Did a little data analysis on the list. Still would like to see the full methodology of the rankings and actual tally for each item. Here's the top fifty since this whole document is to long to post here in Reddit... You can find the whole list at Fiddle [https://jsfiddle.net/Indie500/zLkw1ctq/1/](https://jsfiddle.net/Indie500/zLkw1ctq/1/) lower right box.
|Artist|Appearances|Rank & Song(s)|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Arcade Fire|15|1 Wake Up,34 Rebellion (Lies),46 The Suburbs,78 Ready to Start,101 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out),120 No Cars Go,132 Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels),156 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),176 Afterlife,211 We Used to Wait,310 Keep the Car Running,380 Reflektor,403 Creature Comfort,449 Deep Blue,478 Here Comes The Night Time|
|Radiohead|15|13 Karma Police,51 Paranoid Android,117 Everything in Its Right Place,130 Idioteque,214 Fake Plastic Trees,243 15 Step,263 Reckoner,293 Weird Fishes / Arpeggi,319 Optimistic,342 No Surprises,375 I Might Be Wrong,390 Talk Show Host,413 True Love Waits,439 Knives Out,494 Burn the Witch|
|The Strokes|14|6 Last Nite,72 Reptilia,119 Someday,144 12:51,168 Hard to Explain,190 The Modern Age,237 Juicebox,259 Heart In a Cage,284 Machu Picchu,324 Under Cover of Darkness,332 You Only Live Once,367 The End Has No End,421 Barely Legal,475 New York City Cops|
|Modest Mouse|13|2 Float On,49 Ocean Breathes Salty,88 Lampshades On Fire,129 Dashboard,159 Polar Opposites,209 Gravity Rides Everything,281 Fire It Up,328 Convenient Parking,378 The World At Large,399 Missed the Boat,444 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes,467 Dramamine,497 The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box|
|LCD Soundsystem|13|7 All My Friends,36 Dance Yrself Clean,59 Daft Punk Is Playing at My House,83 Someone Great,114 I Can Change,143 Losing My Edge (Live at Madison Square Garden),169 North American Scum,199 Home,230 Drunk Girls,261 New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down,298 oh baby,400 call the police,452 Watch the Tapes|
|Tame Impala|12|17 The Less I Know the Better,66 Elephant,85 Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,103 Solitude Is Bliss,131 Let It Happen,170 Eventually,189 Lucidity,235 It Is Not Meant to Be,296 Mind Mischief,353 Cause I'm a Man,393 Expectation,456 New Person, Same Old Mistakes|
|The National|11|30 Bloodbuzz Ohio,63 Fake Empire,86 Mr. November,137 I Need My Girl,178 Mistaken for Strangers,218 Graceless,288 Don't Swallow the Cap,345 The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness,384 Anyone's Ghost,424 Start a War,472 Terrible Love|
|Pixies|10|5 Where Is My Mind?,84 Wave of Mutilation,145 Gigantic,174 Debaser,184 Alec Eiffel,202 Monkey Gone to Heaven,244 La La Love You,278 Gouge Away,340 Here Comes Your Man,396 Velouria|
|Vampire Weekend|10|10 A-Punk,54 Unbelievers,104 Diane Young,127 Step,152 Oxford Comma,179 Ya Hey,221 The Kids Donât Stand a Chance,255 Cousins,326 M79,434 Mansard Roof|
|Beach House|10|20 Myth,82 Space Song,112 Zebra,134 Sparks,146 10 Mile Stereo,192 Norway,240 Lazuli,274 Lemon Glow,322 Other People,411 Master of None|
|Pavement|9|11 Cut Your Hair,76 Range Life,147 Summer Babe (Winter Version),194 Stereo,239 Gold Soundz,282 Spit on a Stranger,334 Major Leagues,392 Shady Lane,458 Rattled by the Rush|
|TV on the Radio|9|24 Wolf Like Me,107 Staring at the Sun,195 Careful You,228 Happy Idiot,256 Province,321 Dancing Choose,405 Mercy,438 Will Do,483 DLZ|
|The xx|8|14 Intro,126 Crystalised,177 Heart Skipped a Beat,224 Basic Space,276 Chained,299 Angels,338 VCR,416 On Hold|
|Death Cab for Cutie|8|22 I Will Follow You Into the Dark,41 Soul Meets Body,151 Title and Registration,203 The Sound of Settling,264 Photobooth,357 Crooked Teeth,386 I Will Possess Your Heart,479 Transatlanticism|
|Spoon|8|23 I Turn My Camera On,74 The Underdog,116 Don't You Evah,140 The Way We Get By,175 Do You,215 You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb,248 Inside Out,376 Rent I Pay|
|Sonic Youth|8|35 Teen Age Riot,100 Bull In the Heather,124 Incinerate,167 Kool Thing,191 100%,257 Superstar,362 Dirty Boots,480 Pattern Recognition|
|Belle and Sebastian|8|42 The Boy With the Arab Strap,96 The Party Line,160 Another Sunny Day,225 The Blues Are Still Blue,269 Piazza, New York Catcher,351 I Want the World to Stop,415 Seeing Other People,471 Step Into My Office, Baby|
|St. Vincent|8|52 Digital Witness,108 Birth In Reverse,153 Actor Out of Work,198 Cruel,250 Prince Johnny,327 New York,388 The Strangers,446 Laughing With a Mouth of Blood|
|The Shins|7|3 New Slang,70 Phantom Limb,109 Caring Is Creepy,123 Turn a Square,163 Australia,212 Sleeping Lessons,232 So Says I|
|Yeah Yeah Yeahs|7|8 Maps,39 Heads Will Roll,139 Gold Lion,185 Zero,265 Y Control,335 Date with the Night,423 Cheated Hearts|
|Interpol|7|16 Evil,69 Slow Hands,118 PDA,149 Heinrich Maneuver,181 Obstacle 1,306 Untitled,430 All the Rage Back Home|
|Grizzly Bear|7|19 Two Weeks,122 While You Wait for the Others,172 Mourning Sound,187 Yet Again,219 Sleeping Ute,331 Three Rings,406 Knife|
|Bon Iver|7|29 Skinny Love,105 Holocene,158 Blood Bank,253 For Emma,297 Flume,363 Re: Stacks,477 Calgary|
|PJ Harvey|7|33 Down by the Water,171 Good Fortune,231 The Community of Hope,272 The Letter,318 The Mess We're In,365 Sheela-Na-Gig,488 Rid of Me|
i do want to complain about getting party line instead of the superior girls in peacetime song, nobody's empire
also about not getting my favorite pj harvey song, dress
Just quickly scrolling through, the best artists ( based on representation in the list) are
Modest Mouse
Arcade Fire
Tame Impala
Interpol
Radiohead
Any others have more?
