"Pictures of Matchstick Men" by Camper Van Beethoven was not the biggest modern rock hit of 1989, but it was one of the most significant. College rock was becoming something else as the decade drew to a close: it would be two years before it was clear what that new thing was, when Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" knocked Michael Jackson off the charts and everyone started wearing flannel shirts. But 1989 signals the pivotal moment when the relatively cozy, intimate world of college radio began morphing into the louder, flashier world of alternative rock, and while one could pick any number of that year's landmark releases to signify this change - Nirvana's first album Bleach, the Pixies' Doolittle, Mother's Milk by the Red Hot Chili Peppers - Key Lime Pie, Camper Van Beethoven's final studio LP before a decade-plus hiatus, merits strong consideration.
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