101 Best Songs of 1988:#1 – Guns n’ Roses – Sweet Child o’ Mine (2 Viewers)

[scorchy]

They have a second, reasonably well known song from '89 that I like as well.

It was issued as a single after the album's initial release and was later included on re-releases as well as on the follow-up album Pure.

Hmmm.  It sounds vaguely familiar but I'm not sure where I would have heard it at the time.  I just checked the cassette (for some reason, I kept them all even though I don't have a tape player) and like you said, it wasn't on the original release.

 

[scorchy]

#57 - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I Hate Myself for Loving You

Can anyone hear this and not think of the Sunday Night Football song?  I hope Joan made bank from it.

I Hate Myself for Loving You was the lead single from Joan Jett's 1988 album Up Your Alley.  It reached #8 on the Hot 100, her first top 10 hit in 6 years.

I brought up in an earlier post that in '86/'87/'88, I (and a lot of my friends) used to sit around on school nights and listen to a specific radio program on the local pop station while doing homework - "Phlash Phelps Lights Out" where he would play the biggest hits of the day with lots of dedications/songs mixed in.  Without social media, what better way to broadcast your feelings than expressing them on-air to anyone in a 50-mile radius?  I made it live on air twice** but called in to make plenty of other dedications that Phlash would read out before playing a song.  So lame...

At some point in the summer of '88, I was dating a girl a year younger than me.  I broke up with her to date her older sister, and then ditched the older sister to get back with the younger one.  Classy, I know.  One night, I'm listening to Phlash and I hear - "I want to dedicate I Hate Myself for Loving You to [my real first and last name] because he's a complete jerk for what he did to me... but I want him back anyway."  Soccer tryouts were fun the next morning - didn't get hazed at all.  Strangely, I'm still FB friends with both sisters.

I Hate Myself for Loving You

* Phlash's lead-in music was a terrible take on a Peter Wolf song - "Phlash Phlash Phelps, lights out, uh huh."

** Once, I was the sad-sack that dedicated Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's All Cried Out to the girl who broke up with me right before 9th grade homecoming and she ended up going with my nemesis instead.  Even worse, a year or two later, I broke up live on-air with a girl who went to a different HS by dedicating Dead or Alive's Brand New Lover to her.  She and I are definitely not friends on FB.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Love Joan (still rocking a State Fair near you!).  Love scorchy romance stories even more.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I used to send in requests to Phlash a lot on XM's 60s channel. I was living in Clarksville and working in Jessup. I believe he was living in Columbia (or maybe Ellicott City). Anyway, we'd exchange e mails about music and how much the road construction sucked. I haven't listened to that channel much over the last 10 or 12 years - they narrowed the playlist down so much, I couldn't take it anymore.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I was not prepared to see Alexi Lalas in this thread today. Even less prepared to know that he has seven solo albums to his credit and was in a band that opened for Hootie and the Blowfish in Europe.

I saw him and his band play live at Maxwells in Hoboken a long number of years back. They mostly played cover songs. It wasn’t great but entertaining enough.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

#57 - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I Hate Myself for Loving You

Can anyone hear this and not think of the Sunday Night Football song?  I hope Joan made bank from it.

I Hate Myself for Loving You was the lead single from Joan Jett's 1988 album Up Your Alley.  It reached #8 on the Hot 100, her first top 10 hit in 6 years.

I brought up in an earlier post that in '86/'87/'88, I (and a lot of my friends) used to sit around on school nights and listen to a specific radio program on the local pop station while doing homework - "Phlash Phelps Lights Out" where he would play the biggest hits of the day with lots of dedications/songs mixed in.  Without social media, what better way to broadcast your feelings than expressing them on-air to anyone in a 50-mile radius?  I made it live on air twice** but called in to make plenty of other dedications that Phlash would read out before playing a song.  So lame...

