Song · Days of the New
“The Down Town” by Days of the New
From the album Days of the New (1997)
“The Down Town” by Days of the New appears on 7 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1998 and 2002. It was first released in 1997 on the album Days of the New. Its best result is #24 on the DC101 Top 101 Songs of 1998. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #85 alternative song of 1998 and #7,328 alternative song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (Days Of The New - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"The Down Town" was the second single from Days of the New's self-titled 1997 debut, and like "Touch, Peel and Stand" before it, it went all the way to number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. Travis Meeks wrote it and had a hand in the production alongside Scott Litt and Bill Klatt, and the record leans on acoustic muscle, with Adam Turgeon on drums and Todd Smith adding organ.
The song sketches a town full of users who are scared of change and keep the narrator pinned under their thumb, and the chorus is a defiant shout straight back at them; in the bridge he waves off his own worry for someone else as a waste. The title may well be a sly double meaning. Lance Bangs directed the video as a straight concert performance, keeping the live audio with its rougher, punchier edges.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 57 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1998 | 101 |
| 1998 | 32 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 1998 | 107 |
| 1998 | 24 | DC101 Washington, D.C. | DC101 Top 101 Songs of 1998 | 101 |
| 1998 | 64 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 103 Songs of 1998 | 102 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 975 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) | 1000 |
| 1999 | 1010 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2002 | 987 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
Also listed as: The Downtown.
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