1996 Modern Rock 500

WOXY

The most important songs in Modern Rock, as determined by WOXY staff in 1996.

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1 Cure - Boys Dont Cry
2 Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
3 Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women
4 REM - Radio Free Europe
5 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
6 Smiths - How Soon is Now
7 Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
8 Elvis Costello - Whats So Funny Bout
9 Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
10 Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
11 Cure - Just Like Heaven
12 Depeche Mode - Route 66
13 Janes Addiction - Jane Says
14 U2 - New Years Day
15 Modern English - I Melt With You
16 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
17 Cracker - Teen Angst
18 New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
19 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
20 Breeders - Cannonball
21 Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died
22 REM - Losing My Religion
23 Smashing Pumpkins - Today
24 Squeeze - Tempted
25 Green Day - Longview
26 XTC - Dear God
27 Pearl Jam - Jeremy
28 Elvis Costello - Alison
29 Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole
30 Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
31 U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
32 Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning
33 New Order - Blue Monday
34 Pearl Jam - Even Flow
35 Janes Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
36 Yaz - Situation
37 Royal Crescent Mob - Get on the Bus
38 Nirvana - All Apologies
39 B52s - Rock Lobster
40 Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
41 Devo - Whip It
42 Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
43 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax
44 Clash - Train in Vain
45 Dead Milkmen - Bitchin Camaro
46 Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
47 Soft Cell - Tainted Love
48 Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
49 Offspring - Gotta Get Away
50 Police - Roxanne
51 Beck - Loser
52 Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
53 James - Laid
54 Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Elvis is Everywhere
55 Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
56 Oingo Boingo - Dead Mans Party
57 10000 Maniacs - Candy Everybody Wants
58 Tori Amos - Caught a Light Sneeze
59 New Order - Love Vigilantes
60 Icicle Works - Whisper to a Scream
61 REM - Dont Go Back to Rockville
62 Counting Crows - Mr Jones
63 Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With
64 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
65 Gary Numan - Cars
66 Talking Heads - Take Me to the River
67 Squeeze - Black Coffee in Bed
68 Pretenders - Brass in Pocket
69 Green Day - Brain Stew
70 10000 Maniacs - These Are Days
71 Indigo Girls - Tried to be True
72 Proclaimers - Im Gonna Be 500 Miles
73 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
74 U2 - One
75 Simple Minds - Dont You Forget About Me
76 Romeo Void - Never Say Never
77 B52s - Love Shack
78 Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
79 Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule The
80 Jonathan Richman Modern Lovers - Dodge Veg O Matic
81 Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
82 Ministry - Everyday is Halloween
83 INXS - Devil Inside
84 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away
85 Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
86 Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
87 Porno For Pyros - Pets
88 Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now
89 Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
90 Pearl Jam - Daughter
91 Vapors - Turning Japanese
92 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
93 Police - Message in a Bottle
94 REM - Its the End of the World
95 Talk Talk - Talk Talk
96 Cranberries - Dreams
97 Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
98 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
99 Echo and The Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses
100 Clash - Rock the Casbah
101 Depeche Mode - People are People
102 Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You
103 Madness - Our House
104 Radiohead - Creep
105 Cure - Lets Go to Bed
106 Blind Melon - No Rain
107 Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
108 Smiths - Queen Is Dead
109 Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
110 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
111 REM - Man on the Moon
112 Belly - Feed the Tree
113 Tears For Fears - Shout
114 Cracker - Low
115 Pearl Jam - Alive
116 Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
117 Alarm - 68 Guns
118 Violent Femmes - American Music
