10 All time Best Guitar Solos

On the last post I told you about 50s 60s or 70s rock bands. Today I'll talk about guitar solos.

I realize that I may be opening up the Pandora's box on this one, after all, guitar solos are subjective correct? I mean, who am I to tell you what is and isn't the best when it comes to good ole rock n roll guitar solos. Many questions may arise, for example, 'Have I heard every song there is to hear? Of course not. That is why I'm laying it out for you up front, I don't want to upset the greater good that exists in your special place. The point is, alltime greatest guitar solos means absolutely nothing, nada, zilch. It is a completely personal and subjective preference on my part, and in no way is it intended to be the end all and say all of what is and isn't a great rock n roll solo. You are free to disagree or agree, I don't really care either way. Should you like what I'm putting out here? Of course you should, and you should accept it and love it, but once again, you can remain a contrarian and that's cool with me too, hell dude, whatever floats your boat is cool with me. Rock n Roll is so speculative, especially these days that everyone can have a legitimate viewpoint on what is good and what isn't. In fact, I could even support you if you told me that 'I love Nickleback man, they rock', More power to you if that is your thing, frankly I can't stand the band, I call them the Beavers (The animal on the back of a Canadian Nickel).

Ok, enough about me, let's talk about the 10 All time Best Guitar Solos. As you may know by now, I have a preference of 70's rock n roll music over other eras, so it will be no surprise to you that I have included most of the all time greatest Rock n Roll Guitar solos from the 70's, once again, it's all good. As is my customary thing, all of the solos are going to be randomly entered, so therefore, no one guitar solo takes precedence over another. Simply, they're all given equal weight. There's nothing better than seeing and hearing your favorite artist pluck away at a rocking Gibson or Ibanez guitars it's just cool dude.

As per popular request, my 10 All time Best Guitar Solos:

1. Eruption by Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)
   
2. Stairway to Heaven by Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
3. Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix
4. Hotel California by Don Felder/Joe Walsh (The Eagles)
5. Layla by Clapton/Allman (Derek and the Dominoes )
6. Bohemian Rhapsody by Brian May (Queen)
7. Wish You Were Here by David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
8. Sweet Child O' Mine by Slash (Guns n' Roses)
9. One by Kirk Hammet (Metallica)
10. Won't Get Fooled Again by Pete Townsend (The Who)

There you have it, my 10 All time Best Guitar Solos. There are so many more great guitar solos out there, but I would need a 100 or 1000 All time Best Guitar Solos for a list like that, so 10 will suffice for now.

50's, 60,s or 70's Rock Bands

On the last post I told you about the all time greatest rock singles. Today I would like to talk to you about Rock Bands from the 50's, 60,s and 70's.

There's always been a debate circling which era produced the best Rock n Roll, some say it's the 50's with rock greats like Elvis, or the hippie inspired 60's rock bands, some will go on and prop up the 70's hard rock bands and so on and so forth. When someone asks me which generation of Rock n Roll artists I think were the best, my answer is always the same, 'That depends on your frame of reference'.

Ok, I admit that answer is a bit aloof, and rightly so, on rare occasions I can get away with saying that one liner while my victim looks on, perplexed. I smile and pat myself on the back, feeling all full of myself for stunning another unsuspecting customer. But because I love talking about rock music I usually elaborate, 'That depends on your frame of reference. Every generation will embrace whichever music is popular at the time. And because it's all based on a frame of reference, you can never really support an argument that one generation of music tops another."

Although my explanation seems a little legalized, to me there's no other way. You can't reference an emotional state, as it relates to the music, if everyone has distinct personal likes and dislikes. No one can ever win an argument when it comes to talking about the unknown realm of feelings, unless that is, you've got none.

All of the above mumbo jumbo aside, for me, the 70's Rock bands were the best. Although I loved Rock n Roll of the 50's I always found the music a little too safe. I think the music back then was safe because there was an entire nation of up-tight conservatives who did not let the music evolve freely, so that if a rock artist wanted to get his or her music played, they ended up playing by the rules of the political mood at the time. That said, the 50's Rock n Roll artists were the ones who turned the lights on. They made it happen in a big way, laid the foundation for the next generations.

Moving on to the 60's Rock n Roll bands, I do love the music, have no doubt. But, I always felt that the artists of the 60's were still restrained by the political mood at the time. Whether it be the anti-war campaigns, or the constraints of a conservative American home life. For me, the 60's built on the foundation of the house of rock, but they were more involved in the frame of the house.

In my opinion, it wasn't until the 70's Rock bands came into the scene that rock n roll took that big leap forward into the unknown. With the foundation laid out by the 50's rock n roll pioneers, and the framework of the 60's inspired hippie scene, the 70's rock bands could no go ahead and add volume and texture to what had been created before them. The house of rock became a textured, multi-dimensional structure that you could see, touch and feel because it was finally standing on its own.