At some point in the summer of '88, I was dating a girl a year younger than me.  I broke up with her to date her older sister, and then ditched the older sister to get back with the younger one.  Classy, I know.  One night, I'm listening to Phlash and I hear - "I want to dedicate I Hate Myself for Loving You to [my real first and last name] because he's a complete jerk for what he did to me... but I want him back anyway."  Soccer tryouts were fun the next morning - didn't get hazed at all.  Strangely, I'm still FB friends with both sisters.

I Hate Myself for Loving You

* Phlash's lead-in music was a terrible take on a Peter Wolf song - "Phlash Phlash Phelps, lights out, uh huh."

** Once, I was the sad-sack that dedicated Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's All Cried Out to the girl who broke up with me right before 9th grade homecoming and she ended up going with my nemesis instead.  Even worse, a year or two later, I broke up live on-air with a girl who went to a different HS by dedicating Dead or Alive's Brand New Lover to her.  She and I are definitely not friends on FB.

Mick Taylor on guitar.

 

[scorchy]

I used to send in requests to Phlash a lot on XM's 60s channel. I was living in Clarksville and working in Jessup. I believe he was living in Columbia (or maybe Ellicott City). Anyway, we'd exchange e mails about music and how much the road construction sucked. I haven't listened to that channel much over the last 10 or 12 years - they narrowed the playlist down so much, I couldn't take it anymore.

Until I googled him today, I had no idea what happened to Phlash after he left WKHI. Should have know another FBG could provide an even better scoop.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Until I googled him today, I had no idea what happened to Phlash after he left WKHI. Should have know another FBG could provide an even better scoop.

I think he's been at XM since the beginning. When I got the service in 2004, he was already there.

Seems like a good dude and he's a good radio host. He built a real national following on his morning show (one of the few live shows on XM).

 

[Osaurus]

I like Don't Talk and Like The Weather a ton. I don't think there's a bad song on there - one of the reasons I still pull out the vinyl version.

I think Peace Train got pulled from later pressings because of the whole Cat Stevens/fatwa thing.

That it did

 

[Osaurus]

#58 - The Primitives - Crash

A near-perfect blast of indie-pop.  I can't say the same for the rest of the album - I bought it immediately and don't remember a single other song on it.  The Primitives hung around for a bit and made a couple of other records that got alternative radio airplay - I'm sure somebody else out here could name one but not me.

Crash hit #3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts but didn't make the Hot 100.  But if you can measure a song by who covers it, Crash is in good company, with the Mr. T Experience, Belle & Sebastian, Johnny Marr, and Alexei Lalas (???) all having a go at it.

Crash

Excellent selection 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

a) that Peter Wolf song was terrible to begin with

b) every so often I tell my wife and son that the SNF theme is really a Joan Jett song. They don’t care. 

c) when I think of best songs from 1988, I totally think of Alexi Lalas.

 

[scorchy]

#56 - Information Society - What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)?

Another cassette that I still have stored away in the basement.  Information Society are the second Twin Cities band in the countdown who have a star outside the famed Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue.  I wonder who the third will be (and it's not Husker Du or The Replacements, who didn't release any material in '88).  It's also the only song here to feature a Leonard Nimoy sample.

What's on Your Mind? was the band's debut single and it climbed it's way up to #3 on the Hot 100.  Another band that lots of people consider a one-hit wonder, they actually managed two more top 40 hits (Walking Away later in '88 and Think in 1990).  

What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)?

 

[Osaurus]

#56 - Information Society - What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)?

Another cassette that I still have stored away in the basement.  Information Society are the second Twin Cities band in the countdown who have a star outside the famed Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue.  I wonder who the third will be (and it's not Husker Du or The Replacements, who didn't release any material in '88).  It's also the only song here to feature a Leonard Nimoy sample.

What's on Your Mind? was the band's debut single and it climbed it's way up to #3 on the Hot 100.  Another band that lots of people consider a one-hit wonder, they actually managed two more top 40 hits (Walking Away later in '88 and Think in 1990).  

