Modern Rock Tracks No.1s - XTC and "The Mayor of Simpleton"

XTC is the latest in a string of long-running U.K. alt-rock acts to top the MRT chart after years of underground cult status. This track is arguably one of their best.

XTC - “The Mayor of Simpleton”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 5 (4/1/89 - 4/29/89)

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

• The Bangles - "Eternal Flame" (4/1/89)

• Roxette - “The Look” (4/8/89)

• Fine Young Cannibals - “She Drives Me Crazy” (4/15/89)

• Madonna - “Like A Prayer” (4/22/89 and 4/29/89)

Believe it or not, this is going to be another write-up about a band that formed in the 1970s, rose to prominence largely in their native U.K., developed a bit of a cult/underground following in the U.S., and then, in the late 1980s, found success on the Billboard charts thanks to alternative rock program directors eager to put this favorite underground rock band of theirs into heavy rotation when they released a new album.

Funny thing is, XTC may be the most underground of all the underground bands I’ve looked at so far, because their chart success is virtually non-existent in the U.S. And it’s strange because XTC is actually really good, at least from what I listened to in preparing for this write-up. One of the main reasons I started doing this little side project was to learn about the early artists who shaped alternative music, bands whose catalogs are deep and influential but never crossed my path before. So my dive into the world of XTC was thought-provoking, not just for the band’s music but also because of the band’s lack of a Billboard chart footprint prior to the late 1980s.

Thankfully, the earliest iterations of the MRT chart seemed set to focus on a lot of alt-rock pioneers, generally British acts who had been around for awhile but never felt the limelight. And while we will definitely start to see bands in the early ‘90s hitting the charts much earlier in their careers, there’s definitely a charm about the early days of the MRT chart. I look at it almost like a lifetime achievement award to the pioneers of alt rock and new wave post-punk who never got the recognition they deserved in their early careers but found new audiences thanks to the exposure their new music got on modern rock and alternative radio.

But as you know from reading this column regularly, I never seem to discover these bands in a conventional way. Up to this point, I’ve at least heard of these bands through movie and cultural references. For XTC, my first and only reference comes from another alt-rock pioneer: They Might Be Giants.

On their 1996 album “Factory Showroom,” TMBG plays out a fictional competition between XTC and Adam Ant, determining which has the most prominent place in rock history. The song, naturally, is called “XTC vs. Adam Ant.” It’s a fun track on an overall fun album, though none of the tracks ever charted on MRT. Despite my love of the song, I never invested much time in learning more about XTC’s “Beatle-based pop,” nor it’s reliance on “content” vs. Adam Ant’s “form.”

That changed when I listened to this column’s feature song: “The Mayor of Simpleton.”

I don’t usually gush about songs, but this one is so much fun, and just works for me on so many levels.

First and foremost, it’s a song about love, written by a guy who just wants to express how much he’s in love with the girl in his life. The problem? All of the girl’s friends think he’s an idiot. And lead singer Andy Partridge leans into this perception, admitting freely that he is, in fact, intellectually deficient in a lot of ways. He doesn’t know how many pounds are in a ton. He doesn’t get riddles and can’t do crossword puzzles. He doesn’t know how much the sun weighs (though that’s tricky: even They Might Be Giants, with all their knowledge of the sun, don’t know how much it weighs).

But for Partridge’s narrator, intelligence on these mundane topics doesn’t mean anything compared to what he knows about love, and about how much he loves his girl. He even throws shade at the girl’s friends for their lack of “intelligence” when it comes to emotions:

If depth of feeling is a currency

Then I'm the man who grew the money tree

Some of your friends are too brainy to see

That they're paupers and that's how they'll stay

Another thing I love about this track is the pure nerdity of the band, and how much fun they have with this song. Watch the video and just revel in the goofy antics and silly production, and how well it matches the depth and tone of the song. This song is jangly-guitar alt-rock distilled into its purest, sugary pop-adjacent form. It’s “Shiny Happy People” years before R.E.M. turned jangly alt-rock into a digestible mainstream pop confection.

