This is cool and took some talent, but it also portends the end of rock and roll at about the same time I found it pretty much around 1994. I worked on my MP3 playlist back before even Napster, downloading from newsgroups like alt.music, without realizing the last one I bothered with was Rocking in the Free World with Neil Young and Pearl Jam. It was also the year of the last good ACDC album Razor’s Edge.
Not sure what happened exactly, perhaps there is a mathematical wall of no new licks / hooks possible in a genre, it’s all been done. Even rock greats are unable to write a hit anymore bears that out. Hemingway, I have the best 30 songs from each year from 1954 to 1994, 1645 songs in all. Been going through them alphabetically from the tablet on the boat now for three years, we are only at the “G’s”. The best three in a row so far: Gimme Shelter, Gimme Three Steps and Giving the Dog a Bone.
1. Bill Haley & His Comets – Rock Around the Clock
2. Little Richard – Tutti Frutti
3. Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock
4. Buddy Holly & His Crickets – That’ll be the day
5. Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
6. The Beatles – She loves you
7. The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction
8. The Beach Boys – Good vibrations
9. Janis Joplin – Piece of my heart ( originally Erma Franklin)
10. The Doors – Light my fire
11. Steppenwolf – Born to be wild
12. The Beatles – Helter Skelter
13. Led Zeppelin – Whole lotta love
14. Black Sabbath – Iron Man
15. Deep Purple – Smoke on the water
16. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet home Alabama
17. KISS – Rock and Roll all nite
18. Frank Zappa – Don’t eat the yellow snow
19. Aerosmith – Walk this way
20. Queen – We will rock you
21. Boston – More than a feeling
22. Van Halen – Jamie’s cryin
23. Kansas – Carry on wayward son
24. Ramones – I wanna be sedated
25. The Who – Whor are you ?
26. Pink Floyd – Another brick in the wall
27. AC/DC – Back in black
28. Judas Priest – Living after Midnight
29. Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy train
30. Motörhead – Ace of spades
31. Joan Jett | The Blackhearts – I love Rock’n’Roll
32. Journey – Don’t stop believin’
33. Iron Maiden – Run to the hills
34. Def Leppard – Pour some sugar on me
35. Twisted Sister – I wanna rock
36. Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a prayer
37. Guns N’Roses – Paradise city
38. Faith no more – epic
39. Metallica – Enter Sandman
40. Nirvana – Smells like a teen spirit
41. Alice in Chains – Man in the box
42. Soundgarden – Outshined
43. Stone Temple Pilots – Dead and bloated
44. Pearl Jam – Even flow
45. Lenny Kravitz – Are you gonna go my way
46. Bush – Machinehead
47. Alanis Morissette – You oughta know
48. Blur – Song 2
49. Foo Fighters – Monkey wrench
50. Godsmack – Keep away
51. Tool -Schism
52. Staind -Outside
53. The vines – Get free
54. Linkin Park – Numb
55. The White Stripes – Seven nation army
56. Evanescence – Bring me to life
57. Queens of the Stone Age – No one knows
58. Shinedowan – 45
59. Foo Fighters – The Pretender
60. Muse – Uprising
61. Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare
62. The Black Keys – Howlin’ for you
63. Halestorm – I miss the misery
64. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive
65. Muse Psycho