1993 Modern Rock 500

WOXY

The most important songs in Modern Rock, as determined by WOXY staff in 1993.

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1 Cure - Just Like Heaven
2 Smiths - How Soon is Now
3 Depeche Mode - Route 66
4 B52s - Rock Lobster
5 Modern English - I Melt With You
6 New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
7 REM - Radio Free Europe
8 U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
9 Elvis Costello - Alison
10 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
11 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
12 Squeeze - Tempted
13 Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
14 Janes Addiction - Jane Says
15 Police - Roxanne
16 Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
17 New Order - Blue Monday
18 Soft Cell - Tainted Love
19 Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning
20 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
21 Simple Minds - Dont You Forget About Me
22 Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
23 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
24 U2 - New Years Day
25 REM - Man on the Moon
26 Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
27 Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With
28 Gary Numan - Cars
29 B52s - Love Shack
30 Janes Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
31 Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women
32 Elvis Costello - Whats So Funny Bout
33 Yaz - Situation
34 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
35 Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died
36 Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
37 U2 - One
38 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
39 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
40 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax
41 Icicle Works - Whisper to a Scream
42 Talking Heads - Take Me to the River
43 David Bowie - Lets Dance
44 Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
45 Roxy Music - Love is the Drug
46 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
47 REM - Losing My Religion
48 Cure - Boys Dont Cry
49 Pretenders - Brass in Pocket
50 New Order - Love Vigilantes
51 Ministry - Everyday is Halloween
52 Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Elvis is Everywhere
53 Police - Message in a Bottle
54 Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole
55 Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You
56 Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
57 Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
58 XTC - Dear God
59 Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
60 Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
61 Vapors - Turning Japanese
62 REM - Dont Go Back to Rockville
63 David Bowie - Sound and Vision
64 Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
65 Squeeze - Black Coffee in Bed
66 Devo - Whip It
67 Violent Femmes - American Music
68 Concrete Blonde - Joey
69 Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
70 Clash - Rock the Casbah
71 Cure - Friday Im in Love
72 Church - Under the Milky Way
73 Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now
74 Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
75 Cult - Love Removal Machine
76 Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
77 Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking
78 Peter Gabriel - Steam
79 Enya - Caribbean Blue
80 Pretenders - Message of Love
81 Blondie - Rapture
82 U2 - Pride In the Name of Love
83 Jonathan Richman Modern Lovers - Dodge Veg O Matic
84 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
85 Iggy Pop - Candy
86 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosis Dead
87 10000 Maniacs - Candy Everybody Wants
88 Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
89 Soul Asylum - Somebody to Shove
90 UB40 - Red Red Wine
91 Boomtown Rats - I Dont Like Mondays
92 Berlin - Sex Im a
93 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
94 Royal Crescent Mob - Get on the Bus
95 Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
96 The - This is the Day
97 Cure - Pictures of You
98 Sundays - Heres Where the Story Ends
99 Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
100 Toad the Wet Sprocket - All I Want
101 Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
102 REM - Its the End of the World
103 Jam - Thats Entertainment
104 Bob Marley - Jamming
105 Replacements - I Will Dare
106 Tears For Fears - Shout
107 Housemartins - Happy Hour
108 Alarm - 68 Guns
109 Smiths - Ask
110 English Beat - Save it for Later
111 Oingo Boingo - Dead Mans Party
112 Shriekback - Nemesis
113 Depeche Mode - People are People
114 Sting - All This Time
115 Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
116 Devo - I Cant Get No Satisfaction
117 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
118 XTC - Senses Working Overtime
