One Hundred (More) of the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time

I have so, so been avoiding this day.  Ever since listing the 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time back in 2005, I've received emails non-stop, some agreeing with my choices but most disagreeing, which is fine, because most folks were nice, and pretty much said that they disagreed with everyone's list of one hundred greatest rock songs, which I would, too, which is why I put up my own list . . .   And hey, honesty time, sometimes I even disagree with my own list . . .

So anyway, first, my apologies to all those folks I never responded to, but I do have a day job, and well, you know . . .  So thanks for being cool with that. 

Second, yes, I know there are a lot of great rock songs not on the first list.  I didn't really want to keep changing it, though some changes were made, and I didn't really want to make up a list, like, great rock songs number 101 to 200, because they're all (pretty much) great songs, right?  So anyway, last week I got an email from E.G., who said the following:

Interesting list on rock’s 100 best songs ever.

Don’t agree with much of it (Lola, for instance, is easily the best Kinks song) and I’ve got many comments to make, but for starters just one on Ten Years After: If “Love Like a Man” can’t make the list, I would suggest that you should listen to the “Cricklewood Green” LP; there are a COUPLE of songs on there, that could make the list.

And hell, what about Jimi Hendrix? Only one reference???!!! Same with Creedence, who probably had more great songs on any of their LP’s than most of the songs on your list.

Thanks for the effort, in any case.

Greetings from South Africa.

Two things struck me.  First, I thought, wow, compared to many of our readers, people are actually pretty polite in South Africa, Maybe I want to move there.  (Which probably is not what people in South Africa are thinking - yeah, DJ, love to have you here, man!) 

And second, I thought, wow, this guy's musical taste is so much like mine.  I actually had the Cricklewood Green LP (before my dog Orion got worked up one day and chewed up my entire record collection).  And I loved, and still love, Creedence, and most of the time am floored by Hendrix.  So, anyway, here's one hundred (more) of the greatest rock songs of all time, which you probably need on your iPod at least as much as the other hundred.  Pay no attention to the ranking, the numbers are there only so that I know there's actually one hundred songs on the list.

Number	Song Title	Artist
1	Lola	Kinks
2	I'm Going Home	Ten Years After
3	(Don't Fear) The Reaper	Blue Oyster Cult
4	School's Out	Alice Cooper
5	Why	Annie Lennox
6	Barracuda	Heart
7	Let It Ride	Bachman Turner Overdrive
8	Twilight Zone	Golden Earring
9	Feel Like Makin' Love	Bad Company
10	Who'll Stop the Rain	Creedence Clearwater Revival
11	Stand By Me	Ben E. King
12	I Love Rock and Roll	Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
13	Sea of Joy	Blind Faith
14	Summertime Blues	Blue Cheer
15	Born in the USA	Bruce Springsteen
16	Gloria	Them
17	On the Road Again	Canned Heat
18	Another Saturday Night	Sam Cooke
19	Venus	Shocking Blue
20	Heartbreaker	Pat Benatar
21	Something in the Air	Thunderclap Newman
22	Get Off of My Cloud	Rolling Stones
23	Love Potion No. 9	Clovers
24	Crossroads	Cream
25	Telegram Sam	T Rex
26	Walk on the Wild Side	Lou Reed
27	Chain of Fools	Aretha Franklin
28	Fame	David Bowie
29	All the Young Dudes	Mott the Hoople
30	I Want You to Want Me	Cheap Trick
31	Mustang Sally	Wilson Pickett
32	Walk On Hot Coals	Rory Gallagher
33	Legs	ZZ Top
34	Aqualung	Jethro Tull
35	Long Tall Sally	Little Richard
36	With A Little Help From My Friends	Joe Cocker
37	Would I Lie to You	Eurythmics
38	Season of the Witch	Donovan
39	The Boys Are Back in Town	Thin Lizzy
40	Shadows of the Night	Pat Benatar
41	Money	Pink Floyd
42	For Your Love	Yardbirds
43	Somebody To Love	Queen
44	With Or Without You	U2
45	White Rabbit	Jefferson Airplane
46	Good Lovin'	Young Rascals
47	Down on Me	Janis Joplin
48	Wild Horses	Rolling Stones
49	Cocaine	Eric Clapton
50	That'll Be the Day	Buddy Holly
51	L.A. Woman	Doors
52	San Francisco	Scott McKenzie
53	Gimme Some Lovin'	Spencer Davis Group
54	Hungry	Paul Revere and the Raiders
55	I'm Your Captain / Closer to Home	Grand Funk Railroad
56	Crimson And Clover	Tommy James and the Shondells
57	She's Not There	Zombies
58	The Weight	The Band
59	Rhiannon	Fleetwood Mac
60	In-a-gadda-da-vida	Iron Butterfly
61	In the Midnight Hour	Wilson Pickett
62	The Times They Are A-Changin'	Bob Dylan
63	I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock and Roll Band)	Moody Blues
64	Heartbreak Hotel	Elvis Presley
65	Theme From An Imaginary Western	Mountain
66	Without You	Harry Nilsson
67	Come Sail Away	Styx
68	Call Me	Blondie
69	Teach Your Children	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
70	Time Has Come Today	Chambers Brothers
71	Down Under	Men At Work
72	All Right Now	Free
73	Crumblin' Down	John Mellencamp
74	Love The One You're With	Stephen Stills
75	Panama Red	New Riders Of the Purple Sage
76	Surfin' Safari	Beach Boys
77	Paint it Black	Rolling Stones
78	Cowgirl In the Sand	Neil Young
79	Ramblin' Man	Allman Brothers
80	Incense and Peppermint	Strawberry Alarm Clock
81	Free Bird	Lynyrd Skynyrd
82	With Your Love	Jefferson Starship
83	Day Tripper	Beatles
84	Respect	Aretha Franklin
85	Friend of the Devil	Grateful Dead
86	Locomotive Breath	Jethro Tull
87	Rock This Town	Stray Cats
88	To Love Somebody	Bee Gees
89	Dream On	Aerosmith
90	Radar Love	Golden Earring
91	Susie Q	Creedence Clearwater Revival
92	These Eyes	Guess Who
93	Blinded By the Light	Manfred Mann
94	Keep Me Hangin' On	Vanilla Fudge
95	I'm A Believer	Monkees
96	Eli's Coming	Three Dog Night
97	Wipeout	Surfaris
98	I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night	Electric Prunes
99	Happy Together	Turtles
100	(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet	Blues Magoos

 

So anyway, yeah, rough draft, but I gave myself a lot of freedom and had a lot of fun with this - probably too much fun.  And I am sure people will disagree with this, but it does get a person thinking . . .  And really, there are some good ideas for songs to add to your collection here, and some day (not soon!) I'll probably have to make up another list as well, because it bothered me a bit to take off Ace Frehley's Back In The New York Groove, and I also thought about adding something by the Boomtown Rats, and I could just as soon have put in Sweet Home Alabama as Free Bird, but then I really would have had to put in Neil Young's Southern Man . . .