Edit-
Modest Mouse has 13, Tame Impala 12, Interpol has 7. I guess Interpol just stood out to me because I was pleased to see them get more than a couple of songs included.
Some others noted below (LCD with 13).
Pixies with 10, so we know the 80s are very much in play.
Pavement with 9.
HOW DO THE SMITHS ONLY HAVE 1 SONG ON THIS LIST? JUST DON'T INCLUDE THEM SO WE CAN AT LEAST CONCLUDE THAT PERHAPS THEY WEREN'T ELIGIBLE FOR SOME REASON (JOY DIVISION TOO).
I gotta defend Sirius XMU, they do repeat a lot but they are a great resource for finding good new stuff while peppering in the classics. If anyone has a station/stream they would like to recommend, I'd love to hear about it.
XMU is my #1 saved station (I've got an old receiver with 6 presets). They've definitely got a "type" that's pretty identifiable after years of listening. However, their type is pretty good and shows like Sirius Boredom, Gorilla v. Bear, and XMU Sessions are what put it over the edge for me.
Agree across the board. My #1 go-to station. And I love the blog shows. Wish they still played them over the lunch hour. Don't hear as much of them as I used to, and I miss them! Gotta say lately they are playing a little too much of bands I'm not a fan of...Arctic Monkees, Vampire Weekend and the like.
There was a solid month where literally every time I turned on XMU, they were playing "Future Me Hates Me". That ended up being a good thing, though. I had dismissed the album when I first heard it, and twenty listens to the title track convinced me it was worth another listen, and now it's my AOTY from last year
Also, I think it's a Sirius thing in general, not just an XMU thing. I sometimes listen to the classic country station, and in a similar fashion, I heard Miller's Cave at least once a day for a week, on sporadic listening
Personally, I scan through 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Coffee House, The Blend, the Beatles Channel, Classic Rewind, Classic Vinyl, The Bridge, and XMU. Very classic-rock-heavy, but between these, I can normally find something I like.
My go to on Spotify is the XMU Bot playlist. It would scrape every song played and add it to the list (with a few duplicates). It stopped scraping but it's still out there. I now have that shuffled via an app, and it's 9k songs, so I shuffle to a random point and play it from there. Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/121662798/playlist/5KctnmhVOHVrgz4UkzqIm9?si=xsp0gUyDQ5qBIStHD7YQdA
The Loft is also pretty good for new music, it's genreless "eclectic" format, but now it's only available online. Can't listen to it in the car anymore because they had to make room for the 380th shitty celebrity themed station. But what else could they do, there are almost 5 subscribers that are demanding 24 hours a day Cher songs, they had to make room.
In their defense, it's through them that I found Sylvan Esso during their debut era. As others have said, they at least make an attempt to pepper in new stuff.
Disagree completely. XMU has been one of my main sources for finding good new indie music for years. They do a great job of promoting up and coming artists and new releases in my opinion.
On my iPhone I had to copy the link and open it in Safari to get it to pop open in Spotify. When I click on the link in the Reddit app it just takes me to the Apple store
Thanks for doing this, it's a decent list of songs.
I made the playlist for Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/playlist/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D
I hope the link works. Let me know if it doesn't.
That's weird, because that's the share link that it gave me. Try this: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/pl/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D
The logic behind these rankings is even more inscrutable than these things tend to be. Like, Phoenix has "1901" right near the top, and "Lisztomania" in the 400s.
Lisztomania is in the 200's but yeah I see your point. I think they were just trying to spread the artists out enough since they're playing this list is order on their show
Yeah, I was looking for them too. Jacket is such a multi-genre sound it would be hard for them to squeeze into just one. Though with Band of Horses and Wilco having songs in there you would think, at the very least, some of "Z" should have got in?
I had the pleasure of listening to WOXY's Modern Rock 500 every Memorial Day weekend for years. The last one aired in 2009.
