# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/21 "2014-10-31T09:51:31Z")
There are some songs I like on here… Julian Cope - Charlotte Anne Lou Reed - Dirty Blvd. The Replacements - I’ll Be You Elvis Costello - Veronica XTC - The Mayor of Simpleton Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures of Matchstick Men …but in the end I went with XTC in a close call. I almost voted for Julian Cope instead because how often am I gonna have that option? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/22 "2014-10-31T14:06:15Z")
I went with Love and Rockets. So Alive has that TRex/Get it On feel, and when the girl singers kick in during the outro, I just love it… Good list and lots to choose from… ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/23 "2014-10-31T15:18:37Z")
I chose the bittersweet, gorgeous “Veronica”, by Elvis Costello (with an assist by Sir Paul McCartney). Rounding out my top five from this list: “I’ll Be You”, “Charlotte Anne”, “Fascination Street”, and “Dirty Blvd.”. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/24 "2014-10-31T15:40:45Z")
Voted for _Mayor of Simpleton_, which was also supported by a great video with a teen-crush girl doing Diana Rigg Avengers homage. Not on the list but would have voted higher the songs from these 1989 releases: NIN - Head Like a Hole Nirvana - Blew or About a Girl Concrete Blonde - Happy Birthday Pixies - Here Comes Your Man It’s interesting looking at various [1989 lists.](http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2013/11/25/best-albums-of-1989/) It’s like a switch is being switched between “early-alternative” (Costello, REM, etc) and “grunge”. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/25 "2014-10-31T15:50:08Z")
I’ma let you finish, but The Cult’s _Ciao Baby_ is the best 1989 song of all time, of all time! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/26 "2014-10-31T15:59:39Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I’ma let you finish, but The Cult’s _Ciao Baby_ is the best 1989 song of all time, of all time! Oh crap, is that the year of “Sonic Temple”? I love that album, though I think their precise genre is actually “guys concerned with their own looks and wearing leather pants, who in a weird coincidence made fantastic music”. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/27 "2014-10-31T16:17:15Z")
I voted for “Love Shack” but really, could just as easily have voted for “Channel Z.” They’re both fun and subversive songs in different ways. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/28 "2014-10-31T16:57:08Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Oh crap, is that the year of “Sonic Temple”? I love that album, though I think their precise genre is actually “guys concerned with their own looks and wearing leather pants, who in a weird coincidence made fantastic music”. The Cult opened for Metallica towards the end of Metallica’s [**Damaged Justice**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaged_Justice) tour. While I, too, really dug **Sonic Temple** (and **Electric** before it), the Cult put on a really terrible show. At the time I thought they might’ve just had an off night; but no, when Palladia broadcast a concert of theirs several years ago, they still were absolutely no great shakes live. (Oh, and sorry for the thread hijack.) ---
**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 31, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/29 "2014-10-31T17:18:01Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > 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. I didn’t realize it was a cover, of a [Status Quo song (1968).](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8THWF09D9w)Amazingly timeless – sounds to me like it could have been recorded in 2014. ---
**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, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/30 "2014-10-31T22:55:01Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I went with Love and Rockets. So Alive has that TRex/Get it On feel, and when the girl singers kick in during the outro, I just love it… > > Good list and lots to choose from… It could also pass for an INXS song. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050/31 "2014-11-01T02:10:01Z")
I really dig ‘Stand’ as a song. It’s just so fun and goofy and the fact that REM did it is amazing. But in the end it’s ‘Veronica’. A brilliant, brilliant pop song covering some real pain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1989/703050.md?page=1)