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Best rock song of all times

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
ross2

Showing 6 responses by bdp24

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bdp24
9,510 posts
 
I didn't read through all the posts, and I'm not certain what "Rock" means, but at the moment I have a special love of "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" (as much Classical as Rock, what with it's J.S. Bach compositional elements) and "The Weight", two majestic, soaring masterpieces of song. That they are Rock (if they are) is incidental; a great song is a great song, regardless of genre-style performance. Now, if you asked for a Rock 'n' Roll song, THAT would get a different answer: "I Hear You Knocking", the version by Dave Edmunds.
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bdp24
9,510 posts
 
@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.
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bdp24
9,510 posts
 
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. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
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).
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
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.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 

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 ;-) .

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