My criteria for "best alternative rock" songs "of all time"

Of all time? This depends on the parameters we’re using for when alternative starts and ends. By the time alternative rock became mainstream rock, around the advent of Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins, it was becoming incorrect to describe this music and its particular modes, sounds, and messages as alternative. In other words, by the time “alternative” became popular to use (early 1990s), the giants of the genre had already been established, and the music was no longer an alternative to anything. Songs after that period should get their own list (post-alternative, perhaps?).

I think the beginning date is rather more obvious since this is a “rock” list and rock needed and got an alternative in the mid-1970s. Therefore, the beginning of the list is the beginning of the punk era as well, with the Clash in Britain and the Ramones in the US. Wikipedia clearly has it all wrong in separating punk from alternative. It may be that they are mistakenly conflating punk and hardcore. Their date of “mid-1980s” for the beginning of alternative rock is off by 10 years. One of the charms of this sub-set of music is that it was around for a while without drawing enough attention to make classification of it very scientific; again, it was over by the time that classification happened with great certainty.

A list of great alternative should include sub-genres (like “New Wave,” “gothic,” “grunge” or “dance music”) without shame. Anything that struck a chord, but was not resolutely or obviously mainstream should count. Songs by acts that later became mainstream can count (i.e. we can’t discount R.E.M because they became popular), though acts that were almost always mainstream (Duran Duran, Billy Idol) should not count. Songs that exhibited alternative tendencies in sound or message, but which were released in the context of mainstream rock should have their own list. The New Wave leanings of mainstream rock acts like Tom Petty and the Cars exemplify this, as do popular songs that a fan might reasonably appreciate as sort of alternative without ever digging into similar, but more alternative fare (Flock of Seagulls, Berlin, and Devo fall into this category for me). So, too, should “Prog” or progressive rock, which to me veers too far from punk rock to be included here (I’m looking at you, King Crimson and Yes).

There are also forbears, songs that came before these alternative songs and that deserve their own category. David Bowie, for example, has produced many songs that are clearly alternative rock in all but popularity. He belongs on the forbears list, as do others like Iggy Pop, who was never as popular as Bowie, but who was already established as an artist by the beginning of the time period I count as the alternative era.

So time is one parameter for choosing the list: the songs should come from between 1976 and 1993 or so. Sound is a fairly broad category, but any recontextualizing of old school rock sounds in guitar, voice or drum should count, as should any conscious attempt to push the boundaries of rock. This includes some cross-genre songs (those that fuse rap and rock, or country and rock) without denying that there are classification differences. Many artists, of course, hate to be classified (or rather, they love to be classified in enough categories to increase sales), but this body of music is coherent enough to be analyzed without being homogeneous enough to be boring.

Message or content often follows form, and alternative rock provides not only an alternative to the sounds provided by mainstream rock, but to the messages. There’s nothing wrong with the sex, drugs, wild life and freedom content to most rock, but alternative rock tends to ironize or recontextualize these themes, or simply ignore them in favor of a more socially conscious approach. Much, but not all of it has less faith in social action than the rock of the 1960s, but by the time this era begins, its newly reenergized social conscious does mark it off from mainstream rock.

The numbering system tends to favor some of the older songs, which have proved their worth through longevity and have had more influence on the rest of the list purely through historical precedence. For acts with multiple songs, some distinction might be drawn among songs with more variance from other sounds, or how much influence (even popularity) they may have had. For acts not known for particular songs (including those that never had popular singles, even on underground radio), representative choices might be made. Beyond that, the list reflects personal taste. No one can be everywhere, nor have an emotional or intellectual connection to every artist, sound, or scene.