The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time
May 30th, 2008 by Guitar MX Admin
Rolling Stone magazine recently put a list together of the top 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. All of these songs contain “an irresistible riff; a solo or jam that takes you higher every time you hear it; the final power chord that pins you to the wall and makes you hit play again and again“.
Here is the list they come up with, along with links to videos of the songs being performed.
- 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 Zeppelin (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 – 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. 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 (1958)
- 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-Kinney (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 (1958)
- 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 – Lynyrd 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 (1958)
- 69. Money – Pink Floyd (1958)
- 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 (1958)
- 78. Stone Crazy – Buddy Guy (1970)
- 79. Silver Rocket – Sonic Youth (1988)
- 80. Kid Charlemagne – Steely Dan (1958)
- 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 – Hüsker Dü (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)
Rolling Stone also has commentary on each song, explaining why it made the list. You can view the complete list here.
There sure are a lot of really memorable solos in this list!
Although I am sure a huge controversy will spark from this list as well. But hey that’s good for Rolling Stone!
Their previous list of top 100 guitarists of all time was pretty ridiculous, but overall this list seems to not be too shabby.
Freebird at SIXTY-FOUR? What crackhead ranked these?
Seven Nation Army? I’m a white stripes fan, but that song is one basic riff repeated fifty times. Wtf?
A lot of great stuff here, but a LOT of great Southern Rock guitar songs were NOT included, and some other stuff maybe that should not have been was!!!
# 77. Even Flow – Pearl Jam (1958)
uh, I don’t think pearl jam even existed in 1958
there are plenty of good songs on this list, but way out of order. Johnny B. Goode at number 1, REALLY! And “Little Wing – Stevie Ray Vaughan (1991)” should not count since it is a cover of a Jimi Hendrix song. And why does “Clutch” not appear once on this list? I think whoever made this list is very bias (unlike me
).
Ok Seriously, about 10 into the list I already knew this guy was relatively new to guitar in songs since about everyone of these songs are sings, radio common, or just plain popular songs. I’m not going to go on ranting about tastes in music, but seriously, almost half of these songs are pop-rock/grunge/punk/southern rock… etc. Anyway, my point being, it’s all very taste and appeal oriented versus actual skills involved in the list, but I suppose that may be the point of this article anyway….
[...] Ron wasn’t a technical guitarist and didn’t have much commercial success, but was very influential in punk and hard rock music. He was a pioneer in punk guitar and influenced such guitarists as Kurt Cobain and Jack White. Rolling Stone magazine honored him on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Time and also included his song 1969 as one of the Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. [...]