What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)?

Underrated band imo. 

 

[rockaction]

a) that Peter Wolf song was terrible to begin with

b) every so often I tell my wife and son that the SNF theme is really a Joan Jett song. They don’t care. 

c) when I think of best songs from 1988, I totally think of Alexi Lalas.

1) That's funny, because I really dug that Peter Wolf song as a kid and remember it fondly. 

Dancing in the dark/uh huh/uh huh/to the radio-o...

That song could only have been written in the eighties. I just re-listened to it and still think it's good, and I don't like that particular time period in music.

2) That people don't know it's a Joan Jett track is always actually surprising to me. I think she did make big, big bank off of its usage. 

3) I think of nothing about Alexi Lalas except those quasi-acidwash uniforms the men's WC team wore in '90, and I've forgotten everything else about him since. 

 

[massraider]

Minneapolis, huh? 

What is it with that town....

 

[scorchy]

#55 - The La's - There She Goes

Lee Mavers is kind of like a scouser Axl Rose.  His band - the La's* - get signed by Go! Records in 1987 and release their debut single.  It goes nowhere.  The band start to record an album, but Lee Mavers is a perfectionist, can't get along with his bandmates or the producer, and all that gets pressed is a second single, 1988's There She Goes.  The song was praised by the music press but still only made it to #59 on the UK charts and didn't get any traction in the States. 

Mavers reconfigured the band with new members several times and kept toiling away on the album.  It wasn't until late '89 that The La's paired up with uber producer Steve Lillywhite and actually started laying down tracks.  But Mavers still hated the results and the band decided to scrap the record.  Go! convinced Lillywhite to cobble together whatever he could and the label eventually released the self-titled album in October 1990 - more than 3 years and a dozen bandmates after initial recording started.  The album reached #30 and the re-released single of There She Goes hit #13 in the UK and got plenty of play on U.S. alt radio (#2 on the Modern Rock charts).  Mavers still hated it.

The La's/Mavers spent the better part of the 90s working on a follow up record that never happened.  The stature of There She Goes, however, has only grown with age.  British magazines NME and Q both have it among their top 50 songs of all time,  Rolling Stone lists the La's among the best one-hit wonders, and There She Goes has been a major influence on hordes of indie bands across the world.

There She Goes **

*The pedant in me has always hated the ' in La's.  The La's what?  Without it though, I guess their name would sound Spanish. 

** Strangely, I couldn't find either official video on Youtube (only the Sixpence None the Richer version) so had to go to Vimeo. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

If he wasn’t happy with There She Goes, what WAS he happy with? Sounds like a miserable SOB.

 

[Ghost Rider]

I am way behind, but to touch on a few notables since I last posted...

One More Try was a nice tune, but it seemed like the least best of the singles from Faith.  That album was so huge. 

Circle in the Sand is a great pop song.  I was never overly wild about Belinda's other solo hits back then, although MTV bludgeoned us with all of them, but this one always stood out as being really great.   One of her fellow Go-Go's also had a great pop song in 1988; will be interesting if it shows up on this list. 

 

[Bracie Smathers]

#55 - The La's - There She Goes

Really good snag.  I completely missed it for 1988 as I had it connected with THIS movie and with the group the Boo Radleys.

ADD, the movie came out in the 90s so I assumed that was the original tune and was from the same era.

 

[scorchy]

One More Try was a nice tune, but it seemed like the least best of the singles from Faith.  That album was so huge. 

Circle in the Sand is a great pop song.  I was never overly wild about Belinda's other solo hits back then, although MTV bludgeoned us with all of them, but this one always stood out as being really great.   One of her fellow Go-Go's also had a great pop song in 1988; will be interesting if it shows up on this list. 

To me, Monkey was easily the worst single George ever released.

I'm not sure I can post enough "alt" songs in the rest of this thread for any indie cred I have to recover from this statement:  from day one, I was always team Belinda and not team Jane. 

