The 1970s produced way more than its fair share of iconic rock and roll
From that decade alone come these classic certified bangers we'll be blasting on repeat until the death of the universe
The songs of Creedence Clearwater Revival embody uncluttered, unpretentious songwriting. It's just the good stuff, and there's so much of it
So which CCR song goes on our list of ten? We're going with Proud Mary, and the songwriter himself, John Fogarty, agrees
I knew it was the best song I'd ever written. In fact, it was so good, I knew that it was a classic
Proud Mary is one part Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and one part a song about a real Mississippi
riverboat named Mary Elizabeth. Fogarty was sitting around noodling on his guitar to what we'll call Beethoven's rocking
Fifth Symphony riff. A simple but iconic musical phrase, Fogarty loved it, and it gave him a musical idea he couldn't put down
I kind of swapped that out a little bit, and I ended up with... After that, the song came together in Fogarty's mind in music in the space of just two days
Proud Mary is a prime example of creative alchemy at work, and we're still rolling on the river today
Fleetwood Mac's catalog typifies the free-floating feeling of the 70s with an indispensable left-of-center
edge that gives their music tremendous staying power. But with such a deep catalog, which song
do we choose for this list? There's Dreams, Fleetwood Mac's most-streamed song, at $2.4 billion
Then there's Landslide or Rhiannon, or Bill Clinton's favorite, Don't Stop. All legit choices
but we're going to go with The Chain, a song that gives each band member a moment to shine
The band meant everything, and the band was way more important than each separate person's problems
The 1977 original slaps, but the 1997 version far outstrips it in terms of confidence, orchestration, and sheer energy
That version is the opening track on the live concert recording The Dance, a show that was arguably Fleetwood Mac at their absolute finest
Damn your love, damn your life. But it's not just the sound that makes the chain the perfect Fleetwood Mac song
It was written about Buckingham and Nix's romance, the one that made Fleetwood Mac
and also destroyed it. That chain was broken, but the song they wrote about it will never go
out of rotation. Mamma mia, mamma mia. You know where we're headed next
It would be a crime against humanity to leave Queen off this list. It's almost impossible not
to sound hyperbolic when talking about the overwhelming and deserved popularity of songs
like Under Pressure, We Will Rock You, Another One Bites the Dust, and We Are the Champions
And what can be said about the late Freddie Mercury? As a frontman, he was up there right
next to God But out of the entirety of Queen catalog it Bohemian Rhapsody that stands head and shoulders above the rest Its theatricality and uniqueness epitomizes who the band was
From the song's textured five-part harmony to Mercury's plaintiff piano passages and
his raw vocals on the bridge, Bohemian Rhapsody is the bangingest of the classic rock bangers
Released in 1975 on a night at the opera, the song has been streamed over three billion
times on Spotify. Yes, it's a strange song from a strange band, but one that truly embraced their
oddball artistry. Few songs of theirs or of any other band are as worthy a replay again and again
You can't have a list of all-time rock songs without including Led Zeppelin
Between John Bonham's technical wizardry and the in-the-pocket groove, Jimmy Page's inventive
impromptu-feeling guitar riffs, and the gravitational pull of Robert Plant's charisma, Zeppelin combined the experimental musicality and 70s attitude that defines classic rock
Plus, they were accused of selling their souls to the devil plenty of times, so we don't
want to risk leaving them out. We'd love to give you some Zeppelin here, but they're just too litigious, so here's
Ann Wilson from Heart tearing it up a bit. But in what may be seen as a controversial move, we're bypassing Stairway to Heaven and
dropping the needle on Black Dog, a song built around a nasty lick written by bassist John Paul
Jones. Music nerds, Black Dog is written in alternating 20 measure sections of 5-4 and 4-4
time, with the bridge written in 4.5 time while changing keys, and peppers the super syncopated
groove with a chaos of stutters and pauses that not just anyone can play. For those of you who
don't have a clue what all that meant, don't worry, leave it to the professionals
Page had the original idea for the song, inspired by a real Black Dog he imagined was exhausted
from making his, shall we say, nightly rounds with the ladies. And the exciting factor for us
Black Dog is one of the only Zeppelin tracks that's a true full-band collaboration, including
Jones' contribution. The music itself, meanwhile, demonstrates enough virtuosity and variety to keep it fresh
no matter how many times you play it. We're actually giving Zeppelin two cuts on our playlist, because we can't leave out their
masterpiece Kashmir. From the first few notes, you know you're in for something unique
The rhythmic tension of Page's hypnotic guitar riff against Bonham's driving beat propels the
song forward, as Robert Plant's lyrics take listeners on a genuine journey
Thanks again, Anne. Meanwhile, Jones adds sonic layers with a Mellotron, an electronic keyboard, turning the song's mysterious feel up to 11
To cap it off, the band added orchestral touches written by Jones to complicate the sound even more
Nobody but Zeppelin could come up with this track. True or untrue that Kashmir is your personal all-time favorite
Yeah, I think it probably... Well, it was a great achievement. The idea came to Page and Plant when they were traveling through Morocco in 1973
and found its form back home in their London studio In an interview with Uncut Page recalled It was new music No one had heard anything like it I think it sounds even cooler today than when it was released in 1975 on Zeppelin sprawling
double album Physical Graffiti. It's also one of the band's all-time favorites. Plant told
Classic Rock, "...it's so right. There's nothing overblown, no vocal hysterics. Perfect Zeppelin.
