The (Very Nearly) Definitive List
Though few now remember me as the keyboardist for the wildly-underappreciated
rock group Orphan, I can still stake a claim to being a knowledgeable source of
rock music, based largely on the fact that I lived through (and stayed awake for
most of) the "classic rock"
era. If you did, too, then maybe I saw you at one of the concerts; Grand
Funk Railroad at Shea Stadium, or Jethro Tull at The Fillmore East, a few weeks
before that hallowed hall forever closed its doors.
It occurs to me, as I write this, that many alive now think radios always came with FM and AM; I know differently. Most radios back in the 1960's were AM-only, since FM broadcasting was reserved for primarily classical music, which few in America listened to. Then The Doors' Light My Fire came along. AM radios adhered to a 3-minute rule for songs, and so only played the 3-minute version of Light My Fire, which simply eliminated the instrumental solo. But a few groundbreaking radio stations (I listened to WNEW-FM in New York) played the full song, which lasted six or seven minutes. Suddenly, we all had to have FM radios. But I digress . . .
It's impossible, of course, to truly put together a list such as the one
below that would satisfy everyone. Music is personal. I'm more than
willing to listen to suggestions, but if you do send an e-mail, please make it a
polite one; the fact that your favorite song isn't on the list shouldn't be
taken as a personal affront. Besides, there are some who may not
appreciate the classic sound of The Archies the way you do . . .
| Number | Song Title | Artist |
| 1 | All Day and All of the Night |
Kinks |
| 2 | Sunshine of Your Love | Cream |
| 3 | Satisfaction | Rolling Stones |
| 4 | Light My Fire | Doors |
| 5 | Stairway to Heaven | Led Zeppelin |
| 6 | Runaway | Del Shannon |
| 7 | House of the Rising Sun | Animals |
| 8 | Born To Be Wild | Steppenwolf |
| 9 | In the Presence of the Lord | Blind Faith |
| 10 | Truckin' | Grateful Dead |
| 11 | Whiter Shade of Pale | Procol Harum |
| 12 | Purple Haze | Jimi Hendrix |
| 13 | Good Vibrations | Beach Boys |
| 14 | Sounds of Silence | Simon & Garfunkel |
| 15 | Woodstock | Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young |
| 16 | Bad Moon Rising | Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| 17 | Like A Rolling Stone | Bob Dylan |
| 18 | American Woman | Guess Who |
| 19 | You've Lost That Loving Feeling | Righteous Brothers |
| 20 | Jailhouse Rock | Elvis Presley |
| 21 | Here Comes My Girl | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers |
| 22 | Born To Run | Bruce Springsteen |
| 23 | California Dreaming | Mamas & Papas |
| 24 | Jesus Is Just Alright | Doobie Brothers |
| 25 | You Really Got Me | Kinks |
| 26 | Hey Jude | Beatles |
| 27 | Train Kept A-Rollin' | Yardbirds |
| 28 | Eight Miles High |
Byrds |
| 29 | Oye Como Va | Santana |
| 30 | Respect | Aretha Franklin |
| 31 | Johnny B Goode | Chuck Berry |
| 32 | When A Man Loves A Woman | Percy Sledge |
| 33 | Nights in White Satin | Moody Blues |
| 34 | Do You Believe In Magic | Lovin' Spoonful |
| 35 | Hotel California | Eagles |
| 36 | Imagine | John Lennon |
| 37 | Ticket to Ride | Beatles |
| 38 | Whole Lotta Love | Led Zeppelin |
| 39 | Gimme Shelter | Rolling Stones |
| 40 | Lola | Kinks |
| 41 | La Bamba | Richie Valens |
| 42 | Pretty Woman | Roy Orbison |
| 43 | Do Wah Diddy Diddy | Manfred Mann |
| 44 | Yesterday | Beatles |
| 45 | Sultans of Swing | Dire Straits |
| 46 | Pinball Wizard | Who |
| 47 | Whipping Post | Allman Brothers |
| 48 | Somebody To Love | Jefferson Airplane |
| 49 | Time of the Season | Zombies |
| 50 | Turn, Turn, Turn | Byrds |
| 51 | White Room | Cream |
| 52 | Dust In the Wind | Kansas |
| 53 | Feelin' Alright | Traffic |
| 54 | For What It's Worth | Buffalo Springfield |
| 55 | Daniel | Elton John |
| 56 | You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet | Bachman Turner Overdrive |
| 57 | For Your Love | Yardbirds |
| 58 | Bohemian Rhapsody | Queen |
| 59 | Unchained Melody | Righteous Brothers |
| 60 | Glad All Over | Dave Clark Five |
| 61 | You Make Loving Fun | Fleetwood Mac |
| 62 | Lay Lady Lay | Bob Dylan |
| 63 | Changes | David Bowie |