 

[scorchy]

Really good snag.  I completely missed it for 1988 as I had it connected with THIS movie and with the group the Boo Radleys.

ADD, the movie came out in the 90s so I assumed that was the original tune and was from the same era.

I think everyone pretty much missed it in 1988.  I thought your link was gonna go to the Sixpence None the Richer version from Snow Day.  I haven't thought of the Boo Radleys in forever.

 

[Osaurus]

I’m not going to spotlight, but if the only song you know by the La’s is There She Goes, then you’re missing out. 

 

[scorchy]

I’m not going to spotlight, but if the only song you know by the La’s is There She Goes, then you’re missing out. 

Agreed, but I think you're pretty safe.  Even if there were another La's song, it would have to be their debut single from 1987 or off their album from 1990.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

#55 - The La's - There She Goes

Lee Mavers is kind of like a scouser Axl Rose.  His band - the La's* - get signed by Go! Records in 1987 and release their debut single.  It goes nowhere.  The band start to record an album, but Lee Mavers is a perfectionist, can't get along with his bandmates or the producer, and all that gets pressed is a second single, 1988's There She Goes.  The song was praised by the music press but still only made it to #59 on the UK charts and didn't get any traction in the States. 

Mavers reconfigured the band with new members several times and kept toiling away on the album.  It wasn't until late '89 that The La's paired up with uber producer Steve Lillywhite and actually started laying down tracks.  But Mavers still hated the results and the band decided to scrap the record.  Go! convinced Lillywhite to cobble together whatever he could and the label eventually released the self-titled album in October 1990 - more than 3 years and a dozen bandmates after initial recording started.  The album reached #30 and the re-released single of There She Goes hit #13 in the UK and got plenty of play on U.S. alt radio (#2 on the Modern Rock charts).  Mavers still hated it.

The La's/Mavers spent the better part of the 90s working on a follow up record that never happened.  The stature of There She Goes, however, has only grown with age.  British magazines NME and Q both have it among their top 50 songs of all time,  Rolling Stone lists the La's among the best one-hit wonders, and There She Goes has been a major influence on hordes of indie bands across the world.

There She Goes **

*The pedant in me has always hated the ' in La's.  The La's what?  Without it though, I guess their name would sound Spanish. 

** Strangely, I couldn't find either official video on Youtube (only the Sixpence None the Richer version) so had to go to Vimeo. 

The Go-Go’s also had the odd possessive apostrophe. 

 

[scorchy]

The Go-Go’s also had the odd possessive apostrophe. 

Yes, and I think about it with them too! It used to drive me nuts with the Orioles (O's) but I was able to justify the ' as a contraction.

 

[zamboni]

The Go-Go’s also had the odd possessive apostrophe. 

The B-52s used to have the apostrophe as well until 2008, when they realized the agony they were instilling on English teacher fans. 

 

[timschochet]

#55 - The La's - There She Goes

Lee Mavers is kind of like a scouser Axl Rose.  His band - the La's* - get signed by Go! Records in 1987 and release their debut single.  It goes nowhere.  The band start to record an album, but Lee Mavers is a perfectionist, can't get along with his bandmates or the producer, and all that gets pressed is a second single, 1988's There She Goes.  The song was praised by the music press but still only made it to #59 on the UK charts and didn't get any traction in the States. 

Mavers reconfigured the band with new members several times and kept toiling away on the album.  It wasn't until late '89 that The La's paired up with uber producer Steve Lillywhite and actually started laying down tracks.  But Mavers still hated the results and the band decided to scrap the record.  Go! convinced Lillywhite to cobble together whatever he could and the label eventually released the self-titled album in October 1990 - more than 3 years and a dozen bandmates after initial recording started.  The album reached #30 and the re-released single of There She Goes hit #13 in the UK and got plenty of play on U.S. alt radio (#2 on the Modern Rock charts).  Mavers still hated it.

