Chart Archaeology · Feature

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Third Eye Blind ... two songs, one summer.

By Tony Winter · Based on our Alternative chart, 1991–2017 · Published Nov 7, 2026

Summer of 1997. Mid-twenties. Finishing college. Lots of hours in the car: work, school, whatever. No matter where the car was headed, the same two songs were on the radio.

One was the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression That I Get.” The other was Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life.” Both catchy. Both about dark themes. Both everywhere.

The Verve Pipe’s “The Freshmen” had been the #1 song on our Alternative chart that spring, but by summer the airwaves belonged to these two.

A song can take you right back to a moment in time. Often, it does. That’s the power of music and memory, and the place where they meet. Most memories come with one song attached. That summer came with two, and almost thirty years later, they’re still co-headliners.

What the Airwaves Show

On May 26, 1997, “Semi-Charmed Life” replaced “The Freshmen” at the top of our Alternative chart. “The Impression That I Get” was at #3, and a week later it reached #2. For the next nine weeks, those two songs held #1 and #2, and they kept trading places:

• May 26: Third Eye Blind at #1.
• June 30: the Bosstones move up to #1.
• July 7: Third Eye Blind back on top.
• July 28: the Bosstones, one more time.

Across our whole Alternative chart, 1991 to 2017, only one pair of songs traded the top spot more often while holding #1 and #2: Barenaked Ladies and Eve 6, the very next summer. Something about the late ’90s.

In August, the pairing came apart. Matchbox 20’s “Push” reached #1 on August 4, and Smash Mouth’s “Walkin’ on the Sun” a few weeks later. The two songs slid down the chart together, and by the end of October both were gone.

Both Catchy, Both Dark

Funny thing is how sunny both songs sounded. Horns and a bouncing ska beat on one. A chirpy, rapid-fire, sing-along chorus on the other. Perfect summer radio.

And neither one is a happy song. “Semi-Charmed Life” is about crystal meth, hiding inside the brightest chorus of the year. “The Impression That I Get” is a guy wondering how he’d hold up if real trouble ever came for him, because it hasn’t yet.

We all sang along anyway.

The Numbers and the Memory

On paper, Third Eye Blind had the bigger summer: eight weeks at #1 to the Bosstones’ two.

Memory disagrees. It filed that summer as a double A-side, a single with no B-side, where both songs are the hit. Which song was the summer of 1997? Both, at the same time, in the same car.

Tally up every song’s weeks on the chart for the whole year, the way our 1997 page does for its best-of-the-year list, and perhaps not surprisingly, these two come out on top: “Semi-Charmed Life” at #1 and “The Impression That I Get” at #2. The top two alt-rock songs of 1997.

I’d have sworn Green Day's “Good Riddance” was part of that summer too. Our chart says it didn’t show up until December. Memory doesn’t care about release dates.

It Happened Before, and It Happened Again

Two songs sharing the top of the chart wasn’t new in 1997, and it didn’t stop there. Our charts have plenty of these pairings:

• Late summer 1993: Blind Melon’s “No Rain” and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Soul to Squeeze” traded #1 three times in seven weeks.
• Early 1996: Bush’s “Glycerine” and the Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979,” eight weeks at the top together.

Then, years later, it happened again.

2014

Seventeen years older, a whole different era of life. Once again, two songs were inescapable: Vance Joy’s “Riptide” and Milky Chance’s “Stolen Dance,” quietly stamping themselves onto everyday moments.

They held #1 and #2 on our Alternative chart for eleven weeks, from mid-August into November. This time the top spot changed hands only once. “Riptide” held it through September. Then, on September 29, “Stolen Dance” moved up, and it stayed at #1 for most of the winter, seventeen weeks in all.

Over on our 2014 page, “Riptide” finished as the #2 song of the entire year. The #1 song of 2014? It never reached #1 on any week of our chart. Go see who.

Different sound, too. Where ’97 was horns and distortion, 2014 was a ukulele and a mellow, folky groove, from an Australian and a German duo.

Co-headliners again, and the effect was the same. Late October, early November, that feeling of fall coming on, and those two songs on every station: audio anchors, imprinting the memories in real time. Hear either one today and it’s 2014 all over again.

Two Songs, One Memory

Usually one song holds the spot. Sometimes two do. No chart can really measure a winner in these instances.

Every year from 1991 to 2017 has its own page, and so does every artist. Somewhere in there are your own co-headliners.

Tony Winter started charting music airplay on radio and TV in 1986, on notebook paper. It’s been evolving ever since. Slowly. Mostly. He lives in the Kansas City area, where he does data stuff for a living.

Remember two songs that were everywhere at once, and still take you right back? Tell us on Bluesky →