119 Pretenders - Message of Love
120 Peter Gabriel - Steam
121 Replacements - I Will Dare
122 The - This is the Day
123 Cure - Friday Im in Love
124 Nirvana - Come As You Are
125 Dada - Dizz Knee Land
126 Elvis Costello - Radio Radio
127 Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
128 Devo - I Cant Get No Satisfaction
129 Depeche Mode - Strangelove
130 Blondie - Call Me
131 Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
132 REM - Superman
133 Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
134 Nails - Things You Left Behind
135 English Beat - Save it for Later
136 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosis Dead
137 Time Zone - World Destruction
138 Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
139 Soul Asylum - Somebody to Shove
140 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
141 Public Image Limited - Rise
142 Concrete Blonde - Joey
143 Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
144 Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
145 Morrissey - Tomorrow
146 Charlatans UK - Only One I Know
147 Bob Marley - Jamming
148 Cure - Why Cant I Be You
149 Duran Duran - Girls on Film
150 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
151 Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
152 Shriekback - Nemesis
153 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
154 Pretenders - Talk of the Town
155 Smashing Pumpkins - Drownedit
156 Blondie - Rapture
157 REM - One I Love
158 Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All
159 Foo Fighters - Winnebago
160 Cult - Love Removal Machine
161 They Might Be Giants - Dont Lets Start
162 Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth
163 Peter Gabriel - Red Rain
164 Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
165 Living Colour - Cult of Personality
166 Psychedelic Furs - Ghost in You
167 Boomtown Rats - I Dont Like Mondays
168 Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
169 Peter Schilling - Major Tom Coming Home
170 Toad the Wet Sprocket - All I Want
171 Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
172 Love and Rockets - No New Tale to Tell
173 Cure - Pictures of You
174 English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom
175 Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
176 Smithereens - Blood and Roses
177 Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
178 Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking
179 Smiths - Ask
180 Too Much Joy - Crush Story
181 David and David - Welcome to the Boomtown
182 REM - Orange Crush
183 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
184 Crowded House - Chocolate Cake
185 Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma
186 Afghan Whigs - Rebirth of the Cool
187 Offspring - Self Esteem
188 Sugarcubes - Birthday
189 U2 - Pride In the Name of Love
190 Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
191 Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
192 Sinead OConnor - Mandinka
193 Hoodoo Gurus - Miss Freelove 69
194 Stereo MCs - Connected
195 Church - Under the Milky Way
196 Big Country - In a Big Country
197 Sting - All This Time
198 Cranberries - Zombie
199 INXS - Dont Change
200 David Bowie - Lets Dance
201 The - Infected
202 Tears For Fears - Change
203 Sinead OConnor - Last Day of Our Acquaintance
204 U2 - Mysterious Ways
205 Cure - Lovecats
206 Adrian Belew - Oh Daddy
207 Lou Reed - Dirty Blvd
208 B52s - Private Idaho
209 REM - Pretty Persuasion
210 Ramones - Do You Remember Rock N Roll
211 Clash - London Calling
212 Indigo Girls - Galileo
213 Talk Talk - Its My Life
214 Godfathers - Birth School Work Death
215 Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box
216 Echo and The Bunnymen - Killing Moon
217 10000 Maniacs - Trouble Me
218 Stone Roses - Fools Goldedit
219 Tori Amos - Silent All These Years
220 Missing Persons - Words
221 Bjork - Human Behaviour
222 Pretenders - My City Was Gone
223 Peter Gabriel - Digging in the Dirt
224 Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings
225 Indigo Girls - Least Complicated
226 Guadalcanal Diary - Always Saturday
227 Pretenders - Middle of the Road
228 Jam - Thats Entertainment
229 UB40 - Red Red Wine
230 Love and Rockets - So Alive
231 Erasure - Chorus
232 Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
233 Smithereens - Behind the Wall of Sleep
234 Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
235 Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
236 Billy Bragg - Waiting for the Great Leap Forward
237 Soup Dragons - Im Free
238 U2 - Lemon
239 10000 Maniacs - Whats the Matter Here
240 Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You
241 Stan Ridgway - I Wanna Be a Boss
242 Eurythmics - Love Is a Stranger
243 Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