The La's/Mavers spent the better part of the 90s working on a follow up record that never happened.  The stature of There She Goes, however, has only grown with age.  British magazines NME and Q both have it among their top 50 songs of all time,  Rolling Stone lists the La's among the best one-hit wonders, and There She Goes has been a major influence on hordes of indie bands across the world.

There She Goes **

*The pedant in me has always hated the ' in La's.  The La's what?  Without it though, I guess their name would sound Spanish. 

** Strangely, I couldn't find either official video on Youtube (only the Sixpence None the Richer version) so had to go to Vimeo. 

This would probably make my top 5 for the year. 

 

[rockaction]

#55 - The La's - There She Goes

Lee Mavers is kind of like a scouser Axl Rose.  His band - the La's* - get signed by Go! Records in 1987 and release their debut single.  It goes nowhere.  The band start to record an album, but Lee Mavers is a perfectionist, can't get along with his bandmates or the producer, and all that gets pressed is a second single, 1988's There She Goes.  The song was praised by the music press but still only made it to #59 on the UK charts and didn't get any traction in the States. 

Mavers reconfigured the band with new members several times and kept toiling away on the album.  It wasn't until late '89 that The La's paired up with uber producer Steve Lillywhite and actually started laying down tracks.  But Mavers still hated the results and the band decided to scrap the record.  Go! convinced Lillywhite to cobble together whatever he could and the label eventually released the self-titled album in October 1990 - more than 3 years and a dozen bandmates after initial recording started.  The album reached #30 and the re-released single of There She Goes hit #13 in the UK and got plenty of play on U.S. alt radio (#2 on the Modern Rock charts).  Mavers still hated it.

The La's/Mavers spent the better part of the 90s working on a follow up record that never happened.  The stature of There She Goes, however, has only grown with age.  British magazines NME and Q both have it among their top 50 songs of all time,  Rolling Stone lists the La's among the best one-hit wonders, and There She Goes has been a major influence on hordes of indie bands across the world.

There She Goes **

*The pedant in me has always hated the ' in La's.  The La's what?  Without it though, I guess their name would sound Spanish. 

** Strangely, I couldn't find either official video on Youtube (only the Sixpence None the Richer version) so had to go to Vimeo. 

This is probably the best song of 1988, but I admit that the list is so interesting that I'll wait until the others to pass judgment. Was wondering if the date would qualify it, and here we are. "There She Goes" is just a wonder, a gem of a song on a great album. 

And the album is great. Mavers is a continued perfectionist, a miserable guy who makes drummers stand up because of the way that the stick sound when it falls on the snare drum (watch clips of them re-form and watch their drummer standing -- usually) as opposed to the sound when the drummer is sitting down. While they always hope that re-releases will show the band at their height, Lillywhite did a good job with their LP's sound (if a little too bright and 80s-sounding) and the songs don't take on any particularly new meaning despite what tapes or production techniques are used. Maybe they sound grittier, but not much else. 

It's a great, great album, though, especially for a first-time listener. 

 

[rockaction]

I also have never had a problem with the name. That or The Go-Go's, for some reason. The messed up apostrophe seems right in those cases for reasons I don't understand logically. The Las? No, no sense. The Las Who? Or The Las What? Or The Las Where? naturally comes next in that instance. Same with the "Go-Gos" without the apostrophe. It's kind of like the weirdness of the So So Glos and their name. Should it be gloss? Or Glows? Or what?

The La's and the Go-Go's are just fine, IMO.

That's from a curmudgeon when it comes to things like that. 

 

[scorchy]

This is probably the best song of 1988, but I admit that the list is so interesting that I'll wait until the others to pass judgment. 

