Artist · chart history
Smoking Popes
Band Chicago United States Formed 1991
Smoking Popes formed in 1991 in Chicago, United States. Smoking Popes has 12 chart appearances on 12 radio countdowns from 8 stations on RockLists, spanning 1995–2022. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Need You Around”, which appears on 11 lists with a best position of #27. The station that charted Smoking Popes most often is Q101 (Chicago, IL), with 3 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1995.
Smoking Popes came out of the northwest suburbs of Chicago in 1991, a family affair built around the Caterer brothers: Josh on lead vocals and guitar, Eli on guitar and backing vocals, and Matt on bass, with Mike Felumlee on drums.
What set them apart from the pop-punk pack was Josh Caterer's voice, a big, swooning croon that belongs in a supper club, riding over buzzing, hard-charging guitars. Born to Quit, in 1994, is the calling card, and "Need You Around" is its standout: a heart-on-sleeve tune played at full tilt, earnest and catchy in equal measure. Destination Failure followed in 1997 with "I Know You Love Me".
Felumlee left in 1999, and a string of drummers kept the seat warm over the years that followed, before he came back to the band in 2015.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Smoking Popes on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Need You Around | 11 | #27 | – | 1995 | |
| 2 | I Know You Love Me | 1 | #55 | – | 1998 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 439 | Need You Around | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s |
| 2021 | 896 | Need You Around | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s |
| 2006 | 329 | Need You Around | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) |
| 2003 | 471 | Need You Around | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) |
| 2002 | 485 | Need You Around | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) |
| 1999 | 399 | Need You Around | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) |
| 1998 | 55 | I Know You Love Me | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1998 |
| 1995 | 51 | Need You Around | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1995 |
| 1995 | 27 | Need You Around | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1995 |
| 1995 | 93 | Need You Around | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1995 |
| 1995 | 99 | Need You Around | WMRQ Top 104 Songs of 1995 |
| 1995 | 180 | Need You Around | Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995) |
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