Song · Simple Minds
“Waterfront” by Simple Minds
From the album Sparkle in the Rain (1984)
“Waterfront” by Simple Minds appears on 8 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1984 and 2003. It was first released in 1984 on the album Sparkle in the Rain. Its best result is #40 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1984. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #88 alternative song of 1984 and #3,366 alternative song of all time.
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"Waterfront" hit the shops in late 1983 as the first taste of Simple Minds' sixth album, Sparkle in the Rain, and it's built on one of the most stubborn ideas in rock: a bass line that sits on a single note, D, from start to finish. Derek Forbes came up with it, and the whole song grew out of that throb.
Steve Lillywhite and Peter Walsh produced it, and the band splits the writing credit five ways. The original seven-inch kicked off with Mel Gaynor clicking his sticks for a count-in rather than the bass intro heard on CD. The band had already tried it out at a gig and on a Kid Jensen radio session, and it went on to top the New Zealand chart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 40 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1984 | 106 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 61 | Studio Brussel | Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (1987) | 100 |
| 1989 | 444 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1991 | 447 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 1995 | 488 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) | 500 |
| 1999 | 505 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2001 | 384 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2003 | 1403 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
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