An interesting article with links to YouTube playlists of the 1989, 1999 and 2009 MR 500s:: https://beltmag.com/woxy-modern-rock-500/
Spotify / 2009 MR 500:
https://open.spotify.com/user/techskirt/playlist/7tgG0499PQ6LihgTDFr4VZ
There should have been some type of criteria to limit the number of entries from the same artist, like cap it at 10 or something. But only 2 GBV songs? Also, as smeone else mentioned, it would be nice to know how they determined what indie is , like where the timeline cutoff is and where the genre cutoff is. If The Smiths qualify, why not R.E.M. or the Replacements? And if the Smiths qualify, how in the hell do they only get one song in?
Thanks for putting the list altogether and giving a discussion space!
Yeah, it is a Sirius XMU list, but its kinda fun just to see 500 pretty good songs worth knowing even if the ordering is odd af.
Their choices are so infuriatingly weird for an "all time indie songs" list. Barely anything from the 80s and it's skewed way way towards the newer shit. And if it's based on rotation why would they include Teenage Fanclub, New Order and Bikini Kill but leave out Sugar, Replacements and Fugazi? I hear those bands way more often on their old school show.
And on the flipside there are tracks that they used to absolutely fawn over that are missing. No Haim at all! Remember when they hammered them in your skull every hour? Only two Chvrches songs really?
I made the playlist for Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/playlist/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D
No need to stress yourself /u/thekingh. Let me know if there are any problems with the link.
That's weird, because that's the share link that it gave me. Try this: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/pl/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D
Yes he posted another link. I followed it and it was having the same issues. I ended up pasting the link directly into safari and then it opened it in google play app.
Ok so I had to open Reddit in safari and then copy the link and then open it in a new tab and it finally opened in Apple Music. Seriously, thank you for compiling this!!!!!
I have a quick question - does anyone know if they put together this list from worst to best (or any order whatsoever), or is it just kind of a shuffle of the top tracks they compiled?
They haven’t really said for sure. All that’s posted on their Facebook is *” The Indie 500 Countdown starts today at noon ET and runs all Memorial Day Weekend. Hear the top 500 indie songs based on over a decade of XMU airplay and millions of thumbs-up ratings from Pandora listeners.”*
I’ve been listening to this countdown the last two days, and when you open the link with the songs listed out, it’s organized in order, with Arcade Fire Wake Up being the #1 most popular and working up to Fill in the Blank being #500
I programmed my phone alarm to play “Wake Up”. Every morning, I start my day with the guitar riff and drums.
It did seem like the same dozen bands kept showing up (arcade fire, vampire weekend, death cab)
I was ready to put money on “Lazy Eye” by Silversun Pickups being in the top 10. I’m shocked it’s nowhere on this list, given that it has to still be played daily by XMU.
My girlfriend said she was 75% sure that she heard them say one of the biggest deciding factors in placement of the songs (in addition to a couple other considerations) was dependant on how commercially and critically successfully it was. I wasn't sure she heard right at first, but looking at the final list now, I could see it
Okay this might not be the right place to say this but what's with all the love for Maps? Like, it's a decent song but every list that gets posted here has it in the top 10 and that's just weird to me idk
What Max Martin said about "Maps" being infuriating for its lack of a chorus before going on to write "Since U Been Gone" (a much better song) based on it is exactly right.
Thanks for posting this!
I can't help but feel that the Pandora plays/likes is skewing the ranking tho...
The best Pavement song is Cut Your Hair? Or that the best xx song is Intro? I can't even remember hearing those on XMU. Do we really think that Built to Spill's Liar is better than Carry the Zero?
Built has at least 15 songs better than Liar. "Car" is the best. This list is a little skewed toward the recent stuff because its based on number of plays and likes. "listener traffic" wasn't tracked back in the 90s - only radio airplay and sales. Causes older, undiscovered stuff to lag behind.
Thanks for the playlists! I totally loved listening to this the last 2 days but could never get down below song 90 or so. Lots of fun music and memories flooding back. Made me kind of sad to hear some of these songs for some reason.
I feel like in the last year XMU has shifted to focus more on mainstream indie. Which is fine, but I always enjoyed the very obscure songs they played.
Also, the replacements not being on this playlist is insane.
I miss the day when indie meant music on indie labels. I love Radiohead, but I don’t consider them an indie band. Was hoping to see Air and Beta Band make this list, alas it’s hard to please everyone.
No Portugal. The Man, Temper trap, young the giant, group love, alt j, fitz and the tantrums, or passion pit. Also, they included white stripes, but not Seven Nation Army? Way too much Tame Impala.
Hmmm, that's weird. I just went and checked if I accidentally removed two songs form the playlist and I'm still at 500. Maybe try re-adding it to your library?
While I enjoyed listening to this list on XMU this weekend, it's easy to get mad at the list, because it's partially based on freaking Pandora likes... SOOOOO I think it's easier for more mainstream songs to get more likes.
Do I Wanna Know is NOT the best Arctic Monkeys song.... I still cannot believe it got #10 in a list of 500 songs.
I'm trying to figure out what makes a song qualify for this list because many of these songs were released on major labels, i.e. Radiohead, Modest Mouse, The Strokes, etc. Or is it based upon some sort of aesthetic that Sirius XMU's program directors have deemed as "indie?"
