Song · Primus
“Making Plans For Nigel” by Primus
From the EP Making Plans for Nigel: Cheesy EP 2 (1992)
“Making Plans For Nigel” by Primus appears on 5 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1994 and 2024. It was first released in 1992 on the EP Making Plans for Nigel: Cheesy EP 2. Its best result is #386 on the WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,387 alternative song of all time.
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Primus reached back to 1979 for this one. "Making Plans For Nigel" was written by Colin Moulding, the bassist in XTC, for that band's Drums and Wires, and it was the single that finally cracked XTC open commercially. Primus put their take on it out in 1992 as the title track of Making Plans for Nigel: Cheesy EP 2.
The song is a sly bit of suburban satire, sung in the voice of smothering parents who are dead sure their boy Nigel is content and that a job at British Steel has his whole future wrapped up. It's a new wave tune about a kid with no say in his own life, and handing it to a completely different band only makes the joke land harder.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 386 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994) | 500 |
| 1996 | 386 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1996) | 498 |
| 2002 | 746 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 852 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2024 | 616 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Cover Songs | 850 |
Also listed as: Making Plans for Nigel.
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