Five best rock songs of all time

This came up in conversation recently. I had been on the treadmill and one of my top 5 came on and I was thinking about how different it is to rock out on the treadmill to a song like that versus the others on the play list. Later that week at a bar, I talked about it with some friends while a very mediocre Lynyrd Skynyrd band played (I would like those few hours back, please). So let me frame the question.

What are your 5 top rock songs of all time? Yours, not everyone else's. I'm not necessarily looking for the best technically. Just your favorites; the ones that make you rock out. Where you are all air guitaring and stuff. And I am limiting the question to the rock genre. I buzzer will sound of your song isn't rock.

Comments

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008

1. The Mars Volta - "Cassandra Gemini", especially track II
2. Tool - "Lateralus"
3. Pearl Jam - "Black, Red, Yellow" (very Stone-ish)
4. Tool - "Ticks and Leeches" by virtue of the drum intro & solo
5. Soundgarden  - "Mailman"

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
  LetsKillDave - the movie? Can't say that I have seen it. I know; there's a whole category of pop culture I am missing because there's a certain kind of humor I just don't get. I don't get a lot of jokes because of that. Keith Patrick - Wow! I don't think I know any of those! No Zeppelin or anything? Please tell me that you aren't too young to know who Led Zeppelin is. That would make me very sad and very old. Programmerman - So you are in to the softer side of rock. Those kinds of songs are the soundtrack to my childhood. Steinkamp - I know, right? And this is how I know we are the same age.

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 06, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 06, 2008
  Wait... I want to change my vote! Add: Barracuda - Heart and remove... I don't know, Joe Walsh I guess.

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2008
  Phil, you are having the same problem I had! It's kind of like potato chips, well except that you can't eat your favorite songs.

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 07, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 07, 2008
  Derek & the Dominos - Layla Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love Kid Rock - Bawitdaba Rush - Tom Sawyer Grateful Dead - Turn on your Lovelight (from Live Dead)

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2008
  Nice! I am liking these lists! As a side benefit, I am definitely going to have some new songs to add to my playlist. I'm never in front of a computer when I hear one of these songs and think "ooh, I should have that!"

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2008
  Mine come in no particular order, and will most likely change within minutes. So without further ado:

1. Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys
2. While My Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles
3. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
4. Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones
5. Oh, Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2008
  lots of great stuff on all these lists, so here's 5 that haven't yet been mentioned that I can confirm do, in fact, rock hard: Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of Modest Mouse - Dashboard Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana Heartbreaker - Zep Won't get Fooled Again - Who Facination Street - Cure Born to Run - Springsteen Alternates: New Years Day - U2 Livin on a Prayer - Bon Jovi (yes, I said it)

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  Wow....I had NO IDEA how hard this would be....I'll try these (I think that anytime one might ask this question the answer would change depending on the mood at the time)....and you've now made me slip into my "rocky" side Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden The Green Manalishi - Judas Priest Lights Out - UFO Big City Nights - Scorpions Communication Breakdown - Zeppelin

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  Oh, and also....VH1 had a top hits of the 90s thing going on this weekend and though I only caught bits and pieces, it was pretty awesome. I'm going to find their list online and download some "new" old songs!

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  I can confirm that "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is the Beatles, not a solo project afterward.

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  Shows what I know. I will try to take it easy on the Beatles then :)

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  Vinnie Moore also has a beautiful instrumental version of "Gently Weeps". TK

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  I'm not so sure. McCaughnahey bugs me.  I don't know how to spell his name and I refuse to look it up on priciple :) I feel the same about Journey. Good stuff. I may try to look up some vinyl on eBay or something. Would be nice to feel the weight of the vinyl versus the sterile CD case. I worry that if I ask people what their top 5 funny movies are, I will realize that all my readers like haha-funny and then I will have to deal with the fact that despite my dislike of haha-funny, I actually might have something in common with haha-funny. If you know what I mean. Thanks for the nice words about the blog! I go through ebbs and flows and now I am definitely getting back into it. Right now, I am really enjoying learning about my readers' taste.

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  Were you serious on the top 5? I'm scared!  Yeah, maybe we wil get to the worst songs of the 80s but I am trying to be positive now :)

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2008
  Part serious, part being funny. :)

• Anonymous
  December 09, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 09, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 09, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 10, 2008
  Roy is in the Rock n' Roll HOF...

• Anonymous
  December 10, 2008
  Keith - guilty secret bands. I have some of those :) Buz - I am with you. He's rock royalty. I don't want to live in a world where the GoGos rock and Roy Orbison doesn't.

