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Song · The Jesus and Mary Chain

“Sidewalking” by The Jesus and Mary Chain

Released 1988

“Sidewalking” by The Jesus and Mary Chain appears on 17 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1988 and 2014. It was first released in 1988. Its best result is #3 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1988. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #80 alternative song of 1988, #1,814 alternative song of all time and #486 of the '80s.

17countdowns

3stations

#3best position

0#1 finishes

1top 10 finishes

1988–2014years charted

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The Jesus & Mary Chain- Sidewalking (Video)

Video from YouTube (pojk_tant). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Sidewalking" was a standalone single the Jesus and Mary Chain put out in March 1988, before it landed on the Barbed Wire Kisses compilation a month later, and it finds the Scottish band flirting with hip hop. Jim and William Reid wrote it, and they built it on a looped drumbeat lifted from Roxanne Shante's 1984 single "Roxanne's Revenge", then smeared their trademark fuzz and cool, bored drawl over the top. The result swaggers where their earlier records swooned: a mechanical strut with feedback for a skyline.

It reached 30 in the UK, 20 in Ireland and 23 in New Zealand, and it turned up again on the 2002 compilation 21 Singles.

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
1988	3	John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1988	50

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1989	201	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)	500
1991	290	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991)	500
1999	1350	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	1350	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	1352	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	1351	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2003	1336	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2004	1336	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	1337	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2007	1746	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1683	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1592	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1430	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	1432	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	1340	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	1300	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013

Also listed as: Sidewalkin'.

Charting alongside it in 1988

Best songs of 1988 →

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