The Randomizer Presents: Alt Airplay’s Early Years (REVEALS)

[narp]

Hey everyone!

This was a big thing I decided to do on a whim. Basically a project born of boredom. I compiled every single song to ever chart on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, sorted the songs into years, and then put them into a random item picker website I found. The result is the list down below.

And you read that right. EVERY song. Not just the ones encapsulating 1988-1999’s chart years. Thousands of songs. And it only took me 2 weeks. I’m proud of myself for that one. Actually getting this list together was the easiest part. So expect lists of the 2000s and 2010s in the future!

I like to think of this as a decade-end style chart, but my favorite part of this concept is that any song, from the ones that peaked at #40 (or #30 as this was partly the era of 30-position charts) for a single week to the ones that spent multiple weeks at #1, can get a spot here. It just needs the luck of the draw.

And here’s how this will work:
- Each participant will private message me their rankings of the list below, here on Pulse
- Rank each song to your personal preference, 1 being your favorite and 50 being your least favorite
- When each list has been counted and all points have been tallied, I will reveal the songs from 50 to 1. The song with the most points will be revealed first and vice versa

Now, for the rules. Tons of fun, right?
1. Please listen to all 50 songs on this list to their full length and rank them from #1 (your personal favorite) to #50 (your personal least favorite)
2. Please don’t submit just to tank songs for no reason or try to skew the results in any way. I will not accept your list if you do something such as ranking all the female artists in the bottom half as a joke.
3. Please message the list to me here on Pulse. I will not accept lists messaged from Discord under most circumstances. If you’re here from the TOTC server and don’t have a Pulse account, please create one and message me to inform me of this (send me your list as well). If your account isn’t approved before the deadline, I will still accept your list. No other exceptions will be made unless noted in the future.
4. Please format your list the same as I have in my provided list. You can leave out the years if you want. In other words, each list should be formatted like “1. Artist - Song”. Please be aware that I will not accept your list if it does not meet these formatting conditions.
5. You are free to make changes to your list after submitting, but I will not accept changes after October 27th.

Here are the 50 songs we will be ranking:

1. Nirvana - On A Plain (1992)
2. P.M. Dawn - Downtown Venus (1995)
3. Sparklehorse - Someday I Will Treat You Good (1996)
4. Porno For Pyros - Hard Charger (1997)
5. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Something’s Always Wrong (1994)
6. Sonic Youth - 100% (1992)
7. The Bible - Crystal Palace (1988)
8. Sugar - Your Favorite Thing (1994)
9. Pixies - Velouria (1990)
10. Transvision Vamp - Tell That Girl To Shut Up (1988)
11. Reverend Horton Heat - One Time For Me (1994)
12. Sisters of Mercy - More (1990)
13. Jude - Rick James (1999)
14. The Dambuilders - Shrine (1994)
15. L7 - Andres (1994)
16. Edelweiss - Bring Me Edelweiss (1989)
17. Boris Grebenshikov - Radio Silence (1989)
18. Fountains of Wayne - Denise (1999)
19. Ween - Push Th’ Little Dasies (1993)
20. In Tua Nua - All I Wanted (1988)
21. Aztec Camera - The Crying Scene (1990)
22. The Magnificent Bastards - Mockingbird Girl (1995)
23. Abra Moore - Four Leaf Clover (1997)
24. Mojo Nixon/Skid Roper - Debbie Gibson is Pregnant With My Two Headed Love Child (1989)
25. Fairground Attraction - Perfect (1989)
26. Ric Ocasek - Rockaway (1991)
27. St. Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (1992)
28. Eleventh Dream Day - Testify (1990)
29. Buck Pets - Libertine (1991)
30. The Verve - Lucky Man (1998)
31. Dovetail Joint - Level on the Inside (1999)
32. Julian Cope - Charlotte Anne (1988)
33. Hum - Comin’ Home (1998)
34. Mansun - Wide Open Space (1997)
35. The Timelords - Doctorin’ the Tardis (1988)
36. Therapy? - Screamager (1993)
37. Ben Folds Five - Battle of Who Could Care Less (1997)
38. Better Than Ezra - At the Stars (1999)
39. Eve’s Plum - I Want It All (1994)
40. Oasis - Morning Glory (1995)
41. The Smashing Pumpkins - Muzzle (1996)
42. The Suicide Machines - No Face (1997)
43. The Charlatans - Weirdo (1992)
44. Pop Will Eat Itself - Def Con 1 (1988)
45. eels - Last Stop: This Town (1998)
46. Cake - Sheep Go to Heaven (1999)
47. Thelonious Monster - So What If I Did (1989)
48. Buffalo Tom - Sodajerk (1993)
49. R.E.M. - E-Bow the Letter (1996)
50. Joydrop - Beautiful (1999)