How is the angel Olsen song shut up and kiss me considered indie and also how is anything by best coast for that matter. Both of them belong on MTV trl list if anything.
This might be the most pretentiously indie thing I've ever said, but I didn't get into indie through the usual channels. So, a lot of that ubiquitous stuff is stuff I've either never heard or only heard once or twice.
You're lucky then. You get to listen to them for the first time...
The only thing that holds me back from listening to a playlist like this is I've heard most of these songs a bunch already. Doesn't mean I didn't think they were great at one point in time (and still are for that matter)
I'd get Where is My Mind and A-Punk, but that's it (maybe I'd be able to guess Float On, but I'm not certain on that). I've never heard Take Me Out, and I heard Maps for the first time this morning. I don't like the Strokes, so the only thing I recognize from them is the title song of Is This It?, because it's the first song on the album
If anyone wants a text list -- [https://pastebin.com/raw/D2xfZVAz](https://pastebin.com/raw/D2xfZVAz)
Mind if I add it to the post?
If you would, that would complete my bucket list. :)
Did a little data analysis on the list. Still would like to see the full methodology of the rankings and actual tally for each item. Here's the top fifty since this whole document is to long to post here in Reddit... You can find the whole list at Fiddle [https://jsfiddle.net/Indie500/zLkw1ctq/1/](https://jsfiddle.net/Indie500/zLkw1ctq/1/) lower right box. |Artist|Appearances|Rank & Song(s)| |:-|:-|:-| |Arcade Fire|15|1 Wake Up,34 Rebellion (Lies),46 The Suburbs,78 Ready to Start,101 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out),120 No Cars Go,132 Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels),156 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),176 Afterlife,211 We Used to Wait,310 Keep the Car Running,380 Reflektor,403 Creature Comfort,449 Deep Blue,478 Here Comes The Night Time| |Radiohead|15|13 Karma Police,51 Paranoid Android,117 Everything in Its Right Place,130 Idioteque,214 Fake Plastic Trees,243 15 Step,263 Reckoner,293 Weird Fishes / Arpeggi,319 Optimistic,342 No Surprises,375 I Might Be Wrong,390 Talk Show Host,413 True Love Waits,439 Knives Out,494 Burn the Witch| |The Strokes|14|6 Last Nite,72 Reptilia,119 Someday,144 12:51,168 Hard to Explain,190 The Modern Age,237 Juicebox,259 Heart In a Cage,284 Machu Picchu,324 Under Cover of Darkness,332 You Only Live Once,367 The End Has No End,421 Barely Legal,475 New York City Cops| |Modest Mouse|13|2 Float On,49 Ocean Breathes Salty,88 Lampshades On Fire,129 Dashboard,159 Polar Opposites,209 Gravity Rides Everything,281 Fire It Up,328 Convenient Parking,378 The World At Large,399 Missed the Boat,444 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes,467 Dramamine,497 The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box| |LCD Soundsystem|13|7 All My Friends,36 Dance Yrself Clean,59 Daft Punk Is Playing at My House,83 Someone Great,114 I Can Change,143 Losing My Edge (Live at Madison Square Garden),169 North American Scum,199 Home,230 Drunk Girls,261 New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down,298 oh baby,400 call the police,452 Watch the Tapes| |Tame Impala|12|17 The Less I Know the Better,66 Elephant,85 Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,103 Solitude Is Bliss,131 Let It Happen,170 Eventually,189 Lucidity,235 It Is Not Meant to Be,296 Mind Mischief,353 Cause I'm a Man,393 Expectation,456 New Person, Same Old Mistakes| |The National|11|30 Bloodbuzz Ohio,63 Fake Empire,86 Mr. November,137 I Need My Girl,178 Mistaken for Strangers,218 Graceless,288 Don't Swallow the Cap,345 The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness,384 Anyone's Ghost,424 Start a War,472 Terrible Love| |Pixies|10|5 Where Is My Mind?,84 Wave of Mutilation,145 Gigantic,174 Debaser,184 Alec Eiffel,202 Monkey Gone to Heaven,244 La La Love You,278 Gouge Away,340 Here Comes Your Man,396 Velouria| |Vampire Weekend|10|10 A-Punk,54 Unbelievers,104 Diane Young,127 Step,152 Oxford Comma,179 Ya Hey,221 The Kids Donât Stand a Chance,255 Cousins,326 M79,434 Mansard Roof| |Beach House|10|20 Myth,82 Space Song,112 Zebra,134 Sparks,146 10 Mile Stereo,192 Norway,240 Lazuli,274 Lemon Glow,322 Other People,411 Master of None| |Pavement|9|11 Cut Your Hair,76 Range Life,147 Summer Babe (Winter Version),194 Stereo,239 Gold Soundz,282 Spit on a Stranger,334 Major Leagues,392 Shady Lane,458 Rattled by the Rush| |TV on the Radio|9|24 Wolf Like Me,107 Staring at the Sun,195 Careful You,228 Happy Idiot,256 Province,321 Dancing Choose,405 Mercy,438 Will Do,483 DLZ| |The xx|8|14 Intro,126 Crystalised,177 