Episode 424: Billboard Modern Rock Tracks - Early Stars

On today's edition of the cast, we look over some of the early stars that dominated in the early years of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, including The Psychedelic Furs and Siouxsie & The Banshees, and discuss how foreign born musicians dominated the early years of the chart, which speaks volumes about how much more talent and influence they had over their American counterparts. We also talk about how big of a role college radio had to do with the start of this chart in the first place, and how other upstart charts like The Hard Report and CMJ strived to highlight alternative artists that weren't getting any love or notice from mainstream radio. We also take a look at some of the local artists that got a lot of visibility on the chart, including Boston's own The Lemonheads and their cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" which I play towards the end of the cast.