Here’s the Spotify playlist:



Participants:
1. Me
2. singingrulebritannia
3. Troy
4. rowellfarm490
5. American Idiot
6. aerodynamite
7. DadJokes
8. janinho

[DadJokes]

Fun concept. I'm in for this one! Most of these are squarely in my teen years, but even so, I see several I either have never heard or may not remember until I go through the list.

[narp]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}
Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 American Idiot Daryl the Beryl Beno BlurryKyle House Lannister taylor castleoblivion26 cedric CF15 Clode Cody g8erboi Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast dremolus - solarpunk eidde singingrulebritannia Gonza'90 GP newpower Sambalada CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker HamedM1 💔 jamesflame janinho Leo ✔ born Juanca lyhom shootingstar16 MoD Mylo13 💜 Taiga razorshark RobbyFlorida rowellfarm490 sergejdordij SwiftlySheeran tanooki Au$tin toomuchboy Trilogy twigs walt91 DadJokes wheatsquares33 willapted33 wrip YotamTS Zach

[wheatsquares33]

This concept is very up my alley, may have even considered an idea like this before (see my uhh tournament thread from 2016 that I liked a lot but was just too much work to maintain). I'm gonna participate for sure

[narp]

So obviously this rankdown won’t have conventional extras, so my approach here will be a bit “unique”. The extras here will be songs I think alternative radio should’ve played more often. They didn’t chart on Alternative Airplay.

Extra #1

Blur - Beetlebum (1997)

Oh, Britpop. If only radio latched onto British artists in the mid/late-1990s like they did in the late-1980s and early-1990s. This easily surpasses the quality of their biggest hit on this format in my opinion. It peaked at #13 on alternative radio in Canada and #1 on the UK Singles chart. Oddly enough, “M.O.R.” from the same album Bubbled Under the Hot 100 and peaked at #14 there, but it didn’t do well enough to make any radio charts. I think that one’s better than their biggest hit as well.

[singingrulebritannia]

Maybe you should cut this down to just the songs that weren't in one of the year-end Alternative rankdowns. 100 songs seems a little too big for this idea, but there are a lot of songs here that we didn't rank before as they were only extras in their years.

Or if you don't want to remove any songs, splitting this into multiple parts might make people more willing to participate.

[narp]

I am resourceful, so here’s what we’re going to do. To drive up participation, I’m cutting this one in half, because it’s about a 50/50 split between songs that have been ranked before and extras. Rank from 1-50 instead.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}
Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 American Idiot Daryl the Beryl Beno BlurryKyle House Lannister taylor castleoblivion26 cedric CF15 Clode Cody g8erboi Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast dremolus - solarpunk eidde singingrulebritannia Gonza'90 GP newpower Sambalada CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker HamedM1 💔 jamesflame janinho Leo ✔ born Juanca lyhom shootingstar16 MoD Mylo13 💜 Taiga razorshark RobbyFlorida rowellfarm490 sergejdordij SwiftlySheeran tanooki Au$tin toomuchboy Trilogy twigs walt91 DadJokes wheatsquares33 willapted33 wrip YotamTS Zach

[narp]

Extra #2

Ben Lee - Nothing Much Happens (1999)

Ben Lee is an indie pop artist from the land down under. In 1998, his song “Cigarettes Will Kill You” was a minor chart hit in his homeland of Australia, as well as in the UK. The next year, he decided to send a single to US alternative radio, to lukewarm results. It made the top 50 on Mediabase but failed to chart on Billboard, which is why it’s an extra tonight.