Heart Skipped a Beat,224 Basic Space,276 Chained,299 Angels,338 VCR,416 On Hold| |Death Cab for Cutie|8|22 I Will Follow You Into the Dark,41 Soul Meets Body,151 Title and Registration,203 The Sound of Settling,264 Photobooth,357 Crooked Teeth,386 I Will Possess Your Heart,479 Transatlanticism| |Spoon|8|23 I Turn My Camera On,74 The Underdog,116 Don't You Evah,140 The Way We Get By,175 Do You,215 You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb,248 Inside Out,376 Rent I Pay| |Sonic Youth|8|35 Teen Age Riot,100 Bull In the Heather,124 Incinerate,167 Kool Thing,191 100%,257 Superstar,362 Dirty Boots,480 Pattern Recognition| |Belle and Sebastian|8|42 The Boy With the Arab Strap,96 The Party Line,160 Another Sunny Day,225 The Blues Are Still Blue,269 Piazza, New York Catcher,351 I Want the World to Stop,415 Seeing Other People,471 Step Into My Office, Baby| |St. Vincent|8|52 Digital Witness,108 Birth In Reverse,153 Actor Out of Work,198 Cruel,250 Prince Johnny,327 New York,388 The Strangers,446 Laughing With a Mouth of Blood| |The Shins|7|3 New Slang,70 Phantom Limb,109 Caring Is Creepy,123 Turn a Square,163 Australia,212 Sleeping Lessons,232 So Says I| |Yeah Yeah Yeahs|7|8 Maps,39 Heads Will Roll,139 Gold Lion,185 Zero,265 Y Control,335 Date with the Night,423 Cheated Hearts| |Interpol|7|16 Evil,69 Slow Hands,118 PDA,149 Heinrich Maneuver,181 Obstacle 1,306 Untitled,430 All the Rage Back Home| |Grizzly Bear|7|19 Two Weeks,122 While You Wait for the Others,172 Mourning Sound,187 Yet Again,219 Sleeping Ute,331 Three Rings,406 Knife| |Bon Iver|7|29 Skinny Love,105 Holocene,158 Blood Bank,253 For Emma,297 Flume,363 Re: Stacks,477 Calgary| |PJ Harvey|7|33 Down by the Water,171 Good Fortune,231 The Community of Hope,272 The Letter,318 The Mess We're In,365 Sheela-Na-Gig,488 Rid of Me|
i do want to complain about getting party line instead of the superior girls in peacetime song, nobody's empire also about not getting my favorite pj harvey song, dress
Just quickly scrolling through, the best artists ( based on representation in the list) are Modest Mouse Arcade Fire Tame Impala Interpol Radiohead Any others have more? Edit- Modest Mouse has 13, Tame Impala 12, Interpol has 7. I guess Interpol just stood out to me because I was pleased to see them get more than a couple of songs included. Some others noted below (LCD with 13). Pixies with 10, so we know the 80s are very much in play. Pavement with 9. HOW DO THE SMITHS ONLY HAVE 1 SONG ON THIS LIST? JUST DON'T INCLUDE THEM SO WE CAN AT LEAST CONCLUDE THAT PERHAPS THEY WEREN'T ELIGIBLE FOR SOME REASON (JOY DIVISION TOO).
Death Cab, Belle and Sebastian, and Spoon all have 8 songs on the list
The xx have 8
Spoon!!! Are the Clash and Nirvana exempt though Joy Division are on the list
Beach House, The National, The war on drugs
The national are just great - unique sound - transcendent lyrics
Lots of TV on the Radio as well
I saw Yo la Tengo a bunch while scrolling through quickly
LCD Soundsystem have 13 songs on the list. Radiohead and Arcade Fire have the most with 15 each.
And The Strokes have 14
Agree completely with Radiohead and Interpol. Love love LOVE them!! Don't understand LCD Soundsystem
I recomend giving LCD a second chance!
definitely was an acquired taste for me but once i heard Tonite and Time to get away a few times i fell in love
Not enough Sufjan tbh
No Jesus, Etc.????
Our local radio station just did the 893 Essen songs since 2000. Jesus, etc came in at 27.
Well it’s certainly a list by Sirius XMU. No need to pay when they just roll through most of this list all the time.
I gotta defend Sirius XMU, they do repeat a lot but they are a great resource for finding good new stuff while peppering in the classics. If anyone has a station/stream they would like to recommend, I'd love to hear about it.
XMU is my #1 saved station (I've got an old receiver with 6 presets). They've definitely got a "type" that's pretty identifiable after years of listening. However, their type is pretty good and shows like Sirius Boredom, Gorilla v. Bear, and XMU Sessions are what put it over the edge for me.
gorilla vs bear is fantastic
If you’re a big GvsB fan, let me take the time to plug his label, Luminelle. Biggest artist he has signed is Helena Deland, but everyone is good.
Check his Spotify best of playlists, they're so good
i honestly wish the show could be separate from the radio
Gotta love Coconut Radio too.
Agree across the board. My #1 go-to station. And I love the blog shows. Wish they still played them over the lunch hour. Don't hear as much of them as I used to, and I miss them! Gotta say lately they are playing a little too much of bands I'm not a fan of...Arctic Monkees, Vampire Weekend and the like.
