the top 50 songs on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart of the 21st century

we did a poll of MY top 50 years ago, but that list only has like 5 songs in common with this one, so hopefully doesn't seem like a redundant thread: al ship's top 50 rock singles of the 00s -- which is your favorite?

this is some of the most dismal music known to man

kinda weirdly partial to the incubus song, it never stood out to me at the time but it's mellow enough that it wouldn't bother me to hear it again

oh and i like that gotye song alright

I have never heard of the Dirty Heats featuring Rome or Amberlin somehow.

top 15:
Muse – “Madness”
Fuel – “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)”
Incubus – “Drive”
Nickelback – “How You Remind Me”
Puddle of Mudd – “Blurry”
Foster The People – “Pumped Up Kicks”
Linkin Park – “In The End”
Three Doors Down – “Kryptonite”
Finger Eleven – “Paralyzer”
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “By The Way”
The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
Foo Fighters – “Best Of You”
Linkin Park – “Faint”
Nine Inch Nails – “Only”
Audioslave – “Like A Stone”

fucking hell

this is a solid 0/50 for me

ffs

the correct answer is probably fucking gorillaz

thats what I was thinking too, although it's kind of a sore thumb here

they could have picked a different NIN song for god's sake

I genuinely like the Gorillaz, Foster the People, Phoenix, RHCP (esp. "By the Way"), Trapt, Papa Roach, Gotye, White Stripes, and NIN (esp. "Only") songs. There's probably a few others I'm OK with. Like, among all the Foo Fighters, Black Keys, Linkin Park, and Kings of Leon singles, sure, I'll sing along with a handful of those.

1901

scanning this list, I am kind of shocked by some of the songs on here I like:

Muse – “Uprising”
Fuel – “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)”
Incubus – “Drive”
Nickelback – “How You Remind Me”
Staind – “It’s Been Awhile”
Green Day – “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.”
Linkin Park – “In The End”
Papa Roach – “Last Resort”
Gotye featuring Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used To Know”
Nine Inch Nails – “The Hand That Feeds”
Kings of Leon – “Use Somebody”
Nine Inch Nails – “Only”

it's not good when "Sex On Fire" and "Kryptonite" strike you as among the better songs on a list

voted Gotye over "In the End" and "The Hand That Feeds"

anyway i voted for the one song i like on the list and its by the white stripes

i actually like the majority of these songs

i don't know which one i like BEST but i'm gonna vote for "hanging like a moment" b/c it's up there for me and i'm pretty sure no one else will want to

the worst song here unless i have missed something absolutely heinous is "lay me down"

they could have picked a different NIN song for god's sake

― ... Jenkinson ... ... military spending ... snkkt! ... Özil ... ... (imago), Monday, September 9, 2013 2:51 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well...there are two NIN songs. and they weren't 'picked,' this is all determined by airplay.

'they' being the us public, or at the very least NIN's label, for single release

was 'all the love in the world' not a single? confused

it was not

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Inch_Nails_discography#Singles

would have voted 'survivalism' as well tbf

"Survivalism" and "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" also hit #1 on the chart, they just weren't as long-lived

this is my top 15, could vote for any of these

Linkin Park – “Faint”
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “By The Way”
Muse – “Madness”
Finger Eleven – “Paralyzer”
Neon Trees – “Animal”
Incubus – “Wish You Were Here”
Nine Inch Nails – “The Hand That Feeds”
Foo Fighters – “Best Of You”
Fuel – “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)”
Linkin Park – “Waiting For The End”
Gotye featuring Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used To Know”
Anberlin – “Feel Good Drag”
Foo Fighters – “The Pretender”
Imagine Dragons – “It’s Time”
Puddle of Mudd – “Blurry”

kinda weirdly partial to the incubus song

i meant "drive" btw

yeah, 1901

1901 or Somebody That I Used to Know

White Stripes. And yes it's a giant mercy vote.

God in hindsight Linkin Park just keeps looking better and better

1901

That's the Rise Against song that people like most? And it's actually the #2 biggest song in the entire perverse history of this chart? Really?? "The Good Left Undone" is totally their OPO imo.