Below is a list of my all time favorite Rock n Roll bands that, in my opinion, were at their greatest in the 70's.

Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd
The Eagles
Heart
Rolling Stones
AC/DC
Kiss
Boston
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Van Halen
The Who
Rush
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Styx
Genesis
The Doobie Brothers
Allman Brothers
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Bad Company
Blue Oyster Cult
America
Fleetwood Mac
Supertramp
Queen
The Velvet Underground
The Clash
Wings

And the list goes on and on and on. But there you have it, in a nutshell, the bands that in my opinion changed the sound of Rock n Roll music forever, embracing their own brand of individuality. The 70's, in my opinion, is where the texture of rock n roll was formed and it was in the 70's rock bands that we owe for today's rock n roll sound.

All Time Greatest Rock Singles

Last post I told you about rock covers. This post I will talk to you about All Time Greatest Rock Singles.

Although the idea of music singles has a very long history dating back to the gramophone record in the late 1800's, to me a rock single is still the good old 7 inch 45 rpm records that were introduced in 1949. These discs were just slightly larger than today's CD's but carried a lot less music, usually only 1 song on the A side and another on the Flip side. Unlike music today, where singles are immediately available for download online, back in the day you either purchased the complete album, the single or wait for it air on the radio. While I was growing up, there was always someone in the neighborhood who had purchased a 45 or the complete LP and we would all get together and play the tunes. There was no rushing, we didn't expect everything right away, and information overload didn't exist. There were fewer selections of music for us to choose from, and in this way, we enjoyed our rock singles all the more.

Fast forward 30 years and I now see a music industry that is saturated with globs of music, to the poing of overkill. Rock Singles don't really mean all that much anymore, often because the music that we listen to on the radio is mostly industry generated crap, but also because the idea of a single is irrelevent, all the music and bands seem to have amalgamated into one big genre that it's often difficult to tell who wrote what, and the fact that the music is all online, ready to be downloaded from Napster or I-tunes makes the picture even fuzzier.

I've put together a list of my favorite rock singles, these are all in alphabetic, not chronological and not based on my most favorite to my least favorite rock singles. They're just there, from top to bottom. When I put this list together I was worried that I would miss some important song, or group, and if I remember I'll add them later. Enjoy my rock singles selection.

