What’s the best modern rock song you’ve heard lately? It’s hard to define, really. First of all, “modern” would be constantly updated to a different time period, and rock is so broad a term that anyone from Kelly Clarkson to Linkin Park could arguably be included. Nonetheless, each year the indie station WOXY compiles its list of the top 500 modern rock songs, and this year has several new editions, including Cat Power‘s “Cross Bones Style,” Feist‘s “My Moon My Man,” and Sleater-Kinney‘s “Entertain.”
The list maintains its favorites (Radiohead, Pixies, Sonic Youth) and I’m glad to see that Kim Deal and Kim Gordon are part of such iconic rock bands. As far as any other ladies go, there are some additions I can get down with.
Ms. Smith is seriously about the coolest woman alive. She’s a poet, a songwriter, a musician, and friend to many other artists (past and present) including Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. “Gloria” was a glorious cover from her album Horses.
For me, it’ll never get better than Bjork’s early works. “Human Behavior” is just one of the songs from her first three solo efforts that made her an international superstar.
This song is so emotional that Bush could have never written another song again and I’d still appreciate her songwriting skills. Placebo‘s recent cover is good, but Bush’s song is pretty impossible to screw up.
Siouxsie is truly a rock frontwoman that has either directly or indirectly inspired many women who grace stages today. “Cities in Dust” is a must-have “modern rock” hit, no matter that it is from 1985.
Veruca Salt epitomized my junior high experience so I might be a little biased. But honestly, Louise Post and Nina Gordon together were a truly awesome pop-grunge match, even if you had no idea what they were singing about. “Seether is neither, big nor small”? Whatever you say.
Do you see any songs on the list that spark your interest? Or maybe you have a few in mind that should surely be included next time around.
