20 years on: March 16, 1991

As modern rock enters its (gulp) third decade, we're going to be taking a look back at the charts of two decades ago.

This week in 1991: The #1 song in modern rock, in only its 2nd week on the top of the charts, was R.E.M.'s biggest-ever US single, "Losing My Religion."

The top 10:

1. REM, "Losing My Religion"
2. Jesus Jones, "Right Here, Right Now"
3. Daniel Ash, "This Love"
4. Divinyls, "I Touch Myself"
5. EMF, "Unbelievable"
6. The Replacements, "When it Began"
As REM is on the verge of becoming one of the biggest bands in the world, the Replacements, seen by many in the college-rock scene of the '80s as an equally-plausible contender for success, are in the middle of their final tour, and their last hit single has begun sliding down the charts.

Down to only two original members by this point, the Replacements finally called it quits July 4, 1991. Cool video, though.

7. Enigma, "Sadeness pt. 1"
8. Material Issue, "Valerie Loves Me." A personal favorite of mine from 1991.
9. Havana 3 a.m., "Reach the Rock." This is one I'd never heard of. Apparently, Clash bassist Paul Simonon was in the band. This was their only hit.

10. The Fixx, "How Much is Enough."

Guess the sample

Have you heard Travie McCoy's new single, "We'll be Alright"?


Hm... that chorus sounds awfully familiar.
That's right; the song liberally samples Supergrass' 1995 hit "Alright."


Given that I heard the McCoy song four times on the radio last weekend, I'd like to congratulate Supergrass on finally having a hit in America.

This week in reunions: Sublime!

* The reunited Sublime (billed as "Sublime with Rome" because, you know, Bradley Nowell is still dead) will be playing Lollapalooza Chile April 3 and several other festivals in South America this spring. Plus, they're in the studio working on an album. Check out the progress (recommended if you were into the Long Beach Dub All-Stars) here.

* It's certainly not happening anytime soon, but Liam Gallagher is no longer saying "never" to an Oasis reunion. Beady Eye sales figures?

* The Lilith Fair gang, who reunited last year for a tour that did not sell many tickets, won't be doing it again this summer. Sarah McLachlan says Lilith Fair is "done."

20 years on: March 9, 1991

As modern rock enters its (gulp) third decade, we're going to be taking a look back at the charts of two decades ago.

This week in 1991: The #1 song in modern rock, coming to the end of its one-month run at the top, was Jesus Jones' "Right Here Right Now."


Reflecting the pre-Nirvana days of modern rock radio in the US, the rest of this week's top ten was a mix of holdover new wave bands (such as the Fixx) and people (such as Sting) that you would never hear on a KROQ or 99X today.
1. Jesus Jones, "Right Here, Right Now"
2. Daniel Ash, "This Love"
3. Divinyls, "I Touch Myself." (editor's note: REALLY?)
4. The Replacements, "When it Began"
5. R.E.M., "Losing My Religion"
Debuting at #5 and beginning its ascent: REM's "Losing My Religion," their biggest-ever single. It would go on to spend 2 months at #1.
6. EMF, "Unbelievable." I am not ashamed to admit I own a cassette copy of Schubert Dip.
7. Enigma, "Sadeness Pt. 1". Ah yes, the brief Gregorian-chant craze of the early '90s:

8. Sting, "All This Time"
9. Havana 3 a.m., "Reach the Rock"
10. The Fixx, "How Much is Enough"

RIP Mike Starr

Mike Starr, former bass player for Alice in Chains, died earlier today, TMZ is reporting. He was 44. Starr reportedly passed away in a home in Salt Lake City. He was arrested a few weeks ago for possession of prescription drugs and had appeared on a recent season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

There's a fairly lengthy discussion of this on the Alice in Chains messageboard, but as of yet no official statement from Jerry Cantrell or Sean Kinney, now the only two surviving original members of one of grunge's most influential bands.

From the Cutout Bin: Seven Mary Three - Orange Ave.