I can see that.  It' so simple - just the same four lines repeated - but sounds brilliant.  Working against - it just doesn't sound 1988 to me, obviously because none of us likely heard it until 2 years later.  I think every song in the top 50 (with one noted exception) is a song I loved back then, even if it might not be as "good" from a critical perspective as There She Goes.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I can see that.  It' so simple - just the same four lines repeated - but sounds brilliant.  Working against - it just doesn't sound 1988 to me, obviously because none of us likely heard it until 2 years later.  I think every song in the top 50 (with one noted exception) is a song I loved back then, even if it might not be as "good" from a critical perspective as There She Goes.

Yeah, I think of it as a ‘90s song because that is when I heard all its versions for the first time.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Yeah, I think of it as a ‘90s song because that is when I heard all its versions for the first time.

Same here. I would have bet my house this came out in the late 90s

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

The album reached #30 and the re-released single of There She Goes hit #13 in the UK and got plenty of play on U.S. alt radio (#2 on the Modern Rock charts).  Mavers still hated it.

I played the hell out of this album for a time in 90/91.  Thanks for filling in the backstory on why I never heard anything of them ever again.

 

[rockaction]

I can see that.  It' so simple - just the same four lines repeated - but sounds brilliant.  Working against - it just doesn't sound 1988 to me, obviously because none of us likely heard it until 2 years later.  I think every song in the top 50 (with one noted exception) is a song I loved back then, even if it might not be as "good" from a critical perspective as There She Goes.

Yeah, it really sounds like something from out of its time. I can definitely see that and relate to that sentiment. I was just happy to see it here is really all. "Best" might be hyperbolic love for it on my end. I love the original song. The very famous cover from the movies/ninetines by Sixpence None The Richer is very a good rendition, too, IMO, though the original far surpasses it -- at least in my headspace. 

 

[rockaction]

Minneapolis, huh? 

What is it with that town....

Every time I think of Minneapolis I think not of Prince, nor the Replacements, nor of the many other bands that come from there, but of Dillinger Four, long-time punk stalwarts of the nineties. Nothing says outre Minneapolis quite like their ethic, and that ethic comes home a bit to roost in their sociopolitical expressions as of late. 

Sort of very underground, but very well-known and respected, the Minneapolis creative output. 

 

[scorchy]

#54 - The Church - Reptile

Now this sounds like 1988.  Starfish is just a tremendous record with a bunch of great songs.  Reptile was the second single, reaching #27 on the Mainstream Rock chart (it was released prior to the Modern Rock chart, which didn't debut until later that year).  It doesn't quite reach the heights of the Church's biggest hit but that opening riff is straight $.

Reptile

 

[ProstheticRGK]

There She Goes always reminds me of the movie So, I Married an Axe Murderer. Great movie.

Also, the lead singer of the La's looks like someone Xeroxed Noel Gallagher on a really old, crappy copy machine.

 

[timschochet]

There She Goes always reminds me of the movie So, I Married an Axe Murderer. Great movie.

Also, the lead singer of the La's looks like someone Xeroxed Noel Gallagher on a really old, crappy copy machine.

It’s also the very first song played on the show Gilmore Girls. 

 

[scorchy]

It’s also the very first song played on the show Gilmore Girls. 

[Ed McMahon Voice] I did not know that! [/Ed McMahon Voice]

 

[rockaction]

[Ed McMahon Voice] I did not know that! [/Ed McMahon Voice]

I can see the cut back to Carson, him smiling his amused but slightly winking smile. Preferably a cut back to Johnny in a ridiculous get-up. 

I edited that paragraph about ten times before I got to what I wanted to communicate and tried to do so correctly. Just for everyone's edification. That's some internal pressure to get it right. Just...so! 

 

[scorchy]

Note: I took a muscle relaxer about 30 minutes ago and I’m drinking a Boulavardier mixed with high-proof Pikesville Rye, so apologies if this turns into a rambling, incoherent mess.

Before breaking into the top 50, I’m ending the first half of the countdown with three personal favorites.  In retrospect, two of these may be somewhat overrated based on personal bias.  The third actually would be a bunch higher if I had any idea who Lucinda Williams was in 1988 (see my comment to rock about why I couldn’t rank the La’s closer to the top). 

