# Best #1 Modern/Alternative Rock Song of the Year: 1990 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294 "2014-11-01T20:41:06Z")\ **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:** [November 1, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/1 "2014-11-01T20:41:06Z")
Next up: 1990. Not great, though a much better list than the pop charts, but be warned: I’ve looked ahead, and it’s actually shocking how negative an impact Nirvana’s popularity had on the alternative charts (and I like Nirvana). In a few short years, it went from the interesting “college rock” of the '80s to total frat-boy/douche rock, suburban mall punk, and grunge lite - in other words, poseurs of every stripe. Not quite there yet (though for my tastes, Jane’s Addiction falls under that umbrella, as do the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who will be making appearances soon), but even now, there’s not a lot of the shoegaze/Madchester stuff I’d have hoped for. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/2 "2014-11-01T20:59:48Z")
Joey just tears me up - I totally buy the melodrama and Johnette’s delivery. But I would probably pick Enjoy the Silence before it…ETA - some sort of Freudian Slip - Policy of Truth… ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/3 "2014-11-01T21:02:36Z")
I’ll vote for Been Caught Stealing, because it’s the only one of these songs I actually _recognize_. Granted, I was 7 years old in 1990 and the only popular music I knew was my dad’s old records from the '60s and '70s and the classic rock he listened to in the car, but the fact that this song alone of the lot still gets any amount of airplay these days must say something for it. ---
**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, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/4 "2014-11-01T21:17:42Z")
Blue Sky Mine for me. I’m always up for a good working man song. As for the shoegaze/mall punk stuff? It happens, we got popular. No need to bemoan the fact. What’s a religion to do when Satan himself finds Jesus? ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/5 "2014-11-01T21:26:08Z")
Lot of quality choices here, to my mind. I think “Cuts You Up” is pretty underrated, “Blue Sky Mine” is excellent, “Nothing Compares 2 U” is iconic, but I give it a pass for being overplayed. But I have to go with “More” from Sisters of Mercy. Don’t get a lot of chances to vote for the Sisters and they need all the love they can get 😉 ---
**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:** [November 1, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/6 "2014-11-01T21:29:19Z")
Sinead O’Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U Just as in the regular charts, nothing else comes even close to this classic for me. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/7 "2014-11-01T21:55:41Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Blue Sky Mine for me. I’m always up for a good working man song. Blue Sky Mine for me, as well. For an Australian bands to make the charts in America with songs about the plight of aboriginal people and miners’ rights is practically a pop culture miracle. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/8 "2014-11-01T22:13:35Z")
Easy. Jane’s Addiction, “Been Caught Stealing.” I thought woodstockybird’s description of poseur music, frat boy rock, etc. was spot on, except I don’t associate any of that with Jane’s Addiction. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/9 "2014-11-01T23:16:25Z")
I went with “Been Caught Stealing” but I could have just as easily gone with “Blue Sky Mine,” or even “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which was also on the Hot 100 pop chart (and the one I voted for there.) Some reasonable songs here, but I’m still surprised at how unexciting even the top of the Modern Rock charts are. For both '89 and '90, if the Modern Rock and Hot 100 charts were combines, I could have easily gone for a Hot 100 #1 song for the year overall. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/10 "2014-11-01T23:30:40Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > In a few short years, it went from the interesting “college rock” of the '80s to total frat-boy/douche rock Don’t tell me Dave Matthews Band will soon be appearing on these lists. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/11 "2014-11-01T23:41:24Z")
Either Jane’s Addiction, Depeche Mode, Sundays, Concrete Blond, INXS, or Peter Murphy. I’ll vote later. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/12 "2014-11-01T23:48:38Z")