Gotye vs White Stripes vs "Best of You"

the popularity of Rise Against is generally pretty strange, that guy's voice is nails on chalkboard to me

Does anyone under 40 even talk about 'alternative music' anymore? What is this chart even supposed to be measuring at this point? It looks almost identical to the 'rock' chart.

Yeah, what's striking to me how little loved so much of this music is. The '90s alternative generation was (and remains) fiercely protective of that era of modern rock, but who rides for the post-2000 stuff? My understanding of contemporary modern-rock radio is that it's a very passive listenership; lots of gen Xers who just never changed their radio presets but lost interest in hearing new stuff a long time ago.

No, I've known a lot of people who do love a lot of this music. I just don't know what necessitates separate 'alternative' and 'rock' charts at this point.

Can I be all grouchy old man about this now? When I described music I liked as 'alternative' it was mid/early 90s, and it wasn't any of this stuff.

So is this the place to discuss Chris Molanphy's perfectly timed essay?

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/9214-radio-friendly-unit-shifters-25-years-of-billboards-alternative-music-chart/

Er, I quite like the NIN tunes and The Pretender.

And can stomach the Linkin Park ones. The rest not so much.

The other weird thing about alternative is it's a genre without a recent past. Alternative stations have disowned a lot of the scummy anger grunge they used to play for much of the '00s, so they're left with these odd, disjointed playlists that skip straight from Smashing Pumpkins to Lumineers, like Finger 11 never happened

Incubus "Wish You Were Here"

Gotye vs White Stripes vs "Best of You"

Voted White Stripes, but was kind of tempted to go for Nickelback.

The ones that sound the least horrible to me are the catchy pop songs and not necessarily the ones that "rock" the most.

1. Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.” (decently enjoyable song IMO. by quite some margin, the least party-killing song out of everything on here.)
2. Incubus – “Drive” (decent pop song)
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers – “By The Way” (good vocal harmonies)
4. Foster The People – “Pumped Up Kicks” (always liked this for some reason)
5. Incubus – “Wish You Were Here” (i mentioned the "Woo" in some other thread... it's probably the best single moment out of any song mentioned here)

6. Phoenix – “1901” (really enjoyed this when it was new, but have almost no desire to hear this now)
7. Nine Inch Nails – “Only” (no worse than his '90s radio songs)
8. Nine Inch Nails – “The Hand That Feeds” (no worse than his '90s radio songs)
9. Staind – “It’s Been Awhile” (not absolute garbage despite popular opinion)
10. Nickelback – “How You Remind Me” (not absolute garbage despite popular opinion)

11. Foo Fighters – “Best Of You” (meme-factor helps this one)
12. Papa Roach – “Last Resort” (somehow the y2k-era just wouldn't have been the same without this song)
13. The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army” (kinda overrated as fuck, but not horrible)
14. The Foo Fighters – “All My Life” (those queens singles from the same era were way better)
15. Gotye featuring Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used To Know” (more funny than good)

seven nation army and paralyzer for the jock jam one-two punch. so many awful songs tho

Incubus – “Drive”
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “By The Way”

i would be ok listening to either of these right now so it's got to be one of them

7 nation army by leaps and bounds

So that isn't an overplayed jam for trying out guitars for two hours?

you can imagine how well it translates to first time electric guitar players

I don't have to!

lol

like seriously, I'll bring it with me to MN sometime and you can laugh your ass off as I butcher it, then glaze over in quiet, inward horror at the recurring patterns in your life as your new son crawls across the floor, a plaintive "Why, father? Why must you subject my still-forming mind to this horror? Don't you know I will repay you with Wookiefoot?" look on his young face

"wookiefoot" will be on my internet exclusion list, right along with idk "donkey porn" and "how to make meth" because i believe my children are the future

was kind of tempted to go for Nickelback.

Actually thought about this. It's a decent rock ballad but it just feels a little too by-the-numbers to vote for. I actually think the Gotye song is kind of brilliant but I really want to vote for something that a) at least tries to rock (despite this chart's origins in the British hair care product industry) and b) wasn't also a massive pop radio hit.

