You Have to Spin That Dial to Find the 10 Best Songs

It’s always encouraging to see an album with the ambition and uncompromising artistry of Sting’s “The Soul Cages� do so well commercially.

One reason for its fast start--an estimated 1.5 million copies sold since late January--is that Sting’s music has been accepted by a wide variety of radio formats, from adult contemporary (think Whitney Houston) to college/alternative rock (think the Replacements).

That’s a healthy sign.

In the early days of the rock era, Top 40 pop stations--which were the main channels for pop in the ‘50s and early ‘60s--selected from the best of the various formats, thus giving mainstream pop fans a healthy diet of rock, country and R&B.;

Today, radio formats are so narrow that lots of invigorating records are heard by only a fraction of their potential audience because the records fall outside most of the formats.

If you listen to a country station all day, you’re only going to hear country; an R&B; station, only R&B.; And, sadly, the boundaries of today’s Top 40-oriented stations are so tight that often only the most generic sounds can sneak through.

The Alternative Top 10 is a periodic attempt to re-create the early variety and sprit of pop-rock radio by spotlighting worthy singles and album tracks from various “formats.�

Appropriately, the March list is headed by . . . Sting.

This month’s Alternative Top 10:

1--Sting’s “Why Should I Cry for You� (A&M;)--A remarkably poignant and personal reflection on the death of Sting’s father and the frustration and sorrow of realizing it was too late to begin mending what was a somewhat cold, distant relationship.

2--Monie Love’s “It’s a Shame (My Sister)� (Warner Bros.)--Built around an old R&B; song co-written by Stevie Wonder, this wry and infectious rap ‘n’ soul entry offers wise, sisterly advice to a woman who has been repeatedly mistreated by her man.

3--Jesus Jones’ “Who? Where? Why?� (SBK)--There’s so much conflicting energy in this ‘90s-minded British band’s guitar driven pop ‘n’ punk exercises that it’s as if the music from three bands were being fed through a single set of speakers. “Right Here, Right Now� is the song from the new album that has kept the Joneses on top of the college/alternative charts for weeks, but this is the new single in England. Bonus points for summarizing one of rock’s main themes--the youthful search for self-identity--in just three words.

4--Happy Mondays’ “Step On� (Elektra)--A wacky but disarming piece of psychedelic, Manchester dance-rock built around (and credited to) John Kongos’ “He’s Gonna Step on You Again.� You can find Kongos’ original on Volume 6 of Rhino Records’ “Super Hits of the ‘70s/Have a Nice Day� series.

5--EMF’s “Unbelievable� (EMI)--When these young Brits make their Southern California debut March 24 at the Whisky, we’ll find out whether they are the Sex Pistols of the indie dance scene or the New Kids (on the Block) with Attitude--as they have variously been called by the English rock press. But this glitter-edged slice of hip-hop/rock is most certainly a lively intro.

6--The Bingo Boys With Princessa’s “How to Dance� (Atlantic)--Like “Gonna Make You Sweat,� this novelty is one of the rare dance hits with imagination and wit. Part dance manual (truthfully!), part dance magic.

7--Material Issue’s “Valerie Loves Me� (Mercury)--The intriguing question about this intensely melodic record by a power-pop trio from Chicago is whether leader Jim Ellison leaned more toward Paul McCartney or John Lennon back when he was listening to all those Beatles records in his room.

8--Mr. Fiddler’s “So You Wanna Be a Gangster� (Elektra)--Some pop historians will trace the influences in this stylish put-down of the criminal mind all the way back to swing, but a more immediate model would be Kid Creole or, for graduate pop students, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.

9--Garth Brooks’ “Two of a Kind Working on a Full House� (Capitol)--Not a classic a la “Friends in Low Places� or “Unanswered Prayers,� but another lively, convincing sign that this ole boy really is good.

10--Keedy’s “Save Some Love� (Arista)--A flyweight record, to be sure, yet deceptively seductive in the teen/ear-candy style of the early Madonna and the late ABBA.