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Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time

post #1 of 41
5/29/08 at 1:13am
Thread Starter 
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527

Another list, and here I am posting about it. Rolling Stone's got my attention again. Note that the word "solo" is out of the title. It's more focused on the feeling the guitar brings to a certain song.

Here's the entire list (excuse any spelling errors, as I quickly typed this myself...I also noticed that there were errors in some of the years listed, so I fixed the ones that I caught):

1. Johnny B. Goode: Chuck Berry (1958)
2. Purple Haze: The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)
3. Crossroads: Cream (1968)
4. You Really Got Me: The Kinks (1964)
5. Brown Sugar: The Rolling Stones (1971)
6. Eruption: Van Halen (1978)
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Beatles (1968)
8. Stairway To Heaven: Led Zeppelin (1971)
9. Statesboro Blues: The Allman Brothers Band (1971)
10. Smells Like Teen Spirit: Nirvana (1991)
11. Whole Lotta Love: Led Zeppelin (1969)
12. Voodoo Child (Slight Return): The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)
13. Layla: Derek and the Dominos (1970)
14. Born To Run: Bruce Springsteen (1975)
15. My Generation: The Who (1965)
16. Cowgirl in the Sand: Neil Young with Crazy Horse (1969)
17. Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath (1970)
18. Blitzkrieg Bop: Ramones (1976)
19. Purple Rain: Prince and the Revolution (1984)
20. People Get Ready: The Impressions (1965)
21. Seven Nation Army: The White Stripes (2003)
22. A Hard Day’s Night: The Beatles (1964)
23. Over Under Sideways Down: The Yardbirds (1966)
24. Killing in the Name: Rage Against the Machine (1992)
25. Can’t You Hear Me Knocking: The Rolling Stones (1971)
26. How Blue Can You Get: B.B. King (1965)
27. Look Over Yonders Wall: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)
28. Where The Streets Have No Name: U2 (1987)
29. Back in Black: AC/DC (1980)
30. (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock: Bill Haley and His Comets (1954)
31. Keep Yourself Alive: Queen (1973)
32. Sultans of Swing: Dire Straits (1978)
33. Master of Puppets: Metallica (1986)
34. Walk This Way: Aero smith (1975)
35. 1969: The Stooges (1969)
36. Interstellar Overdrive: Pink Floyd (1967)
37. That’s All Right: Elvis Presley (1954)
38. Stay With Me: The Faces (1971)
39. Black Magic Woman: Santana (1970)
40. I Can See For Miles: The Who (1967)
41. Marquee Moon: Television (1977)
42. Hideaway: John Mayall and the Blues breakers (1966)
43. Holidays in the Sun: The Sex Pistols (1977)
44. Dig Me Out: Sleater-Kinney (1997)
45. I Saw Her Standing There: The Beatles (1963)
46. Miserlou: Dick Dale and the Del-Tones (1962)
47. Panama: Van Halen (1984)
48. London Calling: The Clash (1980)
49. Machine Gun: Jimi Hendrix (1958)
50. Debaser: Pixies (1989)
51. Crazy Train: Ozzy Osbourne (1981)
52. My Iron Lung: Radiohead (1995)
53. Born on the Bayou: Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)
54. Little Wing: Stevie Ray Vaughan (1991)
55. White Room: Cream (1968)
56. Eight Miles High: The Byrds (1966)
57. Dark Star: Grateful Dead (1969)
58. Rumble: Link Wray (1958)
59. Freeway Jam: Jeff Beck (1975)
60. Maggot Brain: Funkadelic (1971)
61. Soul Man: Sam and Dave (1967)
62. Born Under a Bad Sign: Albert King (1967)
63. Sweet Child O’ Mine: Guns N’ Roses (1987)
64. Freebird: Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973)
65. Message in a Bottle: The Police (1979)
66. Texas Flood: Stevie Ray Vaughan (1983)
67. Adam Raised a Cain: Bruce Springsteen (1978)
68. The Thrill is Gone: B.B. King (1958)
69. Money: Pink Floyd (1973)
70. Bullet With Butterfly Wings: Smashing Pumpkins (1995)
71. Take It or Leave It: The Strokes (2001)
72. Say It Ain’t So: Weezer (1994)
73. Summertime Blues: Blue Cheer (1968)
74. La Grange: ZZ Top (1973)
75. Willie the Pimp: Frank Zappa (1969)
76. American Girl: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)
77. Even Flow: Pearl Jam (1991)
78. Stone Crazy: Buddy Guy (1970)
79. Silver Rocket: Sonic Youth (1988)
80. Kid Charlemagne: Steely Dan (1976)
81. Beat It: Michael Jackson (1982)
82. Walk--Don’t Run: The Ventures (1960)
83. What I Got: Sublime (1996)
84. Gravity: John Mayer (2006)
85. You Enjoy Myself: Phish (1988)
86. I Ain’t Superstitious: Jeff Beck (1968)
87. Red: King Crimson (1974)
88. Mona: Quicksilver Messenger Service (1969)
89. I Love Rock N Roll: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (1981)
90. How Soon Is Now?: The Smiths (1985)
91. Drunkship of Lanterns: The Mars Volta (2003)
92. Memo from Turner: Mick Jagger (1970)
93. Only Shallow: My Bloody Valentine (1991)
94. Money for Nothing: Dire Straits (1985)
95. Omaha: Moby Grape (1967)
96. New Day Rising: Husker Du (1985)
97. No One Knows: Queens of the Stone Age (2002)
98. Under the Bridge: Red Hot Chili Peppers (1991)
99. Run Thru: My Morning Jacket (2003)
100. Vicarious: Tool (2006)
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post #2 of 41
5/29/08 at 8:23am
Surprisingly, not a bad list.

