Ever since the Beatles proved that rock and roll music could be sustained from a 7” disc format to 12” one, there has been a noble struggle between the music’s identity as a single and its identity as an album. At first, albums weren’t even in the picture, then, by the end of the ’60s, it looked like they had decisively won the battle, until some 35 years later when the onslaught of downloadable songs tipped things back to the individual song. It’s at best a convoluted relationship between them, and not one that we’re likely to see resolved in our lifetime.
Thus, whenever one makes a list of the essential rock albums, certain song’s immediately become apparent as M.I.A. because their performer simply never made a great album: The obvious examples are Bill Haley and His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie,” and the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” to cherry-pick but three examples from rock and roll’s first three decades. So what can be done to correct the problem?
In an effort to reconcile these strange 7” and 12” bedfellows, I’ve created a new list of 100 songs that can be combined with my list of 200 essential rock and roll albums to create the most succinct rock and roll collection possible. I’ve named it, imaginatively --
(The Top 100 Songs NOT Already on)
The Essential Rock and Roll 50/100/200.
1. Aerosmith: “Dream On.” An old man’s song, sung by a young new band, until Stephen Tyler shred his larynx singing it and sounded old before his time. (Columbia, 1973)
2. The Beastie Boys: “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party).” Three hardcore punks from New York City take part in the great American pastime of reinvention and remake themselves into rap music’s foremost party pranksters, with a funny video to match. (Capitol, 1987)
3. The Beatles: “Please Please Me.” Despite producer George Martin's predictions, this was not quite the Beatles’ first number one single -- it hit number two in the UK -- but it should’ve been; at any rate, it was proof that the boys were definitely onto something. It was also the most subtle song about oral sex ever recorded. (Parlophone, 1963)
4. The Beatles: “All My Loving.” A non-single album cut from the Beatles’ second LP that most bands would kill to release as their best single. (Parlophone, 1963)
5. The Beatles: “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Lennon’s half of the greatest 45 ever made (Greil Marcus: “The first ‘concept’ 45?”), along with McCartney’s flip, “Penny Lane.” (Parlophone, 1967)
6. Beck: “Loser.” A study in American failure that broke nationally just as its prophecy was becoming reality. (DCG, 1993)
7. The Bee Gees: “Stayin’ Alive.” The quintessential disco song, loved by dancers, loathed by critics, and sampled by hip-hop pioneers. (RSO, 1977)
8. The B-52’s: “Rock Lobster.” The sound of the future, thrown together at a rummage sale of the past. (DB, 1978)
9. Blondie: “Rapture.” Rap’s first number one hit, thanks to the demographic least likely to pioneer the genre -- a white female (Chrysalis, 1981).
10. Gary “U.S.” Bonds: “Quarter to Three.” A mind-blowing masterpiece of production and performance; you can hear the entire arc of everything Bruce Springsteen was ever aiming for before the first verse even starts. (Cameo-Parkway, 1961)
11. Booker T. and the MG’s: “Green Onions.” The greatest house band of all-time takes center stage and scores a major hit -- a prophetic record that reaches for the funk music that will soon become their hallmark. (Stax, 1962)
12. David Bowie: “Space Oddity.” Moonshot, 1969: The soundtrack for Neil Armstrong’s legendary journey, although Bowie himself was already bound for places even farther away. (Philips, 1969)
13. Buffalo Springfield: “For What It’s Worth.” Archetypal protest rock that strikes a rare balance between concern and cynicism. (Atco, 1967)
14. The Chantels: “Maybe.” The entire girl-group sound can be heard in the yearning, timeless vocal of 15-year-old Arlene Smith, who unknowingly kick-started the genre when this song hit number 15 on the Billboard charts. (End, 1958)
15. Chubby Checker: “The Twist.” American independence declared in Philadelphia for a second time, when the first dance that could be done solo was put over by the city’s American Bandstand. (Cameo-Parkway, 1960)
