Artist · chart history
Curve
Band London United Kingdom Active 1989–2005 UK shoegaze/electro duo
Curve formed in 1989 in London, United Kingdom and was active until 2005. Curve has 6 chart appearances on 5 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 1991–2002. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Ten Little Girls”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #3. The station that charted Curve most often is John Peel (BBC Radio 1), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1991.
Curve were a London duo who figured out how to make a wall of guitars dance. Toni Halliday sang, wrote the words and sometimes picked up a guitar; Dean Garcia handled bass, guitar, drums and programming; and producer Alan Moulder helped them pile it all up into a thick, churning roar of heavy beats and layered six-strings with Halliday's cool, breathy voice floating over the top.
The Blindfold EP, in 1991, was the opening shot, with "Ten Little Girls" and "No Escape From Heaven" sounding like shoegaze that had been to the gym. Their debut album, Doppelgänger, kept the pressure on, with "Fait Accompli" as its thrashing, chanted centerpiece, and Cuckoo followed in 1993. Their records came out on Anxious Records and Charisma.
Come Clean arrived in 1998, sleeker and more electronic, carried by the snarling "Chinese Burn". Gift arrived in 2001 and The New Adventures of Curve in 2002, and the duo finally called it quits in 2005.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Curve on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ten Little Girls | 1 | #3 | – | 1991 | |
| 2 | Perish | 2 | #80 | – | 2002 | |
| 3 | No Escape From Heaven | 1 | #38 | – | 1991 | |
| 4 | Fait Accompli | 1 | #87 | – | 1992 | |
| 5 | Chinese Burn | 1 | #95 | – | 1998 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 80 (tie) | Perish | WBER Listener Countdown 2002 |
| 2001 | 155 (tie) | Perish | WBER Listener Countdown 2001 |
| 1998 | 95 | Chinese Burn | WFNX Top 101.7 Songs of 1998 |
| 1992 | 87 | Fait Accompli | CFNY Top 102 Songs of 1992 |
| 1991 | 3 | Ten Little Girls | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1991 (the 'Phantom Fifty') |
| 1991 | 38 | No Escape From Heaven | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1991 (the 'Phantom Fifty') |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about Curve.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.