Song · Powerman 5000
“When Worlds Collide” by Powerman 5000
From the album Tonight the Stars Revolt! (1999)
“When Worlds Collide” by Powerman 5000 appears on 24 radio countdowns from 16 stations between 1999 and 2023. It was first released in 1999 on the album Tonight the Stars Revolt!. Its best result is #15 on the WBER Listener Countdown 1999. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #33 alternative song of 1999, #2,564 alternative song of all time and #255 of the '90s.
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Powerman 5000 launched "When Worlds Collide" from Tonight the Stars Revolt! in 1999, a B-movie blast of nu metal that hits like a battering ram with a dance-floor bounce. Sylvia Massy produced it, with Scott Humphrey and Frank Gryner mixing and Joe Barresi adding engineering. Spider One, who wrote the words, has said the song is about social classes, though it plays like a call to riot.
It became one of the band's best-known songs, turning up in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and the 2000 film Little Nicky, and it was up for Single of the Year at the 2000 Boston Music Awards. In 2017 Spin's Annie Zaleski ranked it ninth on her list of the greatest nu metal songs. The band re-recorded it in 2020.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 23 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1999 | 107 |
| 1999 | 62 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1999 | 106 |
| 1999 | 69 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1999 | 101 |
| 1999 | 30 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1999 | 100 |
| 1999 | 46 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92 Songs of 1999 | 92 |
| 1999 | 25 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 99 Songs of 1999 | 99 |
| 1999 | 48 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 1999 | 107 |
| 1999 | 63 | 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON | 89X Top 89 Songs of 1999 | 89 |
| 1999 | 15 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 1999 | 101 |
| 1999 | 59 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 104 Songs of 1999 | 104 |
| 2000 | 52 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2000 | 93 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 470 | WHFS | WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 690 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 2000 | 69 | The Edge | KEDJ Countdown 2000 (106 songs) | 106 |
| 2002 | 734 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2006 | 312 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006) | 500 |
| 2007 | 246 | KROQ | KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) | 500 |
| 2013 | 146 | KBPI | KBPI Top 200 Songs of All Time | 200 |
| 2014 | 496 | 94.3 WCYY | WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) | 500 |
| 2020 | 235 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) | 420 |
| 2021 | 202 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) | 420 |
| 2022 | 203 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) | 420 |
| 2023 | 192 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) | 420 |
| 2023 | 83 | 94.1 WJJO | WJJO Frequent Rocker Top 100 Songs of 2023 | 100 |
Also listed as: When World's Collide.
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