The Alternative Number Ones: Elvis Costello’s “The Other Side Of Summer”

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 members only. Thank you to everyone who's helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

We all have irrational emotional attachments. When you decide that you love something, it's hard to admit when the thing just stops being any good. It happens more with music than it does with anything else. Music shapes you. It helps you define yourself, how you feel about the world. The musicians who are important to you will always be important to you.

I might sit here and tell you that every single 21st-century Rancid album has at last three or four absolute bangers. That's the truth! Those songs hit! But it's my truth. Your mileage may vary. If Rancid didn't rearrange my entire universe when I was 15 years old, then I might not bother with Trouble Maker deep cuts. I'd be missing out, but it happens.