[narp]

Extra #3

Babylon Zoo - Spaceman (1996)

Screw it, extra #3. As a chart watcher who was formerly really into old UK charts, this song’s entire chart existence is an anomaly to me. A number #1 hit in over 10 European countries, top ten in Australia and New Zealand, and even #23 on the Canada alternative chart, and a US single and album release, but even with all that as far as I can tell it never even made Mediabase. Now, I looked at old adds reports and some alts and even pop stations played it, but obviously the airplay wasn’t widespread enough. I just think the song is merely fine, but with its hit status elsewhere (due to a Levi’s jeans commercial in the UK btw) and industrial alt rock sound, I would’ve expected US alts to be all over this back in 1996. 

[narp]

Extra #4

Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (1998)

Another Britpop star left without a radio hit in the US. A big shame. This would be their first of two #1 hits in the UK. It also entered the Canadian alternative chart for two weeks and peaked at #19. At least they gave it more of a chance?

[narp]

Extra #5
Moist - Freaky Be Beautiful (1995)

Now here’s a song with an interesting chart history. Moist were a bit of a CanCon staple in the 1990s, but this particular song didn’t chart in Canada. Instead, it hit #1 on the UK Rock and Metal singles sales chart. They were the only Canadian band to hit the top spot that year.

[Doc Indie Party Rock]

I charted a little less than ten of these songs. I'm gonna preview some of these before deciding to play. If most are pretty good I'll submit a list. Either way the song everyone thinks would be my #1 would probably still be my #1.

[narp]

Extra #6
Stiltskin - Inside (1994)

The UK will honestly let anything and everything hit #1. The band and song were both put together because Levi jeans needed a song for an advertisement. It was a resounding success in multiple European countries, and even entered Billboard’s rock radio airplay chart (unlike the other extras which didn’t chart on a US radio chart), but alas it never received an entry on the alternative format chart. I’m just a little surprised a post-grunge song couldn’t get enough radio airplay to chart on alternative in 1994.

[narp]

Y’all still have a little over a month to submit for this so take your time! Here’s a larger tag list which includes the general tags in addition to the rock tags. As always, if you don’t want to be tagged, just ask. Reminders will be weekly, after all.

SPOILER: Click to show

{This thing is big lol}
Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 American Idiot anthony11554 anorable avatar Az Paynter yuh yuh BB🌕 Daryl the Beryl Beno BlurryKyle Private Dancer House Lannister taylor castleoblivion26 cedric charmander78 CF15 Clode Cody Wants Out... Cody g8erboi tim Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast DJDaveMick69 dremolus - solarpunk eidde Crimsonio fearlessarrow Exclusive filthy gabe Gonza'90 GP GrinningLikeADevil hydraflare Sambalada CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker HamedM1 💔 .indulgecountry 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 @jadenlefranks jamesflame janinho Leo ✔ born Kanenrá:ke Juanca Mr. Thonk Eyes jtd Thee Stallion Fire kimberly lyhom mamooshka shootingstar16 M5 Mayman MoD Mylo13 💜
netti Nick P SHOOTER Taiga razorshark Red RobbyFlorida samo🦕 sergejdordij stallie SwiftlySheeran tallen2001 tanooki Au$tin Devil Marlena Nylund 𝓲𝓽'𝓼.𝓰𝓿 toomuchboy Trilogy twigs Ty woods walt91 weaver wheatsquares33 mako willapted33 wrip wyckyd Zach peacebone newpower rowellfarm490 DadJokes YotamTS macattack Doc Indie Party Rock

[narp]

Extra #7
Pulp - Razzmatazz (1993)

Pulp has a very illustrious career in the British music scene, dating back to the early-1980s, but they wouldn’t get a UK chart entry until 1993, with this song right here. It only peaked at #80, but this allowed subsequent releases to flourish. All 4 singles from their breakout album, Different Class, reached the top ten in the UK. And as with most Britpop stars, they didn’t get much of a fair share on US alternative radio. 

[narp]

Extra #8

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Straight to You (1992)

A pretty big name that never got on the chart. Their first Australian chart entry.

Extra #9

Died Pretty - D.C. (1991)

Yet another Australian artist. Landed at #34 on 1991’s Year End list for Triple J, but it didn’t crack any charts.

Extra #10
Andy Prieboy - Tomorrow Wendy (1990)

Interestingly enough, an American artist that never charted in his solo career. Fun fact, he was briefly the lead singer of Wall of Voodoo from 1984 to 1988. This one was released in 1990 but was voted top 5 on 1991’s Triple J list.

