2002 Modern Rock 500

WOXY

The most important songs in Modern Rock, as determined by WOXY staff in 2002.

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1 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
2 REM - Radio Free Europe
3 Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
4 Smiths - How Soon is Now
5 Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
6 U2 - New Years Day
7 Pearl Jam - Alive
8 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
9 Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
10 Janes Addiction - Jane Says
11 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
12 Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right
13 Radiohead - Creep
14 B52s - Rock Lobster
15 Pearl Jam - Jeremy
16 New Order - Blue Monday
17 Velvet Underground - Rock and Roll
18 Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
19 U2 - With or Without You
20 Cure - Boys Dont Cry
21 Green Day - Longview
22 Police - Roxanne
23 Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
24 Smashing Pumpkins - Today
25 Dead Milkmen - Bitchin Camaro
26 XTC - Dear God
27 Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
28 Elvis Costello - Alison
29 REM - Losing My Religion
30 Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
31 Bob Marley - Jamming
32 Fugazi - Waiting Room
33 Beck - Loser
34 Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole
35 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
36 Janes Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
37 Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
38 Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
39 Cure - Just Like Heaven
40 Clash - Rock the Casbah
41 REM - Its the End of the World
42 Replacements - Alex Chilton
43 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away
44 Blondie - Heart of Glass
45 Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died
46 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
47 Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
48 Breeders - Cannonball
49 Modern English - I Melt With You
50 New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
51 Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
52 U2 - Pride In the Name of Love
53 Cracker - Teen Angst
54 Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
55 Oingo Boingo - Dead Mans Party
56 Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All
57 Offspring - Come Out and Play
58 Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
59 Pearl Jam - Even Flow
60 Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
61 Afghan Whigs - Rebirth of the Cool
62 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosis Dead
63 Depeche Mode - People are People
64 REM - Orange Crush
65 Blur - Song 2
66 Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
67 Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me
68 Nirvana - Come As You Are
69 Elvis Costello - Whats So Funny Bout
70 Faith No More - Epic
71 Clash - Train in Vain
72 Squeeze - Tempted
73 Green Day - Welcome to Paradise
74 Television - Marquee Moon
75 Counting Crows - Mr Jones
76 Boomtown Rats - I Dont Like Mondays
77 Cake - Distance
78 Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop
79 Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
80 Gary Numan - Cars
81 Pretenders - Brass in Pocket
82 Ministry - Everyday is Halloween
83 U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
84 Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes
85 David Bowie - Space Oddity
86 Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
87 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
88 Dave Matthews Band - What Would You Say
89 Cult - She Sells Sanctuary
90 Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning
91 U2 - One
92 Beck - Where Its At
93 Vapors - Turning Japanese
94 Tori Amos - Silent All These Years
95 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
96 Clash - London Calling
97 Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
98 Beastie Boys - Sabotage
99 Devo - Whip It
100 Royal Crescent Mob - Get on the Bus
101 Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
102 Depeche Mode - Route 66
103 Killing Joke - Eighties
104 Cracker - Low
105 Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
106 Nine Inch Nails - Closer
107 James - Laid
108 Lo Fidelity Allstars - Battle Flag
109 Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
110 Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
111 Everclear - Santa Monica
112 Soul Coughing - Screenwriters Blues
113 Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
114 Romeo Void - Never Say Never
115 Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With
116 David Bowie - Changes
117 Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
118 Replacements - I Will Dare
119 Live - I Alone
120 Soft Cell - Tainted Love
