The Alternative Number Ones: Camper Van Beethoven’s “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I'm reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones, and it's for subscribers only. Thank you to everyone who's helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

The alternative rock cover song has existed for about as long as alternative rock itself. In that time, the intentions behind the alternative rock cover song have often been mysterious. Sometimes, the bands were trying to expose music they liked to new audiences, like when the Clash would cover reggae hits like Junior Murvin's "Police And Thieves." Sometimes, the covers were ironic goofs, intended to clown the songs and anyone who might've enjoyed them; that's what the Circle Jerks were doing when they cheerfully desecrated a medley of AM-radio nuggets on 1983's "Golden Shower Of Hits (Jerks On 45)." More often, though, you couldn't really tell what was going on.

In the '80s, the bands of the American rock underground had some real reverence for the psychedelic rock of the late '60s, but they regarded that music with a sense of distance that was often mysterious in its own way. Consider: The first single from Nirvana, a band that'll figure heavily into this column, was a cover of "Love Buzz," a song that Dutch rockers the Shocking Blue released in 1969. Was that cover supposed to be Nirvana's comment on "Love Buzz," or did they just remake the song because it rocks? Does it matter?