Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - 10,000 Maniacs and "These Are Days"
Against the backdrop of grunge rock's rise into the zeitgeist, Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs provide a light and effervescent alternative to the alternative with "These Are Days"
10,000 Maniacs - “These Are Days”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 2 weeks (November 21 and 28, 1992)
Previous Modern Rock #1 hit: R.E.M. - “Drive”
Next Modern Rock #1 hit: Soul Asylum - “Somebody To Shove”
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
The Heights - “How Do You Talk To An Angel” (11/21/92, 2 total weeks)
Whitney Houston - “I Will Always Love You” (11/28/92)
I’ve waxed nostalgic many times over in this space about my Musical Awakening™, that moment/phase in time where I went from listening to the music of my parents’ generation to discovering my generation’s music. One of those moments came in late 1994 when I purchased my first cassette single, a live cover of the Bruce Springsteen-penned Patti Smith single “Because The Night,” performed by 10,000 Maniacs.
It’s a track which has all the things I love in my alternative rock: pianos, a string section, and a powerful lead singer, and it was an easy decision to drop the $5 for the cassingle. Of course, by the time I purchased that track, Natalie Merchant had left 10,000 Maniacs to pursue a solo career, a decision she’d made several years earlier when, according to a 1995 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she decided she “didn’t want to have to consult with all these other people, didn’t want art by committee anymore.”
I’ve never done a significant deep dive into the Maniacs’ back catalog, but based on what I heard with “Because The Night” and again with the band’s only Modern Rock Tracks chart topper, “These Are Days,” the music of 10,000 Maniacs didn’t seem that far removed from Merchant’s popular solo offerings.
Indeed, if you listen to the most popular tracks in Merchant’s early post-Maniacs solo phase, it’s difficult to parse out where 10,000 Maniacs ends and Natalie Merchant begins. That’s not a slight against Merchant; she has a singularly unique voice and substantial vocal range, and her talent played a significant part in the successes of both her band and her solo career.
But outside of the somewhat funky and dour “Carnival,” Merchant’s highest-charting singles (“Wonder” hit #20 on the Hot 100 and #16 on the MRT chart; “Jealousy” #23 Hot 100; and “Kind And Generous” #32 MRT) all seem to be a natural extension of the work that she did with 10,000 Maniacs. I gave a quick listen to the Maniacs’ previous MRT-charting songs — their #9 hit “What’s The Matter Here,” their #12 hit “Eat For Two,” and their #3 hit “Trouble Me” — and really, I’m just not seeing much of a difference artistically.
Now it’s possible Merchant’s solo deep cuts and albums might be more adventurous and provide some of the artistic freedom she was lacking with the Maniacs, but for ‘90s radio listeners and programmers, the tracks that rose to the top and into airplay lists throughout the decade were songs that sounded an awful lot like “These Are Days.”
It’s hard to argue with that decision. As I’ve noted in many of the write-ups I’ve done since Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” topped the Modern Rock Tracks chart, the sea change from ‘80s British stylings and R.E.M.-adjacent jangle-pop to heavier American grunge and post-grunge didn’t happen overnight. Based on the singles that topped the MRT chart from 1992 to 1994, it’s clear alternative radio programmers weren’t completely sold on this newer, edgier sound, and while that style of music would eventually consume the zeitgeist, the niche audience who came of age with jangle-pop acts like R.E.M. and Robyn Hitchcock and even Elvis Costello still craved this type of music in the mid 1990s.
“These Are Days” could not be further removed from “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Whereas the latter is a dour ode to Gen X indifference and uncertainty, the 10,000 Maniacs provide a soothing, catchy counterpoint: why be indifferent and uncertain when everything around you is awesome?
These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face.
And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be.
Laughter and light, growth and bloom, all images of a fresh new beginning. It’s somewhat ironic in retrospect that the band provided this perspective at a time when they knew they were headed toward an inevitable breakup, but perhaps it was intentional in its own way. After all, life will throw challenges at you, but perhaps the best way to endure the hardships is to reflect on the good times, and seek those moments out amid the chaos.
See the signs and know their meaning.
Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you.
Even though the band was effectively in its death throes upon the release of “Our Time In Eden,” their popularity skyrocketed following the release of “These Are Days” as the first single. The follow-up track, “Candy Everybody Wants,” reached #5 on the MRT charts in 1993. The album “Our Time In Eden” would top out at #28 on the Billboard 200 chart, and would soon be followed by their “MTV Unplugged” live album, which would reach #13 on that same album chart in 1993. That album naturally included an unplugged cut of “These Are Days,” played to raucous applause.
We won’t see Natalie Merchant or 10,000 Maniacs in this space again, but they stand as continued proof that alternative music wasn’t ready to move on from bright, cheerful, guitar-based alternative rock. And as I noted in my review of Suzanne Vega’s hit “Blood Makes Noise,” the 1990s benefited greatly from solid female leads, and Merchant is another great example of that legacy.
Rating: 8/10
Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period
Not a lot to chew on from the charts in late November 1992, but nevertheless, there’s an interesting stylistic divergence taking shape in the charts. While the ladies top the charts and the power-alt-rock stylings of grunge and post-grunge are scraping the bottom, within five years, this dynamic will turn upside down. It’s interesting watching it unfold “in real time” through this chronological review.
“Love” by The Sundays (#2): Former Modern Rock Tracks #1 artist The Sundays fell just short of another chart topper with “Love,” the first single off their album “Blind.” Speaking of strong female performances, you’d be hard pressed to find a more lovely and powerful voice than that of Harriet Wheeler, forming a neat one-two punch at the top of the alt-rock charts next to Natalie Merchant. This track peaked at #2 behind 10,000 Maniacs.
“Them Bones” by Alice In Chains (#30): This is the first song from Alice In Chains to enter the Modern Rock Tracks chart. “Them Bones,” the second single from the band’s seminal “Dirt” album, took the last spot on the MRT chart for one week in November 1992, and promptly fell away. Though they already made a name for themselves among hard-rock purists in the early ‘90s with their “Facelift” album, they had yet to crossover into the MRT space. The band will eventually make a stronger push to the top of the MRT chart, a much different sound than the tracks topping the chart at this time.
Love this song! There is a book called "Size of the World" by Jeff Greenwald where he writes about traveling the globe w/o ever leaving the ground. This song is mentioned in the book, and ever since has always reminded me of the excitement & fresh air of getting ready to go on a new trip/vacation/adventure. I'm not sure that's what the band had in mind, but here we are.
Love this song