16. Chic: “Good Times.” Disco peaks with this, the signature song of the genre’s finest band. Ironically, their funky innovations helped to sew the seeds of the music's decline, when the Sugar Hill Gang used the song’s central hook as the basis for “Rapper's Delight,” a few months after it topped the pop charts. (Atlantic, 1979)
17. The Chords: “Sh-Boom.” Not just a perfect doo-wop song, but a vintage example of why the originals are still the greatest (I’m looking at you, the Crew-Cuts). (Atlantic, 1954)
18. The Clash: “Rock the Casbah.” The Only Band That Mattered reaches for pop perfection, and gets it. (CBS, 1982)
19. Jimmy Cliff: “The Harder They Come.” The best rock and roll music had always come from outlaws and outsiders, so when Jimmy Cliff released this song, the title track of the first film ever produced in Jamaica, it completed rock and roll’s global domination as young third world gangsters remade the music into their own image, which is to say that they revitalized everything it could be. (Island, 1972)
20. Eddie Cochran: “Summertime Blues.” A summer anthem, a teenage classic -- and the first rock protest song? (Liberty, 1958)
21. The Contours: “Do You Love Me?” Raw, raucous, and rowdy -- the Sound of Young America when it was young. (Gordy, 1962)
22. The Count Five: “Psychotic Reaction.” Unhinged garage rock from San Jose by a quintet of proto-punks wearing capes; clearly they were doing something right, for this is the most unlikely top ten hit of the mid-’60s I’ve ever heard. (Double Shot, 1966)
23. Cream: “Crossroads.” The fabled supergroup takes on the King of the Delta Blues Singers and more than makes it out alive -- they create their finest music as a working power trio with Eric Clapton leading the way and sounding like he’s chasing a ghost into a hurricane, which he is. (Atco, 1969)
24. Dick Dale and the Del-Tones: “Miserlou.” The greatest rock instrumental of all-time, as copped from an old 1920s Greek song, reinvented by the King of Surf Guitar, and revived by the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. (Deltone, 1962)
25. Spencer Davis Group: “Gimmie Some Lovin’.” British blue-eyed soul, powered by some kid named Steve Windwood. (Fontana, 1966)
26. Desmond Dekker: “Israelites.” Old Testament rock (of Ages), performed in New Testament style; also noteworthy as the first -- and somehow only -- top ten reggae hit in the United States. (Pyramid, 1968)
27. Bob Dylan: “Positively 4th Street.” A folk song disguised as rock, a decent hit, and an honest and bitter farewell to the folk community. (Columbia, 1965)
28. Bob Dylan: “Lay Lady Lay.” Bob Dylan reinvents himself for the 37th time as a Nashville country crooner…with a top ten pop hit. (Columbia, 1969)
29. Bob Dylan: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” A deceptively modest ballad that was as natural an anthem as Dylan would ever write. (Columbia, 1973)
30. The Five Satins: “In the Still of the Night.” The 1950s rock and roll ballad perfected, recorded in a basement of a church by four of the Five Satins, and the only major doo-wop record I’m aware of that actually uses the words “doo-wop.” (Standord, 1956)
31. The 4 Seasons: "Walk Like a Man." The original Jersey Boys, singing it the way it was meant to be heard. (Vee-Jay, 1963)
32. Aretha Franklin: “Baby I Love You.” Sacred as Secular, Part 1: Gospel music remade into a slow, burning funk. (Atlantic, 1967)
33. Aretha Franklin: “Think.” Sacred as Secular, Part 2: Gospel music made into tight, fast funk. (Atlantic, 1968)
34. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Motown love in its Platoian form, as realized by two star-crossed lovers with doomed fates. (Tamla, 1967)
35. Gloria Gaynor: “I Will Survive.” Rosie the Riveter gets jilted, then hits the disco floor to get over it. (Polydor, 1978)
36. Leslie Gore: “You Don’t Own Me.” The sound of the feminism about half a decade ahead of schedule, as sung by a 17-year-old girl who already had three top five hits under her belt and was a closeted homosexual by the time the women’s rights movement broke nationally. (Mercury, 1964)
37. Bill Haley and His Comets: “Rock Around the Clock.” The obvious choice for the first rock and roll record and, for my money, the correct one as well. (1954)
38. The Isley Brothers: “Shout (Parts 1 & 2).” The ultimate party song, the impact of which cannot be dulled no matter how many bad frat-rockers tried to cover it or how many car companies co-opted in their television commercials (RCA, 1959).