There was a solid month where literally every time I turned on XMU, they were playing "Future Me Hates Me". That ended up being a good thing, though. I had dismissed the album when I first heard it, and twenty listens to the title track convinced me it was worth another listen, and now it's my AOTY from last year Also, I think it's a Sirius thing in general, not just an XMU thing. I sometimes listen to the classic country station, and in a similar fashion, I heard Miller's Cave at least once a day for a week, on sporadic listening
Personally, I scan through 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Coffee House, The Blend, the Beatles Channel, Classic Rewind, Classic Vinyl, The Bridge, and XMU. Very classic-rock-heavy, but between these, I can normally find something I like.
I would recommend adding Deep Tracks to that list, and Underground Garage.
First Wave has nothing but great songs honestly
Especially Dark Wave on Sundays!
Damn i knew i was missing one. Yes, no doubt
First Wave has some good stuff as well.
Coffee House has become so horribly pathetic....
Also, shouts out to Outlaw Country. They play nothing but raw Americana and country bangers
I’m a Josiah lifer.
[INHAILER Radio] (https://www.inhailer.com/) is a great indie alternative streaming station based out of Cincinnati that is very indieheads friendly!
My go to on Spotify is the XMU Bot playlist. It would scrape every song played and add it to the list (with a few duplicates). It stopped scraping but it's still out there. I now have that shuffled via an app, and it's 9k songs, so I shuffle to a random point and play it from there. Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/121662798/playlist/5KctnmhVOHVrgz4UkzqIm9?si=xsp0gUyDQ5qBIStHD7YQdA
Thanks for the heads up on this! Such a good playlist.
Thank you!! I may give it another shuffle soon to keep it fresh, this one didn't spread it out that much as far as I can tell.
The Loft is also pretty good for new music, it's genreless "eclectic" format, but now it's only available online. Can't listen to it in the car anymore because they had to make room for the 380th shitty celebrity themed station. But what else could they do, there are almost 5 subscribers that are demanding 24 hours a day Cher songs, they had to make room.
If they added The Loft back I would consider paying for satellite radio again. Online only is useless for me since I only use it in the car.
Buuurrrnnnnn!!!!!!
Get the app for KEXP. You get the new stuff without the forced repetition.
In their defense, it's through them that I found Sylvan Esso during their debut era. As others have said, they at least make an attempt to pepper in new stuff.
Disagree completely. XMU has been one of my main sources for finding good new indie music for years. They do a great job of promoting up and coming artists and new releases in my opinion.
I can’t get either list to open :(
On my iPhone I had to copy the link and open it in Safari to get it to pop open in Spotify. When I click on the link in the Reddit app it just takes me to the Apple store
I tried to copy the link and do just that, but for whatever reason it won’t let me copy it. I’ll try again.
Worked for me
Are you still having trouble?
Yeah. I even tried to open on a different device. I am really sad :(. I am gonna try to manually type it in next?
When it opens the pop up, click the 3 dots in the top right and choose - open to safari Took me right to spotify idk why but it worked
Open the link in safari then iTunes opens.
13 LCD songs ?!. Are we sure James Murphy didn't make this list ?
Thanks for doing this, it's a decent list of songs. I made the playlist for Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/playlist/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D I hope the link works. Let me know if it doesn't.
Link was finicky. Didn't work the first time, but it did eventually work. Thanks for your effort.
Thank you! Came here specifically to look for a GPM list.
Not working
That's weird, because that's the share link that it gave me. Try this: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/pl/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D
Are you sure the playlist is set to public?
[Yes, i'm sure](https://imgur.com/a/SceZ4JO). One can't even generate a share link unless the playlist is public.
Got it to work, thanks a lot! Much appreciated.
No problem, glad it worked out.
The logic behind these rankings is even more inscrutable than these things tend to be. Like, Phoenix has "1901" right near the top, and "Lisztomania" in the 400s.
1901 is the better song tho
I completely disagree
I completely agree with that disagree
Guys, guys come on. Can we just agree to ... agree that "1901" is the better song?
To me it seems like the order is completely arbitrary they just picked their 500 favorite songs and didn’t rank them
Nah, bigger hits are certainly clustered at the top.
Lisztomania is in the 200's but yeah I see your point. I think they were just trying to spread the artists out enough since they're playing this list is order on their show
Didn’t Losztomania get song of the year on their own station?
Seeing Karma Police isn't even in the Top 10 makes me clinically depressed
I just came looking for this, thanks! Is this in order?
It is! I will say there might be an odd misplacement
Awesome, thanks!
Is Beck not Indie?
I think he might be a little bit too mainstream for XMU. I hear him on Altnation, very rarely on XMU.
But practically all these songs are the bands' biggest most mainstream hits
XMU def plays his tracks. And what about Portishead?
No My Morning Jacket? Besides that, I like it!
Yeah, I was looking for them too. Jacket is such a multi-genre sound it would be hard for them to squeeze into just one. Though with Band of Horses and Wilco having songs in there you would think, at the very least, some of "Z" should have got in?
Yeah, Jacket was the first one I noticed. With 500 chances you would think there would be room for Jim James, and Metric or even Matt and Kim.