If either "Everlong" or "Starlight" were up there, I'd vote for them in a heartbeat. If they were both up there, I guess I'd have trouble again.

wound up voting "Faint" over "In The End" - so many people picking safe retro-alt made me want to embrace the 21st century

Fuel – “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)”

this is the worst song title of all time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p_xAToFzck

Trapt – “Headstrong”

This is the worst band name of all time.

how do Foo Fighters have not one, not two but three (apparently) hugely popular singles from teh past decade or so that I cannot sit here and sing a note of

more like this format is at a point where the foo fighters take a shit and it's number one for 8 weeks

fair enough

i'm with whoever said it's not good when the Kings of Leon songs are miles better than most of the rest of the list, but i like both Sex on Fire and Use Somebody better than about 45 others here

feel no particular attachment to any of these but i voted RHCP

"btw", not dani california

"Seven Nation Army" is actually one of my least favorites on this list.

― fresh (crüt), Wednesday, September 11, 2013 11:44 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same here, it's like their worst single imo

Strange that the c. 2001 garage rock bands completely struck out on this list. No Strokes, no Franz Ferdinand, no Hives, no Vines (ugh), no Pattern (Anybody remember them?), and the White Stripes song is more of lighter, poppier fare than garage. And it came out two years later. Whatevs.

After checking out some of these songs on YouTube I continue to be dumbfounded that people would make hits out of songs with such unbelievably boring dull "rock" guitar tones.

it's kind of hilarious how dated something like "steady as she goes" sounds 7 years later

makes me understand why some say rock is dead (but if you rely on charts to hear music you get all you deserve)

is there a top list of the 90s alternative songs to compare? I imagine the rock chart looked different to the alt chart due to nu-metal back then unlike now.

yeh, "rock" as a radio demographic is very separate from the "rock" music that is most interesting right now. xp

is there a top list of the 90s alternative songs to compare?

the list al linked to is the top 100 songs going back to 1988 so you can pick them out from that

apparently the #1 90s alternative song is Peter Murphy LOL

i may do a 90s or pre-2000 vers. of this poll, although i dunno, seems more boring to do

more stats btw: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5687275/alternative-chart-25th-anniversary-top-50-artists-most-top-10s

cheers curtis/al

a whole bunch of these bands on this list never made it in the uk and ive never heard most of them but how the fuck did bush get so big? they really did nothing here.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kB65s8mOYbs/TddVURDKgvI/AAAAAAAAAZg/06Z0oZ6fLSA/s320/GavinRossdaleRollingStoneCover-1.jpg

between Kurt and Chris Gaines there was...Bush

garth brooks did nothing here either but that is probably not that surprising

i kinda wanna do a poll of just 1995-99 but i know you guys would be boring and vote for "1979" in a landslide

i wanna put my tender poll in a blender

"Seven Nation Army" is actually one of my least favorites on this list.

It was the first I cut from my shortlist. (Meg cost it some points in particular.) Gotye won in the end but "Best of You" put in a good showign.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

if "Enter Sandman" had been released in the 21st century then it would have been an Alternative Song

Why is there nothing by Coldplay on this list?

What a shitshow, and I say that as someone who enthusiastically voted in all the modern rock by-year polls. Yikes. The best things here all seem like they don't belong in the format at all (Pumped Up Kicks, Gotye). Voting Phoenix.

(have this sneaking suspicion that Papa Roach is going to pile up some weird lurker vote)

Coldplay's hugeness is more from the fact that they do well across Alternative, AAA, Pop, etc. than that they especially dominate any one of those formats. they only have two Alternative Songs #1's, and "Clocks" only got to #9.

unironically voting for lifehouse

Oh my lord "Headstrong" has to be one of the most unaccomplished songs to ever hit airwaves

OKAY GUYS I PICKED THESE TWO NOTES FOR US TO PLAY, YOU JUST PLAY THEM AND I WILL SING ALONG TO THE SAME NOTES WHILE YOU ARE PLAYING THEM

I thought it was one of those FM morning show joke songs the first heard it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ilm keepin it real

real predictably pitchforky

are you saying i should check out some incubus

"Wish You Were Here" is loads better than "1901," yes