39. Jackson 5: “I Want You Back.” Perfect and utterly timeless pop, thanks to contributions from a young rookie (Michael Jackson’s vocal) and two seasoned pros (James Jamerson’s bass and Berry Gordy’s guiding hand). (Motown, 1969)
40. Etta James: “At Last.” Musically, this was blues as pop; lyrically, the end as beginning. (Argo, 1961)
41. Jane’s Addiction: “Been Caught Stealin’.” The great engine of American pop culture -- theft -- as defined at the tipping point of alternative rock. (1990)
42. Billy Joel: “Piano Man.” A memoir-turned-sing-along, as made popular by the very hopers, dreamers, and schemers celebrated in the song, who still seek refuge in bars -- and its music -- all across the country. (1973)
43. Elton John: “Your Song.” Perfect pop by the man who would go on to own it for the better part of the decade. (1970)
44. Joy Division: “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Misery as beauty, faith as regret, rock and roll perfection as sung by a man who would hang himself within a month of its release. (1980)
45. Ben E. King: “Stand by Me.” In a music that was so rooted in sexual love that it was named after a rhythm and blues euphemism for sex, this was a rare and definitive statement about a different kind of love: Friendship. (1961)
46. The Kingsmen: “Louie Louie.” The birth of punk rock, featuring Kingsmen cofounders Joe Ely’s garbled (and at times, flubbed) vocals and Lynn Eastman’s china-shop-in-an-earthquake drumming -- in other words, the glorious sound of the decline of western culture as played by a who themselves had splintered by the time their mess of a record hit the charts. (Wand, 1963)
47. Kraftwerk: “Autobahn.” A cover of Chuck Berry’s “You Can't Catch Me,” translated into binary and directed by Fritz Lang. (Philips, 1975)
48. Little Eva: “The Loco-Motion.” The quintessential symbol of postindustrial America -- the iron horse charging ahead into the future -- turning history into dance, dance into community, and community into infectious pop music. (Dimension, 1962)
49. LL Cool J: “Mama Said Knock You Out.” The ultimate comeback hit, with the perfect opening line: “Don’t call it a comeback--” (Def Jam, 1990)
50. The Lovin’ Spoonful: “Summer in the City.” America's cleanest folk-rock band sings the grittiest song about summer. (1966)
51. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.” The first child star of rock and roll, this was Lymon’s first and signature hit -- he may not have been able to match it, but he did live it out when three different women came forward as his widow after his death from a heroin overdose at the age of 25. (Gee, 1956)
52. Lynyrd Skynyrd: “Sweet Home Alabama.” Five minutes of sizzling southern rock that Neil Young will always remember. (MCA, 1974)
53. Martha and the Vandellas: “Dancing in the Street.” An answer record to the race riots; with all due respect to John Lennon and Joe Strummer, this was rock and roll as revolution. (Gordy, 1964)
54. Don McLean: “American Pie.” The History of Rock, Part 1: c. 1959 - 1970. (United Artists, 1971)
55. Metallica: “Enter Sandman.” Modern heavy metal’s breakthrough hit, prep-tested, head-banger approved. (Elektra, 1991)
56. Van Morrison: “Brown-Eyed Girl.” The tale of everyone’s first love -- the way that it should’ve happened. (Bang, 1967)
57. Johnny Nash: “I Can See Clearly Now.” The flipside of early reggae’s proto-gangsta pose: Open, optimistic, happy. (Epic, 1972)
58. Nine Inch Nails: “Head Like a Hole.” Trent Reznor makes his first steps into the American consciousness with a song about submission and resistance. But with a refrain that was this disturbing yet undeniably catchy (“Bow down before the one you serve/You’re going to get what you deserve”), there was something very weird was going on. (TVT, 1990)
59. Notorious B.I.G.: “Hypnotize.” Herb Alpert goes hip-hop, and the result is an uptown anthem. (Bad Boy, 1996)
