Artist · chart history

Pere Ubu

Band Cleveland United States Formed 1975 US rock group from Cleveland

Pere Ubu formed in 1975 in Cleveland, United States. Pere Ubu has 27 chart appearances on 18 radio countdowns from 5 stations on RockLists, spanning 1989–2022. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Sleep Walk”, which appears on 14 lists with a best position of #1147. The station that charted Pere Ubu most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 21 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1989.

27appearances

18countdowns

7songs charted

5stations

0#1 finishes

1989–2022years

Pere Ubu came out of Cleveland in 1975 sounding like the Rust Belt itself had picked up instruments: factory clang, garage-band grime, avant-garde noise and musique concrète all fed through the same busted amp. David Thomas led the charge, and around him, early on, were guitarist Peter Laughner, Tom Herman, Tony Maimone, drummer Scott Krauss and Allen Ravenstine on keyboards and saxophone, with Dave Taylor's synthesizer squealing like something left running in an empty warehouse.

They put out their first single, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo", in December 1975, and The Modern Dance followed in 1978. They still get filed under art punk and post-punk, but Thomas never bought the punk label: he called his band "avant-garage", or just a rock band. They split in 1982, came back in 1987, and a surprisingly friendly strain of Ubu took shape on Cloudland, whose "Waiting for Mary" climbed to number 6 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and got its video played on MTV. Worlds in Collision and Story of My Life, with the gently woozy "Sleep Walk", kept the weirdness coming into the '90s.

The list of bands that cite them runs long, from Joy Division and Hüsker Dü to the Pixies and R.E.M. Thomas was the one constant through every lineup, and Pere Ubu ended with his death on April 23, 2025.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

Songs by Pere Ubu on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	Sleep Walk	424	14	#1147	–	–
2	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	81	7	#1758	–	–
3	Non-Alignment Pact	74	1	#528	–	–
4	Modern Dance	66	2	#526	–	–
5	Waiting For Mary	32	1	#73	–	1989
6	30 Seconds Over Tokyo	9	1	#1819	–	–
7	Final Solution	5	1	#1000	–	–

Albums with charting songs

Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2022	526	Modern Dance	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time
2022	1000	Final Solution	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time
2014	1809	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)
2013	1741	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)
2011	1676	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)
2010	1607	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)
2009	1574	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)
2008	1560	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)
2007	1554	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)
2005	1147	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)
2005	1760	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)
2004	1147	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)
2004	1758	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)
2003	1147	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)
2003	1758	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)
2002	1162	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)
2002	1776	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)
2002	1690	Modern Dance	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2002	1819	30 Seconds Over Tokyo	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2001	1163	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)
2001	1788	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)
2001	528	Non-Alignment Pact	WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time
2000	1161	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)
2000	1787	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)
1999	1159	Sleep Walk	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999	1787	I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1989	73	Waiting For Mary	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1989

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