121 Stone Roses - I Wanna be Adored
122 Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
123 Blind Melon - No Rain
124 Tool - Sober
125 Blondie - Rapture
126 Patti Smith Group - Dancing Barefoot
127 REM - One I Love
128 Devo - I Cant Get No Satisfaction
129 Alice in Chains - Would
130 David Bowie - Suffragette City
131 Weezer - Hash Pipe
132 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
133 Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
134 Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia
135 Oasis - Wonderwall
136 Public Image Limited - Rise
137 Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon
138 Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
139 Pavement - Cut Your Hair
140 Coldplay - Yellow
141 Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike
142 Police - Message in a Bottle
143 Tears For Fears - Shout
144 Ben Folds - Rockin the Suburbs
145 Cure - Love Song
146 Porno For Pyros - Pets
147 New Order - True Faith
148 Jam - Thats Entertainment
149 Fatboy Slim - Rockafeller Skank
150 Elvis Costello - Radio Radio
151 Guided By Voices - Teenage FBI
152 Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You
153 XTC - Senses Working Overtime
154 Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
155 Primus - Tommy the Cat
156 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax
157 Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song
158 Love and Rockets - So Alive
159 Godfathers - Birth School Work Death
160 Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
161 English Beat - Save it for Later
162 Living Colour - Cult of Personality
163 Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl
164 B52s - Private Idaho
165 U2 - I Will Follow
166 Anthrax - Bring the Noise
167 Sinead OConnor - Mandinka
168 Prodigy - Fire Starter
169 David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
170 Cure - In Between Days
171 Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box
172 L7 - Pretend Were Dead
173 Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight Tonight
174 Talking Heads - Take Me to the River
175 Butthole Surfers - Pepper
176 Sugarcubes - Birthday
177 Pearl Jam - Daughter
178 Alarm - Strength
179 They Might Be Giants - Dont Lets Start
180 Concrete Blonde - Joey
181 Offspring - Self Esteem
182 Afghan Whigs - Debonair
183 XTC - Mayor of Simpleton
184 Tones on Tail - Go Club Mix
185 Radiohead - Paranoid Android
186 The - Uncertain Smile
187 Sublime - What I Got
188 Dada - Dizz Knee Land
189 Folk Implosion - Natural One
190 Foo Fighters - This Is a Call
191 Church - Under the Milky Way
192 Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
193 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside
194 Echo and The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar
195 REM - Stand
196 Garbage - I Think Im Paranoid
197 Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey
198 Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women
199 Depeche Mode - Strangelove
200 BT Mike Doughty - Never Gonna Come Back Down
201 G Love and Special Sauce - Rodeo Clowns
202 Charlatans UK - Only One I Know
203 Cake - Never There
204 Toad the Wet Sprocket - All I Want
205 Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You
206 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
207 Dramarama - Anything Anything
208 Happy Mondays - Step On
209 U2 - Beautiful Day
210 Dinosaur Jr - Start Choppin
211 Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
212 Alice in Chains - No Excuses
213 Jimmy Eat World - Middle
214 Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma
215 U2 - Two Hearts Beat As One
216 Belly - Feed the Tree
217 Oasis - Supersonic
218 Pretenders - My City Was Gone
219 Guided By Voices - My Valuable Hunting Knife
220 REM - Superman
221 Waterboys - Whole of the Moon
222 Cure - Close to Me
223 Veruca Salt - Seether
224 Las - There She Goes
225 Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
226 Patti Smith - Gloria
227 Talking Heads - And She Was
228 Green Day - When I Come Around
229 XTC - Making Plans for Nigel
230 Roxy Music - Love is the Drug
231 Suzanne Vega - Toms Diner DNA mix
232 Moby - Southside
233 Bob Marley - Get Up Stand Up
234 Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
235 Split Enz - I Got You
236 Tool - Schism
237 Jonathan Richman Modern Lovers - Dodge Veg O Matic
238 Police - Cant Stand Losing You
239 Primus - Jerry was a Race Car Driver
240 English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom
241 INXS - One Thing
242 Urge Overkill - Sister Havana
243 Lush - Ladykillers
244 Rage Against The Machine - Guerrilla Radio
245 The - Infected
246 U2 - Bullet the Blue Sky
247 Jam - Town Called Malice
248 Violent Femmes - Kiss Off
249 Weezer - Say it Aint So
250 Material Issue - Valerie Loves Me
251 Flaming Lips - She Dont Use Jelly
