And now, because its what I do when I’m bored at night, here’s a list of 21 essential rock songs you should always have in your library and at quick reach on your ipod. I’m fairly confident you could stick any of these songs into just about any playlist and they’ll never get old. You’ve probably heard all of them at least once, and there’s a good chance you already own a few of them. Also, I tried to stay away from 80’s songs as much as possible. Because nothing good came out of the 80’s. Somebody recently invited me to a Bon Jovi concert. My reply? Why go to a Bon Jovi concert when I could do something more constructive, like contract really painful cancer. On my balls. So anyway, in alphabetical order:

1. “Back in Black” – AC/DC. This is one of the original rock n’ roll badass songs. It instantly makes you want to put on your dark sunglasses and a leather jacket and go break a bottle over somebody’s skull or something.

2. “Respect” – Aretha Franklin. Yeah, I know. But I can honestly say with a straight face that this may be the best song ever written. Rolling Stone magazine did an issue a couple years ago called “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” This one was number 2, and I didn’t even blink. And it was only barely edged out for number 1 by…

3. “Like a Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan. I can’t really argue with this choice either, even if my own personal pick would have been “Respect.” I’m almost certain you already have this song, but it still belongs on the list. It’s a great Dylan song for people who don’t normally like Dylan songs, and it captures your attention right away.

4. “For What It’s Worth” – Buffalo Springfield. This is one of those songs you always hear and always like but could never find the name to it because your parents never listened to cool or important music when they were young, or anytime after that, but somehow seem to know the words to all the songs by Carly Simon and The Doobie Brothers. Let’s just move on.

5. “You Never Can Tell” – Chuck Berry. No, Chuck Berry is not just the punch line to a Back to the Future joke. Makes you wonder why there aren’t more black artists in rock music today.

6. “Bad Moon Rising” – You know them. You love them. Creedence Clearwater Revival, everybody!

7. “Fortunate Son” – Creedence Clearwater Revival. Aaaaand once again. I’m fairly certain this song has been used in every movie/tv show/video game about Vietnam ever made. I also think few musicians have been excited by the current Administration as John Fogerty, who pretty much took all of his unreleased B-sides from back in the day and put them out as a new album but scratched out the word “jungle” with the word “desert.”

8. “Song of a Preacher Man” – Dusty Springfield. Dusty Springfield (no relation to Buffalo) wins this list’s award for “Wait a minute, you mean that voice is coming from a WHITE woman?”

9. “ABC” – Jackson 5. Once upon a time in a parallel universe Michael Jackson was black and had a bright career ahead of him. And people also would have scoffed that one day, as Patton Oswalt said, “Arnold Schwartzennager rules California, torture is legal and spinach is poison!”

10. “Voodoo Child” – Jimmy Hendrix. Roughly 3 billion songs have been influenced by the opening guitar riff from this song. None of them are better than the original.

11. “Instant Karma!” – John Lennon. Unabashedly political. I’m pretty sure this was intended as an open letter to Richard Nixon. I don’t think any musician since Lennon has managed to garner the same amount of public support and political validity while still making you believe that he actually stood for something. Even Bono would go to a baby-eating dinner at the White House as long as there was a $1 million dollar check for Africa at the end of it. Man, Bono is such a douchebag.

12. “Louie Louie” – The Kingsmen. Another obvious choice, but really, you never get tired of this song. It’s almost just as much fun for all the lore surrounding the alleged lyrics of the song. The FBI, way back when, actually released its own version of what it believed were the real lyrics and added to the rumor that the song was actually about something incredibly dirty. I think this was before the FBI found out about serial killers. Also, little known fact: the members of the FBI who came up with those lyrics went on to found Pitchfork. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Louie)

13. “Sweet Home Alabama” – Lynard Skynard. Back before the song title was associated with a super-gay romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon it belonged to a band of crazy southern illiterate scamps who never figured out how to properly spell their own band name. Also interesting, the entire band died in a plane crash which, unlike say Buddy Holly, did not forever propel them into mythological rock stardom and instead made them rock’s most classic one-hit wonder. Sorta like what would happen if Papa Roach or Linkin Park died in plane crashes. Even though, you know, they don’t really have any hits. Hey, speaking of Buddy Holly…