Extra #11
The Tragically Hip - Blow At High Dough (1989)

A legendary band in their native Canada. This one was their first chart entry there way back in 1989. They were much less appreciated down south, as US formats only gave airplay to a handful of their songs.

Extra #12
Pet Shop Boys - Heart (1988)

This UK duo scored 4 number one hits in their native country and one in the US (plus three top ten hits!), but this one completely bypassed the main Canada and US charts. And due to releasing earlier in 1988 months before Modern Rock Tracks was started, it completely bypassed US charts altogether. Believe it or not, they’ve charted on Alternative three times in the past, including a top ten hit in 1993.

And that concludes the extras for this round! Here’s a Spotify playlist with all 12 of them. NOTE: “Inside” by Stiltskin is only available as a live version.

[narp]

Today’s the 29th, so you all have a month left to submit. As always, let me know if you want to be excluded from subsequent tag reminders.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}
Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 American Idiot anthony11554 anorable avatar Az Paynter yuh yuh BB🌕 Daryl the Beryl Beno BlurryKyle Private Dancer House Lannister taylor castleoblivion26 cedric charmander78 CF15 Clode Cody Wants Out... Cody g8erboi tim Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast DJDaveMick69 dremolus - solarpunk eidde Crimsonio fearlessarrow Exclusive filthy gabe Gonza'90 GP GrinningLikeADevil hydraflare Sambalada CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker HamedM1 💔 .indulgecountry 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 @jadenlefranks jamesflame janinho Leo ✔ born Kanenrá:ke Juanca Mr. Thonk Eyes jtd Thee Stallion Fire kimberly lyhom mamooshka shootingstar16 M5 Mayman MoD Mylo13 💜
netti Nick P SHOOTER Taiga razorshark Red RobbyFlorida samo🦕 sergejdordij stallie SwiftlySheeran tallen2001 tanooki Au$tin Devil Marlena Nylund 𝓲𝓽'𝓼.𝓰𝓿 toomuchboy Trilogy twigs Ty woods walt91 weaver wheatsquares33 mako willapted33 wrip wyckyd Zach peacebone newpower rowellfarm490 DadJokes YotamTS macattack Doc Indie Party Rock

[Troy]

love many of these & they aren’t overplayed so it’ll be a pleasure to listen to them again…I’m curious to see 51-100…are you using those in a sequel to this rankdown?

[narp]

Sept 29, 2021 12:47:47 GMT -5 Troy said:

I’m curious to see 51-100…are you using those in a sequel to this rankdown?

To answer your question, the 51-100 that were originally on this list this will be repurposed in the future, but not for a while. I already have lists made for the 2000s and 2010s versions of this concept (50 songs like this one, but with a more even year distribution for uniformity’s sake), and I’d prefer to do those first. Those will be the actual sequels to this one.

It honestly depends on demand what I do after this initial 3 part series. There are certainly enough songs in the queue for me to make it one big annual thing. But for now, the roadmap is “80s and 90s” > “2000s” > “2010s” and it’ll be left at that.

[narp]

Yeah, I’m a bit late with the tags, so things aren’t as asymmetrical now :(. Y’all have a little under 3 weeks to send me a list! As always, tell me if you want to be removed from the tags list. Otherwise, I’ll assume you want the reminders.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}
Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 American Idiot anthony11554 anorable avatar Az Paynter yuh yuh BB🌕 Daryl the Beryl Beno BlurryKyle Private Dancer House Lannister taylor castleoblivion26 cedric charmander78 CF15 Clode Cody Wants Out... Cody g8erboi tim Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast DJDaveMick69 dremolus - solarpunk eidde Crimsonio fearlessarrow Exclusive filthy gabe Gonza'90 GP GrinningLikeADevil hydraflare Sambalada CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker HamedM1 💔 .indulgecountry 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 @jadenlefranks jamesflame janinho Leo ✔ born Kanenrá:ke Juanca Mr. Thonk Eyes jtd Thee Stallion Fire kimberly lyhom mamooshka shootingstar16 M5 Mayman MoD Mylo13 💜
netti Nick P SHOOTER Taiga razorshark Red RobbyFlorida samo🦕 sergejdordij stallie SwiftlySheeran tallen2001 tanooki Au$tin Devil Marlena Nylund 𝓲𝓽'𝓼.𝓰𝓿 toomuchboy Trilogy twigs Ty woods walt91 weaver wheatsquares33 mako willapted33 wrip wyckyd Zach peacebone newpower rowellfarm490 DadJokes YotamTS macattack Doc Indie Party Rock