| 64 | Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison |
| 65 | Maggie May | Rod Stewart |
| 66 | Summer In the City | Lovin' Spoonful |
| 67 | Layla | Derek and the Dominoes |
| 68 | Dream On | Aerosmith |
| 69 | Brown Sugar | Rolling Stones |
| 70 | Heart of Gold | Neil Young |
| 71 | One | Three Dog Night |
| 72 | Won't Get Fooled Again | Who |
| 73 | Roadhouse Blues | The Doors |
| 74 | Lay Down, Lay Down | Melanie |
| 75 | Wear Your Love Like Heaven | Donovan |
| 76 | Piece of My Heart | Big Brother and the Holding Company |
| 77 | Shambhala | Three Dog Night |
| 78 | Magic Carpet Ride | Steppenwolf |
| 79 | Lost Without Your Love | Bread |
| 80 | Take It to the Limit | Eagles |
| 81 | Suite Judy Blue Eyes | Crosby, Stills & Nash |
| 82 | It's Only Make Believe | Conway Twitty |
| 83 | Ball and Chain | Big Brother and the Holding Company |
| 84 | Badlands | Bruce Springsteen |
| 85 | Refugee | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers |
| 86 | Bad to the Bone | George Thorogood and the Destroyers |
| 87 | I'm A Man | Spencer Davis Group |
| 88 | Morning Has Broken | Cat Stevens |
| 89 | Lucky Man | Emerson, Lake & Palmer |
| 90 | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | Elton John |
| 91 | Still Haven't Found . . . | U-2 |
| 92 | Hush | Deep Purple |
| 93 | Black Magic Woman | Santana |
| 94 | The Flame | Cheap Trick |
| 95 | Roxanne | The Police |
| 96 | 25 or 6 to 4 | Chicago |
| 97 | Smoke on the Water | Deep Purple |
| 98 | Can't Get It Out of My Head | Electric Light Orchestra |
| 99 | Louie, Louie | Kingsmen |
| 100 | I Wonder Why | Dion and the Belmonts |
Like I said, not everyone will agree, and the order of the songs is almost a moot point when listing such great music, but I doubt you could go wrong by assembling this group of songs for your listening pleasure. (Don't tell me these songs aren't on your iPod!) And if I've reminded you of a few you'd forgotten, or encouraged you to go out and listen to one or two you might not have heard, then my task is accomplished.
PS - Thanks to a reader for suggesting Dion and the Belmonts.
......
A reader from Britain recently wrote and asked why Back in Black by AC/DC wasn't on the list. I'm sorry to admit that I don't know the song. Maybe I'm too old . . .
He also asked "why do all these lists include not rock songs..." which is, I think, a good question. Rock has always been difficult to define, which is why people are always trying to create sub-genres, like classic rock, folk rock, etc.
A good bit of what we might consider rock music is simply blues music. Two of Cream's biggest hits were "Crossroads," by Robert Johnson, and "Spoonful," by Willie Dixon. The Rolling Stones, especially in their early days, were heavily blues-influenced. (Am I the only one who realizes that Mick Jagger has spent his entire musical career imitating the song stylings of African-American women?) You can hear a lot of blues music by listening to the Spencer Davis Group and, of course, Cream's most famous band member, Clapton. Even Jethro Tull did a version of "Stormy Monday." (Not great - don't rush right out to find it.) Back to Cream - what about "Born Under a Bad Sign"?
The Grateful Dead did, "Turn on Your Love Light," which had previously been recorded by James Cotton. Rock or blues? The Dead also did a song about teaching that weeping willow how to cry, cry cry . . . rock or country? The Byrds were almost always a folk/country/rock mix, which was inevitable, given the deep folk roots of their founders. Is Dylan folk or rock? It's hard - some might say semi-blasphemous - to exclude him from either group.
The Moody Blues tried to be classical/rock, and so did, in a way, ELO.
One could go on, ad infinitum.
Lastly, there is the question of rock versus "easy listening." My only observation here is that some songs we might today regard as being "easy listening" were once clearly regarded as rock songs. Perceptions change over time.
Update - Thanks to recent input from a correspondent, a few changes have been made - notably, The Police and U-2 are now represented, as they should probably always have been. However, we remain unrepentant for rating The Kinks as highly as we do....
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