What exactly is classic rock?
Quick story. I read the comics strips daily when I was a kid (this was when print newspapers were still a thing, people!). And I loved Doonesbury.
In one edition, the main dude Mike Doonesbury is rocking out to the radio, and it’s The Doors’ iconic “Light My Fire” that’s playing. The final panel and punchline features the DJ announcing “another block of classic rock coming up” or some such, and our dude Mike gets all bummed out… because he realizes that he’s into music for the Olds.
In any event, I think we can all agree that the rough era that comprises “classic rock” produced some of the greatest music ever produced.
And because this is Pop Thruster, I’m making an attempt at quantifying the best of the best. Here’s the criteria I used:
- Albums are pulled from the recently completed best 1,000 albums ever, a five-year pop culture-meets-memoir project that includes an article each for all 1,000.
- I’m using the 1960s and 1970s as the applicable timeframe. Quibble if you wish.
- While heavy metal and glam rock dovetails with classic rock, disco and punk rock don’t. So albums of those kinds of music were not considered.
Okay, let’s rock.
The best 100 classic rock albums ever
1) Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti(#3 of best 1,000 albums ever)
Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, sounds caress my ear.
2) The Doors – The Doors (#4)
Break on through to the other side.
3) The Beatles – Abbey Road (#9)
Because the world is round, it turns me on because the world is round.
4) The Doors – Strange Days (#12)
Cancel my subscription to the resurrection.
5) The Beatles – Revolver (#14)
All the lonely people – where do they all come from?
6) Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy (#22)
Many times I’ve lied, many times I’ve listened. Many times I’ve gazed along the open road.
7) The Beatles – Rubber Soul (#28)
What goes on in your heart? What goes on in your mind?
8) Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II (#30)
I’m gonna give you my love, I’m gonna give you my love.
9) The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album) (#33)
Everybody’s got something to hide, except me and the monkey.
10) The Doors – L.A. Woman (#36)
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light? Or just another lost angel, city of night.
11) The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night (#40)
Someday when we’re dreaming – deep in love, not a lot to say – then we will remember things we said today.
12) Lou Reed – Transformer(#42)
Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.
13) The Beatles – Help!(#50)
I believe in yesterday.
14) The Doors – In Concert (#51)
Not to touch the earth, not to see the sun, nothing left to do but run, run, run.
15) Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (#56)
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
16) The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico (#68)
‘Cause everybody knows she’s a femme fatale.
17) The Velvet Underground – 1969 Velvet Underground Live with Lou Reed (#72)
Well, I’m beginning to see the light.
18) The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (#81)
It was twenty years ago today when Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play.
19) Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced(#88)
Purple haze all in my brain.
20) John Lennon – Imagine (#90)
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
21) Bob Dylan – Desire(#96)
Here comes the story of the Hurricane, the man the authorities came to blame.
22) The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (#97)
All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
23) The Doors – Waiting for the Sun (#99)
Hello, I love you, won’t you tell me your name?
24) The Who – Live at Leeds (#116)
Shakin’ all over, quivers down my backbone.
25) The Velvet Underground – Loaded (#124)
She started shakin’ to that fine fine music, you know her life was saved by rock ‘n roll.
26) The Doors – Morrison Hotel (#129)
Let it roll, all night long.
27) The Doors – The Soft Parade (#147)
The soft parade has now begun – listen to the engines hum.
28) Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland (#152)
You’re just like crosstown traffic – so hard to get through to you.
29) Jesus Christ Superstar – The Original Studio Cast (#159)
But every word you say today gets twisted ’round some other way, and they’ll hurt you if they think you’ve lied.
30) Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (#161)
Been dazed and confused for so long it’s not true.
31) Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson(#186)
Gotta get up, gotta get out, gotta get home before the morning comes.
32) Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks (#187)
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth, blowing down the back roads headin’ south.
33) The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground (#192)
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
34) The Kinks – The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (#199)
We are the Sherlock Holmes English speaking vernacular. Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty, and Dracula.
35) Grateful Dead – The Grateful Dead (#205)
So take off your shoes, child, and take off your hat. Try on your wings and find out where it’s at.
36) The Beatles – Let It Be (#208)
Everybody had a good year, everybody let their hair down, everybody pulled their socks up, everybody put their foot down.
37) The Beatles – Meet The Beatles!(#213)
Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you. Tomorrow, I’ll miss you – remember I’ll always be true.
38) Black Sabbath – Paranoid (#223)
I am Iron Man.
39) The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds (#229)
Wouldn’t it be nice?
40) Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III (#233)
What did you bring me my dear friends to keep me from the gallows pole?
41) The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (#240)
You can’t always get what you want.
42) The Guess Who – American Woman (#246)
No sugar tonight in my coffee, no sugar tonight in my tea.
43) Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Next Year’s Model (#250)
See her picture in a thousand places ’cause she’s this year’s girl.
44) David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (#251)
There’s a starman waiting in the sky. He’d like to come and meet us, but he thinks he’d blow our minds.
45) The Beatles – Please Please Me(#257)
Love, love me do. You know I love you.
46) The Zombies – Begin Here (#265)
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry: how would I know, why should I care? Please don’t bother trying to find her – she’s not there.
47) Queen – Sheer Heart Attack(#269)
She’s a killer queen, gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam. Guaranteed to blow your mind anytime.
48) Jimi Hendrix – Axis: Bold As Love (#275)
If a six turned out to be nine, I don’t mind, I don’t mind.
49) The Sonics – Here Come The Sonics (#277)
Some folks like water, some folks like wine. But I like the taste of straight strychnine.
50) Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney – Ram (#282)
Live a little, be a gypsy, get around, get around. Get your feet up off the ground, live a little, get around.
51) The Beatles – Yellow Submarine (#292)
In the town where I was born, lived a man who sailed to sea.
52) Bob Dylan & The Band – The Basement Tapes(#298)
I’m a good ol’ boy, but I’ve been sniffin’ too many eggs, talkin’ to too many people, drinkin’ too many kegs.
53) Electric Light Orchestra – Out of the Blue (#313)
And don’t you know it’s a beautiful new day?
54) Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde(#315)
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule, but these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel.
55) The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!(#321)
A time for love, a time for hate, a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.
56) The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man (#332)
In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.
57) Sweet – Desolation Boulevard (#345)
And the man in the back said, “everyone attack!” And it turned into a ballroom blitz.
58) Billy Joel – The Stranger (#347)
A bottle of red, a bottle of white, it all depends upon your appetite.
59) Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (#354)
Breathe, breathe in the air, don’t be afraid to care.
60) Queen – A Night at the Opera(#355)
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.
61) The Zombies – Odyssey and Oracle(#375)
It’s the time of the season for loving.
62) Deep Purple – Shades of Deep Purple (#384)
Hush, hush, I thought I heard her calling my name now.
63) David Bowie – Hunky Dory(#386)
Oh man, wonder if he’ll ever know he’s in the best selling show. Is there life on Mars?
64) The Who – My Generation (#392)
This is my generation.
65) The Beach Boys – Wild Honey (#394)
Sweet sweet wild honey bee, eat up eat up eat up honey.
66) George Harrison – All Things Must Pass (#396)
Tell me what is my life without your love, tell me who I am without you by my side.
67) The Who – Tommy(#398)
He’s a pinball wizard, there has got to be a twist – a pinball wizard’s got such a supple wrist.
68) Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery(#401)
I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor: don’t bring me down.
69) Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow (#403)
Don’t you want somebody to love? Don’t you need somebody to love?
70) The Monkees – The Monkees(#405)
Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees and people say we monkey around. But we’re too busy singing to put anybody down.
71) The Kinks – Kinks(#408)
Girl, I want to be with you all of the time – all day and all of the night.
72) The Mamas & The Papas – If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears (#410)
You gotta go where you want to go, do what you want to do.
73) Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food (#412)
Take me to the river, drop me in the water.
74) Kiss – Dressed to Kill (#415)
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day.
75) The Kinks – Something Else (#417)
Won’t someone help me to break up this crown – let’s all drink to the death of a clown.
76) Question Mark and the Mysterians – 96 Tears(#427)
Too many teardrops for one heart to be crying.
77) Elvis Costello – Armed Forces (#428)
What’s so funny ’bout peace, love and understanding?
78) Iggy Pop – Lust for Life (#429)
I am a passenger, and I ride and I ride.
79) The Zombies – I Love You(#430)
Got to get a hold of myself, got to make believe I don’t care.
80) Foreigner – Double Vision(#438)
Feeling down and dirty, feeling kinda mean, I’ve been from one to another extreme.
81) Creedence Clearwater Revival – Willy and the Poor Boys (#447)
Down on the corner, out in the street, Willy and the Poor Boys are playing, bring a nickel, tap your feet.
82) Jethro Tull – Stand Up (#451)
Let us close our eyes – outside their lives go on much faster. Oh, we wont give in, we’ll keep living in the past.
83) New York Dolls – New York Dolls (#453)
All about that personality crisis, you got it while it was hot. But now frustration and heartache is what you got.
84) The Guess Who – Wheatfield Soul(#456)
These eyes cry every night for you.
85) The Cars – The Cars (#464)
Let the good times roll, let them knock you around.
86) Grateful Dead – American Beauty (#468)
What a long strange trip it’s been.
87) The Knack – Get the Knack (#472)
Ooh, my little pretty one, my pretty one, when you gonna give me some time, Sharona?
89) The Easybeats – Easy(#474)
I woke up bright and early this morning, my little girl was not in sight. I been looking everywhere, morning, noon, and daylight.
88) Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (#477)
Shine on you crazy diamond.
90) Pink Floyd – The Wall (#499)
Crazy, toys in the attic, truly gone fishing. They must have taken my marbles away!
91) Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cosmo’s Factory (#514)
Seven thirty seven coming out of the sky – won’t you take me down to Memphis on a midnight ride. I want to move, playing in a traveling band.
92) The Animals – Animal Tracks(#521)
I’m just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.
93) Foghat – Fool for the City (#523)
I’m in the mood, the rhythm is right. Move to the music, we can roll all night.
94) Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bayou Country (#524)
Left a good job in the city, working for the man every night and day, and I never lost one minute of sleeping, worrying ‘bout the way things might have been.
95) The Doors – An American Prayer(#527)
The music was new, black polished chrome, and came over the summer like liquid night.
96) Creedence Clearwater Revival – Creedence Clearwater Revival (#532)
I ain’t never been in trouble, I ain’t got the time. I don’t mess around with magic, child, what I got is mine.
97) Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic(#538)
You talk about things that nobody cares, wearing out things that nobody wears. You’re calling my name but I gotta make clear, I can’t say baby where I’ll be in a year.
98) Wings – Band on the Run (#543)
Well, the night was falling as the desert world began to settle down. In the town they’re searching for us everywhere but we never will be found.
99) Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Bachman-Turner Overdrive II (#556)
And would you cry if I told you that I lied? And would you say goodbye, would you let it ride?
100) David Bowie – Aladdin Sane (#574)
I’ve come on a few years from my Hollywood highs, the best of the last, the cleanest star they ever had.