January 23, 1993
- STAYED AT #1:6 Weeks
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.
Look, I don't know what to tell you. I'm as baffled as you are. Jesus Jones? In 1993? For a song that's not "Right Here, Right Now"? For a song that came out years after "Right Here, Right Now"? And it was #1 on the Modern Rock chart for six weeks? Surely, somebody is playing a joke on us. This must be some kind of Wikipedia prank. It's simply not possible. But it happened. I've looked at the scans of the old Billboard issues, and it's all right there in the historical record. For six weeks at the beginning of 1993, a Jesus Jones single called "The Devil You Know" was the #1 Modern Rock song in America. It doesn't make any sense, but there it is.
I was listening to Modern Rock radio in 1993, and I do not remember ever hearing "The Devil You Know." Maybe I heard the song all the time and it simply wasn't memorable enough to leave a deep impression on my 13-year-old brain. Maybe I never heard the song, and it simply owes its chart success to alternative rock stations in the other parts of the country. Maybe money changed hands under the table and someone used underhanded means to get Jesus Jones those chart numbers. Maybe everyone assumed that Jesus Jones' next single would be massive after the gigantic crossover chart success of "Right Here, Right Now." Maybe "The Devil You Know" always just happened to be on the radio when I was asleep or watching Renegade or whatever. I don't know! It's a mystery!