100 Greatest Guitar Songs (according to Rolling Stone)

[hekawi]

the cover story of the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine is "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs". here's the link to the full article with the reasoning behind the choices: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527

to save time, here's just the list. these things always are fun to discuss!:

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 Zepplin (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 Of" 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" Aerosmith (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 Bluesbreakers (1966)
43. "Holidays in the Sun" The Sex Pistols (1977)
44. "Dig Me Out" Sleater-Kinne (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 (1970)
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" Lyrnyrd 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 (1969)
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 (1984)
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)

i'll agree with about 35-40 of 'em.

[Skrik]

#13 should be much higher.

[Tony]

1. #42 - Hideaway. Can't believe that the Freddie King version wouldn't be considered the ultimate version of this song. The original, the best.

2. No props given to some of the greatest blues guitar songs out there. There must be 10 Albert Collins songs, Robert Johnson, Elmore James, etc, etc, ad infinitum, that would be greater than songs by some of the artists named on this list. Guitar HEROES.

[teledude66]

Anything past probably 95 should not be on the list, probably 92 wasn't that when it became wrong to play the guitar...

[FMA]

If you're going to put a Stones tune in the top 5, it should be Satisfaction.

[petebradt]

No Jimmy Bryant? No Chet Atkins? No Brad Paisley? No Lee Roy Parnell? No Hank Garland? No Bill Kirchen? No a zillion other pickers?

Chump list. RS is a joke now.

[Frank_Kimball]

you can tell the ones Fricke picked...I'm guessing #23, #27, #35, #44, #50, #60, #73, #82, #88 & #95, plus anything recorded before 1975. He's the only editor left there whose memory goes back that far (and the only one with anything like the encyclopedic knowledge of the average TDPRI member - we rock). Must have been some fun editorial meetings - then of course they invite us to all to go to their site to let them know all the songs they missed (Uh, "Apache", " "All Right Now", "The Boys Are Back In Town" for a start...no Setzer at all?!).

Bah. Fire Rob Sheffield. Couldn't they have "forgotten" to put him on the meeting invite??

Good read though. Argue RS' relevance all you want, I still read every ish.

[Michaell]

Yawn Wiener and his crew run this magazine and they're the same people who put Madonna in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Whenever I think of rock music Madonna instantly pops into my mind!

[maestrovert]

Les Paul's Lover from '48 should've topped the list, his "New Sound" was truly revolutionary, and nothing on their list would've been possible without it.
howz 'bout "Sleepwalk", one of the most popular and instantly recognizable guitar tunes ever ?

Sadly, -as i well remember the mag's inception and early years- such balderdash "journalism" is just what i've come to expect from Rolling Stone....but this list, sheesh....yet another item on the Rolling Stone mag's lack of credibility scale....
next thing ya know, they'll be tellin' ya exactly why some prefabbed "boyband" or Britneybrat popstar is so IMPORTANT !! while they continue to sell out sellin' more trendy ads for trendy clothes/scents/shoes/cars for trendy people who wanna be seen bein' trendy with trendy clothes/scents/shoes/cars in trendy places....

anyone see a trend ?

[Fendrcaster]

I don't know why they (or anyone) bothers with these silly lists. It is all so subjective, if you put ten random people in a room and asked them to come up with their top 10 guitar-song list, you would have 10 totally different lists. I think it's a bit pompous of RS to subject its readers to this nonsense.

[TG]

I agree with quite a few of them, although not necessarily in the order they put 'em. But such a list will inevitably be very a matter of personal opinion. Lot's of my fave 'classic' guitar songs aren't there at all. Hocus Pocus by Focus, for instance.

I can't get why a Bruce Springsteen song would be high up, or even on, a list of guitar songs, though.

[jhundt]

it is a bit of a joke, isn't it? Apparently great guitar songs only appear in pop/rock music. And except for a few scattered entries (notably #1) it is pretty much exclusively an American or English white man's instrument.

Is he having a laugh?

[TeeBird]

Wow that list really blows.

Proves my theory that DJs and music critics know jack about music.

I think one criterion should be that a great guitar part CARRIES the tune. For instance, I think "Under the Bridge" is a good candidate, but would rather see Red House or Foxey Lady than Purple Haze.

[Gaber_771]

i'm sorry... "Beat it"... Do i just not remember some really some badass lead part that went with that synth melody in there or something...? I think this is the worst "BEST" list i've ever seen...

[J-man]

Originally Posted by Gaber_771

i'm sorry... "Beat it"... Do i just not remember some really some badass lead part that went with that synth melody in there or something...? I think this is the worst "BEST" list i've ever seen...

Yeah, Jackson hired some guy named Eddie Van Halen to do it.

[straightface]

I saw this list a couple days ago. I was wondering how it would take before it got mentioned here. I just laugh when I see these lists, especially from RS. They lost all credibility a long time ago.

One thing that struck me when I saw it was "Sweet Child o Mine" came out 21 years ago. Where did the time go?

[geddins]

Originally Posted by Gaber_771

i'm sorry... "Beat it"... Do i just not remember some really some badass lead part that went with that synth melody in there or something...? I think this is the worst "BEST" list i've ever seen...

Actually one of my fave solos on Beat It. EVH was at the top of his game and definitely branded that tune. Yep..you just don't remember

[serialsteve]

Originally Posted by geddins

Actually one of my fave solos on Beat It. EVH was at the top of his game and definitely branded that tune. Yep..you just don't remember

And Steve Lukather did the rhythm parts. No argument w/that tune, but "Purple Rain"? Come on-you've gotta be kidding me! How about, oh I don't know, "Rainbow in the Dark" by Dio? There's some guitar on that.

Oh, right, it was a list of "The top 100 most obvious pop and snob appeal songs with a few guitar songs to add some cred to" list.

[geddins]

Originally Posted by serialsteve

And Steve Lukather did the rhythm parts. No argument w/that tune, but "Purple Rain"? Come on-you've gotta be kidding me! How about, oh I don't know, "Rainbow in the Dark" by Dio? There's some guitar on that.

Oh, right, it was a list of "The top 100 most obvious pop and snob appeal songs with a few guitar songs to add some cred to" list.

I never knew that Lukather was on that as well....and for the record, I'm not saying Beat It should be in the top 100...just that it has a very memorable (to me) solo .....how can you even have a list like that not have The Claw???

[byrdbrain]

Could have been a lot worse.
Several songs I like there.

[Chrismeyer]

I'm straight down at the quick reply casue I'm not reading what RS has to say about ANYTHING.They are just like Clearchannel in the way that they have an agenda.IN my opinion their agenda is to push total crap on us,and I for one,ain't havin it!
I can tell you there is probably a couple White Stripes on there,some early punk stuff on there just to make it look ligit,probably lots of Alt-rock '90's grunge,and not too many 80's rock(like that would actually have TRECHNICAL playing on it)and not much of anything that is actually great playing.
I hate RS and I wouldn't pick it up if I had to sh*& in the woods and it was between a copy of RS and a wholelotta poison ivy leaves.My ass would just HAVE to itch.

[Chrismeyer]

o.k.I read it,it's pretty o.k. they hit the high points.
Got one over on me.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by geddins

Actually one of my fave solos on Beat It. EVH was at the top of his game and definitely branded that tune. Yep..you just don't remember

Have a listen to it without the backing track then.

http://home.wxs.nl/~visser70/beatit.mpga