Its kind of obvious that they tried to throw some more recent entries (Sleater-Kinney, Mars Volta) onto the list so they wouldn't be called out as continuing the 60s reverence that they usually stick to, but all in all, pretty good list.
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post #3 of 41
5/29/08 at 9:02am
Overall, not a BAD list. However, if you're going to include instrumentals on your list of guitar songs (there are a couple of them on there), then Joe Satriani should be on there with 'Satch Boogie' and/or 'Summer Song' or this list is incomplete. Sorry.
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post #4 of 41
5/29/08 at 9:32am
I agree with you Judas, but I think you and I are too guitar-geeky for the list. Overall not bad, but yeah, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai wept.
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post #5 of 41
5/29/08 at 10:50am
They really lowballed Skynryd's Free Bird. For the Allmans, would've gone One Way Out or Whippping Post. Not a bad list for today's Rolling Stone. (Layla is such an obvious choice-would've prefered Bell-Bottom Blues or Let It Rain for E.C.)<Good to see Jeff Beck get some love-those Jeff Beck Group lps are like a harder Cream; proto-Led Zep>
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post #6 of 41
5/29/08 at 11:09am
No love for anything with Alex Lifeson? Booooo.
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post #7 of 41
5/29/08 at 11:12am
Seems really arbitrary, which is why it's hard to argue with. For instance, I'm not sure why "I Saw Her Standing There" is a particularly good example of the early Beatles guitar sound (not that it's not one - I just don't know what separates it from the rest).

"New Day Rising" is certainly not a standout in terms of Bob Mould's guitar sound.

No Velvet Underground or Richard Thompson? Those omissions are rather hard to justify. Richard Hell's "Blank Generation" probably deserves a place on there - Robert Quine has a really distinct style.

I like the QOTSA, Strokes, and My Morning Jacket songs, but they seem like obvious attempts at tokenism. There are certainly other new bands with more notable guitar sounds (Drive-By Truckers' three-guitar coda on "Decoration Day," for instance).
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post #8 of 41
5/29/08 at 11:54am
Tool, Mars Volta, and Radiohead: Right bands, wrong songs. The correct answer is Aenima, Inertiatic ESP, and Paranoid Android.

