Robbed hit of the week 4/6/20 - Stabbing Westward's "What Do I Have To Do?"...

"What Do I Have To Do?" - Stabbing Westward
from the album Wither Blister Burn & Peel (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #60

This weeks "robbed hit" comes from the industrial rock band Stabbing Westward. The group was started up by friends lead singer Christopher Hall and keyboard player Walter Flakus in rural Illinois in the mid-1980s, adding guitarist Jim Clanin when they moved to Chicago. Losing Clanin rather quickly, the pair released an EP Iwo Jesus in 1992, including an early version that would become the first single from their major-label full-length debut set Ungod, "Violent Mood Swings" which would end up on the soundtrack to the movie Clerks. With that first album Hall and Flakus fleshed out the group with Jim Sellers on bass, David Suycott on drums, and guitarist Stuart Zechman. While neither the album or any of the four singles charted, it sold modestly well from touring with Depeche Mode, enough for them to continue on with Columbia Records. During that tour though, both Suycott and Zechman left, the former replaced by Andy Kubiszewski. Andy, a veteran of many acts, helped with the songwriting, which made their next effort much stronger, and in turn much more successful. Wither Blister Burn & Peel was released at the start of 1996, with the lead single "What Do I Have To Do?" written by Hall, Flakus, Sellers, and Kubiszewski. The song was a novel sonic volley for the hard-edged electronic music that Nine Inch Nails pioneered and this band would influence in the years to come...

Since "What Do I Have To Do?" wasn't released as a commercial single, it was unable to place on Billboard magazine's official pop Hot 100 chart; nevertheless it climbed to #60 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart in April of 1996. The song was a big hit on rock radio, reaching both the Mainstream (#7) and Alternative (#11) rock radio charts in Billboard. The band's follow-up, "Shame", also was promoted to radio and not released commercially, but managed to climb to #69 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart while making both the Mainstream (#7) and Alternative (#14) lists again. The Wither Blister Burn & Peel album made it to the top half of the Albums Sales chart at #67, and was a slow but consistent seller, eventually moving 3/4 of a million copies.

The band moved to California and returned in 1998 with touring guitarist Mark Eliopulos for their third disc Darkest Days. While none of the set's singles made it big to pop radio, the record did spin off three rock radio hits. "Save Yourself" became the act's biggest song at that format, peaking at #4 Mainstream and #20 Alternative. It also was their first international success, with a minor hit in Australia at #64. The album peaked a little higher at #52, and sold over a half-million copies, but despite that Columbia ended their contract. Going indie with Koch Records, the band lost Eliopulos in the recording of their self-titled third album. First single "So Far Away" was a modest success at both Mainstream (#23) and Alternative (#21) rock radio, and the album was their "highest-ranking" at #47 in 2001. The group split shortly thereafter, reuniting in 2015 and releasing an EP Dead And Gone in January of 2020, with just Hall and Flakus with new members.

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Here's the band performing live on MTV's 120 Minutes to promote the album in 1996...

and from a newer show in 2017...