The 60 best rock songs of the 21st century that didn’t make the Rolling Stone list

The Rolling Stone “Best Rock Songs of The 21st Century” listicle is unsurprisingly frustrating, but not as bad as I expected. Here’s what I’d change to make it perfect.

“I’m up late.” - Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs in Almost Famous (2000)

I’m doing it! I’m doing it, again!

I’m getting opinionated about a massive listicle from a major music publication!

Lists like this — whether it’s Rolling Stone’s “250 Best Songs of the 21st Century” list last year, or Pitchfork’s “100 Best Albums of the 2020’s So Far” list the year before — are discourse machines. I am complicit. I eat it up. All of us music nerds do. And here we are again, with the latest conversation starter: Rolling Stone’s “200 Best Rock Songs of The 21st Century So Far.”

I’ll be honest, I went into this one skeptical. Rolling Stone has churned out some incredible profiles and investigative pieces over the last several years. But Mr. Sheffield and the gang reviewing music at the publication haven’t exactly earned my trust as of late. The shilling for pop stans has been especially shameless, and that continues here.

A certain “10 minute version” makes this list at No. 33, because of course it does. They throw Harry Styles a bone for “Kiwi,” when “Fine Line” is staring us in the face. A very solid Lady Gaga ballad gets higher placement than any song by Death Cab for Cutie, The National, The 1975 or Drive-By Truckers. A Yungblud song (!) is an insulting five spots higher than Tame Impala’s “Elephant,” and an even more infuriating 14 spots above “This Year” by The Mountain Goats.

All that being said, the list is… better than expected?

There are some genuinely surprising and exciting inclusions: “Hangover Game” by MJ Lenderman, “Chosen to Deserve” by Wednesday, “Speeding 72” by Momma, “You’re So Last Summer” by Taking Back Sunday. I chuckled at the list kicking off with “Ocean Avenue” by Yellowcard at No. 200. I admire the audacity and search engine optimization of putting “99 Problems” by Jay-Z at No. 9.

I can’t even really complain about the top three: “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes, “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers. We can bicker about order, but those three songs are probably the three most essential rock songs of the century so far. Lists like these are impossible and always give us strange, goofy juxtapositions. But when you get the top of the top right, you can’t ever be too mad.

But you can always be a little mad.

So let’s get mad.

Here’s what I’d change about Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Rock Songs of The 21st Century list, starting with a speedrun of small edits. We’ll get to new additions later.

There’s a playlist at the bottom if you want to listen along.

Songs I’m glad made the list, but I would’ve put higher

We’re splitting hairs, but do you really honestly think “Reptilia” is a worse song than “Bring Me To Life”?

1. The Mountain Goats - “This Year” (#195)
   It’s tough to find a more anthemic vocal delivery in a 21st century rock song than John Darnielle’s exasperated “I am going to make it through this year, if it kills me.” That’s worthy of a Top 100 spot, at minimum.

2. Momma - “Speeding 72” (#193)
   I’ve been loudly on the Momma train since Household Name, so I’m ecstatic to see this banger the list at all. It still deserves a bit of a boost. This is one of the ten best rock songs of the 2020’s, and the century list should reflect as such.

3. Tame Impala - “Elephant” (#186)
   ”Elephant” has one of those guitar riffs that feels inherent. As if I’ve always known it, even though it’s just 15 years old. In another world, it’s a “Seven Nation Army”-tier stadium jock jam. But even in this world, it deserves more respect than being a few slots behind Yungblud.

4. Sleigh Bells - “Rill Rill” (#178)
   ”Rill Rill” lives on a planet where it’s always May and summer is knocking at the door. That Funkadelic riff, Alexis Krauss’ minty-fresh vocals, the cannon-blast kick drums…there are few songs on this list easier to listen to on repeat.

5. Songs: Ohia - “Farewell Transmission” (#145)
   No. 145 doesn’t feel like an appropriately high ranking for a song and band that arguably birthed the 2020’s indie-twang boom. You do not get MJ Lenderman, Fust, Brown Horse, Wild Pink, Squirrel Flower or Wednesday without this record.

6. The Strokes - “Reptilia” (#138)
   Look me in the face and tell me there are 137 guitar riffs this century better than “Reptilia.” Tell me, honestly, that this lick deserves to look up at Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life” and a decent John Mayer song. Be for real.

7. The Killers - “Read My Mind” (#135)
   I’ll say it. “Read My Mind” is the better Killers song on this list. It straddles the sonic line between the band’s heartland and new wave influences better than anything in their early catalogue. Maybe I’m just a Vegas local and Sam’s Town superfan, but if “Mr. Brightside” is No. 3, this is no lower than the Top 80.

