Song · Phish
“Free” by Phish
From the album Billy Breathes (1996)
“Free” by Phish appears on 11 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1996 and 2021. It was first released in 1996 on the album Billy Breathes. Its best result is #100 on the WBCN Top 104 Songs of 1996. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #347 alternative song of 1996 and #3,542 alternative song of all time.
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"Free" led off the singles from Billy Breathes, Phish's 1996 album, and it's the Vermont jam band at its most compact: Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall wrote a tight, chunky rocker with a chorus that floats, and Steve Lillywhite, co-producing with the band and mixing alongside John Siket, trimmed it down to radio size. It gave them their first top-10 hit on any chart, reaching 7 on Adult Alternative Airplay, plus their only appearance on the Alternative Airplay chart.
The studio cut is only half the story. Phish first played it at a Voters for Choice benefit in Lowell, Massachusetts, in May 1995, and it has stayed in the rotation ever since, past 200 performances by 2023. Onstage it stretches out: one version in Landover, Maryland, that November ran beyond 33 minutes.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 100 | WBCN Boston, MA | WBCN Top 104 Songs of 1996 | 104 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 1582 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 1582 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1582 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1575 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 1576 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1576 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1574 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2010 | 321 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2014 | 840 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2021 | 393 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s | 908 |
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