119 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away
120 Echo and The Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses
121 Love and Rockets - Kundalini Express
122 U2 - Mysterious Ways
123 Charlatans UK - Only One I Know
124 Police - King of Pain
125 Cracker - Teen Angst
126 Cure - Lets Go to Bed
127 REM - One I Love
128 Elvis Costello - Radio Radio
129 Crowded House - Chocolate Cake
130 Pearl Jam - Alive
131 Love and Rockets - So Alive
132 Peter Gabriel - Big Time
133 Godfathers - Birth School Work Death
134 Pretenders - Talk of the Town
135 Too Much Joy - Crush Story
136 Proclaimers - Im Gonna Be 500 Miles
137 Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule The
138 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
139 Sinead OConnor - Mandinka
140 Belly - Feed the Tree
141 Clash - Train in Vain
142 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Kiss Them For Me
143 Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All
144 Dead Milkmen - Bitchin Camaro
145 Talk Talk - Talk Talk
146 Blondie - Call Me
147 Call - Walls Came Down
148 Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
149 10000 Maniacs - Whats the Matter Here
150 REM - Stand
151 Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
152 Chris Isaak - Wicked Game
153 Tori Amos - Silent All These Years
154 Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
155 Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
156 Roxy Music - More Than This
157 EMF - Unbelievable
158 Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
159 Love and Rockets - No New Tale to Tell
160 Smithereens - A Girl Like You
161 Replacements - Alex Chilton
162 The - Infected
163 Living Colour - Cult of Personality
164 Annie Lennox - Little Bird
165 Stan Ridgway - I Wanna Be a Boss
166 Depeche Mode - Strangelove
167 Seal - Crazy
168 Sugarcubes - Birthday
169 Divinyls - I Touch Myself
170 Erasure - Chorus
171 Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean
172 Hoodoo Gurus - Miss Freelove 69
173 Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
174 Indigo Girls - Galileo
175 Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
176 Pretenders - My City Was Gone
177 REM - Pretty Persuasion
178 Missing Persons - Words
179 Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
180 Madness - Our House
181 Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
182 INXS - Dont Change
183 U2 - With or Without You
184 10000 Maniacs - Like the Weather
185 Bob Marley and The Wailers - Lively Up Yourself
186 Talking Heads - And She Was
187 Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush
188 Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger
189 Ministry - Work For Love
190 Soup Dragons - Divine Thing
191 David Bowie - Fashion
192 Psychedelic Furs - Heaven
193 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Show Me Your Soul
194 Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth
195 Human League - Dont You Want Me
196 XTC - Making Plans for Nigel
197 Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing
198 Big Country - In a Big Country
199 Sinead OConnor - Nothing Compares 2 U
200 Bodeans - Dreams
201 Clash - London Calling
202 Trio - Boom Boom
203 Eurythmics - Love Is a Stranger
204 Adrian Belew - Oh Daddy
205 B52s - Good Stuff
206 English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom
207 Billy Bragg - Sexuality
208 Pearl Jam - Even Flow
209 Smithereens - Blood and Roses
210 Suzanne Vega - Toms Diner DNA mix
211 REM - Orange Crush
212 Lenny Kravitz - Always on the Run
213 Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
214 Cure - Lovecats
215 Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
216 U2 - I Will Follow
217 Clash - Police and Thieves
218 David Bowie - Heroes
219 Happy Mondays - Step On
220 Love and Rockets - Ball of Confusion
221 Echo and The Bunnymen - Killing Moon
222 Electronic - Get the Message
223 They Might Be Giants - Dont Lets Start
224 Soup Dragons - Im Free
225 Sisters of Mercy - More
226 Primus - Jerry was a Race Car Driver
227 Pretenders - Middle of the Road
228 Police - So Lonely
229 Matthew Sweet - Ive Been Waiting
230 XTC - Mayor of Simpleton
231 Time Zone - World Destruction
232 Meryn Cadell - Sweater
233 Cure - Why Cant I Be You
234 Psychedelic Furs - Ghost in You
235 Stone Roses - Fools Goldedit
236 The - Uncertain Smile
237 Bodeans - Black White and Blood Red
238 Afghan Whigs - Rebirth of the Cool
239 Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark - So in Love
240 Mark Curry - Sorry About the Weather
241 Roxy Music - Avalon
242 Ramones - Do You Remember Rock N Roll
243 Pearl Jam - Jeremy
244 Smiths - Queen Is Dead
245 REM - Superman
246 Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
247 Guadalcanal Diary - Always Saturday
248 Jam - Town Called Malice
249 Trip Shakespeare - Slacks
250 Sinead OConnor - I Want Your Hands on Me
251 Duran Duran - Girls on Film
252 B52s - Private Idaho
