Smells Like Teen Spirit
1991 · From Nevermind
Four chords, a mumble nobody could decipher, and the riff that ended one decade of rock and started another.
★ 9.9
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.
Seven Nation Army
2003 · From Elephant
A guitar pitched down to fake a bass, and the seven-note riff every stadium on earth now sings.
★ 9.1
There is a Light that Never Goes OutThe Smiths
There is a Light that Never Goes Out
1986 · From The Queen is Dead
Marr faked the strings on an Emulator, credited them to the Hated Salford Ensemble, and Britain waited six years.
★ 8.3
Losing My ReligionR.E.M.
Losing My Religion
1991 · From Out of Time
Buck wrote the riff while teaching himself mandolin in front of the television, and R.E.M. got their biggest American hit.
★ 8.2
How Soon is Now?The Smiths
How Soon is Now?
1985 · From Meat Is Murder
Marr's shudder came from four Fender Twins with their tremolos fighting, and Morrissey put a lonely man in a nightclub.
★ 8.1
Come as You Are
1991 · From Nevermind
A Small Clone chorus pedal gives the riff its underwater sound, and Cobain nearly withheld the single.
★ 8.0
Karma PoliceRadiohead
Karma Police
1997 · From OK Computer
Named for a tour joke about people behaving badly, with Greenwood's piano circling and a delay unit eating the ending.
★ 8.0
Bitter Sweet Symphony
1997
Built on an Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of a Stones song; Jagger and Richards returned the credit in 2019.
★ 7.8
This Charming Man
1983
Marr stacked roughly fifteen guitar tracks and dropped a knife on the strings; Morrissey lifted a line from Sleuth.
★ 7.8
Paranoid AndroidRadiohead
Paranoid Android
1997 · From OK Computer
Four sections in six minutes, named for Douglas Adams's depressed robot, cut in a sixteenth-century manor near Bath.
★ 7.8
Just Like Heaven
1987 · From Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Smith traced it to a day at Beachy Head with Mary Poole; Williams sped the tempo, adding the opening fill.
★ 7.7
Under the Bridge
1991 · From Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Rubin found the poem in Kiedis's notebook and pushed for it; Frusciante's mother sings in the choir at the end.
★ 7.7
Creep (Radiohead)
1992 · From Pablo Honey
Greenwood meant those three dead notes before the chorus to wreck the song, and they are what makes it work.
★ 7.7
Everlong
1997
Drums by Grohl, Hawkins not yet in the band, and Louise Post's backing vocals sung down a phone from Chicago.
★ 7.7
Black Hole Sun
1994 · From Superunknown
A Leslie speaker gives the guitars their swirl, and Cornell built the title from a misheard news broadcast.
★ 7.7
Where Is My Mind?
1988 · From Surfer Rosa
Francis traced the lyric to a fish that followed him diving; Albini taped Deal's vocal in a bathroom.
★ 7.7
Basket Case
1994 · From Dookie
Armstrong rewrote it around his undiagnosed panic attacks, cut it at Fantasy Studios, and sold punk to the suburbs.
★ 7.7
Live Forever
1994 · From Definitely Maybe
Gallagher wrote it in 1991, before Oasis had a record deal, pitching plain optimism against everything grunge was selling.
★ 7.7
Heart-Shaped Box
1993 · From In Utero
Albini recorded it at Pachyderm in a Minnesota winter, and Scott Litt later remixed it to lift Cobain's vocal.
★ 7.6
Loser
1994 · From Mellow Gold
Six and a half hours in Stephenson's house, a slide guitar loop, and a hook mocking Beck's own rapping.
★ 7.6
Alive
1991 · From Ten
Gossard's demo was called Dollar Short until Vedder set it to learning who his real father was.
★ 7.6
No Surprises
1997 · From OK Computer
Radiohead cut version after version and kept the first take, glockenspiel and all, a lullaby about suburban despair.
★ 7.5
Radio Free Europe
1981 · From Murmur
Hib-Tone pressed about a thousand copies in 1981, and Stipe mumbled lyrics he hadn't finished writing.
★ 7.5
Fake Plastic Trees
1995 · From The Bends
Yorke came straight from a Jeff Buckley gig, sang three takes at RAK, then burst into tears.
