Indie Anthems

You know these tunes . . . the immortal, untouchable, immaculate rallying cries that command your allegiance, without ever demanding that you follow the herd; songs that plant a standard without forcing you to march to the beat of just one drummer — the all-time greatest Indie Anthems, full of sound and fury, signifying everything. Arctic Monkeys get our pulses racing with a bang-ba-ba-bang ("I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"), the Followill clan strips rock 'n' roll to primal basics with "Sex on Fire", Pulp's Jarvis Cocker crosses class lines with his epic art school narrative "Common People", and the Smiths give us angst and so much more on "This Charming Man". The north-west shows its anthemic best, among our fizzing indie Next Steps.

What makes a great indie anthem? Ay, there's the rub, friends: if we all knew that we'd be sitting pretty — but for a few clues it's definitely instructive to turn to Primal Scream, who groove through "Loaded" strapped to the twin engines of rock and rave, and the Happy Mondays, who twist melons left, right and centre with their 1990 Madchester-fication of John Kongos's '70s hit "He's Gonna Step On You Again", retitled "Step On". The Wombats pile on the irony, saluting an indie legend while creating an anthem of their own, with 2007's "Let's Dance to Joy Division", and the Charlatans keep all points facing north-west with "The Only One I Know". Glasvegas joins Babyshambles and Krakatoa in Deep Cuts.

Several of these Deep Cuts have earned their spurs as Indie Anthems by sheer force of conviction — the Subways' "Rock & Roll Queen" is a standout in that regard — while others grew in stature once they'd been recognised as signposts to a glorious future (Babyshambles "F**K Forever"). Glasvegas grabs hold of rock by the roots and replants it in the fertile soil of the 21st Century with "Daddy's Gone", Krakatoa marshals the stormtroopers of 21st century protest in hopes of starting a "Rock 'n' Roll Revolution", and West London's White Lies — formerly known as Fear of Flying — offer a dark kind of euphoria with the driving synths of "Death".

They stir your soul, supercharge your spirits . . . and they're all shot through with that unquenchable spirit of freedom and independence — the guts and the glory — that keeps rock 'n' roll's heart beating like a geyser-powered pneumatic piston. They are, of course, indie's greatest anthems, the tunes that defined movements, years, and — occasionally — eras. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" marked the end of Joy Division and the beginning of New Order, and sits proud near the top of our selection alongside "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes and the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony". The Killers, MGMT and the Dandy Warhols steam in with towering tracks from across the pond, and we're going to file Norman Cook's remix of Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha" under A, for absolutely addictive. Every band on our list stands united in the glow indie magnificence. Soak it up.