253 Soul Asylum - Black Gold
254 David Bowie - Changes
255 Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
256 Enigma - Sadeness
257 Nails - Things You Left Behind
258 Dada - Dizz Knee Land
259 Erasure - A Little Respect
260 Cure - Close to Me
261 Smiths - Is It Really So Strange
262 Nirvana - Come As You Are
263 Romeo Void - Never Say Never
264 Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
265 Was Not Was - I Feel Better Than James Brown
266 MC900FT Jesus - Falling Elevators
267 Go Gos - We Got the Beat
268 10000 Maniacs - Trouble Me
269 Adam and The Ants - Antmusic
270 Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
271 Robyn Hitchcock - So You Think Youre in Love
272 They Might Be Giants - Istanbul Not Constantinople
273 Talk Talk - Its My Life
274 Morrissey - Our Frank
275 Killing Joke - Eighties
276 Police - Cant Stand Losing You
277 Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
278 Midnight Oil - Forgotten Years
279 Suzanne Vega - Blood Makes Noise
280 Bob Marley and The Wailers - I Shot the Sheriff
281 Devo - Through Being Cool
282 U2 - Bad Live
283 Morrissey - November Spawned a Monster
284 Screaming Blue Messiahs - I Wanna Be a Flintstone
285 Barenaked Ladies - Be My Yoko Ono
286 Camper Van Beethoven - Good Guys and Bad Guys
287 Toad the Wet Sprocket - Hold Her Down
288 B52s - Summer of Love
289 Cure - Hot Hot Hot
290 Fishbone - Everyday Sunshine
291 REM - Driver 8
292 Roxy Music - Aint That So
293 Elvis Costello - Accidents Will Happen
294 XTC - Love on a Farmboys Wages
295 Bodeans - Fade Away
296 Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
297 Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
298 Alarm - Rain in the Summertime
299 Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
300 Elvis Costello - Angels Wanna Wear
301 Depeche Mode - Just Cant Get Enough
302 INXS - New Sensation
303 Del Amitri - Always the Last to Know
304 Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
305 Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass
306 10000 Maniacs - These Are Days
307 Violent Femmes - Prove My Love
308 Falco - Der Kommisar
309 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Swimming Horses
310 Devo - Jocko Homo
311 Judybats - Saturday
312 Mighty Lemon Drops - Inside Out
313 Kirsty MacColl - Walking Down Madison
314 Peter Gabriel - Digging in the Dirt
315 Bob Mould - See a Little Light
316 Joe Jackson - Nineteen Forever
317 They Eat Their Own - Like a Drug
318 Tears For Fears - Change
319 Soho - Hippychick
320 Buffalo Tom - Taillights Fade
321 Timbuk 3 - Futures So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
322 Squeeze - Annie Get Your Gun
323 Replacements - Ill Be You
324 Talk Talk - Lifes What You Make it
325 Paul Westerberg - Dyslexic Heart
326 Talking Heads - Stay Up Late
327 Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
328 Blondie - Heart of Glass
329 GoGos - Our Lips are Sealed
330 Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade of Soul
331 Adam Ant - Desperate But Not Serious
332 Cowboy Junkies - Murder Tonight in the Trailer Park
333 David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
334 Concrete Blonde - God is a Bullet
335 Stan Ridgway - Roadblock
336 REM - Cant Get There from Here
337 Replacements - Here Comes a Regular
338 Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
339 Adrian Belew - Pretty Pink Rose
340 Cure - Never Enough
341 Charlatans UK - Weirdo
342 Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
343 New Order - Fine Time
344 Ocean Blue - Cerulean
345 Police - Dont Stand So Close to Me
346 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek a Boo
347 Sarah McLachlan - Into the Fire
348 Flesh for Lulu - I Go Crazy
349 Waterboys - Whole of the Moon
350 Poi Dog Pondering - Be the One
351 Dinosaur Jr - Start Choppin
352 MC900FT Jesus - City Sleeps
353 INXS - Original Sin
354 World Party - Way Down Now
355 Ultravox - Reap the Wild Wind
356 REM - Driver 8
357 Morrissey - Tomorrow
358 Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth
359 Neds Atomic Dustbin - Happy
360 Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods
361 Ministry - Stigmata
362 Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
363 A Flock of Seagulls - Telecommunication
364 David Bowie - Modern Love
365 Stranglers - Skin Deep
366 Human League - Things That Dreams Are Made Of
367 Big Audio Dynamite - Bottom Line
368 Smithereens - Only a Memory
369 Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child Wild One
370 Kate Bush - Love and Anger
371 Los Lobos - Will the Wolf Survive
372 INXS - One Thing
373 Peter Gabriel - Red Rain
374 Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma
375 XTC - Generals and Majors
376 Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You
377 Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write the Book
378 Farm - Groovy Train
379 Pretenders - Precious
380 Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
