12. The Godfathers, More Songs About Love & Hate The cover pictured above was not on the copy of the 1989 album from the Godfathers that we had at the radio station, but it damn well should have been. Could … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 12
13. The Sugarcubes, Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week! In 1989, CMJ, the chief trade journal for college radio, released a handsome trade paperback to commemorate their tenth anniversary. Distributed to all of the subscribing stations, the book was a … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 13
14. Camper Van Beethoven, Key Lime Pie There were a handful of albums that predated my arrival at the radio station by only a year or two that I was especially regretful about. I would have loved to reach … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 14
15. The B-52’s, Cosmic Thing My knowledge of the B-52’s was limited enough in the summer of 1989, when their album Cosmic Thing hit the station, that I didn’t realize how difficult it probably was for the band to buckle … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 15
16. Robyn Hitchcock ‘n’ the Egyptians, Queen Elvis While I already had immense respect and appreciation for him, I wouldn’t have named Robyn Hitchcock as my favorite performer when Queen Elvis was released. When this record hit the station in early 1989, it was simply another strong outing from a college radio stalwart in an unusually bountiful winter and spring. By this time, Hitchcock’s talents were already well-established, first as the main creative force behind the cult hero punk outfit the Soft Boys and then with a fairly prolific solo career throughout the eighties. He made his major label debut … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 16
17. Couch Flambeau, Ghostride I’m not sure if we’d coined the term “Dairy Rock” by 1989, but the staffers of 90FM were definitely devoted to it by then. That was the all-encompassing name we gave to the music that derived … Continue reading College Countdown, 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 17
18. The Mighty Lemon Drops, Laughter When we wrote up the radio scripts for these countdowns, one of the surest topics was the derivation of band names. This was well before an artful Wikipedia search could provide all the information … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 18
19. The Rainmakers, The Good News and the Bad News It may seem odd to see the Rainmakers placing so high on this countdown, especially while seminal albums by the likes of the Pixies and the Cure are relegated to … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 19
20. Bob Mould, Workbook To me, this album represents the beginning of summer. Online sources of reasonable repute list its release date as April 1989. That may very well be the case, but my memory of the album begins with … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 20
For months now, this space on Sundays has been devoted to counting down the top 90 albums of 1989 on the college radio station where I made my home. I decided fairly early on that I wanted to write the … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, Interlude
Coffee for Two 