Touch, Peel, And Stand Breaks Record At #1

This time, it didn't take 13 years! Just 3 years and one month after Stone Temple Pilots' Interstate Love Song broke the Album Rock Tracks chart record for most weeks at number one - 15 weeks - another song replaced it. In Billboard's January 17th 1998 issue, Days Of The New's Touch, Peel, and Stand spent it's 16th week at the top, beating out the STP song by one week, becoming the new record holder!

In the 1990's, these long stays at the top of charts became common. Why? Could the popularity of post · grunge been the reason? Like STP, Days Of The New also used the post · grunge style in their music. But music styles and trends always come and go. A better explanation might lie in Billboard's current method for tallying the charts. On my 1991 page, I discussed how Billboard changed their method of gathering data for the charts from a phone · in method for contacting music stores, to a computerized method called SoundScan, which logged the sales and airplay of songs. This was a bias · free method, and gave the true popularity of songs and albums. As many more entered charts at number one, many also spent more weeks at number one, likely for this reason.

A "Casey Kasem" Moment...Almost!

Those who grew up listening to the late Casey Kasem's weekly radio show American Top 40 recall him pointing out trivia moments as they happened, sharing his passion for those moments with his audience. One such moment was those rare occasions when 2 different songs with the same title charted on the top 40 during the same week. Did this ever happen on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart chart? Through 1998, no, but...there was a related chart enigma that year worth mentioning.

The ordeal began with Billboard's February 21st issue, when Creed's Torn had just entered the Mainstream Rock chart. One week prior Natalie Imbruglia's Torn debuted on the Modern Rock chart, and was, at that time, moving up that chart. Surprisingly, Creed's song NEVER charted on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, despite their track My Own Prison ranking on that chart during this time. But the two tracks named Torn nearly charted in sync with each other on each chart for the next few months, until Natalie Imbruglia's Torn fell off the Modern Rock chart on July 18th.

This marked the closest two tracks with the same title ever came to charting at the same time on the Mainstream Album Rock chart. Casey Kasem would have been very disappointed!

Everlast

Erik Francis Schrody, known by his stage name Everlast, first made a name for himself in the rap and hip · hop world, best known as a member of the trio House Of Pain. Following a successful run as a hip · hop band in the early 1990's, House Of Pain broke up and Everlast later pursued a solo career. As a solo artist, Everlast shifted from rap and hip · hop to rock, yielding his first hit album Whitey Ford Sings The Blues in late 1998. The album, and its first track release What It's Like were an immediate success! What It's Like scored number one on BOTH of Billboard's rock charts in late 1998 and early 1999, not to mention it was the number 4 song for the year 1999 on Billboard's Mainstream (Album) Rock Tracks chart! Everlast also saw success colaborating with Carlos Santana the following year in a track on Santana's comeback album Supernatural.

Godsmack

The post · grunge sound made its way to the East coast, as the Boston · based band Godsmack made their successful national debut. Their 1998 release All Wound Up became an instant hit near the end of the year, yielding the hit tracks Whatever, Keep Away, Voodoo, and Bad Religion during 1998 and 1999.

Led by lead singer Sully Erna, Godsmack formed in 1995 and, with their grungy style somewhat in the vein of Alice In Chains, built a large following with rock audiences in their native Boston area for three years. They rode the wave of their local popularity to the national stage and became one of the leading rock bands over the next decade and a half!