Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Greatest Hard Rock Songs

I'm shifting the debate about the greatest hard rock songs of all time here from Gilahi's recent post. Within the last year, VH1 presented a countdown of the 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs with Guns N' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle finishing at #1. Gilahi's opinion is that this is a travesty, though he points out that he is not among VH1's demographic as he fondly remembers the days of Glenn Miller Orchestra (this may be a slight exaggeration). While I don't have the exact list available (I'm sure the list is on Wikipedia or part of a Sporcle quiz), I feel that Welcome to the Jungle certainly deserves consideration and probably falls within the top 20. However, we're wondering if this a generational difference between me and Gilahi? GNR emerged during MTV's hey-day, and WTTJ was everywhere (at least to me) as I was a junior high and high school student at the time.

With that, I'd like to turn the debate over to you. Where would you rank WTTJ among the greatest hard rock songs? Please leave your opinion in the comments section. If you'd like please indicate if you are part of the pre-MTV generation, VH1 generation (meaning that you grew up on MTV but now realize that you're too old for the station), or current MTV generation.

10 comments:

Nichole Fisher said...

I'm from the VH1 generation and I think WTTJ is a good choice, but probably would have gone with Sweet Child O Mine instead.

Captain Easychord said...

full list here

I'm not entirely sure what rock is "hard" enough to make the list and what isn't... I mean, does *nothing* from the rolling stones qualify? besides, I don't know how vh1 decided which artists were worthy of more than one spot and which ones weren't... but there's no way that kid rock ever did anything that could rival unlisted songs like sweet child o' mine, livin' on a prayer or stairway to heaven...

welcome to the jungle is undeniably an exemplary hard rock song worthy of consideration for the top spot, but that's less an issue than the entire rest of the list...

Brendon said...

I'm VH1 generation also, I guess. I would put Paradise City ahead of WTTJ. That's just based on which song had more of an influence on me. There are also a lot of Metallica songs I'd put in front of Enter Sandman.

If someone walked up to me and asked me for one song that was the best representation of Hard Rock, I'd go with Back in Black and I'm really not an AC/DC fan.

Sean said...

Thanks for your comment Nichole. I'm partial to WTTJ, but Sweet Child O Mine is a worthy selection.

Captain - I decided that I didn't want to debate the definition of hard rock, so I left it out of the post completely. I agree that the Stones should be included, and in my comment to Gilahi on his blog, I mentioned the Stones' Paint It Black and Gimme Shelter as a possible top choices. Thanks for providing the link too.

Hand of Godard - I would go with U Shook Me All Night Long over Back in Black. I also prefer Enter Sandman but realize that I don't know much of Metallica's catalog. Paradise City and Back in Black are both excellent choices.

Gilahi said...

See? This is what I meant in my post when I said that Welcome To The Jungle was not even G&R's greatest hard rock song. I agree with Nichole that Sweet Child O' Mine is a much better song. I also agree with you, Sean, that Shook Me All Night Long is a better song than Back In Black. Mind you, I'm not saying that ANY of these songs are bad, just that I have different opinions of the relative goodness of them. I believe that there's a set of songs that were groundbreaking in one way or another over the past, say, 40 years, and Welcome To The Jungle ain't one of them. In my opinion, G&R didn't do anything that I'd consider all that original, although they have a good sound. It's all a matter of taste and opinion, and it's not my intent to put anyone's opinion down, only to say that mine differs.

Oh, and Captain Easychord, it's my understanding the VH1 arrived at this list by having folks go to VH1.com and vote.

Wv: areou - The sound of Ted Nugent's guitar.

lacochran said...

VH1 generation. Back in Black. But I thought about it for all of, oh, 2 seconds.

Clearly, your mileage may/will vary.

Sean said...

Gilahi - Maybe it's the sports fan in me that ranks WTTJ as their top song. I've heard it played in stadiums and the crowd always goes nuts. When I attended the Cheap Trick/Poison/Def Leppard show last month, the crowd was louder for WTTJ playing on the speakers than during any part of the Cheap Trick live set.

I think Axl's snake dance was original. :)


With lacochran's input, that's now two votes for Back in Black. Do I hear a third?

Julia said...

VH1 - You Shook Me. For sure. This is what came to mind before looking at other comments :)

Captain Easychord said...

sean: if it's not already in your catalog, go get metallica's album, "master of puppets"... it's outstanding...

speaking of albums, I think we can safely say that back in black is the #1 hard rock album of all time... in addition to the title track and you shook me all night long, hells bells could be on a short list of contenders for the top spot for songs as well... as a former ac/dc geek, I can't choose between that trio plus several others...

Sean said...

Thanks Julia. AC/DC is the clear winner here!

Captain - Another vote for AC/DC! I don't own any Metallica album, but maybe I should.