Saturday, August 29, 2009

10 Greatest Rock Songs Of The 70's

Now this may be a controversial list, but I've been completely honest with it. So , here are the 10 greatest rock songs of the 70's that every rock fanatic should have heard. These songs are ranked on the basis of their originality, skills and creativity and not on the basis of their popularity. During the 70's there was indeed a huge competition and sorting out 10 songs out of thousands, was quite a herculean task. Here goes:

10. Love Reign O'er Me-

One of the finest compostions ever done by the Who. Most of the people would not agree with me and would instead want 'Don't get cooled away' over here, but this song's composition is unchallengeable and obviously the quality of Roger Daltray's vocals' is outstanding in this one. Daltray's vocals have changed this song into a power-packed masterpiece and why not, its the best rock vocal performance song till date. Keeping the vocals part aside, the intro of this song is also unique. All of the instruments had been used at their best. A fabulous song all together!



9. Highway Star-

During the 70's era, Deep purple rocked the charts but it was 'smoke on the water' which made them heavily famous because of its riff and the song was related to an incident that happened with Frank Zappa. But I consider 'Highway star' as one of the most skillful songs of the 70's. The skillful keyboard solo by John Lord, an exceptional guitar solo by Blackmore and a tight vocal performance by Gillan. This song proves to be a great hard rock piece and very few hard rock bands are there having such exceptional keyboard solos.

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8. We will rock you/We are the champions -

The anthem of the 70's and till date. They definitely rocked it in every concert and in every song. And this song has definitely rocked the 70's. Not only the 70's, even now, everybody sings this song and its the most common and amazing Rock Anthem ever.



7. Dream on-

I would say this is the best song of Aerosmith. They rocked the 80's and gave huge hits but I dont think any of their hits can be compared to 'dream on'. One of the finest lyrical, vocal and instrumental piece ever. A different song that emerged during the 70's with a great message; that's why I ranked it 7th in this list of the greatest rock songs of the 70's.



6. La Villa Strangiato-



5. Free bird -

One of the longest guitar solos in rock history. The song goes on and on and on, so fast that I feel they shouldn't stop! Boundless energy and enthusiasm fills the song completely. I 've heard many long guitar solos in many other songs, which start sounding monotonous after a while, but 'Free Bird' is sheer magic. It makes me go crazy everytime I listen to it.



4. Hotel California-

Now this is one song that every guitar player dreams to cover. Well yes, the acoustic version of this song outplayed its original studio recording. A wonderful intro and an amazing guitar solo! The guitar plucking in this song throughout is also commendable. The bass is also worth a mention. It deserves to be at No.4 for being a "Complete Composition" in terms of the instruments which are actually ahead of the vocals.



3. Bohemian Rhapsody-

How about this question : Is there any band out there that can create a song like Bohemian Rhapsody? For me, it is the most unique song in the history of rock. I'm probably at a loss of words on this one. An excellent masterpiece of of Freddie's wonderful vocals. Creativity, uniqueness and originality: this song has got everything. The Guitar Solos and the synthesizer are also very touching. What more can I say. Freddie rules !



2. Comfortably Numb-

A Wonderful Composition altogether and you can feel some kind of magic as the song progresses . While listening to Gilmour's solos, I just travel into a different world. I can feel the pain, the joy and the agony while listening to his solos. This is undoubtedly his best guitar solo. So are the vocals so mesmerizing.



1. Stairway To Heaven-

Now this one certainly needs no description. Simply the best!


Special Mentions :-

Born To Run-Bruce Springsteen, Brown Sugar- Rolling Stones ( I Really Wanted to include these two, but then, I also found it hard to remove any of the above songs in the list! ), Black Magic Woman-Santana, Fleetwood Mac- Go Your Own Way and Lots More.





*** Solo Players Like Eric Clapton and the likes have not been included in this list.



7 comments:

MNKY said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bearockr said...

Well, Nishh, Bohemian Rhapsody is a song of the 70's only ... Mr. Sukhu Is Correct .. YOu May Also search it over at wikipedia for your confirmation and also , the above list is not an official ranking , its just a point of view and is subject to change based on viewer's rankings ... you may as well mail me your own views and we will be much happier to reconsider our rankings ...
Regards

MNKY said...

my ardent apologies to the blogger, for the fact that i always thought this song to have been released in 90's, and i am clearly wrong.
@sukhu: sry mate, my bad

ALittleGuitar said...

three words:
Born
to
Run.

bearockr said...

Hey! Well Said Sir... Those 3 Words Really Gave Me A Blow. It Was Definitely A big Mistake To Not Have Written About An Even Bigger Song Of The 70s. Let Me Thank you For Your Really Valuable Comment. I Am Surely Gonna Get It In This List, As It Should Already Have Been. Really Nice To Meet You Sir.

Cynths said...

I love Queen and I'm happy that 3 of their songs made it in your controversial list! I also think Aerosmith's Dream On is a great song! Thanks for sharing!

bearockr said...

@Evilsquirrel: Hey there, and I'm really glad you liked the list, and well, Queen is definitely a great band, a band which I cant omit from any such list anytime ! :D