★ 7.5
Where Did You Sleep Last Night
1994 · From MTV Unplugged in New York
Closing the Unplugged set at Sony Studios, a Lead Belly song, and a last verse Neil Young called unearthly.
★ 7.4
Don't Look Back in Anger
1995 · From (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Noel's first lead vocal on an Oasis single, a phrase lifted from a Lennon tape, Manchester's anthem ever since.
★ 7.4
You Oughta Know
1995
Flea on bass and Dave Navarro on guitar, recorded in Glen Ballard's home studio, behind the nineties' fiercest kiss-off.
★ 7.4
In Bloom
1991 · From Nevermind
Cobain aimed it at fans who missed the point, and Kerslake's video staged them on a mock Ed Sullivan Show.
★ 7.4
Lithium
1991 · From Nevermind
The only Nevermind track cut to a click track, and Grohl's metronome only makes the quiet-loud lurch hit harder.
★ 7.4
Clint Eastwood
2001
Albarn built it on a melodica and an Omnichord's first preset; Del cut his verses in half an hour.
★ 7.4
In The EndLinkin Park
In The End
2001
Shinoda's piano figure under Bennington's chorus took nu metal to number two, and the RIAA finally certified it diamond.
★ 7.4
Yellow
2000 · From Parachutes
Ken Nelson pointed at the stars outside Rockfield, and Martin sang the melody in his worst Neil Young impression.
★ 7.4
All Apologies
1993 · From MTV Unplugged in New York
Lori Goldston's cello beside Cobain at the November 1993 Unplugged taping, months before his death, apology turned farewell.
★ 7.3
Wonderwall
1995 · From (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Owen Morris showed Bonehead the root notes for a Mellotron cello, and the track was largely done in a day.
★ 7.3
Man on the Moon
1992
Berry's chords, Buck's arrangement, and lyrics Stipe wrote at the last minute about Andy Kaufman, Elvis impression included.
★ 7.3
Only Shallow
1992 · From Loveless
Four snare hits, then two amps facing each other with tremolos fighting, sampled and reversed into shoegaze's founding roar.
★ 7.3
Californication
1999 · From Californication
Frusciante drew the sparse riff from The Cure's "Carnage Visors" on his first album back, and Kiedis indicts Hollywood.
★ 7.3
Champagne SupernovaOasis
Champagne Supernova
1995 · From (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Seven and a half minutes, Paul Weller on lead guitar, and a lyric Noel admits he chose for the rhyme.
★ 7.3
Give it Away
1991 · From Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Nina Hagen handed Kiedis a jacket from her closet, and Frusciante ran his solo backwards over Flea's jam-session riff.
★ 7.2
1979
1996 · From Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Flood said it wasn't good enough, so Corgan rewrote it that night and got the band's biggest hit.
★ 7.2
Buddy Holly
1994 · From Weezer (The Blue Album)
Cuomo thought it too cheesy to release; Ocasek insisted, then Spike Jonze spliced the band into Happy Days footage.
★ 7.2
NightswimmingR.E.M.
Nightswimming
1992 · From Automatic for the People
Mills cut the piano at Criteria on the instrument heard on "Layla," and John Paul Jones arranged the strings.
★ 7.2
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
1984
Marr's melody came from a New York hotel room, the title from Sandie Shaw, and misery never sounded so cheerful.
★ 7.2
Zombie
1994
O'Riordan answering the 1993 Warrington bombing by trading jangle for distortion, then six weeks atop America's alternative chart.
★ 7.2
Jesus, Etc.
2002 · From Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Reprise rejected the album, Wilco streamed it free, and a sister Warner label put out these swooning strings instead.
★ 7.2
Clocks
2002 · From A Rush of Blood to the Head
A piano riff Martin nearly saved for the next album, rescued by their manager, then Record of the Year.
★ 7.2
Fade Into You
1994
Roback's guitar and Sandoval's half-whisper, the band's only Hot 100 entry, and television's favorite shortcut to longing.
★ 7.0
Monkey Gone to Heaven
1989 · From Doolittle
Gil Norton brought in two cellos and two violins, and Black Francis rhymed ocean pollution with borrowed numerology.