In that vein, I can’t listen to “The Mayor of Simpleton” without thinking of another now-classic nerd-rock anthem: Jonathan Coulton’s GLaDOS-sung “Still Alive.” If you own the video game “Rock Band,” or ever played the brilliant video game “Portal,” you’re well aware of what many consider the best game-ending credit sequence song in history:

Something about the structure of “The Mayor of Simpleton” feels like it lines up well with what Coulton did in this song. I’m sure there are other examples, but that’s where my brain took me after a few listens.

Most importantly, XTC just put together a really solid song. Everything comes together perfectly; the bass line, in particular, really drives the song. The bridge picks up the tempo and rocks out strong before the denouement and quietly repetitive ending. And the vocal harmonies come together so well, I’m reminded of bands like the Beach Boys or, yeah, the Beatles. TMBG referred to XTC as “Beatle-based pop” and while I don’t get that vibe as much from this song as some of their earlier works, I can definitely see where they’re coming from. (“Dear God,” the band’s exceptional 1987 track, most closely evokes this aesthetic from my limited listens to the band’s catalog. It just seems like it derived so much influence from Beatles classics like “Dear Prudence” or “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”)

Like I said at the outset, XTC never generated much buzz in the U.S. Their song “Generals and Majors,” a solid track off their 1980 album “Black Sea,” managed only a #104 peak on the Hot 100. “Senses Working Overtime” and “Dear God” did get some pre-MRT chart alt-rock radio play in the mid-’80s, but never charted on the Hot 100. In the U.K., “Senses Working Overtime” was the band’s only top 10 hit, peaking at #10, while “Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)” and “Making Plans for Nigel” both made the top 20.

“The Mayor of Simpleton,” by contrast, became the band’s highest charting hit in the U.S. Not only did it top the MRT chart for five weeks, but it cracked the Hot 100 in 1989, topping out at a modest #72. The follow-up single, “King for a Day,” peaked at #11 on the MRT chart.

The good news is we haven’t heard the last of XTC; they’ll be in this Substack one more time in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, I wholeheartedly suggest giving some of the band’s back catalog a listen. It’s songs like this that make me happy I’ve embarked on this project; it’s been so neat discovering these bands and hearing their influence on future groups.

Rating: 10/10

Chart notes: Do you remember last week when I said we’d be discussing Fine Young Cannibals again soon? Well, it’s happening now, as FYC becomes the first act I’ve discussed which did well on the Modern Rock Tracks chart AND topped the flagship Hot 100. And there are some other tracks here worth a listen.

• "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals: What a year for FYC. “She Drives Me Crazy” was riding both the MRT and Hot 100 charts for several weeks and then the song managed to peak in both charts during XTC’s run at the top. The song topped the Hot 100 for one week in April 1989, two weeks after it peaked on the MRT chart at #5 behind “Simpleton.” Reaching the top 10 in both charts wasn’t uncommon at this time, but FYC became the first MRT top 10 hitmaker to top the Hot 100. It’s the first of many to come, but continues to show in retrospect how much alternative rock was starting to cross into the mainstream. And the crazy thing? In my next column, we’ll be talking about the same band doing the same “good thing” across both charts.

• "Madonna Of The Wasps" by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians: British alt rockers Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians almost hit the top spot with this track, peaking at #2 behind XTC. We’ll see this band in the Substack eventually.

• "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" by Morrissey: Another future subject of this Substack will be Morrissey, the former Smiths front man who released this track as one of his first solo singles in 1989. It’s really great. And while this had the potential to be an MRT chart topper, sometimes timing can play a role in a song’s ultimate peak being lower than it might deserve. As such, it peaked at #3 behind XTC.

• "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers: You’re probably looking at this and asking yourself, “Didn’t this song come out in the 1990s?” Yes, and no. This one surprised me when I was looking at the charts from 1989: The Proclaimers first released their now-famous earworm on their 1988 album “Sunshine on Leith.” The song did not chart on the Hot 100 at this time but it peaked at a surprisingly low #21 on the MRT chart behind XTC. It will eventually come back around, but it’s interesting how some omnipresent earworms start out as just a minor chart hit that fades away before coming back with a vengeance.