It doesn't matter that Catch Me is eight minutes long. It just gives listeners more to love
Now, when you need a full-throttle, no-holds-barred, rollicking tune, the proto-punk Iggy and the Stooges' Search and Destroy is the one
With James Williamson's dense, visceral, distortion-heavy guitar work, along with Pop's voice that goes from growl to howl, this song delivers
And then there are the lyrics, beginning with... Search and Destroy is a three-and-a-half-minute-long infusion of oral adrenaline
It was the first cut on the band's 1973 album Raw Power
marking Pop's comeback after the demise of the first incarnation of the Stooges in 1971
and its producer, no less than Iggy's close friend David Bowie. When Pop first heard the song in the studio, he had a feeling, telling Apple Music
I knew it was good and that it was something that would hold up in a particular way over a very long period of time
We agree, as would the many musicians Iggy and the Stooges inspired, from The Clash to Kurt Cobain
heart's barracuda begins with a chugging guitar rhythm before a sharp lead guitar kicks in
then ann wilson's powerful voice begins to deliver the take no prisoners lyrics about the sexism and
sleaze of the 1970s music business all written with the universality that makes it relatable to
anyone who's had to deal with two-faced people backstabbers slimy bosses or actual barracudas
The sound of this is very angry." Ann Wilson and her sister Nancy Wilson are hard
But you may not know that they were not original members. Really
The band has its origin in the late 1960s, before Ann joined up in 1973
Barracuda was the opening track on their 1977 album Little Queen. Ann wrote the lyrics in one night after an off-color remark from a music business type
Aren't the sweetest parts of music sometimes about what's wrong? Yeah. The band came up with the music shortly after
In an interview with American songwriter, Nancy recalled, It was really powerful. It just fell into place like the good ones usually do
It's sort of a galloping steed. It's a monster of a song. From Roger Fisher's opening guitar riff to Wilson's searing delivery
Barracuda is a tune that needs to be played loud. Now, no classic rock list is legit without a Bruce Springsteen track, and for us, that replayable cut is born to run
It's a song that instantly gets you on your feet, starting with a machine gun drum beat that's quickly joined by piano and saxophone before Springsteen's bright guitar slices through the mix
The music has a relentless sense of movement that matches Springsteen's lyrics about escaping the confines of a mundane life and heading out into the unknown, while a refrain demands that you sing along at the top of your lungs
You're born to ride! Springsteen was on a tour bus in Tennessee when he woke up with the idea for the song and that sense of racing down the road permeates the music and lyrics The chimes of a glockenspiel add to the narrator almost childlike call to adventure to his girlfriend Wendy Springsteen has even said he was thinking
of Wendy and Peter Pan while writing the lyrics. Born to Run was the boss's first big hit and helped
push the album of the same name up the charts. It's an anthem that has stood the test of time
and feels as relevant and timeless today as when it came out 50 years ago
While the Rolling Stones catalog is stacked with instantly recognizable tracks like
Painted Black, I Can't Get No Satisfaction, You Can't Always Get What You Want, and Give Me Shelter
the first of two Stones songs we're adding to our list is Sympathy for the Devil
Sympathy for the Devil proves that the Stones were far more than rebel flair attached to a series of undeniably addictive hooks
It's a totally unique blend of barakas, rim shots, and samba-inspired rhythms
And the songwriting rises to the top of the Stones' repertoire are because it embodies their rebellious spirit, even towards the peace and love ethos of the day
Likely inspired by Mikhail Bogakov's novel The Master and the Margarita, a Stalin-era book featuring the devil as the protagonist
Sympathy for the Devil is told by a gentlemanly devil who describes the ways he's influenced one historical tragedy after another
Released on 1968's Beggar's Banquet, the year after 1967's Their Satanic Majesty's
request, which is weird and feels like the wrong album, the song got the Stones accused of Satanism
But technically, the band isn't worshiping the devil. They're simply being him for six minutes
and 18 glorious musical seconds. If this level of boldness, lyrical mayhem, and musical inventiveness
both in topic and composition, doesn't define classic rock, then we don't know what does
Here's one you may or may not know, but if you're a classic rock fan, you should
It starts out with a thrumming clavinet, then Keith Richards joins in with a staccato rhythm guitar
and suddenly we're into a gritty Rolling Stones number that bristles with righteous rage
The song Do Do Do Do Do, Heartbreaker, isn't as well-known as other songs from the 1973 album Goat's Head Soup
Everyone knows Angie, but how many times do you want to hear it if your name's not Angie
Heartbreaker is a unicorn. Lyrically, it veers away from most of the Stones' catalog
but it also makes sense when you know the band and what they stand for. It's about two black youths in New York City during the early 1970s, and in at least the
case of the first, it's based on a true story. In April 1973, an NYPD officer with a record of brutality shot and killed an unarmed 10-year-old
named Clifford Glover. The second verse is about a young girl who dies from a heroin overdose
You can't help but feel the anger in Mick Jagger's voice, especially in the refrain
The song also features a driving horn section and funky bass line that pushes it into overdrive
The end result is a unique song that demands to be played on repeat and at high volume
One day, songs like this may feel like historical artifacts, but until then, the Stones' message
is evergreen. Now, if you've made it this far and you're ticked off because we didn't mention your
song, just let us know in the comments. We'll see what we can do to include it in part two