Song · Michael Penn
“Brave New World” by Michael Penn
From the album March (1989)
“Brave New World” by Michael Penn appears on 4 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1990 and 2022. It was first released in 1989 on the album March. Its best result is #59 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #166 alternative song of 1990 and #4,994 alternative song of all time.
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"Brave New World" was one of three singles pulled from March, Michael Penn's 1989 debut. Penn wrote it alone, sings it and plays guitar, and producer Tony Berg surrounded him with serious talent: Jim Keltner on drums, Jimmy Haslip on bass, Patrick Warren on keyboards, Art Wood on percussion and Charlie Sexton adding extra guitar, with Susan Rogers engineering.
It's smart, literate pop-rock with a head full of ideas, and the album around it won praise from the New York Times for its lush textures and mystic haze, which the paper likened to the Beatles in their psychedelic phase. The song reached No. 20 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 26 on Mainstream Rock.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 59 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990 | 107 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 1979 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2003 | 810 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2022 | 437 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s | 900 |
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