Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - World Party and "Way Down Now"

Karl Wallinger's side project managed to ride the top of the Modern Rock Tracks charts for more than a month with a funky rock jam about television

World Party - “Way Down Now”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 5 (June 9 to July 7, 1990)

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

• Wilson Phillips - “Hold On” (6/9/90)

• Roxette - “It Must Have Been Love” (6/16/90 and 6/23/90)

• New Kids On The Block - “Step By Step” (6/30/90 and 7/7/90)

I’ve featured several articles here about bands who were side projects of musicians who gained a following due to being a part of a more-famous act. A lot of times, those revelations took me by surprise, as this project continues to open my eyes to the roots of alternative rock with bands I knew next to nothing about.

I was really expecting a similar discovery with World Party, which I just assumed would be the side project of, like, David Bowie or Prince or someone like that. Maybe the drummer from XTC or the bass player from The Smiths stepped into this group, and that’s why this act I’ve never heard of topped the charts for five weeks in the summer of 1990, far longer than more prominent acts like Depeche Mode or Sinéad O'Connor.

And it turns out that World Party’s founder, Karl Wallinger, does have a pedigree in music prior to his breakout solo project: a three-year stint with The Waterboys. You all know The Waterboys, right?

So that’s what I walked into with this week’s article, covering a band I’d never heard of before, headed up by a musician I’d never heard of, who once played for a more prominent band I’d never heard of. But I’m not going to lie: even though it’s not one of my all-time favorite songs, I have to admit there is a fresh, summertime feel to World Party’s one and only MRT chart topper: “Way Down Now.”

There’s not a ton of substance to the lyrics of the song. It appears to be Wallinger’s lament about watching television and becoming disillusioned by what appears to be a bunch of fake people, fake situations, and nothing that appears to be real. With each lamentation, he reiterates that he’s way down now. After about a dozen repeats, I think the listening audience gets it.

Won't you show me something true today
C'mon and show me anything but this

Perhaps the most surprising element of Wallinger’s breakdown of the state of televised content at the turn of the decade is how much it seems to predict the state of the future in the broadcast medium. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it sure sounds like he’s letting the audience know about the advent of TiVo and DVR technology with this throwaway line:

And Thursday night and Friday
Will be on Tuesday night instead

But really, outside of that trivia nugget, there’s not much about the song that draws me in on a personal level. Television has historically carried a stigma of presenting brain-dead entertainment options for the masses, which is likely why TV sets carry the unfortunate moniker of “idiot boxes.” There’s nothing groundbreaking about this take on TV or the state of information dissemination, at least not on the level of a track like “Channel Z” by the B-52’s.

Lest you think I’m going to spend all my time pooh-poohing this track, I do have to give the artist credit for a solid musical arrangement. The bass work in this track is solid, and the entire song carries a positive, breezy vibe throughout, which I have to think resonated well on radio stations during the early summer weeks. I’m always a big fan of musical acts that incorporate fun instruments into the standard guitar-bass-drums setup of alternative rock, and World Party pulls this off with a fun mix of keyboards and tambourines.

The song definitely has a sound that would be echoed in tracks from upcoming alternative acts like Phish, Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, Ben Folds Five and Barenaked Ladies, among others. There’s a playful rock spirit to the song that I really like, even when the song continues to its end point with an homage to the Rolling Stones and “Sympathy For The Devil,” which is an all-time classic.

With this MRT chart topper, World Party managed to sustain some of the momentum it gained from the band’s only Billboard Hot 100 song, 1987’s “Ship Of Fools,” which apparently didn’t leave a lasting mark in 8-year-old Matt’s memory even though it peaked at #27 on the flagship chart. Given what I’ve learned about bands turning a previous hit into an MRT #1 with their next album, I would not have bet good money on “Way Down Now” having such an extended run based solely on “Ship Of Fools,” but I will admit that it’s a pretty good track.

In addition to “Way Down Now,” World Party had one other track from their 1990 release “Goodbye Jumbo” that managed to get into the top 10 of the MRT chart: “Put The Message In The Box,” which peaked at #8 on the MRT earlier in 1990. The lead single from follow-up album “Bang,” titled “Is It Like Today,” peaked at #5 on the MRT chart in 1993. The band’s last studio album release was in 2000, and they haven’t been back on any U.S. charts since 1993, but the act still entertained audiences with live performances throughout the aughts and into the 2010s.

I appreciate the musical effort here, and the band definitely has a sound that had to influence other musicians and acts, but overall World Party’s only MRT #1 didn’t quite resonate with me as much as it did audiences and radio production managers during its big run at the top.

Rating: 4/10

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Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period

A five-week chart topper opens up this portion of the Substack to a lot of different artists. I’ll try to highlight a few of the most prominent or interesting options.

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“Pretty Pink Rose” by Adrian Belew And David Bowie: King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew nearly took David Bowie to the top of the MRT charts with this duet, a sonically driven rocker that peaked at #2 behind World Party. The squealy guitar work on the bridge is particularly fun, but the entire track is worth a listen.

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“Never Do That” by The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde and the gang managed to stay relevant as a chart presence for a good long time. Now into their third decade as a group, The Pretenders had their first MRT top-10 hit with “Never Do That,” another solid entry into an already astoundingly deep catalog. Hynde’s vocals are always smooth and energetic, and this song is no different. It peaked at #4 behind World Party.

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“Ball And Chain” by Social Distortion: This one was a bit of a surprise, not because it appeared on the MRT charts, but because it peaked so low relative to the longevity of the song. It’s one of the most prominent songs from the band’s catalog and receives generous airplay to this day, but only managed to peak at #13 behind World Party in 1990. It’s a classic, one of many, many tracks from Social Distortion that will find a home on the MRT chart over the next 20 years.

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“When The River Runs Dry” by Hunters & Collectors: Australian rockers Hunters & Collectors managed a #5 peak on the MRT chart behind “Way Down Now” with this track, a high-energy funk-rock song that had a three-month run on the alternative charts and earned the band a spot on “Late Night With David Letterman” in 1990. The band never charted again in the U.S.

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