Also, How Soon is Now? A guitar song? Wha?
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post #9 of 41
5/29/08 at 12:00pm
Quote:
I like the QOTSA, Strokes, and My Morning Jacket songs, but they seem like obvious attempts at tokenism. There are certainly other new bands with more notable guitar sounds (Drive-By Truckers' three-guitar coda on "Decoration Day," for instance).
I don't know, but about the Strokes and My Morning Jacket being on there, they do have pretty distinctive sounds imbued by their particular guitar stylings.
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post #10 of 41
5/29/08 at 12:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Clark View Post
Also, How Soon is Now? A guitar song? Wha?
Holy shit, I actually know this one...

Yeah. That chopped up, whiny hook? Heavily processed guitar. This is what Wikipedia tells me -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia entry for "How Soon Is Now?"
The tune is built around a guitar chord that rapidly oscillates in volume. As to how the distinctive resonant sound was achieved, Marr gave the following account to Guitar Player magazine in 1990:

The vibrato sound is fucking incredible, and it took a long time. I put down the rhythm track on an Epiphone Casino through a Fender Twin Reverb without vibrato. Then we played the track back through four old Twins, one on each side. We had to keep all the amps vibrating in time to the track and each other, so we had to keep stopping and starting the track, recording it in 10-second bursts... We did it in three passes through a harmonizer, set to some weird interval, like a sixth. There was a different harmonization for each pass. For the line in harmonics, I retuned the guitar so that I could play it all at the 12th fret with natural harmonics. It's doubled several times
So, yeah. Guitar song.
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post #11 of 41
5/29/08 at 12:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Mohamed View Post
I don't know, but about the Strokes and My Morning Jacket being on there, they do have pretty distinctive sounds imbued by their particular guitar stylings.
I think of Jim James' vocals being more key for MMJ. They could switch guitar players and I probably wouldn't notice. The Strokes have a distinctive sound, but it just doesn't seem like one that they specifically pioneered. A lot of it's borrowed from the Velvets and Television.

I guess DBT don't have a super distinctive sound, but they're such a classic guitar band, and the parts they write actually grab your attention.

I agree with Justin on the Radiohead issue - "Paranoid Android" is their most impressive in that it scrunches a bunch of the key Radiohead guitar sounds into one song.
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post #12 of 41
5/29/08 at 12:50pm
(Insert standard Rolling Stone has been irrevelent for decades comment here)
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post #13 of 41
5/29/08 at 1:02pm
Just thought of another one - no early R.E.M.? Peter Buck may not have been flashy, but to play that jangly, clean electric guitar when everyone else was turning up the volume and piling on the effects was pretty revolutionary. Far moreso than anything the Chili Peppers, the Strokes, QOTSA, or (Jesus, I just noticed this one) Sublime ever did.

The list is kind of split among the technical masters like Clapton, Allman, and the blues guys; the simple, but effective populist guitar-hero types like Young, Cobain, and Townshend; and the innovators, like Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, and the Edge. Buck could easily fit into the last category (also, certainly the aforementioned Velvet Underground, maybe Gang of Four, the Minutemen, Big Black...).
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post #14 of 41
5/29/08 at 1:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB View Post
Just thought of another one - no early R.E.M.? Peter Buck may not have been flashy, but to play that jangly, clean electric guitar when everyone else was turning up the volume and piling on the effects was pretty revolutionary. Far moreso than anything the Chili Peppers, the Strokes, QOTSA, or (Jesus, I just noticed this one) Sublime ever did.

