1998 Modern Rock 500

WOXY

The most important songs in Modern Rock, as determined by WOXY staff in 1998.

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1 REM - Radio Free Europe
2 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
3 Cure - Just Like Heaven
4 Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
5 Depeche Mode - Route 66
6 Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
7 Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women
8 Smiths - How Soon is Now
9 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
10 New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
11 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
12 Breeders - Cannonball
13 Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
14 U2 - New Years Day
15 Elvis Costello - Whats So Funny Bout
16 Janes Addiction - Jane Says
17 Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died
18 Modern English - I Melt With You
19 Smashing Pumpkins - Today
20 10000 Maniacs - Candy Everybody Wants
21 Squeeze - Tempted
22 Green Day - Longview
23 James - Laid
24 U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
25 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax
26 Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning
27 Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
28 Yaz - Situation
29 Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
30 Janes Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
31 Soft Cell - Tainted Love
32 B52s - Rock Lobster
33 Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
34 Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Elvis is Everywhere
35 Cure - Boys Dont Cry
36 Nirvana - All Apologies
37 Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole
38 Pearl Jam - Even Flow
39 Royal Crescent Mob - Get on the Bus
40 New Order - Blue Monday
41 Offspring - Gotta Get Away
42 XTC - Dear God
43 Elvis Costello - Alison
44 REM - Dont Go Back to Rockville
45 Dead Milkmen - Bitchin Camaro
46 Oingo Boingo - Dead Mans Party
47 Gary Numan - Cars
48 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
49 Beck - Loser
50 Counting Crows - Mr Jones
51 Police - Roxanne
52 Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
53 Clash - Train in Vain
54 Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
55 Icicle Works - Whisper to a Scream
56 Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
57 Cracker - Teen Angst
58 REM - Losing My Religion
59 Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
60 Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With
61 Pretenders - Brass in Pocket
62 Depeche Mode - People are People
63 Devo - Whip It
64 Simple Minds - Dont You Forget About Me
65 New Order - Love Vigilantes
66 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
67 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
68 Talking Heads - Take Me to the River
69 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
70 B52s - Love Shack
71 Proclaimers - Im Gonna Be 500 Miles
72 Squeeze - Black Coffee in Bed
73 10000 Maniacs - These Are Days
74 Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
75 Pearl Jam - Jeremy
76 Indigo Girls - Tried to be True
77 U2 - One
78 Ministry - Everyday is Halloween
79 Vapors - Turning Japanese
80 Romeo Void - Never Say Never
81 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away
82 Belly - Feed the Tree
83 Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
84 Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
85 Jonathan Richman Modern Lovers - Dodge Veg O Matic
86 Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule The
87 REM - Its the End of the World
88 INXS - Devil Inside
89 Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
90 Cracker - Low
91 Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
92 Police - Message in a Bottle
93 Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
94 Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now
95 Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
96 Porno For Pyros - Pets
97 Talk Talk - Talk Talk
98 Madness - Our House
99 Cranberries - Dreams
100 Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
101 Nirvana - Come As You Are
102 Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
103 Clash - Rock the Casbah
104 Radiohead - Creep
105 Blind Melon - No Rain
106 Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You
107 Pearl Jam - Daughter
108 Echo and The Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses
109 Cure - Lets Go to Bed
110 Smiths - Queen Is Dead
111 Depeche Mode - Strangelove
112 REM - Man on the Moon
113 Peter Gabriel - Steam
114 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
115 Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking
116 Blondie - Call Me
117 Pretenders - Message of Love
118 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
