Top Rock Songs Through the Years
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The Top Rock Songs through the years consisted of a huge block of music spanning from the early doo wop and blues years of the 50's to the MTV generation of the 80's.
In the 50's Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley dominated the scene. Chuck Berry is sometimes known as the inventor of rock and roll. The Rock and Roll hall of fame included three of his songs. They were "Johnny B. Goode" (seen in the film "Back To the Future"), "Maybellene" and "Rock and Roll Music" (also performed later by the Beatles).. Elvis Presley began his wild hip shaking career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, which was an up tempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues. It also has a strong back beat. Presley is known for great tunes like "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" My favorite was "It's Now or Never"
Other great 50 rock performers were:
Little Richard - A key figure in the transition of rhythm & blues to rock & roll Known for the wild hits "Lucille", "Tutti Frutti" , "Long Tall Sally" (also performed later by the Beatles) and "Good Golly Miss Molly"
Jerry Lee Lewis - " A Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On", "Great Balls of Fire"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets - "That'll be the Day", "Peggy Sue"
The Five Satins - "In the Still of the Night"
Bobby Darin - "Mack the Knife"
The Coasters - "Yakety Yak", "Poison Ivy"
The Platters - "The Great Pretender, "Only You"
The 60's and 70's were decades dominated by the British Invasion, Motown music and Surfing music. Also sprinkled in was folk rock, psychedelic rock, bluesy rock and the beginnings of hard rock.
The British Invasion was lead by:
The Beatles - "I want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "A Day in the Life", "Day Tripper" , "Hey Jude", "Let It Be"
The Rolling Stones - "Satisfaction", "Jumpin Jack Flash", "Sympathy For the Devil", "Brown Sugar"
The Dave Clark Five - "Over and Over", "Anyway you Want It", "Catch Us If You Can", "Because"
Dusty Springfield - "I Only Want to Be With You", "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", "The Look Of Love"
Petula Clark. - "Downtown", "I Know A Place", "My Love"
The Kinks - "Lola", "You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night","Powerman"
The major Motown sounds came from
The Supremes - "Where Did Our Love Go", "You Keep Me Hangin' On", "Stop In the Name Of Love", "I Hear a Symphony"
The Temptations - "My Girl", "Ball of Confusion", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone"
The Four Tops - "Bernadette", "Reach Out - I'll Be There", "Standing in the Shadows of Love"
Aretha Franklin - "Respect", "Think"
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - "I Second That Emotion", "The Tracks of My Tears", "Tears of a Clown"
The Jackson Five. - "ABC", "I Want You Back", "I'll Be There"
The surfing and fast car sounds were kicked off by.
The Beach Boys - "I Get Around", "Good Vibrations", "Barbara Ann"
Jan & Dean - "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena"
Folk Rock Legends
Bob Dylan - "Like A Rolling Stone", "Blowin In the Wind", "Don't Look Back"
Psychedelic Rock famous at the major rock concert of all time known as "Woodstock"
Jimi Hendrix - "Purple Haze", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Hey Joe", Voodoo Child
Janis Joplin - "Piece Of My Heart"
Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit", "Do You Want Somebody To Love"
The Grateful Dead - "Truckin", "Terrapin Station"
Sly and the Family Stone - "Everyday People", "I Want to Take You Higher", "Hot Fun In the Summertime"
Blues Rock
The Doors - "Light My Fire", "Peace Frog", "Touch me", "Riders On the Storm"
Hard Rock
Led Zeppelin - "Stairway To Heaven", "A Whole Lotta Love", "Black Dog", "the Immigrant Song"
Derek and the Dominos (with Eric Clapton) - "Layla"
Aerosmith - "Dream On", "Rag Doll", "Walk this Way"
The 80's were primarily a decade that catered to the MTV generation. Most big rock sounds in the 80's had their video counterpart. During this era we were introduced via video to Van Halen, Madonna, U2, Kim Carnes, Michael Jackson, the Eurythmics (with Annie Lennox), Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Berlin, Prince, Cyndi Lauper and countless others.
These were some of the biggest hits:
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller
Prince - When Doves Cry, Little Red Corvette, Kiss, Purple Rain,1999
VanHalen - Jump, Panama, Hot For Teacher
Madonna - Like A Virgin, Into the Groove, Papa Don't Preach,Holiday, Like A Prayer
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA, Dancing in the Dark
U2 - With or Without You, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets Have No Name, Pride (In the Name of Love)
Girls Hust Want to Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
Every Breath You Take - Police
Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
Walk This Way - Run DMC
Don't You Want Me? - Human League
What's Love Got To Do With It? - Tina Turner
Call Me - Blondie
Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Celebration - Kool & The Gang
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
I Love Rock N' Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics
Whip It - Devo
Flashdance...What a Feeling - Irene Cara
Super Freak - Rick James
Blue Monday - New Order
Upside Down - Diana Ross
Fame - Irene Cara
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
We Are the World - U.S.A. for Africa
Saving All My Love For You - Whitney Houston
Nasty - Janet Jackson
I Feel For You - Chaka Khan
Start Me Up - Rolling Stones
Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
Physical - Olivia Newton John
Our Lips Are Sealed - Go-Gos
Faith - George Michael
Rock the Casbah - Clash
Back In Black - AC/DC
Livin' On a Prayer - Bon Jovi
Take My Breath Away - Berlin
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
It's Like That - Run DMC
Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
Free Fallin' - Tom Petty
Love Shack - B-52s
That's What Friends Are For - Dionne Warwick (& Friends)
Addicted To Love - Robert Palmer
Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
The Boys of Summer - Don Henley
Everybody Wants To Rule the World - Tears For Fears
(I've Had) The Time of My Life - Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes
Centerfold - J. Geils Band
I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston
Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Riders
Walk Like An Egyptian - Bangles
Let's Get Serious - Jermaine Jackson
Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
Karma Chameleon - Culture Club
She Works Hard For the Money - Donna Summer
Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
Take On Me - A-Ha
Careless Whisper - WHAM! feat. George Michael
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? - Culture Club
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) - Hall & Oates
Legs - Z.Z.Top
West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
Freeway of Love - Aretha Franklin
The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & The News
These were some of the Top Rock Songs that spanned four decades from the 50's until the 80's.
The Beatles - "Get Back"
Van Halen - "Jump"
U2 - "Where the Street's Have No Name"
the Dave Clark 5 - "Catch Us If You Can"
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awesome collection
i think this will help you guys in getting those songs
jetiz - thanks for the kudos, also thanks for the music link. Unfortunately there is no sound.
Hglick, remember Woodstock? ... with Joan Baez, Sly, Santana, Country Joe McDonald, Ritchie Havens ...
Well in the list above I was looking out for Chicago, Jethro Tull, Three Dog Nite ... Cheers!
quicksand - I believe that I've listed at least two of those three in other Hubs I've written on classic rock.
See:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Top-100-Rock-Songs
and
http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-Classic-Rock-Songs
Woodstock had some great bands. Recently I downloaded the CD, Sly & the Family Stone Greatest hits
Isabella Snow says:
16 months ago
Wow, I was just thinking about that U2 video the other day. Classic. And the Jump vid.. I didn't even have cable TV when that came out, but I remember seeing it at the Roller Rink!! Thanks for the memories!