https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/the-100-most-awesome-rock-songs-of-a...10. “Rocket Man” • Elton John
You would think the regular commute to Mars (especially on heavy traffic days) would induce a serious case of road rage, but it’s only left Captain Fantastic down in the mouth. And what he wants us to know is he’s not the man we think he is. He’s a stranger—the man who fell up from Earth.
9. “Born to Run” • Bruce Springsteen
Released at the height of the Boss’ baroque period, he mythologizes like a mother about a restless youth in search of “the runaway American dream.” The “mansions of glory” are factories belching smoke, the Jersey shore is a death trap and a suicide rap, and Springsteen’s hero wants out. But like all doomed heroes he knows damn well it isn’t in the cards. That’s the problem with runaway dreams—they always outrun you.
8. “Helter Skelter” • The Beatles
The closest The Beatles ever came to the lunatic asylum, and proof positive that Paul McCartney could scream like a man being pursued by a rhino wearing an explosive vest, “Helter Skelter” is also a sad commentary on the failure of America’s education system—the Manson Family couldn’t even spell the song’s title correctly on a refrigerator.
7. “Stairway to Heaven” • Led Zeppelin
One of the best things about the most awesome heavy metal song of all time is it has three parts, like a Zorgamosiolhr but with a killer Jimmy Page guitar solo. As for that bustle in the hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now—it’s just Great Van Fleet taking notes.
6. “Jump” • Van Halen
The most ebullient, good-natured, and downright joyous song of 1984 (the year, not the album), “Jump” makes me wish I’d had the chance to bromance it up with the boys. I’m talking Saturday afternoon barbecues, Korean movie nights, and countless hours spent going through one another’s clothes closets saying things like “Mind if I borrow this tiger print sleeveless Spandex onesie?” Many hard rock fans loathed the synthesizer, but they’re the same people who would have blanched had you informed them Van Halen was a glam band.
5. “Like a Rolling Stone” • Bob Dylan
Talk about your Schadenfreude. What does it say about us as a species that one of rock’s most revered songs is a gloating diatribe directed towards a woman (who admittedly has some glaring character defects) who has it all taken from her, right down to her diplomat with his Siamese cat? And lacks for even a GPS to guide her way home? Nothing good.
4. “American Pie” • Don McLean
The music didn’t die the day the plane with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper went down in a cornfield outside Clear Lake, Iowa. It died the day Paul McCartney released “Silly Love Songs.”
3. “Sweet Home Alabama” • Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Turn it up” sings Ronnie Van Zant to start things off, and I always do. Ronnie was an ornery bastard and knocked Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell’s teeth out—twice. When he tells you to do something, do it.
2. “Every Picture Tells a Story” • Rod Stewart
On this, the best coming of age song ever written (“Maggie May” comes in a close second), Rod the Mod’s dad suggests he see the world, so he does only to get arrested in Paris for inciting a peaceful riot, developing a bad case of BO in Rome, and finally getting bit on the deck of the Peking ferry by an Asian woman who doesn’t believe in birth control. But Rod remains philosophical: “Make the best out of the bad just laugh it off/You didn’t ask to come here anyway.”
1. “All the Young Dudes” • Mott the Hoople
This greatest of all rock anthems was dedicated to a generation of Glam Kids who, bored to tears by their elder siblings’ tiresome talk of political revolution (“What a drag, too many snags”), decided to throw a revolution of their own. Glitter, androgyny, garish makeup, and playing dress up—theirs was a children’s crusade, and the children just wanted to have fun. Boogaloo dudes indeed.
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Greatest Rock song of all time (Read 190 times)