252 Juliana Hatfield - My Sister
253 Call - Walls Came Down
254 Bears - Fear is Never Boring
255 Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings
256 Semisonic - Closing Time
257 Ass Ponys - Little Bastard
258 Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin Beats
259 Beastie Boys - So Whatcha Want
260 Deftones - Change In the House of Flies
261 Live - Pain Lies on the Riverside
262 Radiohead - Optimistic
263 Squeeze - Pulling Mussels from the Shell
264 Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline
265 Shriekback - Nemesis
266 Pretenders - Message of Love
267 REM - Pretty Persuasion
268 Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
269 Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
270 Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
271 Hole - Doll Parts
272 Soul Asylum - Somebody to Shove
273 Offspring - Gotta Get Away
274 Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
275 Paul Westerberg - Dyslexic Heart
276 Foo Fighters - Everlong
277 Wilco - Monday
278 PJ Harvey - Down By the Water
279 Pearl Jam - Better Man
280 Luscious Jackson - Ladyfingers
281 Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
282 REM - Cant Get There from Here
283 Cure - Why Cant I Be You
284 Meat Puppets - Backwater
285 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue
286 David Bowie - Lets Dance
287 Robyn Hitchcock - My Wife and My Dead Wife
288 Blondie - One Way or Another
289 Cake - Short Skirt Long Jacket
290 A Perfect Circle - Judith
291 Tori Amos - God
292 Presidents of the United States of America - Lump
293 Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
294 Time Zone - World Destruction
295 Bjork - Human Behaviour
296 Trio - Da Da Da
297 Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
298 Ben Folds Five - Underground
299 Liz Phair - Supernova
300 Squeeze - Cool for Cats
301 Fishbone - Party at Ground Zero
302 Guided By Voices - Chasing Heather Crazy
303 Elastica - Connection
304 Better Than Ezra - Good
305 Strokes - Last Nite
306 U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
307 Garbage - Only Happy When it Rains
308 Love and Rockets - No New Tale to Tell
309 Alice in Chains - Rooster
310 REM - Driver 8
311 Wallflowers - One Headlight
312 Nine Inch Nails - Down in It
313 Cibo Matto - Sci Fi Wasabi
314 Concrete Blonde - God is a Bullet
315 Weezer - Undone the Sweater Song
316 Nirvana - In Bloom
317 Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade of Soul
318 Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
319 Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away
320 Hoodoo Gurus - I Want You Back
321 Peter Gabriel - Red Rain
322 Ass Ponys - Swallow You Down
323 The - This is the Day
324 Social Distortion - Bad Luck
325 Velvet Underground - White Light White Heat
326 Rancid - Ruby Soho
327 Elliott Smith - Miss Misery
328 U2 - Mysterious Ways
329 They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
330 Ramones - Do You Remember Rock N Roll
331 Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
332 Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
333 Fatboy Slim - Praise You
334 Cake - Rock N Roll Lifestyle
335 World Party - Ship of Fools
336 Pixies - Where Is My Mind
337 Billy Idol - White Wedding
338 Oasis - Live Forever
339 Ben Harper - Burn to Shine
340 Portishead - Sour Times
341 Smithereens - A Girl Like You
342 Suede - Metal Mickey
343 Sunny Day Real Estate - Pillars
344 Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
345 Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star
346 Ministry - Stigmata
347 Toad the Wet Sprocket - Hold Her Down
348 Son Volt - Drown
349 Firehose - Flyin the Flannel
350 Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
351 Squeeze - Black Coffee in Bed
352 REM - Dont Go Back to Rockville
353 Mission of Burma - Thats When I Reach For My Revolver
354 Yaz - Situation
355 Big Country - In a Big Country
356 Massive Attack - Safe from Harm
357 Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
358 Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly
359 Bob Mould - Sunspots Wishing Well
360 Papas Fritas - Way You Walk
361 Soundgarden - Spoonman
362 Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Impression That I Get
363 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
364 Gang of Four - I Love a Man in a Uniform
365 Weezer - Buddy Holly
366 INXS - Dont Change
367 GoGos - Our Lips are Sealed
368 BT - Dreaming
369 Stone Temple Pilots - Plush
370 Pretenders - Middle of the Road
371 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
372 Love and Rockets - Ball of Confusion
373 Rage Against The Machine - Renegades of Funk
374 Dave Matthews Band - Ants Marching
375 My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
376 Suzanne Vega - Luka
377 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
378 Blur - Girlsand Boys
