Song · Interpol
“PDA” by Interpol
From the EP Precipitate (1999)
“PDA” by Interpol appears on 21 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 2003 and 2025. It was first released in 1999 on the EP Precipitate. Its best result is #29 on the Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2003. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #73 alternative song of 2003 and #3,102 alternative song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (Interpol). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"PDA" is about as old as Interpol gets. It was already on the band's first demo tape and kept turning up on their early EPs, from Fukd ID #3 to the Precipitate EP of 1999 and the Interpol EP, before it finally went out as their debut single in August 2002, the opening shot for Turn on the Bright Lights.
Paul Banks, Carlos Dengler and Daniel Kessler share the writing credit, and the song runs on nervous propulsion: guitars slicing in tight, clipped patterns, a bass line prowling underneath, a vocal that stays cool and clenched while everything around it races. It never charted, unlike the singles that came after it, but it earned an MTV2 award nomination in 2003 and later became playable in Rock Band 2. Christopher Mills directed the video.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 42 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2003 | 107 |
| 2003 | 42 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2003 | 91 |
| 2003 | 29 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2003 | 106 |
| 2003 | 65 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2003 | 101 |
| 2003 | 56 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 2003 | 100 |
| 2003 | 62 | 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON | 89X Top 89 Songs of 2003 | 89 |
| 2003 | 54 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003 | 101 |
| 2003 | 41 (tie) | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2003 | 196 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 406 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) | 500 |
| 2003 | 1961 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1961 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 161 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005) | 500 |
| 2005 | 1949 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2006 | 288 | Live 105 | Live 105 500 Co-Op Countdown (Memorial Day 2006) | 500 |
| 2006 | 151 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) | 499 |
| 2008 | 2004 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2019 | 444 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2022 | 210 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2022 | 1046 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
| 2024 | 530 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 325 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
Also listed as: Pda.
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