244 Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Someday I Suppose
245 Psychedelic Furs - Heaven
246 Patti Smith - Gloria
247 Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing
248 Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
249 Peter Gabriel - Biko
250 Everclear - Santa Monica
251 Suzanne Vega - Luka
252 Sundays - Heres Where the Story Ends
253 The - Uncertain Smile
254 Urge Overkill - Sister Havana
255 REM - Bang and Blame
256 B52s - Good Stuff
257 Til Tuesday - Voices Carry
258 XTC - Senses Working Overtime
259 Police - King of Pain
260 Call - Walls Came Down
261 Cure - Close to Me
262 Bodeans - Dreams
263 Smiths - Is It Really So Strange
264 Erasure - A Little Respect
265 Pretenders - Candy
266 Lemonheads - Mrs Robinson
267 Toad the Wet Sprocket - One Wind Blows
268 Barenaked Ladies - Be My Yoko Ono
269 Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
270 Billy Bragg - Sexuality
271 Clash - Police and Thieves
272 Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush
273 Human League - Dont You Want Me
274 REM - Stand
275 U2 - With or Without You
276 Violent Femmes - Prove My Love
277 Pretenders - Time the Avenger
278 Morrissey - November Spawned a Monster
279 Alarm - Rain in the Summertime
280 Lenny Kravitz - Always on the Run
281 Suzanne Vega - Toms Diner DNA mix
282 Midnight Oil - Forgotten Years
283 Police - Dont Stand So Close to Me
284 They Might Be Giants - Istanbul Not Constantinople
285 Cure - Never Enough
286 Roxy Music - Love is the Drug
287 Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean
288 Talking Heads - And She Was
289 Guadalcanal Diary - Watusi Rodeo
290 INXS - Original Sin
291 Bodeans - Black White and Blood Red
292 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Kiss Them For Me
293 U2 - I Will Follow
294 Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
295 Go Gos - We Got the Beat
296 Adam and The Ants - Antmusic
297 Cure - Hot Hot Hot
298 David Bowie - China Girl
299 Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
300 Timbuk 3 - Futures So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
301 Enya - Caribbean Blue
302 Arrested Development - Mr Wendall
303 Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
304 EMF - Unbelievable
305 Blondie - Heart of Glass
306 Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
307 Replacements - Alex Chilton
308 Breeders - Divine Hammer
309 Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
310 Housemartins - Happy Hour
311 Jam - Town Called Malice
312 Wilco - Box Full of Letters
313 Annie Lennox - Little Bird
314 XTC - Making Plans for Nigel
315 Beastie Boys - So Whatcha Want
316 Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger
317 Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
318 Katrina and The Waves - Walking on Sunshine
319 Specials - A Message to You Rudy
320 Live - Pain Lies on the Riverside
321 Buffalo Tom - Taillights Fade
322 Killing Joke - Eighties
323 Toad the Wet Sprocket - Hold Her Down
324 Devo - Jocko Homo
325 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Show Me Your Soul
326 Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
327 Talk Talk - Lifes What You Make it
328 Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill
329 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes
330 Matthew Sweet - Ive Been Waiting
331 Depeche Mode - Walking in My Shoes
332 Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
333 Single Gun Theory - From a Million Miles
334 INXS - New Sensation
335 B52s - Summer of Love
336 Farm - Groovy Train
337 Oasis - Wonderwall
338 World Party - Is It Like Today
339 U2 - Bad Live
340 Seal - Crazy
341 Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Broken Hearted Savior
342 Erasure - Oh Lamour
343 Stranglers - Skin Deep
344 Sinead OConnor - I Want Your Hands on Me
345 Patti Smith Group - Dancing Barefoot
346 B52s - Planet Claire
347 Green Day - Welcome to Paradise
348 REM - Driver 8
349 Screaming Trees - Dollar Bill
350 Human League - Things That Dreams Are Made Of
351 MC900FT Jesus - City Sleeps
352 Judybats - Saturday
353 Ass Ponys - Earth to Grandma
354 Peter Gabriel - Big Time
355 Marshall Crenshaw - Someday Someway
356 Beastie Boys - Sabotage
357 XTC - Mayor of Simpleton
358 Love and Rockets - Kundalini Express
359 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek a Boo
360 Berlin - Sex Im a
361 Sarah McLachlan - Into the Fire
362 Split Enz - I Got You
363 They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
364 Hothouse Flowers - Im Sorry
365 Elvis Costello - Angels Wanna Wear
366 Clash - Police on my Back
367 Primus - Jerry was a Race Car Driver
368 Paul Westerberg - Waiting for Somebody
369 Juliana Hatfield - My Sister
370 Depeche Mode - Just Cant Get Enough
371 Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