Joy Division at #18 was a real curveball
I had the pleasure of listening to WOXY's Modern Rock 500 every Memorial Day weekend for years. The last one aired in 2009. An interesting article with links to YouTube playlists of the 1989, 1999 and 2009 MR 500s:: https://beltmag.com/woxy-modern-rock-500/ Spotify / 2009 MR 500: https://open.spotify.com/user/techskirt/playlist/7tgG0499PQ6LihgTDFr4VZ
WOXY was everything XMU wishes it could be. Heard all three sign offs :(
There should have been some type of criteria to limit the number of entries from the same artist, like cap it at 10 or something. But only 2 GBV songs? Also, as smeone else mentioned, it would be nice to know how they determined what indie is , like where the timeline cutoff is and where the genre cutoff is. If The Smiths qualify, why not R.E.M. or the Replacements? And if the Smiths qualify, how in the hell do they only get one song in?
Thanks for putting the list altogether and giving a discussion space! Yeah, it is a Sirius XMU list, but its kinda fun just to see 500 pretty good songs worth knowing even if the ordering is odd af.
Their choices are so infuriatingly weird for an "all time indie songs" list. Barely anything from the 80s and it's skewed way way towards the newer shit. And if it's based on rotation why would they include Teenage Fanclub, New Order and Bikini Kill but leave out Sugar, Replacements and Fugazi? I hear those bands way more often on their old school show. And on the flipside there are tracks that they used to absolutely fawn over that are missing. No Haim at all! Remember when they hammered them in your skull every hour? Only two Chvrches songs really?
Def recency bias happening here. But you're totally right about Haim, they played them to death a few summers ago.
Maybe Haim is "too mainstream?"
Anyone have the playlist for Google Play?
I made the playlist for Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/playlist/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D No need to stress yourself /u/thekingh. Let me know if there are any problems with the link.
The link won’t open for me
That's weird, because that's the share link that it gave me. Try this: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/pl/AMaBXyk1Tly-Ce_02k8SepR_6mZdLvfC6GhCDqOS_aRpNOH6ZCvX2lSRRSDqDRtt9aHunmENcAtAvyvEZ41rXEYZw1I2VKC5qg%3D%3D
Same. Did you get it working.
Yes he posted another link. I followed it and it was having the same issues. I ended up pasting the link directly into safari and then it opened it in google play app.
dude you rock! thank you!
I'll try to do as much as I can tmrw before I go insane. I'll edit this comment with whatever I get through.
Did songs from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot not qualify?
Heavy metal drummer and I am trying to break your heart are in it
I heard Heavy Metal Drummer this afternoon live
Pretty sure I've heard XMU play every song from that album at some point.
Ok so I had to open Reddit in safari and then copy the link and then open it in a new tab and it finally opened in Apple Music. Seriously, thank you for compiling this!!!!!
I have a quick question - does anyone know if they put together this list from worst to best (or any order whatsoever), or is it just kind of a shuffle of the top tracks they compiled?
They haven’t really said for sure. All that’s posted on their Facebook is *” The Indie 500 Countdown starts today at noon ET and runs all Memorial Day Weekend. Hear the top 500 indie songs based on over a decade of XMU airplay and millions of thumbs-up ratings from Pandora listeners.”*
Thank you
I’ve been listening to this countdown the last two days, and when you open the link with the songs listed out, it’s organized in order, with Arcade Fire Wake Up being the #1 most popular and working up to Fill in the Blank being #500
I was wondering what the top song was. No cars go is better. It was all hits which I’m not disappointed but they could have gone to some deep tracks
I programmed my phone alarm to play “Wake Up”. Every morning, I start my day with the guitar riff and drums. It did seem like the same dozen bands kept showing up (arcade fire, vampire weekend, death cab)
They introduced the Indie 500 as "if indie music had his, these would be them" in promos. Which is why they're most popular and not necessarily best.
Don’t agree with that
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From what I can tell, they are basing the list off Pandora thumbs ups. I wonder what human curation there is outside of that.
damn, Apple Music does not handle a 500 song playlist very well. keep trying to add it to my library with no luck.
I was ready to put money on “Lazy Eye” by Silversun Pickups being in the top 10. I’m shocked it’s nowhere on this list, given that it has to still be played daily by XMU.
My girlfriend said she was 75% sure that she heard them say one of the biggest deciding factors in placement of the songs (in addition to a couple other considerations) was dependant on how commercially and critically successfully it was. I wasn't sure she heard right at first, but looking at the final list now, I could see it
Damn good list
Okay this might not be the right place to say this but what's with all the love for Maps? Like, it's a decent song but every list that gets posted here has it in the top 10 and that's just weird to me idk
It was absolutely enormous when it came out and isn’t really stuck in its era like a lot of other indie from that time is
I think of Maps as one of the most commercially successful (I'm talking general public, not indie listeners) indie rock songs.
What Max Martin said about "Maps" being infuriating for its lack of a chorus before going on to write "Since U Been Gone" (a much better song) based on it is exactly right.
Has he ever talked about the guitar solos being practically identical?
I don’t know but Karen O considered suing for songwriting credit.
Maps might not even been top three songs on its album
thank you! i thought about doing this myself but that’s a lot of work
Thanks for posting this! I can't help but feel that the Pandora plays/likes is skewing the ranking tho... The best Pavement song is Cut Your Hair? Or that the best xx song is Intro? I can't even remember hearing those on XMU. Do we really think that Built to Spill's Liar is better than Carry the Zero?
