Song · Dave Matthews Band
“Don't Drink the Water” by Dave Matthews Band
From the album Before These Crowded Streets (1998)
“Don't Drink the Water” by Dave Matthews Band appears on 13 radio countdowns from 11 stations between 1998 and 2021. It was first released in 1998 on the album Before These Crowded Streets. Its best result is #26 on the WEQX Top 102.7 of 1998. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #42 alternative song of 1998, #5,831 alternative song of all time and #337 of the '90s.
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"Don't Drink the Water" was the first taste of Dave Matthews Band's 1998 album Before These Crowded Streets, and it's a grim, coiled thing. Dave Matthews wrote it about the persecution of Native Americans, and the music bristles with the anger of the subject, Béla Fleck's banjo curling through the tension while Alanis Morissette adds guest vocals. Steve Lillywhite mixed it, and RCA made the single available as a download that April.
On Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks it climbed to number four, the band's best showing there, and it gave them a second chart-topper on the Triple-A chart. In Canada it reached number three on the RPM Alternative 30.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 51 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1998 | 91 |
| 1998 | 58 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1998 | 106 |
| 1998 | 46 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1998 | 101 |
| 1998 | 52 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1998 | 100 |
| 1998 | 27 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 101.7 Songs of 1998 | 102 |
| 1998 | 83 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 1998 | 107 |
| 1998 | 49 | The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC | The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 1998 | 100 |
| 1998 | 98 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 1998 | 98 |
| 1998 | 26 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 1998 | 103 |
| 1998 | 27 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 103 Songs of 1998 | 102 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 651 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 1999 | 1071 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2021 | 744 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s | 908 |
Also listed as: Don't Drink The Water.
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