Artist · chart history

Stroke 9

Band United States Formed 1990

Stroke 9 formed in 1990 in the United States. Stroke 9 has 33 chart appearances on 31 radio countdowns from 16 stations on RockLists, spanning 1999–2023. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Little Black Backpack”, which appears on 26 lists with a best position of #5. The station that charted Stroke 9 most often is 105.9 The X (Pittsburgh, PA), with 4 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1999.

33appearances

31countdowns

4songs charted

16stations

0#1 finishes

1999–2023years

Stroke 9 played their very first show at Caffe Nuvo in San Anselmo, then went their separate ways over the summer holidays and didn't regroup until the summer of 1991. When two of the original members, Haddad and Stromberg, had no interest in coming back, Luke Esterkyn and Greg Gueldner rounded up a couple of old schoolmates, traded rehearsals in the basement for the garage, and took any gig that would have them. Esterkyn sang and played guitar, and Gueldner has covered both drums and bass.

Two independent releases followed in 1993 and 1995, the second being Bumper to Bumper, home of "Little Black Backpack". In April 1997 Eric Stock, a transplant from New York who had toured with Modern English, started filling in on drums. Then Universal signed them, and Nasty Little Thoughts in 1999 made it pay: it charted in the US, went gold, and turned "Little Black Backpack" and "Letters" into rock radio hits. That first one is the keeper, a jittery, wisecracking blast of chiming guitars built for a car stereo with the windows down. The band even turned up in the film EDtv to help sell the record.

A second Universal album, Rip It Off, came in 2002 with "Kick Some Ass" and "100 Girls", and a cheeky sleeve dressed up to look like a bootleg CD-R.

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

Songs by Stroke 9 on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	Little Black Backpack	1,105	26	#5	–	1999
2	Kick Some Ass	80	3	#49	–	2001
3	Letters	37	2	#80	–	2000
4	100 Girls	34	2	#82	–	2002

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.

99 00 01 02

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2023	281	Little Black Backpack	105.9 The X July 420 (2023)
2022	274	Little Black Backpack	105.9 The X July 420 (2022)
2021	272	Little Black Backpack	105.9 The X July 420 (2021)
2020	257	Little Black Backpack	The DC101 Top 500
2020	263	Little Black Backpack	105.9 The X July 420 (2020)
2007	476	Little Black Backpack	KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007)
2005	957	Little Black Backpack	99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005)
2004	341	Little Black Backpack	The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004)
2002	95	100 Girls	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2002
2002	82	100 Girls	Channel 104.9 Top 104.9 Songs of 2002
2001	91	Kick Some Ass	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2001
2001	49	Kick Some Ass	97X Top 97 Songs of 2001
2001	81	Kick Some Ass	99X Top 99 Songs of 2001
2001	394	Little Black Backpack	WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001)
2000	60	Little Black Backpack	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2000
2000	84	Little Black Backpack	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2000
2000	22	Little Black Backpack	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2000
2000	80	Letters	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2000
2000	69	Little Black Backpack	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2000
2000	37	Little Black Backpack	89X Top 89 Songs of 2000
2000	16	Little Black Backpack	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2000
2000	24	Little Black Backpack	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2000
2000	86	Letters	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2000
1999	76	Little Black Backpack	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1999
1999	18	Little Black Backpack	91X Top 91 Songs of 1999
1999	72	Little Black Backpack	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1999
1999	41	Little Black Backpack	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1999
1999	81	Little Black Backpack	K-Rock Top 92 Songs of 1999
1999	60	Little Black Backpack	WFNX Top 99 Songs of 1999
1999	30	Little Black Backpack	The End Top 107 Songs of 1999
1999	5	Little Black Backpack	WEQX Top 102.7 of 1999
1999	86	Little Black Backpack	Radio & Records Top 104 Songs of 1999
1999	1005	Little Black Backpack	The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)

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