[narp]

12 days left! As always, tell me if you want to be removed from the tags list. Otherwise, I’ll assume you want the reminders.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}
Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 American Idiot anthony11554 anorable avatar Az Paynter yuh yuh BB🌕 Daryl the Beryl Beno BlurryKyle Private Dancer House Lannister taylor castleoblivion26 cedric charmander78 CF15 Clode Cody Wants Out... Cody g8erboi tim Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast DJDaveMick69 dremolus - solarpunk eidde Crimsonio fearlessarrow Exclusive filthy gabe Gonza'90 GP GrinningLikeADevil hydraflare Sambalada CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker HamedM1 💔 .indulgecountry 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 @jadenlefranks jamesflame janinho Leo ✔ born Kanenrá:ke Juanca Mr. Thonk Eyes jtd Thee Stallion Fire kimberly lyhom mamooshka shootingstar16 M5 Mayman MoD Mylo13 💜
netti Nick P SHOOTER Taiga razorshark Red RobbyFlorida samo🦕 sergejdordij stallie SwiftlySheeran tallen2001 tanooki Au$tin Devil Marlena Nylund 𝓲𝓽'𝓼.𝓰𝓿 toomuchboy Trilogy twigs Ty woods walt91 weaver wheatsquares33 mako willapted33 wrip wyckyd Zach peacebone newpower rowellfarm490 DadJokes YotamTS macattack Doc Indie Party Rock

[wheatsquares33]

I am still planning on doing this, will start on it soon

[American Idiot]

I'm working on my list. Should have it sent in this weekend or early next week.

[DadJokes]

I'll have mine in next week, too

[narp]

Alright, don’t get mad at me for this. I’m going to extend this a couple days because I will not be able to reveal this weekend. I’ll now be accepting lists until November 2 at 3 PM EST, so you all have about 4 1/2 days left as of me writing this.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}
Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 anthony11554 anorable avatar Az Paynter yuh yuh BB🌕 Daryl the Beryl Beno BlurryKyle Private Dancer House Lannister taylor castleoblivion26 cedric charmander78 CF15 Clode Cody Wants Out... Cody g8erboi tim Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast DJDaveMick69 dremolus - solarpunk eidde Crimsonio fearlessarrow Exclusive filthy gabe Gonza'90 GP GrinningLikeADevil hydraflare Sambalada CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker HamedM1 💔 .indulgecountry 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 @jadenlefranks jamesflame janinho Leo ✔ born Kanenrá:ke Juanca Mr. Thonk Eyes jtd Thee Stallion Fire kimberly lyhom mamooshka shootingstar16 M5 Mayman MoD Mylo13 💜
netti Nick P SHOOTER Taiga razorshark Red RobbyFlorida samo🦕 sergejdordij stallie SwiftlySheeran tallen2001 tanooki Au$tin Devil Marlena Nylund 𝓲𝓽'𝓼.𝓰𝓿 toomuchboy Trilogy twigs Ty woods walt91 weaver wheatsquares33 mako willapted33 wrip wyckyd Zach peacebone newpower DadJokes YotamTS macattack Doc Indie Party Rock

[singingrulebritannia]

Not Az extending STM so it isn't due the same day as my Reggae RD only for you to extend this so it is now

[Clode]

Listen narp I don't get why you have constantly tagged me for this if you have me blocked from being able to actually submit for this, It just isn't cool how you have misled me into believing that I'm allowed to participate for this only to find out that I'm not allowed. You just don't realize how anxious I become when I'm misled like this. 

[narp]

It’s time to get this going! I’m very excited to get this series rolling because this chart as a whole is really interesting to me. Very unpredictable and quirky, especially in these first 12 years here. 

---

Participants:
1. Me
2. singingrulebritannia
3. Troy
4. rowellfarm490
5. American Idiot
6. aerodynamite
7. DadJokes
8. janinho

[narp]

I bet these guys thought they were so clever.

---

singingrulebritannia 37

DadJokes 40

American Idiot 49

rowellfarm490 49

aerodynamite 50

janinho 50

narp 50

Troy 50

[janinho]

No surprise.