6. The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony" (1997)
In which a dour Richard Ashcroft shoves people out of his way on a busy city sidewalk, and if you were wise, you'd get the hell out of his way as well. Longtime indie favorites the Verve broke huge with this single but dissolved after its release, partly due to this song's unexpected success. The Rolling Stones sample is very effectively and dramatically used, and the track exudes a sort of cynical wistfulness extremely rare in pop music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyu1KKwC74
5. Radiohead - "Creep" (1993)
Despite Radiohead's long and conflicted relationship with this track, it still remains their most popular single, and perfectly encapsulates the conflicted emotions of the grunge generation: self-loathing combined with seething anger, which was endlessly copied by a series of grunge wannabees (does anyone remember Dishwalla? Candlebox? Seven Mary Three?) to increasingly lesser effect. You can hardly fault Radiohead for providing a template that they themselves disowned, however. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk