally settling on PIL. I do love Mayor of Simpleton quite a bit, and XTC were probably my favorite band of the era, but I liked other songs from Oranges and Lemons better. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/16 "2014-10-31T05:00:04Z")
Went with TFF, with Love and Rockets close by. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/17 "2014-10-31T05:20:52Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > Some really great stuff here (although, and I know I’m in the minority on this, but I’ve really never liked the B-52s, and find Love Shack to be especially grating). I started to pick a few different ones before finally settling on PIL. I do love Mayor of Simpleton quite a bit, and XTC were probably my favorite band of the era, but I liked other songs from Oranges and Lemons better. Oh I like “Private Idaho” from the B-52’s, but “Love Shack” is annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/18 "2014-10-31T06:08:44Z")
Nirvana released _Bleach_ that year. While not a noteworthy or successful album at the time, it’s become quite relevant since then. Beastie Boys released _Paul’s Boutique,_ Nine Inch Nails _Pretty Hate Machine_, Red Hot Chili Peppers released _Mother’s Milk_, … ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/19 "2014-10-31T08:14:51Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Not exactly sure why Lou Reed is on the Modern Rock list, in my 25 year old memory of the era he was lumped in as Rock with David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Oh well, who am I to question Billboard? Well, I had objections to U2 being alternative in the previous year’s chart (even though it’s technically a Modern Rock chart) due to their popularity, but the list is what it is. OTOH, I think Lou was always modern, and almost always an alternative to the pop charts. Not necessarily always avant garde, but he was always a new, modern version of him and what he thought music should sound like. I at least don’t know of any time where he went mainstream - if he got close to mainstream, it happened to veer towards him. > [@](#): > > Anyway, I showed the Replacements some love (someone had to). If it had been one of the songs that got airplay an album earlier, I would have had to pass over Lou. (Double checks the release date of _Don’t Tell a Soul_) Wow, that song had staying power. I’m surprised “Alex Chilton” or “I Can’t Hardly Wait” didn’t beat it out. I think they’re both better songs, and only 2 years older. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/20 "2014-10-31T09:22:32Z")
**Elvis Costello** - _Veronica_ A very touching song on a difficult subject that’s treated in a dignified manner. And the music is great, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050.md?page=2)