379 Nirvana - Lithium
380 New Order - Love Vigilantes
381 U2 - Bad Live
382 Superdrag - Sucked Out
383 Soul Coughing - Is Chicago Is Not Chicago
384 Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself
385 Wilco - Cant Stand It
386 Goldfinger - Here in Your Bedroom
387 Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
388 Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker
389 Tori Amos - Crucify
390 David Bowie - Modern Love
391 Soundgarden - Fell On Black Days
392 Radiohead - Karma Police
393 Everclear - I Will Buy You a New Life
394 Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy
395 Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
396 Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
397 311 - Down
398 Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule The
399 Indigo Girls - Closer to Fine
400 REM - Whats the Frequency Kenneth
401 Soul Coughing - Circles
402 Fixx - One Thing Leads to Another
403 My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Sex On Wheels
404 Berlin - Sex Im a
405 Cult - Love Removal Machine
406 Tricky - Black Steel
407 Replacements - Ledge
408 Sinead OConnor - I Want Your Hands on Me
409 Pearl Jam - Elderly Woman
410 Simple Minds - Dont You Forget About Me
411 Smithereens - Blood and Roses
412 Barenaked Ladies - Be My Yoko Ono
413 Eels - Mr Es Beautiful Blues
414 Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
415 Primus - Wynona
416 Cornershop - Brimful of Asha
417 Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
418 Buffalo Tom - Taillights Fade
419 Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love
420 Timbuk 3 - Futures So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
421 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek a Boo
422 Spacehog - In the Meantime
423 Garbage - Stupid Girl
424 Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
425 Talking Heads - Stay Up Late
426 Tripping Daisy - I Got a Girl
427 Grant Lee Buffalo - Mockingbirds
428 Ben Folds Five - Battle of Who Could Care Less
429 Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
430 Sugarcubes - Hit
431 Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
432 Pixies - Gigantic
433 U2 - Walk On
434 Housemartins - Happy Hour
435 Poe - Hey Pretty
436 Green Day - Good Riddance Time of Your Life
437 Supergrass - Moving
438 Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be
439 Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
440 Sublime - Wrong Way
441 Travis - Driftwood
442 Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
443 Duran Duran - Girls on Film
444 Sponge - Plowed
445 Moby - Natural Blues
446 Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now
447 Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child Wild One
448 Foo Fighters - Ill Stick Around
449 Stereo MCs - Connected
450 Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
451 Ultravox - Vienna
452 Doves - Catch the Sun
453 Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper - Elvis is Everywhere
454 Icicle Works - Whisper to a Scream
455 Daisy Chainsaw - Love Your Money
456 Guided By Voices - Glad Girls
457 Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong
458 Meryn Cadell - Sweater
459 X - 4th of July
460 Art of Noise - Close to the Edit
461 Disposable Heroes Hiphoprisy - Television Drug of a Nation
462 U2 - Gloria
463 Lou Reed - Dirty Blvd
464 Basement Jaxx - Rendez Vu
465 Farm - Groovy Train
466 Bob Mould - See a Little Light
467 They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng
468 Joe Jackson - Im the Man
469 Enigma - Sadeness
470 Pogues - Fairytale of New York
471 Pixies - Debaser
472 Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were the Last
473 Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures of Matchstick Men
474 Green Day - Basket Case
475 Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
476 Talk Talk - Its My Life
477 Sonic Youth - 100
478 Violent Femmes - American Music
479 Judybats - Being Simple
480 Prodigy - Breathe
481 They Eat Their Own - Like a Drug
482 Guadalcanal Diary - Litany Life Goes On
483 Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This
484 Frank Black - Men in Black
485 Smoking Popes - Need You Around
486 XRay Spex - Oh Bondage! Up Yours
487 Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
488 Ben Folds Five - Brick
489 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Kiss Them For Me
490 Belle and Sebastian - Boy With the Arab Strap
491 Blur - Theres No Other Way
492 Blink 182 - Whats My Age Again
493 Smithereens - Behind the Wall of Sleep
494 Morcheeba - Trigger Hippie
495 Sugar - Helpless
496 Trip Shakespeare - Slacks
497 Over The Rhine - Give Me Strength
498 Grandaddy - Crystal Lake
499 A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran
500 Bjork - Joga
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).