Top 20 Rock Songs: My Picks

During Labor Day weekend I wrote a post about 101.9 RXP's 1,019 greatest rock songs of all time countdown but failed to ever post my own top 20 list that I managed to send in right before the deadline. I forget exactly how many of my songs wound up on the list but I do know it was a good amount - maybe 10? Maybe even more. I'm proud of that and also proud of all the other songs on my list. Not even all of Matt Pinfield's songs made the list (I don't think).

Believe it or not Pete Yorn, Ray LaMontagne, AND MY NATIONAL SONG(!) got on the list and really that's all I could ever ask for. I was thrilled.

So without further adieu, here is my Top 20 List of my favorite great rock songs.

Enjoy!

Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - I Need to Know*
The Band - Up On Cripple Creek
Led Zeppelin - D'yer Mak'er*
The Hollies - Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress
Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light
The Who - The Seeker
Jefferson Airplane - High Flying Bird
The National - Mistaken For Strangers*
Bruce Springsteen - It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City*
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge*
David Bowie - Queen Bitch
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower*
Dramarama - Anything, Anything*
Chicago - Beginnings
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
Foo Fighters - Everlong*
The Smiths - This Charming Man*
Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song*

(*)=songs I know were chosen for the countdown, there may have been more.

And my "legacy picks" (these were categories with a predetermined artist that required you to choose their best song. For The Beatles it was pre-Rubber Soul and for the Stones it was pre-Sticky Fingers):

Buddy Holly - It Doesn't Matter Anymore
Bob Dylan - I Threw it All Away
Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
The Beatles - You Can't Do That
The Rolling Stones - Paint it, Black (although it would've been "Miss You" if it was out of their entire catalog)

Almost Famous

One of my most favorite movies that I don't watch nearly enough anymore. I used to know all the lines by heart. And Cameron Crowe. Oh, Cameron Crowe! I love him too much. I love Jason Lee too much. I love the obsessed Led Zeppelin fan too much - and Rolling Stone! This clip captures everything I love about everything in the world. Is that going too far again? I can't help it.

The worst part of this clip is when it ends.
Best use of a Led Zeppelin song in a movie.
Best use of an Elton John song in a movie (and my favorite Elton John song at that).
Best use of New York in a movie.

And it leads to so many more youtube videos:

Dr. Hook's real verison of "Cover of the Rolling Stone"



Elton John's live version of "Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters"



And again the insane genius of Cameron Crowe's music collection comes to life in one of the most brilliant films ever, Vanilla Sky.

Off Key: Not Musically Speaking

I want you to know that I know that this site sometimes fails to be all it could be due to very annoying issues of "loading" the important media implementations necessary on a music blog.

I HATE COMPUTERS.

I want to scream as loud as Mr. Plant.

Houses of the Holy

Let me first profess my guilt: I should be doing a lot of other stuff right now other than writing about music. I have a lot of things to think about, money to be making, work to be completing - but the only thing that matters to me right now is this album. Or rather: it is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Houses of the Holy is without a doubt the greatest fifth album a band has ever put out, let alone one of the greatest albums of all time in general. This incredible album opens with The Song Remains the Same, a song I appreciate although I'm never too fond of songs over five minutes. The intense excitement for me starts with the third song on Side One. From that song - Over the Hills and Far Away - to the end of the album, it captures my entire being and makes me forget everything I'm constantly worried about. Led Zeppelin really has the ability to transcend people, even still in 2009. They are undeniable.

I have to explain that D'yer Mak'er, Zeppelin's ode to reggae, is one of my favorite songs and one those songs specifically that makes me feel something. I know it came about more as a joke than anything (with a play on the word "Jamaica") but they captured something in that song that is as sexy as it is inspiring. No matter where I am when it comes on, I want to dance, I want to think, I want to smile - I want to be alive. I can't imagine what more a song is supposed to do than that.


Recently, I discovered The Crunge or maybe I should say I discovered that I love it almost as much as D'yer Mak'er. This too is a song that allows the band to do a play on a specific musical genre, this time funk in the James Brown style, but to me it sounds like a style all its own. Unfortunately, it seems that this incredibly unique, over the top creative song hasn't gotten the credit in musical history that it rightfully deserves. I tried for a half hour to find a video or some type of clip of it on the internet to add to this post and came up empty handed. Why? I even went on Last.Fm, one of my favorite sites, to see if the page dedicated to the song had anything extra I could add to this and found that several people admitted hatred for it. I suggest these people stop listening to music. The crazy funk and the infamous "where's the bridge?" references make this song undeniably Zeppelin in the sense that it has so much soul and mischief but uncharacteristic and special in the way that it's not really "rock". If Led Zeppelin is responsible for bringing heavy metal to mainstream than they're also responsible for bringing experimentation and ingenuity to mainstream rock singles. Robert Plant's voice, already god-like in so many ways, does an Otis Redding-like imitation in my opinion. It's simply and wonderfully different.

To even get into the brilliance that is Dancing Days, the opener of Side Two, is to open a can of worms that doesn't really end. Dancing Days is an absolute, uncompromising masterpiece that probably only comes around once every 20 years. It is mentioned on the Wikipedia page for this song that the band themselves danced on the lawn after the completion of this track - so proud of their success. Naturally, I don't know if this is true but it sounds about right. I could listen to this everyday for the next year and probably find something new each time. It's like a really good movie - but getting my head around the fact that they can do all that just audibly is magic.

If you haven't heard this album in its entirety, check it out. If you haven't heard it in a while, please revisit and fall in love all over again.

This Plant Can Get You High Too..

Another thing I love: Led Zeppelin.

You will be a better person if you watch this video. Communication Breakdown with a taste of D'yer Mak'er (pronounced "Jamaica").

I want to do an entire post dedicated to Robert Plant's fashion style later on.