372 Talking Heads - Stay Up Late
373 Bogmen - Suddenly
374 GoGos - Our Lips are Sealed
375 Los Lobos - I Got Loaded
376 Soul Asylum - Black Gold
377 Judybats - Being Simple
378 Bears - Fear is Never Boring
379 Over The Rhine - How Does It Feel
380 Hole - Doll Parts
381 Sugar - If I Cant Change Your Mind
382 Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes
383 Smithereens - A Girl Like You
384 INXS - What You Need
385 Waterboys - Whole of the Moon
386 Primus - Making Plans for Nigel
387 Kirsty MacColl - Walking Down Madison
388 Eurythmics - Whos That Girl
389 Ministry - Stigmata
390 Yaz - Dont Go
391 Blind Melon - Tones of Home
392 Replacements - Here Comes a Regular
393 Police - So Lonely
394 David Bowie - Modern Love
395 Alice in Chains - Would
396 Presidents of the United States of America - Lump
397 Del Amitri - Always the Last to Know
398 B52s - Dance This Mess Around
399 Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
400 X - Hungry Wolf
401 Dave Matthews Band - What Would You Say
402 U2 - Gloria
403 Weezer - Buddy Holly
404 Cowboy Junkies - Murder Tonight in the Trailer Park
405 Warren Zevon - Angel Dressed in Black
406 Cranberries - Linger
407 Tones on Tail - Go Club Mix
408 Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
409 Connells - Slackjawed
410 INXS - Never Tear Us Apart
411 Trio - Boom Boom
412 Bob Mould - See a Little Light
413 REM - Cant Get There from Here
414 Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write the Book
415 DBs - A Spy in the House of Love
416 Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade of Soul
417 Happy Mondays - Step On
418 Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do
419 Howlin Maggie - Alcohol
420 Liz Phair - Supernova
421 Ultravox - Reap the Wild Wind
422 Dead Milkmen - Youll Dance to Anything
423 Adrian Belew - Pretty Pink Rose
424 Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star
425 Pearl Jam - Crazy Mary
426 Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela
427 Mark Curry - Sorry About the Weather
428 Squeeze - Cool for Cats
429 Son Volt - Drown
430 Ministry - Work For Love
431 U2 - Numb
432 Blues Traveler - Hook
433 Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth
434 Bob Marley and The Wailers - I Shot the Sheriff
435 Dinosaur Jr - Start Choppin
436 Concrete Blonde - God is a Bullet
437 L7 - Pretend Were Dead
438 Afghan Whigs - Debonair
439 Charlatans UK - Weirdo
440 Peter Gabriel - I Dont Remember
441 Royal Crescent Mob - Love and Tunafish
442 Los Lobos - Will the Wolf Survive
443 Devo - Through Being Cool
444 Enigma - Sadeness
445 Sinead OConnor - Emperors New Clothes
446 Bob Mould - Sunspots Wishing Well
447 Blur - Theres No Other Way
448 Adam Ant - Desperate But Not Serious
449 Joe Jackson - Five Guys Named Moe
450 Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures of Matchstick Men
451 Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods
452 Geraldine Fibbers - Dragon Lady
453 Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
454 Meryn Cadell - Sweater
455 Smiths - Panic
456 Alice in Chains - Rooster
457 Psychodots - Big Love Now
458 Pogues - Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
459 Ass Ponys - Little Bastard
460 Oingo Boingo - Weird Science
461 X - See How We Are
462 Enya - Orinoco Flow
463 Joe Jackson - Im the Man
464 Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
465 Flaming Lips - She Dont Use Jelly
466 Rancid - Time Bomb
467 Midnight Oil - Power and the Passion
468 Soho - Hippychick
469 Dada - Dorina
470 Living Colour - Elvis is Dead
471 Goo Goo Dolls - We Are the Normal
472 Flesh for Lulu - I Go Crazy
473 INXS - Need You Tonight Mediate
474 Firehose - Sometimes
475 Replacements - Ill Be You
476 Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
477 Electronic - Get the Message
478 David Bowie - Changes
479 Too Much Joy - Donna Everywhere
480 Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
481 Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child Wild One
482 Was Not Was - I Feel Better Than James Brown
483 Soup Dragons - Divine Thing
484 Tori Amos - God
485 Fishbone - Party at Ground Zero
486 They Eat Their Own - Like a Drug
487 Poi Dog Pondering - Be the One
488 Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
489 Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker
490 Machines of Loving Grace - Butterfly Wings
491 Trip Shakespeare - Slacks
492 Robyn Hitchcock - So You Think Youre in Love
493 Love and Rockets - Ball of Confusion
494 Ramones - Pet Sematary
495 Ben Folds Five - Underground
496 Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You
497 U2 - Fly
498 Sparks - Cool Places
499 Fishbone - Everyday Sunshine
500 Fixx - One Thing Leads to Another
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).