60. OutKast: “Hey Ya!” Hip-hop tested, hipster approved -- and as natural a number one as any I’ve ever heard. (2003)
61. The Penguins: “Earth Angel.” Making the charts around the same time as “Rock Around the Clock,” this was the birth of the other side of rock and roll -- tender, magical, yearning. (Dootone, 1954)
62. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: “American Girl.” The ultimate ode to the American Girl -- recorded, appropriately enough, on the Bicentennial. (Shelter, 1977)
63. The Platters: “Only You.” Classic doo-wop, courtesy of Tony Williams’ trick-voiced lead vocal. (Mercury, 1955)
64. The Police: “Every Breath You Take.” Jimmy Stewart in Verigo as hidden deep within the most misunderstood wedding song of all-time. (A&M, 1983)
65. Elvis Presley: “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” The best-known song from his best-selling studio album (the Blue Hawaii soundtrack LP), reborn towards the end as his epic set-closer, and then resurrected as his most-downloaded song on iTunes. (RCA, 1961)
66. Elvis Presley: “Suspicious Minds.” The fruit of his comeback labor: epic, engaged, timeless. (RCA, 1969)
67. Elvis Presley: “Burning Love.” Elvis’s last major hit, a final burst of passion, just before he spent his final years phoning it in as a cartoon version of himself. (RCA, 1972)
68. Lloyd Price: “Stagger Lee.” A badman ballad handled by thousands before (and after) Price got to it, he wrote a beautiful new intro to it, then stormed in and broke the mold. (ABC-Paramount, 1959)
69. Procol Harum: “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” When this song was released, John Lennon bought a 45 of it, got into his limousine with a portable record player, and told his driver to keep driving around as he listened to it over and over again. If that’s not criteria worthy of making this list, I’ll never know it. (Deram, 1967)
70. Queen: “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Forget rock opera, this was rock as opera -- and yet it somehow all worked. (EMI, 1975)
71. ? and the Mysterians: “96 Tears.” The cheesy organ that launched a thousand rock bands. (Cameo-Parkway, 1966)
72. The Ramones: “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker.” The Ramones perfect their sound on their biggest U.S. pop hit up to that point -- #81 with a bullet. Of course, it should’ve been about 80 notches higher, but with the Ramones success is always relative. (Sire, 1977)
73. Radiohead: “Creep.” The song that introduced Radiohead to the world as -- at least from the American perspective -- one of the decade’s first “one-hit wonders.” But what a hit it was. (Parlophone, 1992)
74. The Rascals: “Good Lovin’.” The greatest ’60s dance song, as centered around a most undanceable break in the middle. (Atlantic, 1966)
75. Otis Redding: “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” The King of Soul listens to Sgt. Pepper and writes the breakthrough signature hit that he never lives to see; not completely finished at the time of recording, he is unsure how to end it, so he begins to whistle… (Stax, 1967)
76. R.E.M.: “Losing My Religion.” A perfect pop song with an even more perfect music video, although guitarist Peter Buck figured it would never make the charts because it featured a mandolin. (Warner Brothers, 1991)
77. The Rolling Stones: “Ruby Tuesday.” The Stones’ contribution to the long and wonderful rock and roll tradition (beginning right away with “Rock Around the Clock”) of flipping a record to make its planned B-side a major hit. (Decca, 1967)
78. The Rolling Stones: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” After a regrettable year of psychedelic rock, the Stones’ rebirth in a crossfire hurricane. (Decca, 1968)
79. The Rolling Stones: “Honky Tonk Women.” Sleazy country and gritty blues -- the Stones’ biggest hit, and deservedly so. (Decca, 1969)
80. Sam and Dave: “Soul Man.” Soul music’s greatest song about itself? (Stax, 1967)
81. Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band: “Night Moves.” Seger's breakthrough from regional favorite to national star; many have rightfully praised its evocation of love and nostalgia, but I’d pay a hundred dollars to find out which song Seger was humming from 1962. I really want it to be Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me.” (1976)
82. The Shangri-Las: “Leader of the Pack.” The ultimate girl group song: Fun, catchy, earnest -- and just a little bit stupid. (Red Bird, 1964)
83. Del Shannon: “Runaway.” Early ’60s teenage rock and roll love gone horribly wrong, dispatched by a haunted voice and a carnival organ. (BigTop, 1961)
84. The Silhouettes: “Get a Job.” A quintessential one-hit wonder in that the song was much bigger than the group that performed it; indeed, Sha-Na-Na took it and sculpted an entire career from it. (Ember, 1957)
85. Simon and Garfunkel: “The Sounds of Silence.” The sound of folk-rock -- literally, and in that order -- when Columbia Records take a non-hit folk song, overdub an electric band on it, and create one of the defining singles of the ’60s. (Columbia, 1965)
86. Percy Sledge: “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Like the best soul records, this was built on the feeling of gospel music, only with the love taken from the sacred, put into the secular, and shouted across the valley. (Atlantic, 1966)
87. Britney Spears: “…Baby One More Time.” The greatest pop song of the last 15 years. For real. (1998)
88. Steppenwolf: “Born to Be Wild.” The sound of hitting the open highway, illustrated by Easy Rider but understood by everybody who has ever heard the song. (1968)
89. The Sugar Hill Gang: “Rapper’s Delight.” The “Rock Around the Clock” of rap music; also the first song released exclusively as a 12” record to make the Billboard Top 40. (Sugar Hill, 1979)
90. Donna Summer: “Love to Love You Baby.” Looping extended beats over the sounds of sexual ecstasy, this was more than just an international hit or the opening shot of the disco social revolution, it was a technological breakthrough and the future of all dance music to follow. (Casablanca, 1975)
91. Talking Heads: “Psycho Killer.” Norman Bates making crib notes in French class with an acoustic guitar and a nervous complex. (Sire, 1977)
92. Toots and the Maytals, “Pressure Drop.” Vintage reggae music from its golden age: hot enough to dance to, but cool enough to be covered by the Clash. (Trojan, 1970)
93. The Tornados: “Telstar.” Inspired by the satellite, the song plumbed the depths of a strange new world even more mysterious than outer space: The inner-mind of producer Joe Meek. (Decca, 1962)
94. The Troggs: “Wild Thing.” The ultimate frat rock party anthem, rightly dubbed by Jimi Hendrix at Monterey Pop as the “English and American combined anthems.” (1966)
95. U2: “Pride (In the Name of Love).” A first venture into the outside of America -- impassioned, stirring, and a hit. (Island, 1984)
96. 2pac: “California Love.” “California Girls” for the ’90s hip-hop crowd -- in other words, a feel-good party song that elevated California from a state in the union to a state of mind. (Death Row, 1995)
97. Ritchie Valens: “La Bamba.” Rock meets Latin, as introduced by a 17-year-old who died before a teenage Carlos Santana moved to the United States. (Del-Fi, 1958)
98. The Velvet Underground: “Sister Ray.” The birth of postmodern rock and roll in 18 minutes or less. (Verve, 1967)
99. Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps: “Be-Bop-A-Lula.” Strutting, defiant, and sexy, this is Gene Vincent's finest record -- even though the whole thing’s almost stolen from him by the screams of 15-year-old drummer Dickie “Be Bop” Harrell. (Capitol, 1956)
100. Stevie Wonder: “Uptight (Everything’s Alright).” “Little” Stevie Wonder no more, as he drops the “Little” and focuses on the “Wonder” with this, his artistic breakthrough as a performer and, for the first time, co-writer. (Tamla, 1966)
