The Rolling Stone Magazines 10 Greatest Songs Of All Time

I saw a movie once called "Blonde on Blonde", but Bob wasn't in it.

Where's the Prodigy on that list?

single handedly??
oh come on.

there was an entire movement of music at the time. they were in it, but i dont even know if i would say that they spearheaded it. like it or not... and i dont that much, but... Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden were a huge part of that.

Alice In Chains was the first out of those bands to pack them in. both nirvana and pearl jam opened shows for Alice.

now lets not forget about the path they walked that was already there. Mudhoney, the Pixies, sonic youth. i personally booked a handful of shows that nirvana opened for sonic youth. Pearl was the only band that got to same size of nirvana.... but dont say that they did it alone. lets not forget
Smashing Pumpkins... i was never a big fan... but Gish was huge. and then, shortly after all of that, we were amazed by a new band coming into the light.... mother fucking TOOL

and please remember the first cross over from glam to alternative...
Jane's Addiction

alone. no

good post

Haha that is hilarious

well i have a thank you for you. i did not know 'respect' was originally done by otis redding. there are a few records that i am going to have to dig out...

and along with those, it seems like its time to dig up some of The Boss. i have 'born to run' stuck in my head now

cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

I know why I don't read that magazine

Those are some great ones; however, they forgot my theme song...click on my movie below...


Mr. Romance

Agreed... #1 or #2 on many lists.

_

thanks, i grew up with most of the bands you mentioned, including red hot chili peppers, RAM, etc...i still listen to it all of the time, imo, much better than many of the stuff that has been released in recent years

great post
Nirvana was in this "right place, right time" mode to be crowned as some type of patron saint of grunge, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who would give more credit to Jane's Addiction...and the great punk bands you mentioned, especially the criminally underrated and nearly unknown Mudhoney.

While I agree fo the most part with the songs of the list, I think like many others that stairway to heaven should be there.

Another brick on the wall by Pink Floyd, hotel California by Eagles and with or without you by U2 would also get my vote to be there.

My post was based on my own perspective from that time. At that time (the early 90's) I was writing for a music magazine called The Rocket. Anyone from the Pacific Northwest that was into the music scene probably has heard of it. Anyway, Yes, Alice In Chains was the first band from there to get national recognition. However the amount of recognition they got was pretty small at first. They didn't get really big until the entire scene got big. The same with Soundgarden. Soundgarden had probably been around longer than most of the bands in that area, but they were a lot heavier than many of the other bands and were actually one of the last ones to explode on the scene nationally. By explode I mean move into the mainstream with top 40 radio play and national press coverage. Nirvana's Nevermind came out and was a national hit almost from the first day it was released. They were all over MTV and the radio. I was at the CD release party for it and remember hearing the guys from Sub Pop records talking about how, once they heard the record, they knew the band was going be huge. After Nirvana's first wave of success came Pearl Jam who became, arguably, even bigger. Ten and then Vs were huge records. Ten actually came out a few weeks before Nevermind, but wasn't the immediate success that Nevermind was. By the time Pearl Jam were staples on rock radio you pretty much didn't hear from the hair metal bands anymore. After Nirvana and Pearl Jam got huge the other bands in the area like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden grew and then exploded.

Stone Temple Pilots was a San Diego band that basically wanted to be a Pearl Jam clone. They were the grunge version of Poison to Motley Crue. They had a few catchy songs, but history will forget them.

There are other bands that you mentioned that were instrumental in paving the road. The Pixies, Sonic Youth (although they had been around awhile already) and Mudhoney were pioneers. Mudhoney was probably the first of them to be big with their single "touch me I'm sick." Smashing Pumpkins was also a major player in that time frame, but they were not a huge band until Siamese Dream came out. Tool were around at that time but weren't really a player until the mid 90's and by then hair metal was long in the grave.

My post was probably a little too overstated. There were other bands that were big in that time frame and helped to propel that type of music into the mainstream, but I feel without the initial success of Nirvana, much of it may not of have happened. It is possible that if Nirvana never existed Pearl Jam would have still been as huge and the other bands of that time would have still been big, but I think Nirvana's Nevermind fundamentally changed the direction of rock music and helped to move a genre of music from the small clubs into the mainstream.

for me it has a lot to do with gut reaction. I was a music critic at the time ( and still am somewhat of a music snob) so I'm kind of jaded. I would hear things and think they were good, but the first time I heard "smells like teen spirit" I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard.

There are so many great songs that if I put together a top 10 list it would probably change from week to week depending on my mood.

glad to see Nirvana up there, pretty solid list overall

Because if you like John Lennon you are required by socital law to say that is his best song. I disagree but I think a lot of that is because I have heard it too much. I can appreciate that it is a good song with 'deep' lyrics but I think he did better.

Not in my area they weren't. They had a following and were getting bigger but there were still pleanty of people in my school that barely knew who he was until he killed himself. Greenday were far bigger in my area at the time and while the Nirvana unplugged, in particular, was gaining them fans they weren't that big. Maybe in cities it was different but we were a suburb of a major city so it wasn't like we were the sticks.

Now, after he killed himself all the kids that never heard of him claimed Nirvana was their faveorite band and walked around in t-shirts with the suicide note on the back. It was maybe the only time in my life I could watch the creation of a cultural icon along the lines of James Dean and that sort of 'dead too soon' folk.

Not to mention Pearl Jam was much bigger too.

my point is that they walked through an open door.

bleach was a great record. nevermind was catchy and got them that guitar hook that had everyone playing air guitar and the fender mustangs tripled in price over it. i liked the record. i dont know if i ever need to hear it again, but i liked it

didnt one of the guys from soundgarden help start subpop or something? he was buddies with them?

measuring nirvana's place by looking at the popularity of them in the public eye....
in my not so humble opinion, if we only have two to pick from... put Ten and Nevermind on the scale of ground breaking

Ten wins. i remember the first time that i heard that record, i didnt even think that the band Mookie Blaylock could have done something that good.
the song Hunger Strike still rings in my head from time to time. that was a crossover from metal to alternative.

as for S.T.P. "flies in the vasoline we are, sometimes it blows my mind"
fun band to see live, good musicians, they earned a place.

queen's bohemian rhapsody is like totally missing... so is zeppelin's stairway to heaven...

Mark Arm from Mudhoney was really good freinds with one of the founders of Sub Pop. I belive Soundgarden's manager Susan Silver (who later married Chris Cornell) was also involved with Sub Pop. That record label released a lot of compilation CDs that had early songs on them from Soundgarden, Mookie Blaylock, Screaming Trees, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Mother Lover Bone (and Green River) and a lot of other lesser known Northwest bands. Mudhoney really helped put them on the map and then when the scene exploded they had all these early releases from these now huge bands so they rode the wave to fame. After Nevermind hit they were selling more copies of Bleach each day than they had sold combined up until then.

I would agree that Ten probably had as much influnce nationally as Nevermind did. They were both very big popular records but Ten did seem launch Pearl Jam into its own orbit. Both bands had very good singers but I think Vedder was better able to make a connection with the crowd and the fans that gave thier music an accessibility that Nivana's sometimes lacked.

Mazzy Star Fade into you should be in there, #438

lots of good ones on that list... top 10 Rock n Roll songs of all time is so debatable though..

Agreed, remove Nirvana and replace them with Led Zepplin

no elvis? no zeppelin? that list is terrible

top 100



1 Like A Rolling Stone Bob Dylan
2 Satisfaction Rolling Stones
3 Imagine John Lennon
4 What's Going On Marvin Gaye
5 Respect Aretha Franklin
6 Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
7 Johnny B. Goode Chuck Berry
8 Hey Jude Beatles
9 Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
10 What'd I Say (Live Berlin) 1962 Ray Charles
11 My Generation Who
12 A Change Is Gonna Come Sam Cooke
13 Yesterday Beatles
14 Blowin' in The Wind Bob Dylan
15 London Calling Clash
16 I Want To Hold Your Hand Beatles
17 Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix
18 Maybellene Chuck Berry
19 Hound Dog Elvis Presley
20 Let It Be Beatles
21 Born To Run Bruce Springsteen
22 Be My Baby The Ronettes
23 In My Life Beatles
24 People Get Ready The Impressions
25 God Only Knows Beach Boys
26 A Day In The Life Beatles
27 Layla Derek And The Dominos
28 (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay Otis Redding
29 Help Beatles
30 I Walk The Line Johnny Cash
31 Stairway To Heaven Led Zeppelin
32 Sympathy For The Devil Rolling Stones
33 River Deep, Mountain High Tina Turner & Celine Dion
34 You've Lost That Loving Feeling The Righteous Brothers
35 Light My Fire The Doors
36 One U2
37 No Woman No Cry Bob Marley
38 Gimme Shelter Rolling Stones
39 That'll Be The Day Buddy Holly
40 Dancing In The Streets Martha And The Vandellas
41 The Weight Band
42 Waterloo Sunset The Kinks
43 Tutti Frutti Little Richard
44 Georgia On My Mind Ray Charles
45 Heartbreak Hotel Elvis Presley
46 Heroes David Bowie
47 Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon And Garfunkel
48 All Along The Watchtower Jimi Hendrix
49 Hotel California The Eagles
50 The Tracks Of My Tears Smokey Robinson
51 The Message Grandmaster Flash
52 When Doves Cry Prince
53 Anarchy In The U K Sex Pistols
54 When A Man Loves A Woman Percy Sledge
55 Louie Louie The Kingsmen
56 Long Tall Sally Little Richard
57 A Whiter Shade Of Pale Procul Harum
58 Billie Jean Michael Jackson
59 The Times They Are A-changin' Bob Dylan
60 Let's Stay Together Al Green
61 Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On Jerry Lee Lewis
62 Bo Diddley Bo Diddley
63 For What It's Worth Buffalo Springfield
64 She Loves You Beatles
65 Sunshine Of Your Love Cream
66 Redemption Song Bob Marley
67 Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley
68 Tangled Up In Blue Bob Dylan
69 Crying Roy Orbison
70 Walk On By Dionne Warwick
71 California Girls Beach Boys
72 Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Pt.1 James Brown
73 Summertime Blues Cochran Eddie
74 Superstition Stevie Wonder
75 Whole Lotta Love Led Zeppelin
76 Strawberry Fields Forever Beatles
77 Mystery Train Elvis Presley
78 I Feel Good James Brown
79 Mr. Tambourine Man The Byrds
80 I Heard It Through The Grapevine Marvin Gaye
81 Blueberry Hill Fats Domino
82 You Really Got Me Kinks
83 Norwegian Wood (this Bird Has Flown) Beatles
84 Every Breath You Take The Police
85 Crazy Patsy Cline
86 Thunder Road Bruce Springsteen
87 Ring Of Fire Johnny Cash
88 My Girl Temptations
89 California Dreamin' The Mamas & The Papas
90 In The Still Of The Night The Five Satins
91 Suspicious Minds Elvis Presley
92 Blitzkrieg Bop The Ramones
93 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For U2
94 Good Golly Miss Molly Little Richard
95 Blue Suede Shoes Carl Perkins
96 Great Balls Of Fire Jerry Lee Lewis
97 Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry
98 Love And Happiness Al Green
99 Fortunate Son Creedence Clearwater Revival
100 You Can't Always Get What You Want Rolling Stones