The list is kind of split among the technical masters like Clapton, Allman, and the blues guys; the simple, but effective populist guitar-hero types like Young, Cobain, and Townshend; and the innovators, like Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, and the Edge. Buck could easily fit into the last category (also, certainly the aforementioned Velvet Underground, maybe Gang of Four, the Minutemen, Big Black...).
Good call on Buck.
They left out the jangly Byrds too. (No solo Harrison either-should of thrown a bone to anything from his guitar-heavy All Things Must Pass magnum opus; In My Time Of Dying or Wah-Wah have secret Clapton solos)
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post #15 of 41
5/29/08 at 1:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB View Post
I think of Jim James' vocals being more key for MMJ. They could switch guitar players and I probably wouldn't notice. The Strokes have a distinctive sound, but it just doesn't seem like one that they specifically pioneered. A lot of it's borrowed from the Velvets and Television.

I guess DBT don't have a super distinctive sound, but they're such a classic guitar band, and the parts they write actually grab your attention.

I agree with Justin on the Radiohead issue - "Paranoid Android" is their most impressive in that it scrunches a bunch of the key Radiohead guitar sounds into one song.
Yeah, I think you're right about MMJ, though I would argue that Johnny Quaid's guitar's do help add to the distinctive haunting sound of the group. About the Strokes, yeah they share a lot with bands like Television and what have you, but in my opinion, they added their own sense of weariness and ennui (do I sound pretentious or what?) when they came on the scene.
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post #16 of 41
5/29/08 at 1:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Elvis View Post
They left out the jangly Byrds too.
Yeah, that one bugs me. They've got "Eight Miles High," which absolutely belongs, but it's pretty different than the really early stuff. The opening to "Mr. Tambourine Man" is probably one of the most recognizable guitar riffs ever (certainly, the most recognizable 12-string electric guitar riffs ever, in any case).

Incidentally, Husker Du's cover of "Eight Miles High" would probably be a way better demonstration of Mould's early style than "New Day Rising."
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post #17 of 41
5/29/08 at 1:43pm
I don't think Tool belongs on the list at all. Tool is not a guitar band. Tool is a drum band. The bass takes more of a lead on Tool songs than the guitar. Which is one of the more interesting things about that band, that each instrument is playing out of its normal role.
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post #18 of 41
5/29/08 at 2:28pm
No Helter Skelter & I Can See For Miles ?? Or If 6 Was 9?
(Also for early to mid Beatles- Drive My Car & What You're Doing perhaps better (more interesting) choices)
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post #19 of 41
5/29/08 at 2:36pm
Holy Shit, that list is POINTLESS.
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post #20 of 41
5/29/08 at 3:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy225 View Post
No love for anything with Alex Lifeson? Booooo.
Well, he does tend to get overwhelmed by the Lee/Peart combo.

Pleasantly surprised to see Message in a Bottle on there.
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post #21 of 41
5/29/08 at 3:24pm
Where's Helmet? Also, Killing in the Name is such a neglectful RATM choice. If you want to talk about Tom Morello's innovations with the use of an electric guitar, there are many better songs (Vietnow, Down Rodeo both spring to mind).
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post #22 of 41
5/29/08 at 3:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Miller View Post
Where's Helmet? Also, Killing in the Name is such a neglectful RATM choice. If you want to talk about Tom Morello's innovations with the use of an electric guitar, there are many better songs (Vietnow, Down Rodeo both spring to mind).
Good point. "Killing in the Name" is basically just a Zep-influenced riff over funk-rock. One of the reasons* I lost interest in Morello (especially in Audioslave) is that he started favoring this type of sound-alike riff over the noisy, PE-influenced experimentation that balanced him out early on.

* The other main reason is that, despite his initial innovations, he never seemed that interested in expanding his palette, especially in that he kept working with boring collaborators like de la Rocha and the empty husk that used to be Chris Cornell.
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post #23 of 41
5/29/08 at 3:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB View Post
Good point. "Killing in the Name" is basically just a Zep-influenced riff over funk-rock. One of the reasons* I lost interest in Morello (especially in Audioslave) is that he started favoring this type of sound-alike riff over the noisy, PE-influenced experimentation that balanced him out early on.

