Song · Frank Black
“Headache” by Frank Black
From the album Teenager of the Year (1994)
“Headache” by Frank Black appears on 12 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1994 and 2014. It was first released in 1994 on the album Teenager of the Year. Its best result is #45 on the Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #78 alternative song of 1994 and #3,006 alternative song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (4AD). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Headache" was the only single Frank Black took from Teenager of the Year, his second solo album, in 1994, and it's about as shamelessly tuneful as he ever got. He co-produced it with Eric Drew Feldman, who had worked on the Pixies' Trompe le Monde, and it came out on 4AD.
The melody has a swooning sweep that The Quietus likened to Roy Orbison, while under the verses the bass keeps climbing, rung by rung, like pressure building behind the eyes, until the chorus breaks open into the sweetest migraine in alt-rock. It reached 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, turned up on his greatest-hits sets, and years later an A.V. Club interviewer went so far as to call it one of the greatest pop songs ever written.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 56 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994 | 106 |
| 1994 | 53 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1994 | 100 |
| 1994 | 45 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994 | 94 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 853 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2006 | 313 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) | 499 |
| 2007 | 1594 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1582 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 1595 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1636 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 1698 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2013 | 1675 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) | 2012 |
| 2014 | 1713 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) | 2013 |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Headache" by Frank Black.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.