Only one answer please. Not the best written or the best musical complexity but the one that represents the rock.
My choice: Satisfaction - Rolling Stones
Reasons: - first notes are like the 5th of Beethoven (when you hear those notes, everybody pumps up the volume) - still very up to date - a mix of rock and blues rock and Motown sound - lyrics talks about disatisfaction of young people vs life, politics, money and women (even B Dylan like that song) - music is very basic as a good rock song should be
Best rock song of all time has to be the one that started it all. Without it all of the ones mentioned would never have happened. "Rock Around the Clock".....Bill Haley and the Comets.
Jperry,Good pick,I have the CD every song is good! My pick for best rock song,,,and there is so many great ones,would be ,Walk this Way,short ,to the point ,and rocks like crazy.One of the only songs that leaves me wanting more at the end of the song.
While I will always choose Gimme Shelter, or Sweet Home Alabama as my favorites, I think Twist and Shout probably best meets your definition. And I don't even care that much for The Beatles so go figure.
I found this thread and felt it needed clarification. Rock is supposed to be hard as in when one find's themselves between a rock and a hard place. Even Tina Turner sung about doing it rough sometimes...
Pure straight unadulterated rock is best described (imo) by the song" Beyond The Wheel" by Sound Garden. the album is titled "Ultramega OK". I saw them perform this album live in NYC when it was introduced. Kim Thayil (guitarist) did his single solo guitar work as in the album. At the end of the show he leaned his Guild S-100 against his Music Man full stack (tube, like Marshall) as the band left stage..... it rang out!!!!! Nice exit. I don't think Herbie's Tube Damper's were employed. That is Rock guys!!!!
I don’t even know what "Rock" means. I know what Rock ’n’ Roll means, but my definition is different from that of younger Rockers, to whom Little Richard (Paul McCartney’s role model, along with Buddy Holly), Chuck Berry (John Lennon, Keith Richards, and Dave Edmunds role model), Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Bobby Fuller mean next-to-nothing. Barrett Strong’s recording of "Money (That’s What I Want)" is as tough a song as there is (the tone of the guitar playing the song’s trademark riff is SO wickedly cool!), but it came out on Motown Records, so can it be Rock? The Beatles liked the song enough to include on their first album; their version is good, Barrett’s is great.
Is "Like A Rolling Stone" Rock? It meets the op’s criteria, and still never fails to raise the hair on the back of my neck. To me, it’s the ultimate anthem song, along with Bobby Fuller’s recording of "I Fought The Law" (written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets). The Clash’s version of "IFTL" is definitely Rock, and simply dreadful. What a terrible, terrible band. I had to keep that opinion to myself when I was in Pearl Harbour’s band, as she had been married to their bassist Paul Simonon. One of the worst professional musicians in the entire history of recorded music, his "style" was to just play the root note of the chords the guitars were playing. A real knuckle-dragger ;-) .
@bdp24 - I make the same distinction you do, between rock and roll and 'rock'- the former, to me, is the stuff from the '50s and after, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and all that it inspired- mixing R&B, gospel, country, etc. JLL Live in Hamburg is one of the great recorded performances, though not the best sounding recording. To me, in my fractured view of music history, rock (as opposed to rock and roll) grew out of the psych period and went in several directions-- from the very heavy stuff which is now considered proto metal (the genres labels can be constricting, i like some of the early stuff from Sabbath, Zep, Purple in the post-1970 era), hard rock (many of those UK bands, like Free, started as blues rock bands and morphed into a more radio friendly style), and stuff that is now labelled 'classic' rock.
Great choice @mapman! There is a version of "Revolution" (perhaps taped on a soundstage for TV broadcast) in which they combine elements of the slow and fast versions; it’s really cool.
Ooh, good one @oblgny! I'll add "I'm On Fire" by The Dwight Twilley Band, "Shake Some Action" by The Flamin' Groovies, "Play That Fast Thing One More Time" by Rockpile, and "Cadillac Walk" by Moon Martin (original) or Mink DeVille (great version, wicked tough).
Oh gawd yes, @oblgny! "Mercury Blues" absolutely smokes, and is a good recording ta boot (I've used it for years as material for speaker evaluations). I've seen Lindley perform it live with his great band El Rayo-X, and the room goes insane! People think The Who, The Ramones, The Pistols, and The Clash rock(ed), but none do harder than Lindley and his band on this song. The irony is that he is best known as a sideman for one of the laidback SoCal singer-songwriters, Jackson Browne of course. I've also seen David live with Ry Cooder, which is a real treat.
@oblgny, Joan is wonderful live, better than on record. Check out her live-in-studio version of Slim Harpo’s "Shake Your Hips" on You Tube. Very hot! Lou Ann Barton does a great version the song too, another great singer. She was Stevie Ray Vaughan's original singer in Austin, and now sometimes tours with his brother Jimmie.
That it’s also also one of the best rock riffs ever is beside the point. I read an article many years ago regarding the techniques used recording the tune. If my 60+ year old memory has retained anything, Page’s amplifier was situated 20 feet down a hall and cranked to eleven - or something like that.
+1 kinks really got me -classic +1 sweet child o mine-modern sign along jam areosmith sweet emotion-pure rock all of these will still be relevant 50 years from now rock on🤘
The song Heroes was inspired by an incident when David Bowie was in Berlin and saw Tony Visconti (producer/engineer) kissing Antonia Maaß (backing vocalist) by the Berlin Wall. The Rolling Stone magazine described the song, "Bowie wails with crazed soul about two doomed lovers finding a moment of redemption together — just for one day." Doomed, because Visconti was married.
Bowie was a strange one at times, but he certainly had moments of genius. He gave up his wild days, kicked his drug addiction after a scare, and the thin white duke left his mark in the music world for sure.
Many, many worthy candidates above.Old Rock 'n' Roll: "Johnny B. Goode."Later: "Rock & Roll" by Led Zeppelin. That one never fails to get my blood goin'.
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