The Alternative Number Ones: The Verve Pipe’s “The Freshmen”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I’m reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones. The column is now biweekly, alternating with The Number Ones on Mondays.

For the life of me, I cannot believe that the Verve and the Verve Pipe happened at the same time. Within the same calendar year, these two bands had giant alt-rock radio hits — big, stormy, ambiguously meaningful ballads that continue to get stuck in my head decades later. The two bands were played at the same time on the same stations, and the only difference between their names was the nonsensical use of the word "Pipe" in one of them. In the past 29 years, I haven't encountered any other bands with the word "Verve" in their name. That one year, though, we had two of them. What the hell was that? Why?

I'm happy to say that I never got them confused. There were too many differences. The Verve were from England, and the Verve Pipe were from Someplace Else. The Verve's singer had floppy dark hair, while the Verve Pipe's singer had floppy bleach-blonde hair. The Verve had been around for a while, and the Verve Pipe, at least for those of us who don't come from Michigan, had not. The Verve were in music magazines, and the Verve Pipe were not. The Verve guy smashed into lots of people in his video, and the Verve Pipe guy didn't smash into anyone in his. This was light work for me. Anytime anyone got the two bands confused, I was right there, heroically willing to set them right.