#53 – U2 – God Part II

Rattle and Hum was the first CD I ever bought, and God Part II was my favorite new song on it from the get go.  Something about The Edge’s angry guitar tone and Bono screaming about Goldman and speedballs really registered.  I learned from the U2 thread that God Part II is pretty polarizing among fans for whatever reason.  I couldn’t make it the highest ranked song from Rattle and Hum but still felt the need to give it its due.

God Part II

#52 – Jane’s Addiction – Ted, Just Admit It…

If you asked me in the fall of 1988 to name my favorite album, it was hands down Nothing’s Shocking.  I walked into Camelot music the week before school started and bought the tape solely based on a review in Rolling Stone.  It was like nothing I had ever heard – metal, punk, and prog all jumbled together in sonic chaos. I must have listened to it a dozen times in the first few days.

Like the epic Three Days on Jane’s Addiction’s follow up record, Ted, Just Admit It… was the epicenter of Nothing’s Shocking.  And I swear it wasn’t just because of my obsession with serial killers that I thought this.  On the Ocean City boardwalk, I managed to find a bootleg t-shirt with a muted print of the album cover and four lines from Ted… scrawled on the back:

Because of this thing

Because of this thing

Because of this thing

That’s in me.

I only got to wear it at school for one class before my history teacher made me turn it inside out.  Combine that with the girl sitting next to me in Physics questioning why I wrote “I am the killer of people, you look like a meatball” while taking notes and it’s a wonder nobody alerted my parents (or the cops).

The one thing I didn’t appreciate at the time was just how amazing the production is.  I can play this on my main system and it’s 7+ minutes of bliss – the drums just pound your chest and all the weird atmospheric stuff buzzes all around before the guitar or vocals even kick in.  If you didn’t love it before, stop by the casa de scorchy and check it out blasting through some Sonus Fabers.

Ted, Just Admit It...

#51 – Lucinda Williams – The Night’s Too Long

In You Never Call Me by My Name, David Allan Coe sings about writing “the perfect country and western song.”  Well, for me, The Night’s Too Long is the perfect country and western song.  The way Lucinda Williams sings about Sylvia from Beaumont, you feel like you’re right there on the road or in the bar with her.  It’s a story-telling masterpiece.

I had no idea who Lucinda Williams was in 1988 (and I can’t swear I did in 1998).  She was big with the critics, but as far as I can tell, she wasn’t getting played on country, pop, or rock radio.  Two songs from her self-titled 1988 record went on to be hits for other artists – The Night’s Too Long was recorded by Patty Loveless and reached #20 on the country charts in 1990 and Passionate Kisses was recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1993 and peaked at #4 (earning Lucinda Williams a songwriting grammy). I’ll still take her original recordings over either.

The Night's Too Long

 

[McBokonon]

#51 – Lucinda Williams – The Night’s Too Long

She was big with the critics, but as far as I can tell, she wasn’t getting played on country, pop, or rock radio. 

Which makes the fact she joined Flogging Molly for a song even better.

 

[DocHolliday]

. 

#52 – Jane’s Addiction – Ted, Just Admit It…

If you asked me in the fall of 1988 to name my favorite album, it was hands down Nothing’s Shocking.  I walked into Camelot music the week before school started and bought the tape solely based on a review in Rolling Stone.  It was like nothing I had ever heard – metal, punk, and prog all jumbled together in sonic chaos. I must have listened to it a dozen times in the first few days. 

Ted, Just Admit It...
 

This album still sounds incredible and has aged well.   It was like nothing most of us had ever heard.  Great selection.   

 

[Bracie Smathers]

#54 - The Church - Reptile

You're gutting my list.  I may not have enough songs left for a full/legit next-100.

FWIW I had this top-20 on my list.

