Photo courtesy of DerekVelasquez's Flickr page - Led Zeppelin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/derekvelasquez/3072776462/in/photolist-5FwMow-6SmBSz-9HJ3ko-krzfj7-7AJeMG-gUGaR-8NNx3A-pLveuP-5W3935-kivXt-8Y2AFC-FiLb4-BeZcm-9bEc7a-7qRiYB-5FwP6o-6iWoQU-apKtaE-5Fsys6-t8rrc-ko9qQ-4aC74F-yHpJ1t-3AHnNN-eqYbJH-9oSakn-nDDLat-bMJso4-4taxtA-4c17wU-4tazky-nDE1NX-nDEso4-nW4Jfh-nVRRg2-nU7G89-nDENXG-nU7cqu-nDFfsh-5FwEm3-bpA9dM-5247zM-z9Ga1E-CTPs52-561E7G-ox4M73-oFmZ3B-uPTrdC-dqjqsS-ycekSr
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Photo courtesy of Ray MacLean's Flickr page - stairway-to-heaven: https://www.flickr.com/photos/raymaclean/4548207141/in/photolist-bZMVU9-djdUjJ-Dkjdy2-bcucSe-a7Vv35-s673Qk-7VUKwv-71LZZm-bjRngF-3YaE5H-4BPXeh-gZhER-H3Tah-8JtSEi-vS74c9-6DA6VW-2rpAbj-89hkuj-hYHz6t-b8Ukj2-7HCw8D-68XpL8-bC3zbZ-8xj8eN-omd6SW-hF6PcQ-e2JYVD-3cWvJE-EnaYZQ-5z99Nn-753hQ7-pfeWgf-8pSM5o-heQY2c-2rkg1V-dJFAoP-yzqmy-6hi9Po-bc1DuK-5qW19P-ozVkmn-btSySs-5XTNyZ-7F3Jd9-4CgPr4-7aAYf4-4Lk2dK-6NBp1S-34bjbt-ccZfsw
One of the major local rock stations of the greater New York metropolitan area, Q104.3, continued their annual Thanksgiving weekend tradition of playing the top 1,043 rock songs of all time, as voted by fans. It is actually beginning to be one of my favorite Thanksgiving weekend traditions, because you are usually assured some solid rock music to listen to.
New York's Q104.3 touts itself as the area's classic rock station, and they do their annual list of the greatest 1,043 songs of all time, according to the amount of votes received. So far, every single year, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven wins the top spot for greatest song of all time. Not surprisingly, this tradition continued again this past year, as well.
There is always a bit of debate as to if another song can possibly remove Stairway to Heaven from the top spot and, if so, which one it might possibly be. The Beatles have a couple that might be able to do it, including Hey Jude, and I personally think another strong candidate would be A Day in the Life. One song from a solo Beatles that I always thought should be one of the very elite candidates to take the top spot some time would be John Lennon's Imagine. There are other potential prospects to take that number one away from Stairway to Heaven, including Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Eric Clapton's Layla, The Eagles Hotel California, and Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird. I think a case can be made for several other songs, including, off the top of my head, Jimi Hendrix's take on All Along the Watchtower, as well as the Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter.
This year in 2018, the top song was, once again, Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin. Queen perhaps benefited from the movie out about them in theaters right now, as Bohemian Rhapsody, the song from which the movie derives it's name, was ranked number two. The Beatles Hey Jude, often a candidate for greatest song, was number three. Derek and the Dominoes had Layla at number four, and Lynyrd Skynyrd finished up the top five with Free Bird. Hotel California, by the Eagles, was number six. Rounding out the top ten, The Who's Baba O'Riley was seven, followed by two straight songs by the Rolling Stones, Gimme Shelter in eighth and Sympathy for the Devil in ninth, and Kashmir by Led Zeppelin at ten.
Some that surprised me by how low they ranked would be John Lennon's Imagine, a song that I feel should have a real shot at number one, yet was ranked 19th this year. Pink Floyd only had one song in the top 20, and that was Comfortably Numb, at number 12. Let it Be by the Beatles was 13th.
This is a little late, but still relevant, as they just released the new list for this year. And these are timeless songs, and the debates never really have gone out of style, have they?
So, here, according to those who voted for it, are the top 20 songs in rock history, according to New York's Q104.3 for 2018:
1. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
2/ Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
3. Hey Jude - The Beatles
4. Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
5. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
6. Hotel California - The Eagles
7. Baba O'Riley - The Who
8. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
9. Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones
10. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
11. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
12. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
13. Let It Be - The Beatles
14. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
15. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
16. Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
17. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
18. Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
19. Imagine - John Lennon
20. In My Life - The Beatles
The Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time Check out the Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2015 edition):
There are a number of songs by bands including but not limited to the Kinks that I much prefer to some of these choices, but I suppose that's largely the raison d'être of these lists: the inevitable debates.
ReplyDeleteYeah. They seem to always be dominated by the same few bands, as well, even though I think arguments could be made for other rock songs being in the discussion as among the greatest of all-time. I think "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas could be in the top-20 discussion, if not perhaps even the top-10. Bob Dylan might belong somewhere here as well, because of his contributions. Perhaps Blowing in the Wind, or Times They Are A-Changin'. Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World could be there, too. Buffalo Springfield with Something Happening Here. There is also an absence of female artists anywhere near the top-20. Almost all of these songs also focus on old songs, most of them dating back almost half a century.
ReplyDeleteWell, my top 20 list, were I to attempt compiling one, would also be largely dominated by (if not consist exclusively of) songs that go back a minimum of 40 years, to be honest. But nothing by the Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, the Animals, Santana, or of course the artists you mentioned... I don't know. It's all very subjective, after all. There are songs that I'm passionately into but which leave others nonplussed, and vice versa. As for women, although rock stardom, like most things in life, largely remains a boy's club, the top 20 list could certainly have included at least one song by Janis Joplin, Patti Smith or Stevie Nicks without lapsing into tokenism. Those aren't the only female rockers whose music I enjoy by any means, but I'd say they'd probably have been the top candidates. I love "Dust in the Wind" too, by the way. Unlike "Carry On My Wayward Son", which I can take or leave, "Dust in the Wind" *ALWAYS* gets turned up when I'm driving alone and it comes on the radio.
ReplyDeleteP.S. You mentioned Dylan. Though it's a case of splitting hairs, one could make the case that the songs you mentioned are more folk than rock, even if the distinction between folk and, say, acoustic rock isn't necessarily clear (or, granted, important). That being said, he also has some great electric stuff. Case in point, his great "Desire" album from 1976 contains "Hurricane" and "One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)", two of my favorite Dylan songs. Anyway, I'd better wrap this up. (As you know, music is a topic of discussion I can get into at length...)
ReplyDeleteThe Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix is the greatest "worst" song to have on the Top 1043 rock playlist during Thanksgiving week. I cannot think of a better opening number at number 1043.
ReplyDelete