The Day The Pop Charts Went Day-Glo

Record sleeves

The week Ride, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream took on the pop charts.

On the 10th February 1992 in the UK, three singles would be released that would briefly set the UK pop charts alight. Of course Creation would be involved in a another much bigger chart battle later in the decade with the Blur vs Oasis charade but for a week in 1992 the charts were looking good. On Sunday 16th February it was announced by some strange coincidence that Ride, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Primal Scream all entered the UK Top 20 next to each other.

The chart placings were as follows:

9. Ride – ‘Leave Them All Behind’
10. The Jesus And Mary Chain – ‘Reverence’
11. Primal Scream – ‘Dixie-Narco’ EP

It was one of the first moments Creation was to really take on the mainstream. Of course the label had flirted with the pop charts before, Loaded had spent a staggering amount of time in the charts during the spring of 1990, whilst My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Teenage Fanclub had all reached the top 40 in 1991.

This week in 1992 Ride give Creation its first ever Top 10 hit, ‘Leave Them All Behind’ entered at number 9. Ride’s track had opened their live set through much of 1991 headlining the Slough Festival and playing main support to The Pixies at the huge Crystal Palace Bowl. Most fans were now familiar with the song, at over 8 minutes long it was not designed to be a radio friendly top 10 hit, but it was.

The recent announcement of their Rollercoaster tour meant The Jesus and Mary Chain were gaining much attention after their disappointing Automatic album of 1989. The tour also had My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr and Blur whom many fans were unhappy about. Some nights of the tour even included arenas such was the demand for tickets.

The Mary Chain may have still been on Warners at this point but they’ll always be a Creation band in spirit and are even managed by Creation Management today.

‘Reverence’ was to be the first single from ‘Honey’s Dead’, their forth album which revitalised the band, later that year the album was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize. Of course it didn’t win as that went to the band at number 11 this week….

One place lower at 11 was the ‘Dixie Narco EP’ by Primal Scream featuring ‘Movin’ On Up’. Screamadelica had propelled them into the big league and their new single was BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show single of the week.

The EP featured three new tracks showing a direction the band would take two years later with ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’. Although missing out on a top 10 spot this week, Primal Scream would grace the top 10 three more times with their biggest hit coming 14 years later with the 2006 single ‘Country Girl’ making the top 5.

The rest of the charts that week was the usual mess:

Here’s the full list:
1. Wet Wet Wet – ‘Goodnight Girl’
2. Shakespear’s Sister – ‘Stay’
3. 2 Unlimited – ‘Twilight Zone’
4. Pasadenas – ‘I’m Doing Fine Now’
5. Curtis Stigers – ‘I Wonder Why’
6. Michael Jackson – ‘Remember The Time’
7. Kylie Minogue – ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’
8. Kicks Like A Mule – ‘The Bouncer’
9. Ride – ‘Leave Them All Behind’
10. The Jesus And Mary Chain – ‘Reverence’
11. Primal Scream – ‘Dixie-Narco’ EP

The full list is still available on the Official Chart website.

All three bands appeared on late night TV show The Word, watch them below.

Ride – Leave Them All Behind on The Word