14. “Every Day” – Buddy Holly. Oops. Not in alphabetical order. I blame it on Lennon. His rebellion is so damn contagious. Anyway, Buddy Holly was like the 50’s Kurt Cobain, only if Cobain committed suicide by having his plane struck by lightning on his way to a concert in Fargo, North Dakota. Just think of all the stories of Holly’s coke-addled, alcohol-induced, sex-fueled heyday we were deprived of by his early death. Damn you, fate! Damn you, I says!

15. “Let’s Get It On” – Marvin Gaye. If you don’t know why this song is on this list then you’re probably gay.

16. “Gimme Shelter” – The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones continued existence is completely inexplicable. It’s on record that they consumed roughly 83% of all the cocaine coming out of Columbia between the years 1975 and 1983 yet they’re still alive and making music. I don’t think there’s been nearly enough attention paid to this. It’s Music’s second greatest mystery behind the issue of how Barry Manilow and Busta Rhymes, in addition to looking and sounding EXACTLY the same, have mysteriously never appeared on stage at the same time.

17. “Gimme Some Lovin’” – Spencer Davis Group. Wins this list’s award for “I can’t believe that’s sung by a WHITE GUY.”

18. “Free Falling,” “Learning to Fly” – Tom Petty. Everybody loves Tom Petty’s music and are always surprised to discover he looks exactly like Skeletor. If anything it proves girls will sleep with anybody who can strum a guitar even if some douche says you look like Skeletor on his blog. Seriously though, dude, you’re rich, you can totally afford to fix your face.

19. “Pride (In the Name of Love)” –U2. I think this is the only 80’s selection to sneak on, but I think it deserves its place here. This song would have been just as popular if it had come out in the 70’s. That’s saying something. And yet, except for Bono and The Edge I can NEVER seem to remember the other two band members. Can you? For all I know it’s Bono, The Edge, Mungo and Jumbly.

20. “Sister Ray” – Velvet Underground. Lou Reed was to the Velvet Underground was Billy Corgan was to Smashing Pumpkins. Probably better than they ever really got credit for, and once they broke up neither ever quite reached the same level of success. Although, in both cases, they probably would have become immortal if their planes had been struck down on the way to shows in Fargo, North Dakota. That’s music for you.

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Comments

Wahiawa786 says:

When I want to visit an interesting planet, I put on "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by The Byrds. (For the few "Northern Exposure" fans somewhere, this was the final tune played on "Old Tree," where a property line battle ended with a buried hatchet and a new tree seedling.) I'm not exactly a big Kinks fan, but "You Really Got Me" gets to me. I may get run out of the USA for admiring the snarling at "American Woman" by The Guess Who. For speech therapists, there's nothing like "My Generation" by The Who to set their collective teeth on edge. Soft Rock? Dan Fogelberg's "Part of the Plan" gets my feet dancing. How about Jim Croce's "Chain Gang Medley" for those times when you don't know what your Rock era is? Not exactly Classic, but "Shines Right Through Me" by Great Big Sea does the job. Let us sing of two vanished things: "Kodachrome/Maybelline" by Simon & Garfunkel, live in Central Park. Let's "Do It Again" with Steely Dan! Could The Carpenters Rock? 17-year-old Karen Carpenter shook the ballad cobwebs off "California Dreamin.'" As for Cat Stevens, it's a tossup between "Wild World" and "Peace Train."

Posted 5 months ago | Delete

kaipark25 says:

All excellent suggestions! My list is by no means definitive. More likely, it's a result of too much burboun and hitting the shuffle button until the first 20 classic rock songs came on.

Posted 5 months ago | Delete

brittanybf says:

right on. your list makes me want to turn on some classic rock radio right about NOW.

Posted 5 months ago | Delete