Song · Shona Laing
“Glad I'm Not a Kennedy” by Shona Laing
From the album South (1987)
“Glad I'm Not a Kennedy” by Shona Laing appears on 5 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1987 and 1988. It was first released in 1987 on the album South. Its best result is #35 on the Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1988. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #91 alternative song of 1988, #5,194 alternative song of all time and #340 of the '80s.
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"Glad I'm Not a Kennedy" came to New Zealand singer Shona Laing after she watched Ted Kennedy on television and had a strong reaction to what she saw. She wrote it alone, words and music, and it first appeared in 1985 as "Not a Kennedy", on a single and on her album Genre.
Two years on it got a remix and a second release, and that 1987 version landed on her album South. It's synth-pop with a political itch, cool on the surface and uneasy underneath. It went to number two in New Zealand and nine in Australia, and reached 14 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 56 | WLIR / WDRE Long Island, NY | WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1987 | 99 |
| 1988 | 85 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1988 | 107 |
| 1988 | 35 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1988 | 106 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 497 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
| 1988 | 95 | WLIR / WDRE | WLIR Top 200 Songs of All-Time (1988) | 200 |
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