8. Sonic Youth - “Incinerate” (#129)
   It’s a ridiculous flex to make music for 20 years and then summon this banger on your 14th album. Thurston Moore’s angst practically bleeds from this track, one of the most accessible singles in one of the more complex rock discographies.

9. Car Seat Headrest - “Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales” (#64)
   If I truly sat down for a few days and hammered out a “200 Best Rock Songs of the 21st Century” list of my own, I’d be hard pressed to name more than a handful of songs I enjoy singing along to more than “Drunk Drivers.” But that task sounds really hard. And there’s no comfort in responsibility.

10. TV On The Radio - “Wolf Like Me” (#18)
    Higher than No. 18? Aren’t we just getting greedy at that point? No. No we’re not. “Wolf Like Me” should be mentioned in the same breath as the seminal rock songs of its era. Put it in the Top 5 where it belongs.

Artists I’m glad made the list, but I would’ve chosen a different song

I’m a huge fan of all of these artists, so some of these choices were the most baffling and frustrating of all.

1. Olivia Rodrigo - “the cure” over “good 4 u”
   As an Olivia Rodrigo diehard, I’m sad to report that ”good 4 u” is not a Top 5 rock song of the 21st century. It’s not even a Top 5 rock song by Olivia Rodrigo. It’s a great “Misery Business” descendent (which is somehow omitted from this list), but a placement this high feels like bait from Rolling Stan. I’m biting. Have y’all heard “ballad of a homeschooled girl,” “all-american bitch,” “obsessed,” “bad idea right?,” “expectations,” “u+me=<3,” “stupid song” or “the cure”? Put the latter on the list. Recency bias be damned.

2. Coldplay - “In My Place” over “Yellow”
   I’m also a Coldplay fan, so it pains me to do this to the beautiful ballad that is “Yellow,” but if we have to pick one Coldplay track to represent their place in rock history, make it “In My Place.”

3. boygenius - “Not Strong Enough” over “Stay Down”
   ”Stay Down” is great, but it’s not my favorite song on the boygenius EP, and it’s certainly not my favorite in their discography. That would be “Not Strong Enough,” the track that best harnesses the friendship and collective songwriting power of the century’s most impactful supergroup.

4. Jimmy Eat World - “A Praise Chorus” over “The Middle”
   I don’t mean to write off “The Middle” — it is definitely the most culturally dominant song in the Jimmy catalogue — but there is a much more obvious Bleed American track for a list like this. “A Praise Chorus” is literally an ode to rock-n-roll! This self-referential emo anthem, with Davey von Bohlen of The Promise Ring bringing it home on the refrain, deserves a spot.

5. Linkin Park - “Waiting For The End” over “In The End”
   Linkin Park is one of my favorite bands of all time. But what are we doing here? “In The End” is the lazy pick. It’s a caricature of the band’s other, better singles. For one of the most commercially successful bands of the century, you could pick “Faint,” “One Step Closer,” “Somewhere I Belong” or “Papercut.” Better yet, go with “Waiting For The End,” the best single off their best record (A Thousand Suns). Chester Bennington forever.

6. Green Day - “Jesus of Suburbia” over “Holiday”
   If you’re going to pick an American Idiot song for this list, at least have the decency to respect the combined tracklisting of “Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams!” Even then, the American apathy-shredding, nine minute epic “Jesus of Suburbia” is the best song on the album. So just pick that one instead.

7. Wet Leg - “mangetout” over “Chaise Longue”
   I get it. “Onthechaiselongueonthechaiselongueonthechaiselongue, alldaylongonthechaiselongue” is catchy as hell. It’s the viral hit and low-hanging fruit. But “mangetout” has the better moment (Rhian Teasdale’s incredible vocal lift on the final hook) and it’s the better song, too.

8. Radiohead - “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi” over “There, There”
   I would’ve picked “How to Disappear Completely” over “A National Anthem” for Rolling Stone’s Kid A Radiohead pick. But that one’s at least a close race. How do you completely omit In Rainbows from this list? Give me the disorienting and beautiful “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi” over 2003’s “There, There.”

Sounds Great’s 21st Century Rock Song Snubs List

Ranked from least obvious to most obvious, but these all should have made it.

1. Oso Oso - “gb/ol h/nf”
   I simply never tire of this angsty summer hit from Jersey band Oso Oso, which hits a second gear on its dizzying bridge, then a third gear on its shout-along hook, then a fourth with the ridiculously slick guitar solo. Pure sunshine.

2. Soul Glo - “Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)”
   One of the most bad-ass album openers of the decade, period. Pierce Jordan’s voice is thrashing so violently on this metal rager that it conceals insane poetry like “The jewels retooled you to make more fools than schools do / Of course you out here now wishing you could do better.”