381 B52s - Planet Claire
382 Smithereens - Behind the Wall of Sleep
383 Too Much Joy - Donna Everywhere
384 U2 - Gloria
385 Peter Gabriel - Biko
386 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes
387 Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
388 Replacements - Merry Go Round
389 Big Audio Dynamite - Rock NonStop
390 U2 - Whos Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
391 Enya - Orinoco Flow
392 Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
393 Material Issue - Valerie Loves Me
394 Electronic - Getting Away With It
395 Fixx - One Thing Leads to Another
396 Alice in Chains - Would
397 Bryan Ferry - Slave to Love
398 Lemonheads - Mrs Robinson
399 L7 - Pretend Were Dead
400 Stereo MCs - Connected
401 Bob Mould - Its Too Late
402 They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
403 Smiths - Panic
404 Mood Swings - Spiritual High State of Independence
405 Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
406 Don Dixon - Praying Mantis
407 Dead Milkmen - Youll Dance to Anything
408 Cure - Jumping Someone Elses Train
409 Peter Gabriel - I Dont Remember
410 Smithereens - Top of the Pops
411 Smashing Pumpkins - Drownedit
412 Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
413 INXS - What You Need
414 Candyskins - Submarine Song
415 Eurythmics - Whos That Girl
416 Utah Saints - Something Good
417 U2 - Fly
418 Warren Zevon - Angel Dressed in Black
419 Sugarcubes - Hit
420 Single Gun Theory - From a Million Miles
421 Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
422 Cure - High
423 Hoodoo Gurus - I Want You Back
424 Suicidal Tendencies - Asleep at the Wheel
425 Squeeze - Pulling Mussels from the Shell
426 Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela
427 Cracker - Happy Birthday to Me
428 U2 - Bullet the Blue Sky
429 Clash - I Fought the Law
430 Thompson Twins - Lies
431 Graham Parker - Local Girls
432 Tones on Tail - Go Club Mix
433 Morrissey - Interesting Drug
434 They Might Be Giants - Statue Got Me High
435 Barenaked Ladies - Grade 9
436 Live - Pain Lies on the Riverside
437 Erasure - Oh Lamour
438 Midnight Oil - Power and the Passion
439 Patti Smith Group - Dancing Barefoot
440 Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire
441 Tasmin Archer - Sleeping Satellite
442 B52s - Quiche Lorraine
443 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence
444 Sinead OConnor - Emperors New Clothes
445 Replacements - Talent Show
446 Trio - Da Da Da
447 Velvet Underground - Rock and Roll
448 Clash - Clampdown
449 Waterboys - Church Not Made With Hands
450 Smiths - Reel Around the Fountain
451 Big Audio Dynamite - James Brown
452 Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia My Reflection
453 John Astley - Janes Getting Serious
454 Blur - Theres No Other Way
455 Living Colour - Whats Your Favorite Color theme song Which Way to America
456 Lloyd Cole - Shes a Girl and Im a Man
457 INXS - I Send a Message
458 Pop Will Eat Itself - X Y and Zee
459 Squeeze - Cool for Cats
460 Public Image Limited - This is Not a Love Song
461 DBs - A Spy in the House of Love
462 Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes
463 Sicilian Vespers - Baccala
464 Ultravox - Sleepwalk
465 General Public - Tenderness
466 Book of Love - I Touch Roses
467 Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill
468 X - Hungry Wolf
469 Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark - Locomotion
470 Las - There She Goes
471 Lemonheads - Its a Shame About Ray
472 Primus - Making Plans for Nigel
473 Beastie Boys - So Whatcha Want
474 Split Enz - I Got You
475 Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker
476 Jerry Harrison - Man With a Gun
477 Depeche Mode - I Feel You
478 Neds Atomic Dustbin - Not Sleeping Around
479 Richard Thompson - I Feel So Good
480 Public Image Limited - Rise
481 Royal Crescent Mob - Happy at Home
482 Lets Active - Every Word Means No
483 World Party - Ship of Fools
484 Marshall Crenshaw - Someday Someway
485 Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement
486 Patti Smith - Gloria
487 Social Distortion - Bad Luck
488 Specials - A Message to You Rudy
489 Living Colour - Elvis is Dead
490 Lightning Seeds - Life of Riley
491 INXS - This Time
492 Connells - Stone Cold Yesterday
493 Bodeans - Say About Love
494 This Picture - Naked Rain
495 Hothouse Flowers - Im Sorry
496 Clash - Police on my Back
497 Guadalcanal Diary - Watusi Rodeo
498 Joe Jackson - Im the Man
499 Thomas Dolby - Eastern Bloc
500 Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
Other Modern Rock 500 countdowns by year

Note the station did not broadcast a Modern Rock 500 in 2004.

Credit to WOXY listener Craig Froehle for providing the underlying source materials for these yearly lists.

Combinations

Here is one massive combined countdown with all songs from every year of the countdown, ranked by average position (1394 songs in all).