soooo many awesome awesome songs on that list!!!

truly a sad and disappointing list but what do you expect from rolling stone?

What the hell? Is there an explanation for that?

You forgot:

011 - The B52s - Love Shack

OMG DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A GIRL CRY... FADE INTO YOU, STRANGE YOU NEVER KNEW.... i think of a ship lost at sea when i hear that song... her voice has the most haunting sound....beautiful...

how in the world did Bob Dylan make it to number 1..what a joke..the number 1 song should be the one that sold the most and by far i dont think its dylan.

Since when did profit determine quality? If you did that the list would be populated by the backstreet boys and spice girls type songs.

What most of the songs in there top ten have in common are they were songs that opened the door for later bands with similar sounds. Songs that broke new ground,as it were. Older song by virtue of having lasted proved themselves and are going to make 'greatest ever' lists more than new stuff. While my list would be different but I will say that I wasn't born when most of the top ten were released but I still know the words to most,if not all of them so they must have done something right.

not unless you can come up with one, i just wanted to point out that i knew one of those songs was a cover

Why, are only teen agers allowed to pick so that we can have yet another "top 10 greatest songs of all time" that feature only songs from the passed decade?

I think Nirvana could go in top3 and not only this song but many others, i still adore it...agree?

It had its reign for about 30 yrs being number 1 on many list

No, I don't agree. I agree that it prompted a change from rock to alternative... however, the guy couldn't sing, the songs really weren't all that "great", and really didn't have much statement to it.

Now, Cobain himself... he could draw emotion out of his audience. His moody, dark, tragic persona/life was the source of a huge following that could fabricate emotion out of his lyrics despite not being able to understand them. It wasn't the music they were feeling, it was him.

But because they only saw him while he was playing this mediocre music, it was the music they remembered... and they thought that music was "great."

Does that make the music worthy of a top spot? Well, yes and no. I guess it's a matter of your perception of what makes a song one of the best in history.

Thats probably the number 1 on the karoke list....its easy to get girls upto sing with you for that 1

Sometimes people do covers better than the originals. Is the cover from Johnny Cash? Most his songs were covers, and I think he did "Hurt" better than NIN

It's a cover of an Otis Redding song of the same title. Her version is really well done - you wouldn't be able to tell it's the same song (Redding also did outstanding covers). Aretha's version is much more commercial and poppy compared to Redding's raw earthy organic style. I'm an Otis fan so I'm partial to everything he's done.

I am usually somebody that hates covers unless they are much better than the originals. However, at that time people were swapping songs all over the place.

in most cases, its easy to play/sing a song, you can find the music, you know the words, etc...its having that creative mind to write those lyrics, thats big

i know that i would be angry if i had written a song and a cover of it became RS's top 10 of all time, without getting credit/attribution for the lyrics...i dont think otis would mind, in this case

definitely.......

Where's Iron Man

Well theres plenty of song writers that can't sing, but I absolutely agree about the creativity in the original songs.

He was turned to Steel in a Great Big Magnetic Field...

True though many people with songs on the large list didn't write their songs. I am one of those annoying people that go around pointing out that Tainted Love, for example, is not a Soft Cell song but a cover, etc. The BBC did a poll a few years ago of the 'nation's faveorite lyric'. That was an interesting list and then it was the writers that got the credit. However, if it is the single then the singer as as much to do with it.