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
Brick
1997
Written on guitar rather than piano, cut live in a bedroom on a few microphones, and unbearably calm.
★ 5.7
Dry The Rain
1997
Six minutes that drift, then lift; the track Rob plays in High Fidelity to sell five copies on the spot.
★ 5.7
Your Woman
1997
Mishra cut it in his bedroom on an Atari ST, sampling a 1932 muted trumpet, and topped the UK chart.
★ 5.5
Candle in the Wind 1997Elton John
Candle in the Wind 1997
1997
Taupin rewrote his Marilyn Monroe lyric for Diana, George Martin added strings hours after the funeral, and 33 million sold.
★ 5.5
Still Not a Player
1997 · From Capital Punishment
Knobody flipped a Brenda Russell record, Joe sang the hook, and Pun became the first solo Latin rapper certified platinum.
★ 5.4
I'll Be Missing YouSean Combs
I'll Be Missing You
1997
An uncleared Police sample handed Sting the royalties; Faith Evans and 112 turned mourning into eleven weeks at number one.
★ 5.2
Rose Parade
1997 · From Either/Or
Smith recorded Either/Or in Portland friends' houses and mixed this one himself, a parade watched through sour eyes.
★ 5.2
Building a Mystery
1997
Eight weeks at number one in Canada, a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal, and Marchand's production glowing underneath.
★ 5.0
One Headlight
1997
Jakob Dylan wrote it at a Los Angeles kitchen table, then watched it top all three Billboard rock airplay charts.
★ 4.8
Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
1997
Denniz Pop and Max Martin cut it at Cheiron in Stockholm, and Joseph Kahn's haunted-mansion video did the rest.
★ 4.7
How's It Gonna Be
1997
Fifty-two weeks on the Hot 100 for a breakup song that began with Cadogan picking up an autoharp.
★ 4.6
Sex and Candy
1997
Four in the morning, under an hour of writing, and a fifteen-week grip on the Modern Rock chart.
★ 4.6
Can't Nobody Hold Me Down
Sean Combs and Mase
1997
Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" under a "Break My Stride" hook, six weeks at number one, and Mase arrives.
★ 4.5
Feel So Good
1997
Kool and the Gang's Hollywood Swinging flipped by Puffy and Deric Angelettie, and Mase's drawl making effort look optional.
★ 4.5
Jumper
1997
A bullied teenager's death behind it, and Jenkins turned the fifth single off his debut into a plea.
★ 4.5
It's Your Love
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
1997
Six weeks at number one on the country chart for a duet McGraw cut with Faith Hill, months into marriage.
★ 4.3
As Long As You Love Me (Backstreet Boys)
1997
Strep throat handed McLean's bridge to Littrell; Clive Calder heard Max Martin's demo and added it late.
★ 4.3
Coolie High
1997 · From Uptown Saturday Night
Ski built it from Janet Jackson's "Funny How Time Flies" and Skull Snaps drums; two Bronx kids talking pure seventies.
★ 4.1