Artist · chart history
Suburban Lawns
Band Long Beach United States Active 1978–1983 American post-punk band formed in Long Beach, California
Suburban Lawns formed in 1978 in Long Beach, United States and was active until 1983. Suburban Lawns has 8 chart appearances on 7 radio countdowns from 1 station on RockLists, spanning 1981–1998. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Janitor”, which appears on 7 lists with a best position of #12. The station that charted Suburban Lawns most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 8 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1981.
Suburban Lawns were CalArts kids from Long Beach who got together in 1978 and made new wave sound like a nervous breakdown with a good beat. William Ranson, going by Vex Billingsgate, and Sue McLane, better known as Su Tissue, started the band, and they rounded it out with Frankie Ennui (Richard Whitney), Chuck Roast (Charles Rodriguez) and John Gleur (John McBurney).
"Gidget Goes to Hell" came in 1979, a title with the sneer built right in. Then came "Janitor", from their self-titled 1981 album for I.R.S. Records: brittle, twitchy post-punk, with Su Tissue's voice lurching between a deadpan monotone and a hiccupping squeak until the whole thing feels like a joke you can't quite catch. They called it quits in 1983, but "Janitor" has kept turning up on rock radio's countdowns ever since, a strange little artifact that refuses to be forgotten.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Suburban Lawns on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janitor | 7 | #12 | – | 1981 | |
| 2 | Gidget Goes to Hell | 1 | #466 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 480 | Janitor | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) |
| 1996 | 491 | Janitor | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) |
| 1995 | 497 | Janitor | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) |
| 1994 | 379 | Janitor | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) |
| 1992 | 372 | Janitor | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) |
| 1988 | 80 | Janitor | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) |
| 1988 | 466 | Gidget Goes to Hell | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) |
| 1981 | 12 | Janitor | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1981 |
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