119 Pearl Jam - Alive
120 Tears For Fears - Shout
121 Dada - Dizz Knee Land
122 Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
123 Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
124 REM - Superman
125 Public Image Limited - Rise
126 Alarm - 68 Guns
127 Violent Femmes - American Music
128 Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
129 Replacements - I Will Dare
130 The - This is the Day
131 Devo - I Cant Get No Satisfaction
132 Cure - Friday Im in Love
133 Soul Asylum - Somebody to Shove
134 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosis Dead
135 Bob Marley - Jamming
136 Time Zone - World Destruction
137 Boomtown Rats - I Dont Like Mondays
138 Morrissey - Tomorrow
139 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
140 Shriekback - Nemesis
141 Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
142 Nails - Things You Left Behind
143 REM - One I Love
144 Elvis Costello - Radio Radio
145 English Beat - Save it for Later
146 Cult - Love Removal Machine
147 Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
148 Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
149 Cure - Why Cant I Be You
150 Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
151 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
152 David Bowie - Lets Dance
153 Stereo MCs - Connected
154 Blondie - Rapture
155 Peter Schilling - Major Tom Coming Home
156 Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
157 Concrete Blonde - Joey
158 Duran Duran - Girls on Film
159 Crowded House - Chocolate Cake
160 Pretenders - Talk of the Town
161 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
162 They Might Be Giants - Dont Lets Start
163 Charlatans UK - Only One I Know
164 Church - Under the Milky Way
165 Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All
166 Smashing Pumpkins - Drownedit
167 Stone Roses - Fools Goldedit
168 Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth
169 Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
170 Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
171 Talk Talk - Its My Life
172 Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
173 Lenny Kravitz - Always on the Run
174 Big Country - In a Big Country
175 REM - Pretty Persuasion
176 Seal - Crazy
177 Offspring - Self Esteem
178 10000 Maniacs - Whats the Matter Here
179 Smiths - Ask
180 Sting - All This Time
181 Call - Walls Came Down
182 Cure - Pictures of You
183 Peter Gabriel - Red Rain
184 EMF - Unbelievable
185 Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
186 Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
187 Psychedelic Furs - Ghost in You
188 Tori Amos - Silent All These Years
189 Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
190 REM - Orange Crush
191 Toad the Wet Sprocket - All I Want
192 Talking Heads - And She Was
193 Living Colour - Cult of Personality
194 Love and Rockets - No New Tale to Tell
195 Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
196 Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark - So in Love
197 INXS - Dont Change
198 English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom
199 The - Infected
200 Smithereens - Blood and Roses
201 Iggy Pop - Candy
202 Godfathers - Birth School Work Death
203 Peter Gabriel - Big Time
204 David and David - Welcome to the Boomtown
205 Too Much Joy - Crush Story
206 Afghan Whigs - Rebirth of the Cool
207 Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma
208 Ramones - Do You Remember Rock N Roll
209 Sugarcubes - Birthday
210 Til Tuesday - Voices Carry
211 Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
212 Hoodoo Gurus - Miss Freelove 69
213 Missing Persons - Words
214 Tears For Fears - Change
215 U2 - Pride In the Name of Love
216 UB40 - Red Red Wine
217 Cranberries - Zombie
218 Sinead OConnor - Mandinka
219 Berlin - Sex Im a
220 Bjork - Human Behaviour
221 Adrian Belew - Oh Daddy
222 Depeche Mode - Just Cant Get Enough
223 Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
224 Alarm - Rain in the Summertime
225 U2 - Mysterious Ways
226 B52s - Private Idaho
227 Sundays - Heres Where the Story Ends
228 Sinead OConnor - Last Day of Our Acquaintance
229 Lou Reed - Dirty Blvd
230 Cure - Lovecats
231 Clash - Police and Thieves
232 Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger
233 Bodeans - Dreams
234 U2 - Lemon
235 Jam - Thats Entertainment
236 Erasure - Chorus
237 Love and Rockets - So Alive
238 Indigo Girls - Least Complicated
239 Roxy Music - Love is the Drug
240 Stan Ridgway - I Wanna Be a Boss
241 Erasure - Oh Lamour
242 Billy Bragg - Sexuality
243 Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box
244 Happy Mondays - Step On
245 Pretenders - My City Was Gone
246 Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Someday I Suppose
247 Peter Gabriel - Digging in the Dirt
248 Echo and The Bunnymen - Killing Moon