* The other main reason is that, despite his initial innovations, he never seemed that interested in expanding his palette, especially in that he kept working with boring collaborators like de la Rocha and the empty husk that used to be Chris Cornell.
boy did you say a mouthful. Audioslave is latin for aggressively average.
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post #24 of 41
5/29/08 at 4:19pm
No Thin Lizzy and no Bob Stinson? Shame.
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post #25 of 41
5/29/08 at 4:20pm
Not even any Beefheart on their list? What the fuck? Any song on Doc at the Radar Station could be listed up there.
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post #26 of 41
5/29/08 at 5:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Man Mundt View Post
No Thin Lizzy and no Bob Stinson? Shame.
I never expect Stinson on these lists, since his playing is so haphazard-sounding (yet less arty than, say, Thurston Moore's) that it probably doesn't appeal to your average guitar freak. But, yeah, no one else sounds like him.

But, yeah, it's nuts that Thin Lizzy's not on here. They may not have invented the twin-lead thing, but they definitely popularized it.
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post #27 of 41
5/29/08 at 6:13pm
I swore I wouldn't post in this thread but I can't help it. I know these lists are subjective and ultimately are all about drawing traffic, but that list is really dumber than most.

I thought that at least it was just limited to ROCK guitar songs, thus forgiving some omissions, but if it is broad enough in scope for Buddy Guy then how do you leave off Lonnie Mack? Metallica and QOTSA qualify, but no Black Sabbath? "Kid Charlemagne" but not "Crazy On You" or "Godzilla?" Like somebody (probably DaveB) pointed out, the criteria are apparently all over the place.

Finally, although this may be more personal, for Neil Young they maybe had the right album, but definitely the wrong song for the list.
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post #28 of 41
5/29/08 at 6:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianM View Post
I swore I wouldn't post in this thread but I can't help it. I know these lists are subjective and ultimately are all about drawing traffic, but that list is really dumber than most.

I thought that at least it was just limited to ROCK guitar songs, thus forgiving some omissions, but if it is broad enough in scope for Buddy Guy then how do you leave off Lonnie Mack? Metallica and QOTSA qualify, but no Black Sabbath? "Kid Charlemagne" but not "Crazy On You" or "Godzilla?" Like somebody (probably DaveB) pointed out, the criteria are apparently all over the place.

Finally, although this may be more personal, for Neil Young they maybe had the right album, but definitely the wrong song for the list.
Sabbath's on there, actually.
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post #29 of 41
5/29/08 at 9:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB View Post
Sabbath's on there, actually.
Well damn my eyes. And they did include "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" so I don't have to burn anything down...
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post #30 of 41
5/29/08 at 10:03pm
I like the idea that it's more of a 'riff' list then a solo list. Seems the biggest errors are about picking the wrong song. I'm guessing that they picked Black Sabbath because it's in tritone (which is clever), but surely Iron Man, Paranoid, or War Pigs are the better and more recognizable riffs (which I think is the point).
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post #31 of 41
5/29/08 at 10:09pm
I'm ready for the Guitar Hero/Rock Band compilation.
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post #32 of 41
5/30/08 at 11:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt View Post
I don't think Tool belongs on the list at all. Tool is not a guitar band. Tool is a drum band. The bass takes more of a lead on Tool songs than the guitar. Which is one of the more interesting things about that band, that each instrument is playing out of its normal role.
They're more of a bass and drum band, but to say that they're not a force to be reckoned with on the more guitar-driven tracks (Aenima, Third Eye, The Grudge, Lateralus, Jambi) is a huge disservice. Plus, Adam Jones does way too many interesting things with his instrument to not be on that list, as opposed to Tom Morello who, while I still like and respect the guy in several aspects, like many mentioned he's been on a musical treadmill since Battle of Los Angeles.