★ 7.0
Say It Ain't So
1994 · From Weezer (The Blue Album)
Cuomo's working title was "The Classic Rock Song"; Ocasek produced, and the clean offbeat chords carry a family's addiction.
★ 7.0
Pictures of You
1989 · From Disintegration
A house fire left Smith with photographs of Mary salvaged from his wallet, and one became the single's sleeve.
★ 6.9
Song 2
1997
Two minutes and two seconds, track two, number two in Britain, and a whistle on the demo became that woo-hoo.
★ 6.9
Everybody HurtsR.E.M.
Everybody Hurts
1992 · From Automatic for the People
Berry wrote most of it over a drum machine, John Paul Jones scored the strings, and the words target teenagers.
★ 6.9
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
2002 · From Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
O'Rourke mixed this one song as an audition, won the whole album, and Wilco made it the opening track.
★ 6.9
Blister in the Sun
1983
Busking outside a Milwaukee theatre got them discovered by the Pretenders, and Gano's riff has been filling dancefloors ever since.
★ 6.8
Jeremy
1992 · From Ten
A twelve-string bass figure from Ament, a Texas newspaper item in Vedder's hands, and four VMAs in 1993.
★ 6.8
There She GoesThe La's
There She Goes
1990
Bob Andrews cut it in 1988 to no interest; Lillywhite's remix made it Britpop's founding jangle.
★ 6.8
It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
1987 · From Document
A dream about a party where every guest had Lenny Bruce's initials, sped into Document's headlong disaster list.
★ 6.8
Where It's At
1996 · From Odelay
The Dust Brothers built it around a Mantronix sample, and Beck's two turntables and a microphone became a catchphrase.
★ 6.8
The Man Who Sold the World
1994 · From MTV Unplugged in New York
Fourteen songs, one take, November 1993; Cobain plays Bowie through an amp and makes the song permanently his.
★ 6.8
Criminal
1997 · From Tidal
Apple wrote it in forty-five minutes to give the label its hit, then took a Grammy for the vocal.
★ 6.8
About a Girl
1994 · From Bleach
Cobain wrote it in 1988, reportedly after playing Meet the Beatles all day; the Unplugged take topped Modern Rock.
★ 6.7
The Scientist
2002 · From A Rush of Blood to the Head
One out-of-tune Liverpool piano, an attempt at a Harrison song abandoned, and the chord run Martin kept instead.
★ 6.7
Friday I'm In LoveThe Cure
Friday I'm In Love
1992 · From Wish
Smith left the vari-speed engaged at mixdown, so the released version sits a quarter-tone sharp and grins anyway.
★ 6.7
When You Were Young
2006 · From Sam's Town
Twenty minutes for melody and title, by Flowers' account, and Flood and Moulder gave it Born to Run scale.
★ 6.7
When I Come Around
1994 · From Dookie
Four palm-muted chords, Dirnt's bass doing the melodic work, and a lyric Armstrong wrote after fighting with Adrienne.
★ 6.6
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
2004 · From American Idiot
Armstrong wrote the lyrics alone in an East Village apartment, and that loneliness won Record of the Year.
★ 6.6
In Between DaysThe Cure
In Between Days
1985 · From The Head on the Door
Smith's six-string bass, acoustic guitars strummed to a blur, and the Cure's sunniest song about feeling old.
★ 6.6
Linger
1993
Stephen Street produced it, the Duke Quartet supplied the strings, and O'Riordan wrote the melody at her audition.
★ 6.5
All These Things That I've Done
2004 · From Hot Fuss
Gospel choir the Sweet Inspirations, a bassline Flowers traced to Bowie, and a refrain built for arenas.
★ 6.5
Here Comes Your Man
1989 · From Doolittle
A teenage demo the band mocked as their Tom Petty song, until Gil Norton talked it onto Doolittle.
★ 6.5
Scar Tissue
1999 · From Californication
Frusciante's slide guitar on his first record back with the band, then sixteen weeks atop Billboard's modern rock chart.
★ 6.4
Just a Girl
1995
A late drive home from Tony Kanal's house, a father's lecture, and Stefani's first song without brother Eric.
★ 6.4
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
1997 · From Nimrod
Armstrong wrote it in 1993 about a girlfriend leaving for Ecuador; Cavallo added the strings while the band played foosball.
