Holiday (Green Day)
2005 · From American Idiot
Armstrong spent two months doubting the lyrics until Cavallo pushed him; it went to number one on modern rock radio.
★ 4.9
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Shut 'em Down
1991 · From Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black
Chuck D aimed it at corporations that profit off Black neighborhoods without reinvesting, and Pete Rock's remix outgrew the original.
★ 5.6
Fall On Me
1986
Conceived as an acid rain protest, the melody rewritten before release; Stipe called it a general oppression song.
★ 6.0
Shout (Tears for Fears)
1985 · From Songs from the Big Chair
Orzabal wrote it on a small synth as an album track; Stanley heard a worldwide smash and was right.
★ 6.9
Zombie
1994
O'Riordan answering the 1993 Warrington bombing by trading jangle for distortion, then six weeks atop America's alternative chart.
★ 7.2
Street Fighting ManThe Rolling Stones
Street Fighting Man
1968 · From Beggars Banquet
Richards cut the acoustic into a Philips cassette recorder until it distorted, Watts drumming on a 1930s toy kit.
★ 7.4
Ohio
1970
Seventeen days between the Life photographs from Kent State and four voices cutting it live in a Los Angeles room.
★ 7.7
Get Up, Stand Up
1973 · From Burnin'
Written with Tosh after Marley toured Haiti, and the last song he ever sang onstage, Pittsburgh, September 1980.
★ 7.7
For What It's Worth
1967 · From Buffalo Springfield
Stills wrote it about the Sunset Strip curfew riots, not Vietnam, and Young's harmonics ring like a warning bell.
★ 7.8
The Times They Are A-Changin'
1964 · From The Times They Are A-Changin'
Dylan set out to write an anthem on purpose, borrowing the cadence of Irish and Scottish ballads, and got one.
★ 8.1
Fortunate Son
1969 · From Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
Twenty minutes of writing, and Fogerty had the sound of every draft board sending someone else's son.
★ 8.6
Fight the Power
1989 · From Fear of a Black Planet
Spike Lee asked for a defiant anthem, and the Bomb Squad answered with layered samples and Branford Marsalis's saxophone.
★ 9.0
Blowin' in the Wind
1963 · From The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Nine questions, no answers, and the song the civil rights movement adopted whole and never gave back.
★ 9.2
Strange Fruit
1939
A Bronx schoolteacher's poem about lynching, sung in a single spotlight, still the bravest three minutes on record.
★ 9.6
What's Going OnMarvin Gaye
What's Going On
1971 · From What's Going On
Party chatter, a sax that sighs, and Gaye asking the question Motown begged him not to ask.
★ 9.9