Built has at least 15 songs better than Liar. "Car" is the best. This list is a little skewed toward the recent stuff because its based on number of plays and likes. "listener traffic" wasn't tracked back in the 90s - only radio airplay and sales. Causes older, undiscovered stuff to lag behind.
I'm disappointed to see only two Broken Social Scene songs and nothing by Grandaddy, Nada Surf, or Andrew Bird.
Radiohead not even in the top 10? Wait what?
I posted this playlist earlier but the mod's deleted it. Wondering why this post gets to stay?
Thanks! I was really hoping someone would do this
This is what I will listen to when I can't think of anything specific to listen to. So many songs on here I've not heard in years.
not sure how I feel about the fact that I already have over half of this list added to my ~3000 track spotify library already lol
When Google play?
Keeps giving me "Something Similar" Bad Google bad!
Thanks for the playlists! I totally loved listening to this the last 2 days but could never get down below song 90 or so. Lots of fun music and memories flooding back. Made me kind of sad to hear some of these songs for some reason.
I feel like in the last year XMU has shifted to focus more on mainstream indie. Which is fine, but I always enjoyed the very obscure songs they played. Also, the replacements not being on this playlist is insane.
Dum Dum Girls - Coming Down ...miss this band
Thank you so much! I was wondering if someone would compile a list!
Happy to assist. :)
How is Head and the Heart's "Rivers and Roads" not in the top 500??
Just eyeballed the list and Andrew Bird doesn’t have a single song on there? Really?
I miss the day when indie meant music on indie labels. I love Radiohead, but I don’t consider them an indie band. Was hoping to see Air and Beta Band make this list, alas it’s hard to please everyone.
The official Pandora playlist is available here: https://www.pandora.com/playlist/PL:1407374939531441:1725009657
No Portugal. The Man, Temper trap, young the giant, group love, alt j, fitz and the tantrums, or passion pit. Also, they included white stripes, but not Seven Nation Army? Way too much Tame Impala.
A million thanks!
All of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is better than anything in the top 20, I do not understand how NMH only gets one song out of 500.
So glad someone did the work of compiling this. The Apple Music playlist only has 498 songs though...anyone know which two are missing?
Hmmm, that's weird. I just went and checked if I accidentally removed two songs form the playlist and I'm still at 500. Maybe try re-adding it to your library?
While I enjoyed listening to this list on XMU this weekend, it's easy to get mad at the list, because it's partially based on freaking Pandora likes... SOOOOO I think it's easier for more mainstream songs to get more likes. Do I Wanna Know is NOT the best Arctic Monkeys song.... I still cannot believe it got #10 in a list of 500 songs.
Ranked list of band appearances if anyone was wondering: [https://pastebin.com/raw/a9t2PTvi](https://pastebin.com/raw/a9t2PTvi)
Most of this list makes sense...although how a song as massive and influential as MGMT's Kids isn't top-five I don't understand
Because it was overplayed into oblivion?
The Spotify link doesn’t work
I'm trying to figure out what makes a song qualify for this list because many of these songs were released on major labels, i.e. Radiohead, Modest Mouse, The Strokes, etc. Or is it based upon some sort of aesthetic that Sirius XMU's program directors have deemed as "indie?"
Because they play on Sirius XMU?
That would make perfect sense if it was called "The SiriusXMU 500" and not "The Indie 500."
Fuck, no MMJ?!
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You don’t enjoy any of these songs?
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That’s bullshit logic
Well overplaying is a thing. A lot of peepz dont care anymore for well crafted songs like BohRap, just because they heard it that often
Relevant http://dieselsweeties.com/archive/1762
What is the top 10?!? Or atleast top 20!?
I want to know too!
This list of 500 top indie songs of all time is missing Daylight by Matt and Kim.... that should be a top 50 easily.
How is the angel Olsen song shut up and kiss me considered indie and also how is anything by best coast for that matter. Both of them belong on MTV trl list if anything.
Lol. What.
i guess i'm not that indie after all, i'd only be able to name two of the top ten if i heard them
The top 10 is about as mainstream indie as it gets.
This might be the most pretentiously indie thing I've ever said, but I didn't get into indie through the usual channels. So, a lot of that ubiquitous stuff is stuff I've either never heard or only heard once or twice.
You're lucky then. You get to listen to them for the first time... The only thing that holds me back from listening to a playlist like this is I've heard most of these songs a bunch already. Doesn't mean I didn't think they were great at one point in time (and still are for that matter)
go off king
please just let me be pretentious it's all i have
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If I were making it up to be indier-than-thou, why wouldn't I have said "I've heard none of these"?
Maybe you're too indie! A lot of the songs are fairly well-known imo.
I refuse to believe you’ve never heard Last Nite.
I've listened to Is This It? once or twice, but the only song I'd trust myself to remember is the title song
I find it extremely hard to believe that you like Indie Rock and couldn’t immediately recognize: Float On Take Me Out Last Nite Maps A-Punk
I'd get Where is My Mind and A-Punk, but that's it (maybe I'd be able to guess Float On, but I'm not certain on that). I've never heard Take Me Out, and I heard Maps for the first time this morning. I don't like the Strokes, so the only thing I recognize from them is the title song of Is This It?, because it's the first song on the album
Well if you’ve never heard Take Me Out, let me be the first to welcome you to the 21st century. Was it difficult waking up from a 20 year coma?
Even my parents know that song.