249 U2 - I Will Follow
250 10000 Maniacs - Trouble Me
251 Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
252 Indigo Girls - Galileo
253 Guadalcanal Diary - Always Saturday
254 Soup Dragons - Im Free
255 Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
256 Juliana Hatfield - My Sister
257 Clash - London Calling
258 Smithereens - Behind the Wall of Sleep
259 Eurythmics - Love Is a Stranger
260 Pretenders - Middle of the Road
261 U2 - With or Without You
262 Police - King of Pain
263 REM - Stand
264 Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You
265 MC900FT Jesus - City Sleeps
266 Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
267 Billy Bragg - Waiting for the Great Leap Forward
268 Psychedelic Furs - Heaven
269 Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
270 Patti Smith - Gloria
271 Urge Overkill - Sister Havana
272 Peter Gabriel - Biko
273 Erasure - A Little Respect
274 Toad the Wet Sprocket - Hold Her Down
275 Pretenders - Time the Avenger
276 Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush
277 Farm - Groovy Train
278 Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
279 The - Uncertain Smile
280 Violent Femmes - Prove My Love
281 Smiths - Is It Really So Strange
282 REM - Bang and Blame
283 Bob Marley and The Wailers - I Shot the Sheriff
284 Barenaked Ladies - Be My Yoko Ono
285 Suzanne Vega - Luka
286 Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
287 Cure - Close to Me
288 Breeders - Divine Hammer
289 XTC - Senses Working Overtime
290 Arrested Development - Mr Wendall
291 Matthew Sweet - Ive Been Waiting
292 U2 - Bad Live
293 Lemonheads - Mrs Robinson
294 Adam and The Ants - Antmusic
295 B52s - Good Stuff
296 They Might Be Giants - Istanbul Not Constantinople
297 Suzanne Vega - Toms Diner DNA mix
298 Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do
299 Jam - Town Called Malice
300 Alice in Chains - Rooster
301 Elvis Costello - Angels Wanna Wear
302 Police - Dont Stand So Close to Me
303 Cure - Hot Hot Hot
304 Human League - Dont You Want Me
305 INXS - New Sensation
306 XTC - Love on a Farmboys Wages
307 Toad the Wet Sprocket - One Wind Blows
308 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Show Me Your Soul
309 Go Gos - We Got the Beat
310 Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
311 Soup Dragons - Divine Thing
312 Enya - Caribbean Blue
313 Blondie - Heart of Glass
314 REM - Driver 8
315 Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing
316 B52s - Planet Claire
317 Midnight Oil - Forgotten Years
318 Annie Lennox - Little Bird
319 Guadalcanal Diary - Watusi Rodeo
320 Morrissey - November Spawned a Monster
321 Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
322 Green Day - Welcome to Paradise
323 Cure - Never Enough
324 INXS - Original Sin
325 Specials - A Message to You Rudy
326 Tori Amos - God
327 Split Enz - I Got You
328 Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
329 REM - Cant Get There from Here
330 Katrina and The Waves - Walking on Sunshine
331 Talking Heads - Stay Up Late
332 Timbuk 3 - Futures So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
333 Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean
334 XTC - Making Plans for Nigel
335 GoGos - Our Lips are Sealed
336 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Kiss Them For Me
337 Buffalo Tom - Taillights Fade
338 Bodeans - Black White and Blood Red
339 Housemartins - Happy Hour
340 Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
341 David Bowie - China Girl
342 Replacements - Alex Chilton
343 Police - So Lonely
344 Live - Pain Lies on the Riverside
345 Ministry - Work For Love
346 Killing Joke - Eighties
347 U2 - Numb
348 Devo - Jocko Homo
349 Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
350 Beastie Boys - So Whatcha Want
351 Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
352 Marshall Crenshaw - Someday Someway
353 Screaming Trees - Dollar Bill
354 Judybats - Being Simple
355 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes
356 Talk Talk - Lifes What You Make it
357 Patti Smith Group - Dancing Barefoot
358 Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill
359 Depeche Mode - Walking in My Shoes
360 X - Hungry Wolf
361 World Party - Is It Like Today
362 B52s - Summer of Love
363 Sinead OConnor - I Want Your Hands on Me
364 Del Amitri - Always the Last to Know
365 Love and Rockets - Kundalini Express
366 Single Gun Theory - From a Million Miles
367 Stranglers - Skin Deep
368 Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
369 Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Broken Hearted Savior
370 Judybats - Saturday
371 Beastie Boys - Sabotage
372 Hothouse Flowers - Im Sorry
373 XTC - Mayor of Simpleton
374 Replacements - Here Comes a Regular
375 Soul Asylum - Black Gold