3. Foxing - “Hell 99”
   Speaking of violence, one of the best screams of the decade falls on Foxing’s visceral “Hell 99,” courtesy of guitarist Eric Hudson’s song-opening “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Lead vocalist Conor Murphy seals it with an operatic finale. This song is horrifying yet lush, a bloody juxtaposition of mid-life numbness and nu-metal adolescence.

4. Petey USA - “DON’T TELL THE BOYS”
   I’ve written about this one at length before, but this is probably the best song written about 21st century masculinity. Over Petey’s signature, synthy builds, he paints a perfect picture of concealed emotions in internet-era male friendship. No lyric this century consistently stops me in my tracks quite like “Can we support the individual without supporting the whole damn complex? / It’s either shooting guns or heroin, at least one of ‘em pays for college!”

5. Hayley Williams - “Parachute”
   Paramore’s “That’s What You Get” makes the Rolling Stone list, but it is sorely missing at least one more Williams track. I’d settle for “Decode,” but I’d prefer her solo breakup anthem “Parachute,” a chills-inducing chronicle of a relationship that never quite materialized. The second verse alone is a career high for one of the most important songwriters of the milennium.

6. 100 gecs - “Hollywood Baby”
   If Rolling Stone considers “99 Problems” to be a rock song, so is hyperpop speaker-breaker “Hollywood Baby.” Its fuzzed-out lead guitar riff rivals the punch of pretty much any other song on the Rolling Stone list, and so does its festival-ready “woah-oh” chorus.

7. The Weakerthans - “Sun in An Empty Room”
   This one is maybe my personal favorite song to not make the Rolling Stone list, so I have to show it love. John K. Samson’s voice is so resigned on this song, which manages to be equal parts bleak and inspiring. It ends with one of The Weakerthans’ finest guitar solos, and every lyric is epitaph worthy.

8. Gang of Youths - “Magnolia”
   Great storytellers know the first line is the most important one. And the breakout single from Gang of Youths is an apt introduction to frontman Dave Le’aupepe’s poetry. He’s drunk and self-deprecating out of the gate: “Quit honking your horns / There’s five other lanes and I am king of them all.” But ultimately, this rock ballad of self-sabotage has a Lazarus-like feeling, and it’s a joy every time we see Gang of Youths come back from the depths.

9. Manchester Orchestra - “The Gold”
   Andy Hull is a songwriter I fear may never get the proper mainstream love he deserves. So if I’m writing these one of these lists, I’m making space for “The Gold,” proof that a band’s big hit doesn’t have to be an easy one to digest. Set in a South Dakota mining town, “The Gold” tackles sickness, death and relationship deterioration. It’s a career highlight for late drummer Tim Very, too, who pulses on the final chorus.

10. Joyce Manor - “Constant Headache”
    I was honestly puzzled to not see Joyce Manor. One of the most beloved punk bands of the century, they have a half-dozen songs that would make sense. But if you go to their live shows, you know this is the one that hits hardest.

11. Clairo - “Bags”
    Is that Clairo shade on the Rolling Stone 200 Greatest Rock Songs of The 21st Century list? Yeah, that’s Clairo shade on the Rolling Stone 200 Greatest Rock Songs of The 21st Century list.

12. Sufjan Stevens - “The Predatory Wasp of The Palisades”
    Maybe they categorized him as “folk” and not “rock” but Sufjan Stevens being completely omitted from this list is puzzling. Elliott Smith is there and so is “Transatlanticism” — so gentleness is not a disqualifier. Let’s right that wrong. “Chicago” makes the most sense for Sufjan, but the gut-wrenching, prosaic, 6-minute Illinois opus “The Predatory Wasp” is the better pick. 21st century rock history simply is not the same without Sufjan Stevens.

13. Bon Iver - “Holocene”

    The same can be said for Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, one of the most influential musicians of his generation. He also probably got the “that’s too soft” treatment from Rolling Stone’s voting caucus. But listen to the drums build on “Holocene” and tell me honestly that it’s not a rock song on par with the rest of the list.

14. Metric - “Help I’m Alive”
    Broken Social Scene’s “7/4 Shoreline” made the Rolling Stone cut (rightfully so, and it should have been a tad higher), which made the lack of their Canadian peers Metric even more odd. “Help I’m Alive” is a necessary piece of indie rock canon. I wish there was a statistic on how many young NBA 2K10 players got introduced to indie music via this song. Hand up, that’s me.

