# Best #1 Modern/Alternative Rock Song of the Year: 2004 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427 "2014-12-05T17:39:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/1 "2014-12-05T17:39:53Z")
Went with the Beastie Boys over Modest Mouse - those were really the only 2 choices for me. Some of my favorite alternative songs of the year: Robyn Hitchcock - Television The Embassy - Flipside of a Memory Blonde Redhead - Elephant Woman Kingdom Flying Club - Artists Are Boring Kings of Convenience - I’d Rather Dance With You Secret Machines - Nowhere Again The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies) Airiel - Airtight Angels A.C. Newman - Miracle Drug ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/2 "2014-12-05T18:07:23Z")
Actually a fair list with Jet and Incubus, also U2 “Vertigo” and Green Day “American Idiot”; I gave Modest Mouse the nod in the end The also-rans from [Playlist Research](http://www.playlistresearch.com/2000s/2004modern.htm), from there my favorite FRANZ FERDINAND - “Take Me Out” Meta-rant: 2004 was a very bad year for me for a number of reason both personal and otherwise, but just to add to the suckitude of that year, the legendary (on Long Island at least) WLIR changed format. There’s a bit more to the whole sordid story as [you can read here on the wiki entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLIR), but one morning in 2004 I awoke to Salsa and Merengue where once there was The Cult, Material Issue, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. While Latin music is fine, but the upshot was for all intents and purposes modern rock was gone from commercial radio air-waves in Western Long Island/NYC - we went back to the mid-1970s all over again, maybe some new music from a college station, maybe (if atmospheric conditions were right) tune into a week signals from Connecticut or far-eastern Suffolk. There was a revival of sorts in 2008, when WRXP came around, but after a few years they too departed, becoming a sports station (the last outpost WLIR out in Hampton Bays eventually became a Christian station), and it was back to (ugh) Roger and JP in the morning on WBAB (ugh). We all know the Gambler’s saying - “If you look around the poker table and can’t spot the mark - you’re the mark” and it’s media corollary: “If you see a website or media channel and can’t figure out what product they’re selling - you’re the product” Well, consider then that the mass marketers of one of the nation’s largest media markets collectively decided that the demographic of modern rock listeners was a product no longer worth selling… We sort of have modern rock back on the airways in a fashion thanks to the guppy, I mean Shark, but still not the same as the legendary WLIR/WDRE. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/3 "2014-12-05T18:41:30Z")
Modest Mouse, with Yauch (RIP) & Co. a close second. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/4 "2014-12-05T18:55:19Z")
The two Green Day songs really stand out here for me. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/5 "2014-12-05T19:04:11Z")
“Blvd of Broken Dreams” will feature I. 2005, so I can vote for it later. This is a very tough year, U2, Modest Mouse(this song screams 2004), Incubus, Green Day and Jet are worthy of my vote. 2004 was a great year, surprised “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand did not make #1. I’ll which I vote for. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/6 "2014-12-05T19:05:54Z")
Went with Jet but by no means was it inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/7 "2014-12-05T19:45:24Z")
I’m assuming Float On is going to walk away with this, but I’ve never been a big fan of that song, despite it being the indie rock anthem of that year. So I went with the Beastie Boys. Green Day was also in the running, and then Jet a little ways behind, ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/8 "2014-12-05T20:45:45Z")
It was a tough choice between the two Green Day songs and Modest Mouse. I went with “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/9 "2014-12-05T21:22:42Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Meta-rant: 2004 was a very bad year for me for a number of reason both personal and otherwise, but just to add to the suckitude of that year, the legendary (on Long Island at least) WLIR changed format. There’s a bit more to the whole sordid story as [you can read here on the wiki entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLIR), but one morning in 2004 I awoke to Salsa and Merengue where once there was The Cult, Material Issue, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. While Latin music is fine, but the upshot was for all intents and purposes modern rock was gone from commercial radio air-waves in Western Long Island/NYC - we went back to the mid-1970s all over again, maybe some new music from a college station, maybe (if atmospheric conditions were right) tune into a week signals from Connecticut or far-eastern Suffolk. There was a revival of sorts in 2008, when WRXP came around, but after a few years they too departed, becoming a sports station (the last outpost WLIR out in Hampton Bays eventually became a Christian station), and it was back to (ugh) Roger and JP in the morning on WBAB (ugh). > We all know the Gambler’s saying - “If you look around the poker table and can’t spot the mark - you’re the mark” and it’s media corollary: “If you see a website or media channel and can’t figure out what product they’re selling - you’re the product” > Well, consider then that the mass marketers of one of the nation’s largest media markets collectively decided that the demographic of modern rock listeners was a product no longer worth selling… > > We sort of have modern rock back on the airways in a fashion thanks to the guppy, I mean Shark, but still not the same as the legendary WLIR/WDRE. Did you know Larry The Duck (WDRE DJ) is on the 1st Wave station on satellite radio? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/10 "2014-12-05T21:34:08Z")