Love the haunting guitar.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

#83 - The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Hmmm.  The album is from 1988.  The single is from 1988.  It went to #1 in Australia and #3 in the UK in 1988.  But it was rereleased in the U.S. in 1993 as part of the Benny and Joon soundtrack and made it all the way to #3 on the Hot 100.  Still, I gotta go with '88 on this one.

I know lots of people hate this song.  It brings me joy, at least as long as I only hear it once a month or so. Maybe it's because I'm full-blooded Scot on both sides. Or because of the busker in Glasgow that yelled at a tourist (not me) who requested it - "I'm not playing the ####ing Proclaimers, you ####."  It's certainly not because of Benny and Joon.

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Scotch-Irish here.  I don't haver on the song I LOVE IT!

The story of it being used on Benny And Joon is all Mary Stewart Masterson who INSISTED that the song be used.

The dudes from the Proclaimers got word that their song would be used in a movie and they thought cool, maybe the flick would use a few lines and that 'might' lead to a few extra sales and then they saw the movie and were BLOWN AWAY.

Not just that the movie began with the tune but that they used the ENTIRE SONG! 

That hardly ever happens. 

The song blew up basically putting them on the map and it was all because Mary Stewart Masterson dug in her heels and INNSISTED the song be used. 

I always  liked Mary Stewart Masterson. 

 

[Bracie Smathers]

#59 - Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

The all-time lowest low-energy song. 

Energetically concave, lol. 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

The all-time lowest low-energy song. 

Energetically concave, lol. 

Really could use an Alvin & the Chipmunks version.

 

[scorchy]

#50 - Prince - Alphabet St.

Knocking this one out before 3 hours of self-imposed misery that's sure to come from watching Eagles-Jets.

I didn't really like Lovesexy.  Critics didn't really seem to either, and it ended up being Prince's worst-selling record since 1980's Dirty Mind.  Alphabet St. was the first single and the only one of the three released from the album to make the Hot 100, ultimately reaching #8.  Resident Prince nerd @Ramsay Hunt Experience said it best "I like the spare funk groove but the rap kind of ruins the vibe."

Alphabet St.

 

[scorchy]

#49 – Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy

This one barely made the cut – released as a single for Christmas 1988 a few weeks ahead of The Raw and the Cooked.  I’ve always been fascinated how certain songs/bands from the late 80s broke out from the alternative label and took over the Hot 100.  For every Fine Young Cannibals or Tracy Chapman there were seemingly a half-dozen similar sounding artists that couldn’t sniff the Top 10.  She Drives Me Crazy premiered on 120 Minutes the first week of January 1989 – it hit #1 on the pop charts 3 months later.  The follow up – Good Thing, which I think is legitimately terrible – also topped the charts.  FYC issued a few more singles over the next few years but never released another album.

She Drive's Me Crazy

 

[rockaction]

#49 – Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy

This one barely made the cut – released as a single for Christmas 1988 a few weeks ahead of The Raw and the Cooked.  I’ve always been fascinated how certain songs/bands from the late 80s broke out from the alternative label and took over the Hot 100.  For every Fine Young Cannibals or Tracy Chapman there were seemingly a half-dozen similar sounding artists that couldn’t sniff the Top 10.  She Drives Me Crazy premiered on 120 Minutes the first week of January 1989 – it hit #1 on the pop charts 3 months later.  The follow up – Good Thing, which I think is legitimately terrible – also topped the charts.  FYC issued a few more singles over the next few years but never released another album.

She Drive's Me Crazy

I see what you did there. 

I always hated this song, maybe the apostrophe will make it sound better. I had no idea where this band came from, either, except that it dominated the airwaves right around the time I was just getting into that Jane's Addiction thing, which would totally transform my taste in music forever. 

Jane's's (see what I did there) output was indeed as you described. It immediately blew my headspace into another dimension. I loved "Summertime Rolls" and that XXX fake-live album especially. It was so damn revolutionary at the time for a suburban high schooler that one can't overestimate its impact in part because of its major label production and distribution, something Jane's got away with somehow.