Greatest Rock Song Ever

How do you judge the best rock song in history? First, you have to decide what constitutes a rock song. There are many genres of rock stretching over the past 40 years. Certain genres are true forms of rock, while others are lesser, unimportant genres. There are certain genres of rock that must be excluded from this conversation. Pop rock is out. Soft rock is way out. Wuss rock and crap rock are out as well. Eligible, beautiful and important genres of Rock include Classic Rock (Rock from the 60-70’s), Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, Punk, Hair Bands (Especially from the 80’s), Grunge (Early to Mid 90’s), Alternative Rock (mostly from the last 10 years), and the wild card of Other (for great songs that seem to either mix genre or defy categorization).

 

So what makes a rock song great? There are a couple of criteria that I developed for this survey. 1) How great was the group that performed the song. There have been plenty of awesome Rock songs, but those which are considered one hit wonders will score lower than great songs by significant groups. 2) The subject matter of the song matters. Rock is defined by an image, an edgy, aggressive, defiant, rebellious, and often sexual power that makes you want to get up and move or break something. The more rock the lyrics, the better. 3) What emotions does the song evoke? Rock has a way of bringing distinctive emotions out of you, be it hyperactivity, love, longing, rebellion, or joy, these emotions play into its greatness. The strength of the emotion, whatever it may be, will be considered. 4) How great was the album the song appeared on? Even great artists have bad albums or lesser albums. But there are certain albums whose mere mention brings out awe. Great songs from great albums will score higher points. 5) The Car Effect. When you are in the car and a truly great song comes on you turn it up and either sing along, try to sing along and butcher the unintelligible lyrics, play the drums on the dashboard, or drive at an accelerated speed. Thus, the greater the effect, the higher the score.

Certain things will not determine greatness. The author of the song is unimportant. Many incredible Rock songs are covers, that is the beauty of rock. But that will not factor positively or negatively in the discussion. Mass appeal is not a sign of greatness. In general, the public has awful taste in music. True rock fans will always know greatness, but the greatest song ever is not necessarily known by everyone. Length of the song is also insignificant. So if it is Neil Young’s 22 minute version of Like a Hurricane or any 3 minute song by the Ramones, they will get equal billing.

Here is how this will work. First, I will take suggestions for the next couple of days. We will create a top 10 list for each genre. This list will be very hard to create. We will determine the greatest songs of different genres, and then pit those songs against one another to determine a champion. The genres for submissions are Classic Rock (Top 2 submissions will be taken to the finals), Heavy Metal, Hard Rock and Punk (2 entries from these 3 genres), Hair Bands, Grunge and Alternative Rock (only 2 finalist between these 3 genres), and Other (1 wild card entry from this group). So start submitting songs and making your case for each.

 

Here is my list of early entries.

(Editor’s note, the list has now been changed to reflect subtractions and additions. Many songs have been removed from consideration. Those still in consideration are in bold.)

 

Classic Rock Entries:

Led Zeppelin -Stairway to Heaven, Ramble On, All of My Love, Immigrant Song

The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again, Baba O Reily, Who are you?

Rolling Stones – Satisfaction, Start Me Up, Paint it Black, You can’t always get what you want

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama, Freebird

Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall, Time

The Beatles – Hey Jude, Revolution

Eagles – Hotel California

Neil Young – Rocking in the Free World, Down By the River

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Golden Earring – Radar Love

Tom Petty – Free Falling, American Girl, I Won’t Back Down

Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run, Born in the USA

Janis Joplin – Me and Bobby McGhee, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart

Bob Dylan – Shelter from the Storm, The Times They are a Changing

CSN – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze, All Along the Watchtower, Voodoo Child

Jethro Tull – Aqua Lung

Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper

Doors – Light My Fire, Riders on the Storm

Steppenwolf – Magic Carpet Ride

Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water

Eric Clapton – Layla

Cream – White Room

Peter Frampton – Do you feel like we do (live version)

Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit

Boston – More than a Feeling

Journey – Don’t Stop Believing, Anyway You Want It

Stevie Ray Vaughn – Voodoo Chile

Alice Cooper – School’s Out

The Doobie Brothers – Jesus is Just Alright

Aerosmith – Sweet Emotion

The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go

The Kinks – You really got me

 

 

Punk, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal –

AC/DC – Shook me all night long, Thunderstruck, Highway to Hell

Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train

Black Sabbath – Paranoid, Iron Man

Guns N Roses – Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child of Mine

Metallica – One, Master of Puppets

Kiss – Detroit Rock City, Rock n Roll All Nite

Scorpions – Rock you like a Hurricane

Ramones - I want to be sedated, Teenage Labotomy

Queensryche – Silent Lucidity

Twisted Sister – We’re Not Gonna Take It

Van Halen – Jump, Panama, Ain’t Talking About Love

Ted Nugent – Cat Scratch Fever

 

Hair Bands, Grunge and Alternative

Guns N Roses will also be considered for this category

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

Pearl Jam – Alive, Even Flow, Better Man

Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me, Let’s Get Rocked

Billy Idol – Rebel Yell, White Wedding

Rage against the Machine – Killing in the Name of

White Snake – Here I Go Again

Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls, Dr. Feelgood

Bon Jovi – Living on a Prayer,

Poison – Nothin’ But a Good Time, Every Rose Has it Thorns

Smashing Pumpkins – Today

Skid Row – 18 and Life to Go

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give it Away Now, Under the Bridge

Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way

 

Other – (not sure where to categorize these)

U2 – One, Where the Streets Have No Name, All That You Can’t Leave Behind

Bob Seger – Night Moves

Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing

Police – Every Breath You Take, Message in a Bottle, Roxanne

REM – Everything

Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes

John Cougar Mellencamp – Jack and Diane