Welcome to From the Cutout Bin, where we dig up old CDs that have been forgotten for whatever reason and can now be found in the dollar (or quarter) bin at your local used CD store (if your community still has a used CD store). This installment features the final major-label album by Seven Mary Three, 1998's Orange Ave.

Of all the albums we've done for this feature so far, this one was one of the more successful ones: it charted at #121 in the summer of 1998, and the lead single, "Over Your Shoulder," was a Top 10 mainstream rock and a Top 20 modern rock hit. So why did I get a copy (admittedly, a radio promo copy without any liner notes or artwork, but still) for $1? Because 7M3's first major-label album, 1995's American Standard, went platinum, and their follow-up, Rock Crown, failed to go gold. So expectations were low for Orange Ave., which came out a scant 14 months after Rock Crown.

I probably should note that I don't own any of 7M3's other albums, and haven't heard them all the way through. I am familiar with the hit singles: "Cumbersome," "Water's Edge," "My My," "Lucky," etc. I've seen the band once, at a radio station festival in the fall of 1998. And I was in a band in high school that ripped off the riff from "Water's Edge" for one of our songs. So there are my Seven Mary Three credentials up front.

This album seems like a conscious decision to get away from the "post-grunge" label that 7M3 were saddled with after their first two albums. And unlike bands like Better than Ezra, who released albums in 1998 that dabbled in electronica and trip-hop, Orange Ave.went in a '70s outlaw country / roots-rock direction. This is the sound of a band that were really into Pearl Jam, but used that as a gateway to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and Skynyrd.

This album is pretty good. It sounds like a southern-rock Wallflowers album, and that's not a backhanded compliment. "Over Your Shoulder" is a great song. No, really: listen for yourself:

That's a live version from 2009; the band didn't make any music videos off this album, which probably reflects Atlantic's continued interest in them.

Things were not going well for the band by the time Orange Ave. came out. From 7M3's own webpage, here's lead singer Jason Ross on the album: "The record is disjointed. The fragile moments and the energetic ones never reached continuity, largely because some of us weren’t speaking to each other at the time. It is our only attempt at making a straightforward pop rock record. There are songs on it that deserved a better effort than we could give at the time amidst the upheaval of knowing something bad was about to happen. I wanted to pay respects to my hometown of Orlando, a much-maligned hub of disposable entertainment and excess. Touring in support of Orange Avenue was work. And it was sad. It never felt like work before, but the damage was done." Lead guitarist Jason Pollock quit the band after this album.

From trolling the web, it seems as if this album is a bit of a black-sheep in the 7M3 catalog for the band's fans, but I rather enjoyed it. Besides "Over Your Shoulder," I also particularly liked "In-Between" and "Southwestern State."

7 Mary 3 are still going, and have managed to maintain a cult following. They've released three studio albums on various indie labels since Orange Ave. and opened up for Three Doors Down in 2004 on a lengthy amphitheater tour. Only lead singer Jason Ross and the bass player are still around from the original incarnation of the band, but they have a new acoustic album out, and they're playing Alaska later this month. Visit their webpage here.

Is Orange Ave. worth your dollar? I'd say yes.

This week in reunions... Remy Zero!

* Remy Zero, who broke up in 2003, reunited last year for a few scattered shows as a tribute to their drummer, who died of cystic fibrosis in January 2010. Now they've released a new single that's available as a free download here. Will there be a new album, or more shows? No plans as of yet. I wonder if they made so much money off the Smallville theme song that they still don't need day jobs?

* Not sure what the status of the Rage Against the Machine reunion is; they played a few dates in South America last fall, but have made no progress toward releasing any new music since their reformation in 2007. Tom Morello, meanwhile, spent last week in Wisconsin protesting with union leaders. Zack de la Rocha was not in attendance.

* Stone Temple Pilots are touring the US again. Antiquiet reviewed one of the first shows, in an Oklahoma casino.

* Chris Cornell tells Spin that Soundgarden starts recording their new album soon. Adam Kasper, who produced 1996's Down on the Upside as well as albums by the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and Pearl Jam, is producing.