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
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1997
Showing 47 songs from 1997
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
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
1997
Timbaland flipped Ann Peebles into stuttering space, and Hype Williams shot Elliott in an inflated suit through a fisheye.
★ 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
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
Hypnotize
1997 · From Life After Death
Herb Alpert's Rise looped into a strut, released five days before Wallace was killed, number one within weeks.
★ 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
Around the World (Daft Punk)
1997 · From Homework
One lyric repeated 144 times over a synth bassline, and Gondry's video giving each instrument its own dancers.
★ 7.4
Ruff Ryders' Anthem
1997
DMX turned the beat down for sounding too rock; his uncles talked him into it, and Swizz Beatz arrived.
★ 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
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
Between the Bars
1997 · From Either/Or
A lullaby melody hiding a song about alcohol, and one of three Either/Or tracks in Good Will Hunting.
★ 6.5
Dammit (Growing Up)
1997
Hoppus turned bumping into an ex into four chords, a Trombino production, and pop punk's great shrug at adulthood.
★ 6.5
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
My Heart Will Go OnCeline Dion
My Heart Will Go On
1997
Cameron resisted a pop song entirely, then kept Dion's demo vocal, one take, in the finished film.
★ 6.3
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
You Make Me Wanna...
1997
Seven weeks at number two in America and a straight-in number one in Britain, all from Dupri's Atlanta studio.
★ 6.0
Honey
1997
Puff Daddy shaping the hook, the Ummah programming the drums, Carey's third record to debut at number one.
★ 6.0
Miss Misery
1997 · From Good Will Hunting (Original Soundtrack)
An earlier version with different lyrics sat unreleased until Good Will Hunting sent Smith to the Oscars in white.
★ 5.9