(Don't Fear) the Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult
(Sittin on) the Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding
(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock, Bill Haley and His Comets
A Day in the Life, The Beatles
Ain't It a Shame, Fats Domino
Alison, Elvis Costello
All Along the Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix
All Apologies, Nirvana
All Shook Up, Elvis Presley
Anarchy in the U.K., The Sex Pistols
Bad Moon Rising, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Band On The Run, Paul McCartney and Wings
Black Dog, Led Zeppelin
Black Hole Sun, Soundgarden
Blowin' in the Wind, Bob Dylan
Blue Suede Shoes, Carl Perkins
Blue Suede Shoes, Elvis Presley
Blueberry Hill, Fats Domino
Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
Born to Be Wild, Steppenwolf
Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
Breakfast In America, Supertramp
Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
Buddy Holly, Weezer
Bye Bye Love, The Everly Brothers
California Dreamin', The Mamas and The Papas
California Girls, The Beach Boys
Call Me, Blondie
Can't Help Falling in Love, Elvis Presley
Changes, David Bowie
Come As You Are, Nirvana
Come Together, The Beatles
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd
Crazy, Patsy Cline
Creep, RadioHead
Crying, Roy Orbison
Dance to the Music, Sly and the Family Stone
Dancing in the Street, Martha and the Vandellas
Dirty Deeds, AC/DC
Do You Believe in Magic, The Lovin' Spoonful
Don't Be Cruel, Elvis Presley
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, The Animals
Don't Worry Baby, The Beach Boys
Dream On, Aerosmith
Dreamboat Annie, Heart
Eight Miles High, The Byrds
Eleanor Rigby, The Beatles
Enter Sandman, Metallica
Epic, Faith No More
Even Flow, Pearl Jam
Every Breath You Take, The Police
Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Free Bird, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Free Fallin', Tom Petty
Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles
Gimme Some Lovin', The Spencer Davis Group
Go Your Own Way, Fleetwood Mac
God Save the Queen, The Sex Pistols
Good Golly, Miss Molly, Little Richard
Good Lovin', The Young Rascals
Good Riddance Time of Your Life, Green Day
Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
Great Balls of Fire, Jerry Lee Lewis
Heart of Glass, Blondie
Heart of Gold, Neil Young
Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis Presley
Help!, The Beatles
Heroin, The Velvet Underground
Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix
Hey Jude, The Beatles
Higher Ground, Stevie Wonder
Highway to Hell, AC/DC
Hot Fun in the Summertime,Sly and the Family Stone
Hotel California, The Eagles
Hound Dog, Elvis Presley
House of the Rising Sun, The Animals
How Soon Is Now?, The Smiths
I Can See for Miles, The Who
I Can't Explain, The Who
I Fought the Law, The Bobby Fuller Four
I Got You Babe, Sonny and Cher
I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Marvin Gaye
I Put a Spell on You, Screamin' Jay Hawkins
I Shot the Sheriff, Bob Marley and the Whailers
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash
I Wanna Be Sedated, The Ramones
I Want to Know What Love Is,Foreigner
I'm Eighteen, Alice Cooper
Imagine, John Lennon
Jailhouse Rock, Elvis Presley
Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry
Just My Imagination, The Temptations
Kashmir, Led Zeppelin
Kicks, Paul Revere and the Raiders
Knocking on Heaven's Door, Bob Dylan
La Bamba, Ritchie Valens
Layla, Derek and the Dominos
Lean On Me, Bill Withers
Let It Be, The Beatles
Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye
Let's Stay Together, Al Green
Light My Fire, The Doors
Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan
Little Red Corvette, Prince
Lola, The Kinks
London Calling, The Clash
Loser, Beck
Losing My Religion, R.E.M.
Love Shack, The B-52's
Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division
Lust for Life, Iggy Pop
Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin
Maggie May, Rod Stewart
Man in the Box, Alice in Chains
Maybe I'm Amazed, Paul McCartney
Midnight Train to Georgia, Gladys Knight and the Pips
Miss You, The Rolling Stones
Money (That's What I Want), Barrett Strong
Moondance, Van Morrison
More Than a Feeling, Boston
Mr. Tambourine Man, Bob Dylan
Mustang Sally, Wilson Pickett
My Generation, The Who
My Girl, The Temptations
My Sweet Lord, George Harrison
New Year's Day, U2
No Woman, No Cry, Bob Marley and the Wailers
Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor
Oh Darling, Supertramp
Oh, Pretty Woman, Roy Orbison
Oh, What a Night, The Dells
Ohio, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
One Way or Another, Blondie
One, U2
Paint It, Black, The Rolling Stones
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, The Temptations
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, James Brown
Paranoid Android, Radiohead
Paranoid, Black Sabbath
Peggy Sue, Buddy Holly
Penny Lane, The Beatles
Personality Crisis, New York Dolls
Piano Man, Billy Joel
Plush, Stone Temple Pilots
Purple Haze, Jimi Hendrix
Purple Rain, Prince
Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win), Fleetwood Mac
Rock & Roll Music, Chuck Berry
Rocket Man, Elton John
Roll Over Beethoven, Chuck Berry
Roxanne, The Police
Runaway, Del Shannon
Runnin' With The Devil, Van Halen
Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
School's Out, Alice Cooper
Shattered, Rolling Stones
Sh-Boom, The Chords
She Sells Sanctuary, The Cult
She's Not There, The Zombies
Shine, Collective Soul
Should I Stay or Should I Go, The Clash
Sloop John B, The Beach Boys
Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
Smoke on the Water, Deep Purple
Somebody to Love, Jefferson Airplane
Something, The Beatles
Son of a Preacher Man, Dusty Springfield
Spirit in the Sky, Norman Greenbaum
Stairway To Heaven, Led Zeppelin
Stand By Me, Ben E. King
Summer in the City, The Lovin' Spoonful
Sunshine of Your Love, Cream
Superstition, Stevie Wonder
Surrender, Cheap Trick
Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley
Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns N' Roses
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Eurythmics
Sweet Emotion, Aerosmith
Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sweet Jane, The Velvet Underground
Sympathy for the Devil, The Rolling Stones
That's All Right, Elvis Presley
The Boys Are Back in Town, Thin Lizzy
The Boys of Summer, Don Henley
The End, The Doors
The Great Pretender, The Platters
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The Band
The Thrill Is Gone, B.B. King
The Times They Are A-Changin', Bob Dylan
The Tracks of My Tears, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
The Weight, The Band
The Wind Cries Mary, Jimi Hendrix
There Goes My Baby, The Drifters
Tiny Dancer, Elton John
Unchained Melody, The Righteous Brothers
Under Pressure, Queen
Under the Boardwalk, The Drifters
Under The Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Up on the Roof, The Drifters
Us And Them, Pink Floyd
Waiting On A Friend, Rolling Stones
Walk on the Wild Side, Lou Reed
Watching The Wheels, John Lennon
We Gotta Get Out of This Place, The Animals
What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
When a Man Loves a Woman, Percy Sledge
While My Guitar Gently Weeps, The Beatles
White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane
White Room, Cream
Whiter Shade of Pale, Procol Harum
Who'll Stop the Rain,Creedence Clearwater Revival
Wild Horses, The Rolling Stones
Wild Thing, The Troggs
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
Wonderwall, Oasis
Won't Get Fooled Again, The Who
Woodstock, Crosby Stills And Nash
Would, Alice in Chains
Yesterday, The Beatles
You Can't Always Get What You Want, The Rolling Stones
You Really Got Me, The Kinks
Young Americans, David Bowie
Your Cheatin' Heart, Hank Williams
Your Song, Elton John
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', The Righteous Brothers
Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie

My Rock Collection

In the last post on You Rock Collection, I told you a little about the history of Rock & Roll. Although I'm not a music history teacher, I felt that it was important to give you a little background on the History of Rock.