American Idiot, hands down - it’s a classic punk anthem that perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the time. It’s odd to me that “Cold Hard Bitch” was the Jet song that made #1 - as I recall it, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and “Look What You’ve Done” got much more airplay in my area. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/11 "2014-12-05T21:56:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > American Idiot, hands down - **it’s a classic punk anthem** (Emphasis mine.) Sir, you do a _grave_ disservice to punk rock and its rich history by attempting to attach that appellation to the “music” produced (if you can even call it “produced”) by the execrable Green Day. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/12 "2014-12-05T21:59:11Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > (Emphasis mine.) > > Sir, you do a _grave_ disservice to punk rock and its rich history by attempting to attach that appellation to the “music” produced (if you can even call it “produced”) by the execrable Green Day. Tell me with a straight face that you wouldn’t love American Idiot if it were, say, the Dead Kennedys playing it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/13 "2014-12-05T22:01:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Tell me with a straight face that you wouldn’t love American Idiot if it were, say, the Dead Kennedys playing it. Agreed. That’s a fantastic song and album. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/14 "2014-12-05T22:07:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Tell me with a straight face that you wouldn’t love American Idiot if it were, say, the Dead Kennedys playing it. Well, for one, Jello Biafra likely wouldn’t be singing it, straight-faced, and without the merest hint of irony, with a faux British accent. Also, DK likely would not have recorded the song in the first place, because I don’t think Jello & Co. are [theiving fucking cocksuckers](http://www.cracked.com/article_19848_7-famous-musicians-who-stole-some-their-biggest-hits.html). You know? Like Billy Joe Armstrong is? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/15 "2014-12-05T22:08:16Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > (Emphasis mine.) > > Sir, you do a _grave_ disservice to punk rock and its rich history by attempting to attach that appellation to the “music” produced (if you can even call it “produced”) by the execrable Green Day. Yeah, sorry, **Eddie F.** - I’ve never gotten the Green Day hate. I really like this album, and a bunch of their other stuff. I love the rockier stuff on this list - Vertigo, Cold Hard Bitch, Slither. VR is about as alt/modern as Aerosmith, but I love that riff. Really never a fan of Modest Mouse, Johnny Marr associations aside. Could never really get into Linkin Park either - whenever Mike Shinoda raps, I giggle. Can I just say that playing Cold Hard Bitch alone on a guitar is really, really fun. I love the guitar sounds on that album. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/16 "2014-12-05T22:10:15Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > Well, for one, Jello Biafra likely wouldn’t be singing it, straight-faced, and without the merest hint of irony, with a faux British accent. Also, DK likely would not have recorded the song in the first place, because I don’t think Jello & Co. are [theiving fucking cocksuckers](http://www.cracked.com/article_19848_7-famous-musicians-who-stole-some-their-biggest-hits.html). You know? Like Billy Joe Armstrong is? Um, yeah, no. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/17 "2014-12-05T22:12:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Um, yeah, no. What a _stinging_ rebuke. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/18 "2014-12-05T22:13:29Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > What a _stinging_ rebuke. I don’t hear it as a rip-off at all. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/19 "2014-12-05T22:17:07Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > Well, for one, Jello Biafra likely wouldn’t be singing it, straight-faced, and without the merest hint of irony, with a faux British accent. Also, DK likely would not have recorded the song in the first place, because I don’t think Jello & Co. are [theiving fucking cocksuckers](http://www.cracked.com/article_19848_7-famous-musicians-who-stole-some-their-biggest-hits.html). You know? Like Billy Joe Armstrong is? A three-chords speed punk song that sounds kind of like another three-chords speed punk song? Well, you’ve convinced me that Green Day ripped off Dillinger Four. On a side note, you’ve convinced me that every single punk band ever that isn’t the Sex Pistols ripped off the Sex Pistols. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427/20 "2014-12-05T22:31:31Z")
Oh man, so many tough choices here. Modest Mouse and the two Green Day songs are probably the best overall, but I have a soft spot for the Lost Prophets song and anything Blink. And the Hoobastank one too. Argh… Funny thing on Jet, I remember at the time “Cold Hard Bitch” came out, people were calling them the next Rolling Stones. Then they completely fell off the face of the earth… haven’t heard anything about them in years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-modern-alternative-rock-song-of-the-year-2004/706427.md?page=2)