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Playlist · Top 500 Alternative Rock Songs of All Time · 476 items · 891 likes.
Sep 9, 2013 · To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Billboard 's Alternative Songs chart, we're counting down the top 100 tunes in the tally's quarter-century history. (Scroll to the bottom of this page to see...
Music Charts. Top song charts across all your favorite genres. Music Charts. Alternative Rock.
- Pink Floyd. 1,992 votes. Pink Floyd, often regarded as one of the pioneers of alternative rock, captivated audiences with their transcendent blend of progressive rock, space-rock, and psychedelia in a time when music was craving a change.
- David Bowie. 2,171 votes. David Bowie, the genre-bending Starman, consistently redefined the boundaries of alternative rock with his chameleonic approach to music throughout his illustrious career.
- Nirvana. 6,734 votes. Nirvana's impact on the alternative rock scene is nothing short of revolutionary. Kurt Cobain's raw, angst-filled lyrics, coupled with the band's powerful and gritty sound, became the defining voice of the grunge movement that swept through the 1990s.
- The Cure. 3,397 votes. The Cure, led by enigmatic frontman Robert Smith, have been shaping the course of alternative music since their formation in the late 1970s with a unique blend of post-punk, new wave, and goth rock.
- Loser — Beck
- Bastards of Young — The Replacements
- Zombie — The Cranberries
- I Still Haven’T Found What I’m Looking For — U2
- Creep — Radiohead
- She’S Lost Control — Joy Division
- Man in The Box — Alice in Chains
- Here Comes Your Man — Pixies
- Head Like A Hole — Nine Inch Nails
- Smells Like Teen Spirit — Nirvana
Beck’s 1994 hit Loser was extremely popular, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard charts. The song rose out of his time performing in bars and clubs while struggling to make a living; the singer would often come up with strange or bizarre lyrics to keep his audience’s attention. The track is a tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating tune that has been c...
Bastards Of Young was released in 1985 and was completely unique in its time. Modern music critics have called it one of the most iconic punk rock songs of all time, though it doesn’t fit perfectly within the genre. As a result, it is usually categorized as an alternative track. The song’s lyrics are about feeling isolated after moving to a new cit...
Irish band The Cranberries were in their heyday during the 1990s when they released the song, Zombie. The 1994 track is inarguably their most iconic, characterized by frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan’s wailing vocals on the chorus. It is about the era known as The Troubles in Northern Ireland; most specifically, it was inspired by the deaths of two you...
Irish band U2 released their album Joshua Tree in 1987. It has been widely regarded as their best work and features some of their most iconic songs, most notably I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. It is the definition of alternative rock, with heavy influences from gospel music. The song was nominated for two Grammy Awards and has been cou...
Mention Radiohead and the first song that pops into most minds is Creep. Released on the band’s debut album in 1992, it remains their top single. It wasn’t initially popular, but it eventually came to mainstream attention after heavy rotation on alternative radio stations. It gave them the reputation of being a “slacker” rock group, much like Nirva...
British band Joy Division was an early exploration into alternative rock. They released She’s Lost Control in 1979. The title is meant to be understood literally, as it was inspired by a woman suffering from epilepsy. Frontman Ian Curtis, who was also epileptic, witnessed the woman have recurrent seizures and later learned that she had suffocated i...
Alice In Chains was one of the leading bands in the developing grunge scene of the 1980s and 1990s, but much of its music also falls under the broader category of alternative rock. Their 1990 hit Man In The Boxwas one of their most successful singles, even receiving a Grammy Award nomination. The song was inspired in part by the modern meat industr...
Here Comes Your Manwas an alt-rock song that managed to find mainstream success, climbing to number three on the Modern Rock charts. Though this universal appeal helped make Pixies successful, it made the band members initially unwilling to record the track. They managed to find the line between alternative and pop music with this song about experi...
Head Like A Hole falls in an odd space between rock, electronic dance music, and indie, earning it an alternative label. The track, released in 1990, was an instant success and remains one of the band’s best-known songs. It solidified them as a pioneer of industrial rock, with its high energy and aggressive vocals and lyrics. The aggression was a k...
Often hailed as the anthem of Generation X, Nirvana’s 1991 song Smells Like Teen Spiritpropelled the band to international fame. The track is all about defying authority, as evidenced by the music video, which is almost as famous as the song itself. The video depicts a school of teens turning a high school assembly upside down when they decide to r...
Apr 15, 2024 · The best alternative songs of the 1980s span punk, post-punk, new wave, college rock, underground, goth, new romantic, ska, power pop, hardcore, and indie rock.
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Playlist · Alternative Rock Playlist 2024 - Top New Alternative Rock Songs 2024 · 40 items · 30.3K likes