For me it came down to “Stop” and “Cuts You Up.” I love that whole Peter Murphy album and it’s one of the few from that era that I still like to put on in the background when I want something slightly mellow and familiar (Roxy Music _Avalon_ is like that too). I went with “Stop” mostly because I am compelled to always turn it way up when I’m driving and it pops up on shuffle. I do think that _Ritual_ is the weakest of their original three albums, though. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/13 "2014-11-02T00:37:52Z")
Tough but I went with Concrete Blonde. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/14 "2014-11-02T00:48:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I went with “Been Caught Stealing” but I could have just as easily gone with “Blue Sky Mine,” or even “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which was also on the Hot 100 pop chart (and the one I voted for there.) Some reasonable songs here, but I’m still surprised at how unexciting even the top of the Modern Rock charts are. For both '89 and '90, if the Modern Rock and Hot 100 charts were combines, I could have easily gone for a Hot 100 #1 song for the year overall. Some songs that made the modern rock charts this year that didn’t get to #1: The Jesus & Mary Chain - Head On Soup Dragons - I’m Free Bob Mould - It’s Too Late The House Of Love - I Don’t Know Why I Love You They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul Michael Penn - No Myth The Wonder Stuff - Don’t Let Me Down, Gently The Stone Roses - Fools Gold Charlatans UK - The Only One I Know Heart Throbs - Dreamtime Morrissey - Picadilly Palare Pixies - Velouria Happy Mondays - Step On Lightning Seeds - Pure The The - Jealous of Youth Social Distortion - Ball and Chain The Cramps - Bikini Girls with Machine Guns Not sure if those are any more exciting to you, but it gives a bigger picture of what was going on in the “underground” in 1990. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/15 "2014-11-02T00:59:41Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Some songs that made the modern rock charts this year that didn’t get to #1: > > The Jesus & Mary Chain - Head On > Soup Dragons - I’m Free > Bob Mould - It’s Too Late > The House Of Love - I Don’t Know Why I Love You > They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul > Michael Penn - No Myth > The Wonder Stuff - Don’t Let Me Down, Gently > The Stone Roses - Fools Gold > Charlatans UK - The Only One I Know > Heart Throbs - Dreamtime > Morrissey - Picadilly Palare > Pixies - Velouria > Happy Mondays - Step On > Lightning Seeds - Pure > The The - Jealous of Youth > Social Distortion - Ball and Chain > The Cramps - Bikini Girls with Machine Guns > > Not sure if those are any more exciting to you, but it gives a bigger picture of what was going on in the “underground” in 1990. Well, no doubt that I loved a lot of the songs from that era. It’s just that the chart toppers are a bit surprisingly dull. They’re really not all that much better than the pop charts, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/16 "2014-11-02T01:17:31Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Some songs that made the modern rock charts this year that didn’t get to #1: > > … If this were the list … as much as I would have loved to vote for a Bob Mould song, “It’s Too Late” is fine but far from the best off of _Black Sheets_. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/17 "2014-11-02T01:35:45Z")
It’s a Shame About Ray… ---
**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:** [November 2, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/18 "2014-11-02T02:08:54Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Some songs that made the modern rock charts this year that didn’t get to #1: > > The Jesus & Mary Chain - Head On > Soup Dragons - I’m Free > Bob Mould - It’s Too Late > The House Of Love - I Don’t Know Why I Love You > They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul > Michael Penn - No Myth > The Wonder Stuff - Don’t Let Me Down, Gently > The Stone Roses - Fools Gold > Charlatans UK - The Only One I Know > Heart Throbs - Dreamtime > Morrissey - Picadilly Palare > Pixies - Velouria > Happy Mondays - Step On > Lightning Seeds - Pure > The The - Jealous of Youth > Social Distortion - Ball and Chain > The Cramps - Bikini Girls with Machine Guns > > Not sure if those are any more exciting to you, but it gives a bigger picture of what was going on in the “underground” in 1990. From that list, Pixies. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/19 "2014-11-02T02:10:00Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > It’s a Shame About Ray… Great album (from 1992.) ---
**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:** [November 2, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294/20 "2014-11-02T02:19:23Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Great album (from 1992.) Oops, wrong thread. :o [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-1990/703294.md?page=2)