Top 100 classic rock songs

By Rolling Stone.

Green Day "Dookie" - Retrospective Review. Updated: Dec 20, Pictured - Black Sabbath, Billboard Magazine We at Melophobe have made the bold statement that rock music is perhaps the greatest artistic gift given to the world in the 20th century, and continue to stand by it wholeheartedly. Throughout the '50s, artists like Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and more crafted the sound into a well-established, progressive style of creative music by the year

Top 100 classic rock songs

Artwork by Troy L. The number of essential recordings to choose from is seemingly endless. The subjective importance or quality of a song can shift from day to day, era to era. First, the rules. We also decided to limit it to ONE song per artist. Without such a rule, The Beatles would dominate. That still left a lot of great artists and songs off the list. But none of them managed to top the original, which feels like the perfect girl-group song. From the start, Roy Orbison was different from his fellow rock and roll pioneers. Jackie Wilson kicked off his solo career after the Dominoes with pretty straightforward love songs that would establish him as a signature voice and performer of the late s. But it was 10 years after his solo debut that he finally hit pay dirt. Wilson originally approached the song as a ballad. Wilson obliged, creating one of the great feel-good songs of all time.

Geffen Records. Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix. Apparently so.

Bored with Top Classic Rock Songs lists that are dominated by the same handful of artists? We put a twist on that: You'll still find all of the expected legends on the below list, from Aerosmith to ZZ Top, but each artist gets only one song each. We've already anticipated the questions: "Was the right song chosen to represent each artist or band? Of course, this means that all but one song from even the most legendary artists won't be represented here. Even after allowing different artists onto the list, there were still dozens of "How can so-and-so not be included? The below list of the Top Classic Rock Songs may start a lot of fights it did around here at the UCR office , but it's also the start of one hell of a playlist.

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Top 100 classic rock songs

By Rolling Stone. Click here for the new, updated Greatest Songs list from When you hear a great song, you can think of where you were when you first heard it, the sounds, the smells. It takes the emotions of a moment and holds it for years to come. It transcends time. A great song has all the key elements — melody; emotion; a strong statement that becomes part of the lexicon; and great production.

Picture of a horse cartoon

It transcends time. Approximately one year following the release of JJ Cale's record Troubadour , Eric Clapton introduced Cale's song "Cocaine" to a much wider audience when he included it on his album Slowhand , released in November And it's part of that wallpaper because it's easy, and it's kinda soft, and pleasant enough in its own way, at least if you don't think too hard about the sad-sack loser characters that inhabit its lyrics. For nearly seven minutes, Axl Rose expounds on the joys of green grass, pretty girls and toxic chemicals. With each album, Queen had been upping the ante and by the time they started work on 's A Night at the Opera , they had a mountain of ideas in tow. And it almost happens by accident. At about seven and a half minutes long, not only is it Billy Joel's longest song, but it's also his most progressive and complex. But the production is fantastic, merging synths and drums with clever vocal effects that make it feel like Madonna is armed with an army of backup singers. Without such a rule, The Beatles would dominate. Imagine - John Lennon. Luckily, Stephen liked what he heard.

Artwork by Troy L. The number of essential recordings to choose from is seemingly endless.

The task of selecting the greatest rock song of all time was no easy feat, but from a sea of fantastic songs, the one that stood above the rest was The Beatles' non-album single, Hey Jude. FIQL Of course, this means that all but one song from even the most legendary artists won't be represented here. He was eventually overruled by Waters, who drew his lyrical inspiration for the track from an experience he had after being shot up with painkillers prior to a Pink Floyd gig. On the contrary, it is a brilliant takedown of classism that John Fogerty wrote in less than a half-hour. Roxanne - The Police. And anger has always been part of the backbone of rock music, whether the singer's angry at the government, another man, or a girl who's done him wrong. That crucial element anchors "Just What I Needed" for the duration, as it unfolds into a rather biting tune. That recipe was eventually good enough for five gold-selling albums and several charting hits in the '70s. Muddy Waters had been making his mark on music history for the better part of a decade and a half. At nearly every show we've attended after Roth reunion with Van Halen — and that's been a lot — "Everybody Wants Some!! Heart of Gold - Neil Young. What does a British jazz-blues band know about life on the Jersey shore? Listening to the song today, it's hard not to look back fondly at what was a much simpler time in the music industry, because this kind of song will never, ever happen again.