15. Wolf Alice - “Don’t Delete The Kisses”
    This is probably the closest a 21st century song has been to feeling emotionally like Cocteau Twins’ “Heaven or Las Vegas,” which is the most praiseworthy thing anyone can say about a song. Vocalist Ellie Rowsell is absolutely gliding over this coming-of-age track — on both the dreamy, spacebound hook and the spoken word verses.

16. Phoebe Bridgers - “Motion Sickness”

    The intro blurb to the Rolling Stone list reads: “It’s a list of songs, not artists, so we mostly avoid repeating songs by the same artist. But a handful of legends simply had too many classics to deny.” Okay, sure. Here’s the list of artists who got duplicate treatment: Radiohead, The Killers, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, Bob Dylan, Muse. Phoebe Bridgers absolutely belongs in the same breath as that crew. “I Know The End” gets a proper spot at No. 6, but her breakout “Motion Sickness” is the even more appropriate rock single that got dissed in the process.

17. Courtney Barnett - “Depreston”
    Courtney Barnett doesn’t have the same pop cultural prevalence as Bridgers or the bands listed above, but I simply cannot read a list of 21st century rock songs that doesn’t include “Depreston.” And I can’t bring myself to drag down “Pedestrian at Best” either. So here we are. “Pedestrian” is the banger. But “Depreston” perfectly represents Barnett’s versatility as a guitarist (that solo!) and wit as a lyricist, too.

18. Pinegrove - “Old Friends”
    You could reasonably point to Pinegrove’s influence for so much of the twangy, lo-fi indie rock dominating alternative music in the 2020’s. That makes their omission straight-up weird. Songs that bring you this immediately to your knees are rare. Once in a century, you might even say! How do you not instantly melt to those chugging strums on Evan Stephens Hall’s “labyrinthian” first verse?

19. Grizzly Bear - “Two Weeks”
    Here was my inner monologue scrolling Rolling Stone’s list:
    ”Cool, we’re past No. 150. I’m glad they didn’t underrate ‘Two Weeks.’”
    ”Lord, this user interface is exhausting. I’ve gotta refresh.”
    ”Oh right on, they put ‘Two Weeks’ in the Top 100!”
    ”A fucking full-page Colgate ad, really?”
    ”Man, they must have put ’Two Weeks’ in the Top 25! I respect it, but gutsy!’”
    ”Holy hell, I’ve gotta refresh again. Why is my phone 170 degrees?”
    ”Wait, what? They left off ‘Two Weeks’?”

20. M83 - “Midnight City”
    And yet, even more bothersome than the Rolling Stone user interface and lack of Grizzly Bear… is the lack of “Midnight City.” Rolling Stone has Top 40 spots for “1901” and “Time to Pretend,” proof they at least respect Obama-era sytnh-pop. So how do you not include one of the most iconic songs of that era? One of the most ubiquitous songs of the century? A synth-pop-electro-funk-indie-dance Frankenstein with one of the best sax solos ever? This is the miss I still haven’t gotten over. But I’ll probably move on just in time for the next Big List to piss me off all over again. We all will.

Some honorable mentions, and a playlist for your time

Since Substack doesn’t allow Tidal embeds, you’ll find that link at the bottom! Thoughts and prayers to Apple Music enjoyers.

1. Runnner - “Ur Name On A Grain of Rice”

2. Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band - “The Simple Joy”

3. M.A.G.S. - “Wait”

4. Anxious - “Growing Up Song”

5. Catfish and The Bottlemen - “7”

6. Cloud Nothings - “Stay Useless”

7. Perfume Genius - “Slip Away”

8. PUP - “See You At Your Funeral”

9. Hippo Campus - “The Halocline”

10. Saul Williams - “List of Demands”

11. Julia Jacklin - “I Was Neon”

12. Stay Inside - “A Backyard”

13. Friko - “Where We’ve Been”

14. Lucy Dacus - “VBS”

15. The Strokes - “Someday”

16. The Beths - “Best Left”

17. Sharon Van Etten - “Seventeen”

18. Rise Against - “Prayer of The Refugee”

19. Father John Misty - “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”

20. The Fray - “Over My Head (Cable Car)”

21. Black Country, New Road - “Snow Globes”

22. Julien Baker - “Turn Out The Lights”

23. Samia - “Fit N Full”

24. Movements - “Daylily”

25. Slow Pulp - “Falling Apart”

26. Dove Ellis - “Pale Song”

27. Los Campesinos! - “You! Me! Dancing!”

28. Way Dynamic - “Miffed It”

29. Jeff Rosenstock - “You, In Weird Cities”

30. Bright Eyes - “Road to Joy”

31. St. Vincent - “Los Ageless”

32. Wilco - “Heavy Metal Drummer”

Tidal link: Best Rock Songs of The 21st Century