376 They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
377 Sugar - If I Cant Change Your Mind
378 B52s - Dance This Mess Around
379 Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes
380 INXS - Never Tear Us Apart
381 Sarah McLachlan - Into the Fire
382 Primus - Jerry was a Race Car Driver
383 Blind Melon - Tones of Home
384 Smithereens - A Girl Like You
385 U2 - Fly
386 Primus - Making Plans for Nigel
387 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek a Boo
388 Human League - Things That Dreams Are Made Of
389 Clash - Police on my Back
390 Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade of Soul
391 Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star
392 INXS - What You Need
393 Cranberries - Linger
394 Eurythmics - Whos That Girl
395 Dinosaur Jr - Start Choppin
396 Los Lobos - I Got Loaded
397 Over The Rhine - How Does It Feel
398 Trip Shakespeare - Slacks
399 Hole - Doll Parts
400 Ministry - Stigmata
401 U2 - Gloria
402 Squeeze - Cool for Cats
403 Trio - Boom Boom
404 Dada - Dorina
405 Connells - Slackjawed
406 Bears - Fear is Never Boring
407 Waterboys - Whole of the Moon
408 Liz Phair - Supernova
409 Kirsty MacColl - Walking Down Madison
410 Tones on Tail - Go Club Mix
411 Enigma - Sadeness
412 David Bowie - Changes
413 L7 - Pretend Were Dead
414 Dave Matthews Band - What Would You Say
415 Alice in Chains - Would
416 Pearl Jam - Crazy Mary
417 Was Not Was - I Feel Better Than James Brown
418 Yaz - Dont Go
419 Mark Curry - Sorry About the Weather
420 Blur - Theres No Other Way
421 Weezer - Buddy Holly
422 Royal Crescent Mob - Love and Tunafish
423 David Bowie - Modern Love
424 DBs - A Spy in the House of Love
425 Ultravox - Reap the Wild Wind
426 Bob Mould - See a Little Light
427 Poi Dog Pondering - Be the One
428 Tasmin Archer - Sleeping Satellite
429 Dead Milkmen - Youll Dance to Anything
430 Flaming Lips - She Dont Use Jelly
431 Paul Westerberg - Waiting for Somebody
432 Robyn Hitchcock - So You Think Youre in Love
433 Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write the Book
434 Adrian Belew - Pretty Pink Rose
435 Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth
436 Los Lobos - Will the Wolf Survive
437 Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela
438 Psychodots - Big Love Now
439 John Astley - Janes Getting Serious
440 Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
441 Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You
442 Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass
443 Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
444 Cowboy Junkies - Murder Tonight in the Trailer Park
445 Sinead OConnor - Emperors New Clothes
446 Screaming Blue Messiahs - I Wanna Be a Flintstone
447 Pogues - Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
448 Cracker - Get Off This
449 Concrete Blonde - God is a Bullet
450 Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
451 Bob Mould - Sunspots Wishing Well
452 Charlatans UK - Weirdo
453 Roxy Music - More Than This
454 Too Much Joy - Donna Everywhere
455 Warren Zevon - Angel Dressed in Black
456 Meryn Cadell - Sweater
457 Afghan Whigs - Debonair
458 Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker
459 Peter Gabriel - I Dont Remember
460 Smiths - Panic
461 Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures of Matchstick Men
462 Blues Traveler - Hook
463 Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child Wild One
464 Fishbone - Party at Ground Zero
465 Devo - Through Being Cool
466 Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods
467 Sparks - Cool Places
468 Enya - Orinoco Flow
469 Ass Ponys - Little Bastard
470 Machines of Loving Grace - Butterfly Wings
471 Flesh for Lulu - I Go Crazy
472 Adam Ant - Desperate But Not Serious
473 Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
474 Love and Rockets - Ball of Confusion
475 This Mortal Coil - You and Your Sister
476 They Eat Their Own - Like a Drug
477 Oingo Boingo - Weird Science
478 Firehose - Sometimes
479 Soho - Hippychick
480 Replacements - Ill Be You
481 The - Dogs of Lust
482 Midnight Oil - Power and the Passion
483 Ramones - Pet Sematary
484 Joe Jackson - Five Guys Named Moe
485 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Swimming Horses
486 Living Colour - Elvis is Dead
487 Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
488 INXS - Need You Tonight Mediate
489 Ocean Blue - Cerulean
490 X - See How We Are
491 Fishbone - Everyday Sunshine
492 Fixx - One Thing Leads to Another
493 Joe Jackson - Im the Man
494 Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
495 Clash - Julies in the Drug Squad
496 Electronic - Get the Message
497 Goo Goo Dolls - We Are the Normal
498 Us3 - Cantaloop
499 Mighty Lemon Drops - Inside Out
500 Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
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).