Artist · chart history
Golden Smog
Band Minneapolis United States Formed 1989
Golden Smog formed in 1989 in Minneapolis, United States. Golden Smog has 7 chart appearances on 4 radio countdowns from 3 stations on RockLists, spanning 2009–2023. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Until You Came Along”, which appears on 4 lists with a best position of #710. The station that charted Golden Smog most often is The Current (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN), with 3 appearances.
Golden Smog started in Minneapolis in 1989 as a side hustle for a loose gang of players mostly from around the Twin Cities, and it never really stopped being one: a revolving roots-rock supper club where people from Soul Asylum, the Replacements, the Jayhawks, Wilco, Run Westy Run, the Honeydogs and even Big Star could pull up a chair. The name is a wisecrack, lifted from a nickname Fred Flintstone picked up in an episode of The Flintstones, which was itself a dig at Mel Tormé and his "Velvet Fog" tag.
The faces changed from session to session, but the spine held: Gary Louris, Kraig Johnson and Dan Murphy on guitars and Marc Perlman on bass, with Jeff Tweedy, Chris Mars and Jody Stephens in the mix. What came out of it, on Rykodisc, was alt-country with the pressure off. Down by the Old Mainstream, in 1995, sounds like a bunch of friends raiding each other's songbooks on a back porch, all loose harmonies and ringing guitars, with "V" and "Red Headed Stepchild" among its keepers. Weird Tales followed in 1998, and "Until You Came Along" gave the group one of its warmest moments: a heartland pop song sung like nobody had anywhere else to be.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Golden Smog on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Until You Came Along | 4 | #710 | – | – | |
| 2 | V | 2 | #509 | – | – | |
| 3 | Red Headed Stepchild | 1 | #623 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 863 | Until You Came Along | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 |
| 2023 | 509 | V | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s |
| 2023 | 623 | Red Headed Stepchild | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s |
| 2023 | 767 | Until You Came Along | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s |
| 2020 | 1757 | Until You Came Along | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time |
| 2009 | 710 | Until You Came Along | WYEP 913 Essential Songs |
| 2009 | 736 | V | WYEP 913 Essential Songs |
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