Today's post on You Rock Collection promises to be a little less educational, but just as serious. I wanted to tell you my all time favorite Rock and Roll albums. This is not an easy task because there are just so many great albums and rock bands past and present, where do you start? I'll start at the beginning.

Before I begin, I feel that it's important to lay down a few rules on my rock collection. Basically, to keep the list short, I will only choose one album per band. In this way, It will make the list easier to read and much smaller than it would be otherwise. The list is not in order and therefore no one album takes precedence over another, although we've all got our favorites and this is a personal thing. The list is not an end all and say all, and I'm sure I've missed many great bands, so feel free to remind me and I'll put it on the list. Lastly, some of the albums here stray a little from what we can classify as Rock, but I just couldn't resist. So here goes my Rock Collection.

White Album, The Beatles
Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
London Calling, The Clash
The Sun Sessions, Elvis Presley
Are You Experienced?, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
In Utero, Nirvana
Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
The Great Twenty-Eight, Chuck Berry
Live at the Apollo (1963), James Brown
Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
The Joshua Tree, U2
Who's Next, The Who
Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin
Ramones, Ramones
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, David Bowie
Hotel California, The Eagles
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, The Sex Pistols
The Doors, The Doors
The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
The Band, The Band
Appetite for Destruction, Guns n' Roses
Moondance, Van Morrison
After the Gold Rush, Neil Young
Back in Black, AC/DC
Imagine, John Lennon
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
20 Golden Greats, Buddy Holly
Green River, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Disraeli Gears, Cream
Paranoid, Black Sabbath
The Bends, Radiohead
Pretenders, The Pretenders
Closer, Joy Division
My Aim Is True, Elvis Costello
Ten, Pearl Jam
Buffalo Springfield Again, Buffalo Springfield
New York Dolls, New York Dolls
The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths
A Night at the Opera, Queen
Automatic for the People, R.E.M.
Some Girls,The Rolling Stones
Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills and Nash
The Cars, The Cars
Call Me, Al Green
Weezer (Blue Album), Weezer
Odelay, Beck
Avalon, Roxy Music
Nothing's Shocking, Jane's Addiction
BloodSugarSexMagik, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rock Steady, No Doubt
Ghost in the Machine, The Police
Boys Don't Cry, The Cure
Superunknown, Soundgarden
Aqualung, Jethro Tull
Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads
Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits
Siamese Dream, The Smashing Pumpkins
Pyromania, Def Leppard
Elephant, The White Stripes
Eliminator, ZZ Top
Van Halen , Van Halen
Band on the Run, Wings
Fly Like an Eagle, Steve Miller Band
Destroyer, Kiss

I hope you enjoyed my Rock Collection. Feel free to tell me your favoriate album and i'll add it to the list.

You Rock Collection

This blog is dedicated to my love for rock music, it's a Rock Collection. It is by no means a professional opinion but a personal one, I love Rock & Roll. I am not a music critic, but a music lover and I provide my sincere opinions on music that feels good to me. This isn't a blog based on music appreciation either, in fact I am not going to give you any new insight that you have probably already figured out for yourself, but that doesn't mean that there aren't things that I can tell you that are meaningful, all exposed in You Rock Collection. This blog isn't about the history or music, hidden meanings of music, music throughout the world although I may add commentary on everyone of these topics mentioned.

In essence, this blog is a personal view of music. I intend to give you a little insight into which music I think is cool and which isn't, but this is just opinion and I'm sure there will always be people who disagree with me and that's cool too. After all, music affects each one of us in a special, unique way that is meaningful to each one of us. We cannot and should not expect that everyone feels the same about rock music as you or I do.

what I will be discussing is music that primarily ranges from the 60's music scene through progressive and glam rock of the 70's, punk and new wave music of the late 70's and 80's, hair-bands, glam-bands, metal, grunge, and everything Rock and Roll. Will I accomplish this massive undertaking, I don't really expect to, and that really isn't the point. You will find that my posts may jump a few years or a few decades and that's cool. You see, this isn't about giving you a concise insight into Rock, but a personal journey through my love for Rock and Roll.

So sit back and get comfortable, The Rock Collection Blog is now on the Air.