100 Greatest Songs?

Sunday, 20 August 2006 by marstinson.

My father passed along a book, “Broken Prey,” by John Sandford (available from amazon.com or bn.com - no, I’m not plugging their sites). The book itself was nothing special - a police-hunt-down-the-serial-killer kind of thing. All in all, a decent read, but nothing to get terribly excited over. Except for one item - the protagonist is compiling a list of the 100 greatest songs of the rock era. The creation of his list is a kind of subplot running through the whole book and the end result was kind of interesting, especially for the conspicuous absence of anything by the Beatles. So, for what it’s worth, here’s John Sandford’s take on the best songs of the rock era:

1. Sharp-Dressed Man (ZZ Top)
2. Legs (ZZ Top)
3. Mustang Sally (Wilson Pickett)
4. Superman’s Song (Crash Test Dummies)
5. Rock On (David Essex)
6. Radar Love (Golden Earring)
7. Heart of Glass (Blondie)
8. White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
9. Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane)
10. Layla (Derek and the Dominoes)
11. Roadhouse Blues (The Doors)
12. House of the Rising Sun (The Animals)
13. Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith)
14. Dude (Looks Like a Lady) (Aerosmith)
15. Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen)
16. Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen)
17. Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)
18. Every Breath You Take (The Police)
19. Heart of Saturday Night (Tom Waits)
20. Hot For Teacher (Van Halen)
21. Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who)
22. Hotel California (Gipsy Kings)
23. Give Me One Reason (Tracy Chapman)
24. Down On The Corner (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
25. Lyin’ Eyes (The Eagles)
26. Life In The Fast Lane (The Eagles)
27. Skateaway (Roller Girl) (Dire Straits)
28. Mary Jane’s Last Dance (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
29. Me and Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin)
30. Black Water (The Doobie Brothers)
31. I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)
32. Jack and Diane (John Mellencamp)
33. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) (Pink Floyd)
34. Money (Pink Floyd)
35. Piano Man (Billy Joel)
36. After Midnight (Eric Clapton)
37. Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton)
38. You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
39. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC)
40. Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress) (The Hollies)
41. Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
42. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan)
43. Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan)
44. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones)
45. Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones)
46. Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones)
47. Anarchy in the UK (Sex Pistols)
48. Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead)
49. Slow Hand (Pointer Sisters)
50. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Eurythmics)
51. Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley)
52. Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
53. Night Moves (Bob Seger)
54. Bye Bye Love (The Everly Brothers)
55. Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)
56. Lola (The Kinks)
57. Tender Is The Night (Jackson Browne)
58. Louie, Louie (The Kingsmen)
59. Bad to the Bone (George Thorogood and the Destroyers)
60. Turn the Page (Metallica)
61. Sweet Home Alabama (Lynryd Skynryd)
62. We Will Rock You (Queen)
63. Ramblin’ Man (The Allman Brothers Band)
64. Rock and Roll (Led Zepplin)
65. What’s Love Got to Do with It (Tina Turner)
66. Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf)
67. With or Without You (U2)
68. Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
69. Blue Morning, Blue Day (Foeigner)
70. White Wedding (Billy Idol)
71. Sweet Child o’ Mind (Guns N’ Roses)
72. Paradise City (Guns N’ Roses)
73. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Guns N’ Roses)
74. Walk on the Wild Side (Lou Reed)
75. Feel Like Makin’ Love (Bad Company)
76. Rock of Ages (Def Leppard)
77. Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)
78. Devil with a Blue Dress On (Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels)
79. Respect (Aretha Franklin)
80. I’m In the Mood (John Lee Hooker and Bonnie Raitt)
81. I Got You (I Feel Good) (James Brown)
82. Unchained Melody (The Righteous Brothers)
83. Little Red Corvette (Prince)
84. Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry)
85. Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds)
86. Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
87. Peggy Sue (Buddy Holly)
88. Great Balls of Fire (Jerry Lee Lewis)
89. Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison)
90. Runaway (Del Shannon)
91. Walk This Way (Run-DMC)
92. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding)
93. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
94. Still Crazy After All These Years (Paul Simon)
95. Who Do You Love? (Bo Diddley)
96. One Toke Over the Line (Brewer and Shipley)
97. I Wanna Be Sedated (The Ramones)
98. Should I Stay or Should I Go (The Clash)
99. Burning Down the House (Talking Heads)
100. Jazz Suite No. 2: Waltz 2 (Dmitri Shostakovich)

While most of the songs would definitely qualify as rock, the list is not songs of a particular genre, but of the time period from about the mid-50’s to the mid-80s. I was surprised to find that I have about a third to half of them either on CD, cassette or vinyl. There are a few that I haven’t heard (the Gipsy Kings cover of “Hotel California,” for example). But I was surprised to find that almost all of them are available through one or more of the various online music services. One that does not seem to be is Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”, which appears to only be available on CD. Why? I have no idea - just about everything else she’s done is available, but not that album. Royalty or copyright issues, maybe?

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