★ 6.4
Numb
2003
Twelve weeks atop the modern rock chart, and Bennington turning somebody else's expectations into a chorus millions shouted back.
★ 6.4
Plush
1992
The riff arrived in the back of a U-Haul, and DeLeo's ragtime chords carried grunge to a Grammy.
★ 6.3
Interstate Love Song
1994
Robert DeLeo worked it out as a bossa nova on nylon strings; Weiland nailed the Atlanta vocal in one take.
★ 6.3
High and DryRadiohead
High and Dry
1995 · From The Bends
Rescued from a 1993 demo the band wrote off as too Rod Stewart, and adored everywhere except by Yorke.
★ 6.3
Pursuit of Happiness
2010
Ratatat cut the beat before Cudi arrived, MGMT added vocals, and Steve Aoki's remix made a song about intoxication ubiquitous.
★ 6.2
The One I Love
1987 · From Document
Buck wrote the riff on his porch, Stipe found it too brutal to sing, and America mistook it for romance.
★ 6.2
Devils Haircut
1996 · From Odelay
Beck cut that riff himself through a broken twenty-watt amp while the Dust Brothers stacked Purdie drums beneath it.
★ 6.2
1901
2009 · From Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
A fantasy of Belle Epoque Paris, handed out free online, that then spent thirty-one weeks climbing to alternative number one.
★ 6.2
Mysterious Ways
1991 · From Achtung Baby
Grown from a Dublin jam called Sick Puppy, and Edge's Korg funk-wah setting turned Clayton's bassline into U2's funkiest record.
★ 6.2
Orange Crush
1988
Stipe's father served in Vietnam, and the title nods to Agent Orange; eight weeks atop Modern Rock.
★ 6.2
Mr. Jones
1993
T-Bone Burnett replaced the band's own drummer with session man Denny Fongheiser, and Duritz got the fame he wished for.
★ 6.2
The Middle
2001
Capitol dropped the band, Trombino produced on credit, and the drum pattern came straight off Tom Petty's You Wreck Me.
★ 6.2
Island in the Sun
2001 · From Weezer (The Green Album)
Not planned for the Green Album until Ocasek fought for it, then Spike Jonze filmed the band among wild animals.
★ 6.1
Dreams (The Cranberries)
1993
A debut single written about her first love, with Stephen Street producing and Mike Mahoney's voice climbing wordlessly out the top.
★ 6.1
Iris
1998
Rzeznik tuned every string but one to D, wrote it for City of Angels, and owned airplay for eighteen weeks.
★ 6.1
Undone (The Sweater Song)
1994 · From Weezer (The Blue Album)
Ocasek produced it, Cuomo aimed for the Velvet Underground, and the party-chatter intro made a sad song sound hilarious.
★ 6.1
Semi-Charmed Life
1997
An answer song to "Walk on the Wild Side," mistaken for a summer hit; its real subject is addiction.
★ 6.0
Impossible Germany
2007 · From Sky Blue Sky
Nels Cline's lead guitar turns a quiet Tweedy song into the twin-guitar epic Rolling Stone compared to Television.
★ 6.0
Fall On Me
1986
Conceived as an acid rain protest, the melody rewritten before release; Stipe called it a general oppression song.
★ 6.0
What I Got
1996 · From Sublime
Half Pint's Loving supplies the chorus, Lady Madonna the verse melody, and Nowell was gone two months before the album.
★ 5.9
Yellow Ledbetter
1991
McCready's riff was a Ten outtake, and Vedder improvised a lyric he has been rewriting onstage ever since.
★ 5.9
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2003
Tamborello mailed the beats to Gibbard on discs, who wrote this over a breakup with someone who moved to Washington.
★ 5.8
I Miss You
2004
Cello, upright bass and brushed drums, roughly seventy acoustic tracks, and Hoppus and DeLonge trading verses about missing someone.
★ 5.8
Drive (REM)R.E.M.
Drive (REM)
1992 · From Automatic for the People
John Paul Jones scored the strings, Scott Litt named Queen as the model, and the lyric hands kids the wheel.
★ 5.7
Here's Where The Story Ends
1990
Guitar jangle, Wheeler's voice, and a US Modern Rock number one that Britain never received as a single.
★ 5.7