Album · Matthew Sweet
Altered Beast by Matthew Sweet
Altered Beast is an album by Matthew Sweet, released in 1993. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 45 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Time Capsule”, on 14 lists with a best position of #86.
Matthew Sweet's Altered Beast arrived on Zoo Entertainment on July 13, 1993, and it takes its name from the arcade game where you gobble up power-ups and turn into something huge and violent. Sweet told Spin that was the point: whatever lies buried in you, waiting to go off.
The guest list reads like a record collector's dream: Mick Fleetwood, Jody Stephens and Pete Thomas on drums, Richard Lloyd, Robert Quine and Ivan Julian on guitars, Nicky Hopkins on keys and Byron Berline on violin. The hooks still rule, but the guitars bite harder and snarl louder, and "The Ugly Truth", "Time Capsule" and "Devil With The Green Eyes" are the ones rock radio kept spinning. The cover came in five colors with a dinosaur logo, which Sweet called a consolation prize after Yamato Transport refused him the use of its own. Son of Altered Beast followed.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Altered Beast on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Time Capsule | 14 | #86 | – | 1999–2014 | |
| 2 | The Ugly Truth | 16 | #54 | – | 1993–2014 | |
| 3 | Devil With The Green Eyes | 14 | #1462 | – | 1999–2014 | |
| 4 | Someone to Pull the Trigger | 1 | #383 | – | 2004 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.