Also, thanks for the education, MissZooey.
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post #33 of 41
5/30/08 at 7:38pm
Adam Jones never gets the credit he deserves. Danny Carey may be the best member at what he does, but Jones is the true genius behind Tool.
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post #34 of 41
5/31/08 at 3:40pm
Thread Starter 
I third Buck's omission. That was probably the biggest shocker when I was typing out this list. I'm pretty sure he was included in Rolling Stone's "The Top 20 New Guitar Gods" feature from last year.

Hell, a song like 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth?' is worthy of inclusion. The indelible riffage on that tune is one for the history books.
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post #35 of 41
5/31/08 at 5:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Clark View Post
They're more of a bass and drum band, but to say that they're not a force to be reckoned with on the more guitar-driven tracks (Aenima, Third Eye, The Grudge, Lateralus, Jambi) is a huge disservice. Plus, Adam Jones does way too many interesting things with his instrument to not be on that list, as opposed to Tom Morello who, while I still like and respect the guy in several aspects, like many mentioned he's been on a musical treadmill since Battle of Los Angeles.

Also, thanks for the education, MissZooey.
I don't think Adam Jones is doing anything that revolutionary that hasn't been done before. Daniel Ash in Bauhaus did the spooky effects thing too, and I didn't see Bauhaus or Love and Rockets on the list. Shit, Bela Legosi is Dead has better guitar moments on it than Vicarious.

Though, if we're going for the "feeling" aspect of the tunes, Anema is probably a better choice than Vicarious.

This is not to take anything away from Adam Jones (I still think Lateralus is one of the best heavy records released this decade and is superior to Anema), but revolutionary he is not. Tool, in my mind, works better as a unit. Adam Jones would not be as interesting as a solo artist (neither would Carey or Chancellor; Keenan comes close, but only if he has good people around him (compare A Perfect Circle with Puscifier). He'll still come up with interesting guitar lines, but I am skeptical that without the other three it would be as good or interesting.

This is just my intuition speaking here, but it's always been my feeling that Jones was more interested in the visual aspects of the band, rather than just music for music's sake. This is not a knock against him. I do, however, think that is why is playing is more limited than Chancellor's or Carey's.
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post #36 of 41
5/31/08 at 6:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray Abed View Post
I third Buck's omission. That was probably the biggest shocker when I was typing out this list. I'm pretty sure he was included in Rolling Stone's "The Top 20 New Guitar Gods" feature from last year.

Hell, a song like 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth?' is worthy of inclusion. The indelible riffage on that tune is one for the history books.
While omitting Peter Buck is glaring, I wouldn't say WTFK is the best example*. Wailing on three chords with a little overdrive to start a song isn't what I would credit as his legacy. I think some better examples of what Peter historically brings to the table would be songs like Driver 8, South Central Rain, or Pretty Persuasion.


*The backwards solo is pretty fun though.
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post #37 of 41
5/31/08 at 7:10pm
While I have tons of small quibbles, I'm thinking that Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" should've found its way on there - yeah, obvious but important.
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post #38 of 41
5/31/08 at 7:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Miller View Post
While omitting Peter Buck is glaring, I wouldn't say WTFK is the best example*. Wailing on three chords with a little overdrive to start a song isn't what I would credit as his legacy. I think some better examples of what Peter historically brings to the table would be songs like Driver 8, South Central Rain, or Pretty Persuasion.


*The backwards solo is pretty fun though.
Oh, I totally agree...wasn't saying it was his greatest defining moment or anything. But if it had made the list, I wouldn't have flinched. That's what I was getting at with my previous post--even Buck's least-worthy moments are worthy of this list. 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth?' is one of R.E.M.'s best singles, and a major reason is because of Buck.

Another omission that I'm not completely surprised by, but should've gotten a nod: Ace Frehley. 'Detroit Rock City'. Of course.
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post #39 of 41
5/31/08 at 11:34pm
Needs more Badfinger.
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post #40 of 41
5/31/08 at 11:36pm
Frusciante makes the list for Under The Bridge? Really?
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post #41 of 41
6/1/08 at 2:12pm
Apparently Reed and Bowie where banned from the list! Great.
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