Greatest Rock Song of the 20th Century?

I'll have to browse it and see what's out there on the subject but if you could only pick one to resurge in the year 2317 to rep 20th century rock, what would it be?

I don't know... Dylan? Beatles? Elvis? Stones? Yeah, stupid question, begging for stupid answers...


Heck with it, I'll go with Sting's Telegraph Road since the lyrics embody the history of that era pretty well.

I nominate Leonard Cohen doing his song Hallelujah. I particularly like his live performance of which there are several... he tended to change the lyrics up a bit... not sure of the particular live performance I am thinking of, think it is from a 1997 release... might be earlier, his voice is strong. Second choice is him singing' Ain't No Cure For Love'... a studio version from the I'm Your Man album.
 
You only know what you know and have been exposed to. Sadly "Best Of" or "Greatest" lists of anything only brings out the ignorance of most people.

Back before I moved and was still doing my radio show on a regular basis I had a feature night that I showcased Jazz and Blues legends on. I'd be playing Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington or Jo Stafford and a caller would want to hear Janis Joplin. Whenever I did Jazz guitar players there was a caller that demanded to hear Jimi Hendrix. Then there were the callers that wanted to hear Led Zeppelin and Savoy Brown when I did an all Howlin' Wolf or Otis Rush night. I'd ask the callers if they had those recordings and the answer was always yes. I'd then ask them if they'd heard the people I was playing at the moment before and the answer was always no. I'd then explain to them that my purpose for playing what I did was to educate as well as entertain.
 
A fortunate son was someone that came from money that used their families influence to stay in college to avoid the draft and survive the Vietnam war....please ! My number never came up...

The popularity of a product through social interactions within a group does not attest to its quality. Monkey see, monkey do cause all his friends are doing the same thing.....Budweiser, Marlboro, Levi's does not attest to a superior product. Just like all those little girls in the sixties buying Beatles records and buying Tiger Beat magazines because all their friends did, did not make the Beatles a better group than Credence Clear Water Revival. But the Beatles out sold the better group....making CCR the second most popular group in the sixties.

Do you remember what agonizing reappraisals were ? Realizing why people did things just to be accepted without realizing the impact of their deeds ???



Staying on track with the theme...
I vote for LED ZEPPELIN - Rock & Roll

You got to be kidding... All I did was to point out your personal opinions, big deal. How would I know your family background? So, you were an environmentalist (tree huger.) considering the times that bunch was in the minority. This train had been righted... Shall we move on professor.
 
You only know what you know and have been exposed to. Sadly "Best Of" or "Greatest" lists of anything only brings out the ignorance of most people.

Back before I moved and was still doing my radio show on a regular basis ... Ella Fitzgerald ... Dinah Washington ... Jo Stafford ... Howlin' Wolf ... Otis Rush ...
A little research would have told you that these aren't teen favorites.
 
Staying on track with the theme...
I vote for LED ZEPPELIN - Rock & Roll

You got to be kidding... All I did was to point out your personal opinions, big deal. How would I know your family background? So, you were an environmentalist (tree huger.) considering the times that bunch was in the minority. This train had been righted... Shall we move on professor.

That's cool....

I voted for Queen cause they had more songs that returned to the Top Ten like Bohemian Rhapsody.....TopTen in '76, '91 and '92. Because there's popular, then there's great ! We are the Champions was voted the best Rock and Roll song back in 2005 and Another One Bites the Dust was the longest playing R&R song in the Top Ten to crossover into other genres to become a Top Ten in Disco and Soul charts so it's evident who the best band of all time is. Then there is the Queen Rock and Roll soundtrack for Flash Gordon......
 
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Staying on track with the theme...
I vote for LED ZEPPELIN - Rock & Roll

You got to be kidding... All I did was to point out your personal opinions, big deal. How would I know your family background? So, you were an environmentalist (tree huger.) considering the times that bunch was in the minority. This train had been righted... Shall we move on professor.

Sorry Dude.....

I've got PTSD.....and OCD !
 
Rock is not that hard to define if you are able to understand the different rifts with in an arrangement and how the beat drives the song. Rock is influenced by slow black spirituals, country inspired hillbilly music and many styles of music that was brought to this country. There were people playing rock and roll back before WWII and people like Bo Diddley and others like him were playing the music for years before Elvis came along in little clubs in New Orleans and Chicago. But in places that were not thought to be respectable or too liberal. Rock and Roll came about in a time when people didn't have many personal liberties. The desire for personal freedoms is why early Rock and Roll became so popular. Now people can just buy what they want, there was a time when Rock and Roll was only played on three radio stations. Now we have people that prefer that things happened a certain way. Early Rock and Roll became influenced by jazz and blues musicians in the fifties and by British musicians in the sixties and continues to be influenced today....
 
There is no single right answer but my vote goes to You Really Got Me. Can you imagine this blasting out of your car radio in 1964?

I remember.

The British Invasion songs that affected me most were both by the Stones--The Last Time and Satisfaction. Satisfaction was a monster hit, it seemed everyone went nuts over that song.
 
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