Top 100 Alternative Rock Songs -

Eddie Vedder’s gibberish scat singing over Stone Gossard’s hypnotic riff. It represents the communal, mosh-pit spirit of early 90s Seattle.

Damon Albarn’s joke about American grunge accidentally became the soundtrack for every sports highlight reel for 25 years. "WOO-HOO!" Alternative rock’s greatest gag. TOP 100 ALTERNATIVE ROCK SONGS

– The Icelandic folk-rock horn anthem. 82. "Pumped Up Kicks" – Foster the People (2010) – The happiest melody about the darkest subject (school shooting). 83. "Midnight City" – M83 (2011) – Synth-wave alternative. The saxophone solo is euphoric. 84. "Holocene" – Bon Iver (2011) – Ambient alt-rock. Justin Vernon’s falsetto over a finger-picked guitar. 85. "Tongue Tied" – Grouplove (2011) – Pure, unadulterated happiness in D major. 86. "Riptide" – Vance Joy (2013) – The ukulele indie-folk hit that felt like a dream. 87. "Do I Wanna Know?" – Arctic Monkeys (2013) – That slinking, bluesy, sub-bass riff. Alex Turner’s swagger. 88. "Arabella" – Arctic Monkeys (2013) – "My days end best when the sunset gets itself behind / That little lady sitting on the passenger side." 89. "Elephant" – Tame Impala (2012) – Kevin Parker’s psychedelic fuzz-rock monster. 90. "Feel It Still" – Portugal. The Man (2017) – A bassline lifted from a 60s protest song, turned into a 2017 smash. 91. "Sit Next to Me" – Foster the People (2017) – Disco-alt perfection. 92. "Heat Waves" – Glass Animals (2020) – The last true alternative rock song to top the Billboard Hot 100 (in 2022). 93. "Kyoto" – Phoebe Bridgers (2020) – Sad-girl indie rock with a saxophone blast and screaming guitars. 94. "Motion Sickness" – Phoebe Bridgers (2017) – "I have emotional motion sickness." The lyric of the decade. 95. "Harmony Hall" – Vampire Weekend (2019) – Ezra Koenig’s complex lyrics over a beautiful, looping piano. 96. "Sedona" – Houndmouth (2015) – A perfect road trip song about a ghost town. 97. "Shut Up and Dance" – Walk the Moon (2014) – The last great "rock on the dancefloor" anthem. 98. "My Kind of Woman" – Mac DeMarco (2012) – Slacker-rock, jizz-jazz, whatever you call it, it’s alternative gospel. 99. "Are You Bored Yet?" – Wallows ft. Clairo (2019) – Gen Z’s answer to 90s slacker rock. 100. "Chaise Longue" – Wet Leg (2021) – The most recent perfect alt-rock send-up. "Is your muffin buttered?"** "WOO-HOO

Power pop perfection from Scotland. A song about a guy in a band trying to pick up a girl. The harmonies are a direct line from Neil Young to Nevermind . "Pumped Up Kicks" – Foster the People (2010)

Alternative rock. The term was once a catch-all for music that didn’t fit the mainstream mold—too quirky for pop, too raw for classic rock, too intellectual for hair metal. But over the last four decades, "alt-rock" has evolved from a underground rebellion into the dominant force of modern guitar music.

Woody Guthrie’s lyrics set to lush, country-infused alt-rock. It represents the folkier, intellectual side of the genre.