• Anonymous
  December 10, 2008
  Yeah....this Vinnie Moore album was released in 1987.  Here is a link to a sample of "While my guitar gently weeps" on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V6LUMK/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk7?ie=UTF8&qid=1228940737&sr=8-1 Wow....I think I'm going to take most of the songs from your participants in this experiment and make a monster play list.....mostly all good stuff! Holiday cheers... Todd in Chicago

• Anonymous
  December 10, 2008
  Yeah, me too. Bonus points to whomever creates the playlist somewhere and can link us to it.

• Anonymous
  December 10, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 10, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 11, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 11, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 12, 2008
  All you had to say was the REO Speedwagon and the rest makes sense now; especially the GoGos. It's SUBJECTIVE. So the effort disprove someone else's picks versus justifying your own, I don't get. Now let's move on. As they say in your #2 embarassing pick above..."we are the world, we are the children"...

• Anonymous
  December 12, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 12, 2008
  Hmm, a wide representation of people and their definition of "rock". Mine says it should be big, should be loud, should be timeless. Let's go! (in no particlular order, and subject to change next week/month/year): Nirvana - Teen Spirit Led Zeppelin - Custard Pie Ted Nugent - Dog Eat Dog Scorpions - The Zoo Pretenders - Space Invaders/The Wait

• Anonymous
  December 12, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 13, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 15, 2008
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  December 16, 2008
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  December 19, 2008
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  December 21, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 23, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 24, 2008
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• Anonymous
  December 29, 2008
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• Anonymous
  January 01, 2009

1.  I Can't Explain  The Who
2.  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road  Elton John
3.  Thunder Road  Bruce Springsteen
4.  You Really Got Me  The Kinks
5.  Train in Vain  The Clash

• Anonymous
  January 02, 2009
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• Anonymous
  January 03, 2009
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• Anonymous
  January 05, 2009
  #1 welcom to the jungle_guns n' roses #2 back in black_AC/DC #3hit me baby one more time_briteny spears and thats all i can think of

• Anonymous
  January 09, 2009
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• Anonymous
  January 13, 2009
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• Anonymous
  January 17, 2009
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• Anonymous
  January 20, 2009
  1.Deep Purple, 2.Deep Purple, 3.Deep Purple, 4.Deep Purple, 5.Deep Purple  is  BEST FOREVER ! Dugi Kosovo

• Anonymous
  January 20, 2009
  haha! This does make me wonder where the blog traffic is coming from. I'm betting I'm getting responses from people that are not my regular readers; which it cool with me!

• Anonymous
  January 20, 2009
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• Anonymous
  January 30, 2009
  My Top Five :   1. Hotel California -- Eagles   2. Satisfaction -- Rolling Stones   3. Stairway To Heaven -- Led Zepplin   4. Rosanna -- Toto   5. Tonight Is Gonna Last Forever -- Schenker-McAuley

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2009
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• Anonymous
  February 06, 2009
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• Anonymous
  February 11, 2009
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• Anonymous
  February 17, 2009
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• Anonymous
  February 25, 2009
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• Anonymous
  February 27, 2009
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• Anonymous
  March 15, 2009

1. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN                 LED ZEPPLIN
2. HERE COMES THE SUN                 THE BEATLES
3. FREE BIRD                                    LYNYRD SKYNYRD
4. BITTER SWEET SYMPHONY           THE VERVE
5. SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT            NIRVANA

• Anonymous
  March 25, 2009
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• Anonymous
  March 31, 2009
  How can Aerosmith not be on any of these lists? At least Dream On

• Anonymous
  April 05, 2009
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• Anonymous
  April 07, 2009
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• Anonymous
  April 28, 2009
  my top 5 are...

1. stairway to heaven - led zeppelin
2. hey jude - the beatles
3. black dog - led zeppelin
4. alive - pearl jam
5. paranoid android - radiohead

• Anonymous
  June 02, 2009
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• Anonymous
  June 22, 2009
  all of you are out of your mind 1.) Baba O'reilly-The Who 2.) Stairway to Heaven-Led Zepplin 3.) Tom Sawyer- Rush 4.) Black Dod-Led Zepplin 5.) Won't Get Fooled Again-The Who thats a good list

• Anonymous
  July 01, 2009

1. Going to California - Zeppelin -Live BBC Sessions
2. Love is alive - Gary Wright
3. Eminence Font - The Who
4. Closer - Nine Inch Nails
5. In the Air Tonight - Genesis

• Anonymous
  July 01, 2009
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  July 25, 2009
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  August 06, 2009
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  October 11, 2009
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• Anonymous
  July 23, 2010
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