Aerosmith what kind of love are you on free mp3 download

You were probably expecting "Every Breath You Take" to make this list. But we don't find stalker songs all that loving. Rufus and Chaka Khan - "Ain't Nobody". But Chaka Khan's voice over the dance-happy tune was something to marvel at, making it one of her most popular songs. Journey - "Open Arms". It's been covered various times but never with this kind of conviction. That's because anything her voice touched, she owned from that moment on.

It's one of simplest songs Houston ever recorded, but her vocal power is on full display. Modern English - "I Melt with You". Modern English's amazing "I Melt with You" feels at once totally 80s oh, that epic montage scene in "Valley Girl" , while also being a song that could come out today and still be a massive hit. Berlin - "Take My Breath Away".

It's also essential to the blockbuster film it scores, given that it makes a relationship that's not really in jeopardy feel like it's the most combustible thing on the planet. Michael Jackson might be one of the most underrated songwriters of all time, given how many chart-toppers he wrote on his own. Heart - "Alone". Heart slayed its ballad version of the song, making it the band's signature song with mainstream audiences and a regular showstopper on "American Idol.

Yaz - "Only You". But it has since become one of the most beloved retro songs of all time, featured in your favorite movies or TV shows both in original and cover form. Anita Baker - "Sweet Love". You could easily make the case the artist most responsible for popularizing the quiet storm genre was Anita Baker, whose album "Rapture" was the blueprint. Songs like "Sweet Love" set the template for the genre that would really blow up in the s.

Written for the film of the same name, Phil Collins' "Against All Odds" has proven the more memorable commodity by a long shot. The song about reconciliation is one Collins' most covered songs. It's a beautifully written song that's kind of hard to mess up. There are better songs on this list. But you could be easily forgiven for calling "Endless Love" the greatest love song of the s.

It's such an essential and timeless ballad from two of the best two of the best to ever do it. U2 - "With or Without You". Having "With or Without" you as your wedding song which many people have done is to misunderstand the meaning. Bono wrote U2's epic ballad about being torn between his life as a musician and a family man. However, in that, it's one of the more honest love songs ever written. Tina Turner's signature song as a solo artist is powerful in so many ways. First, it was her comeback hit after breaking away from Ike Turner.

It also comes fused with touches of rock that give it an edge fans weren't used to. It's quite a declaration by a woman with a wall up: "Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken? New Order - "Bizarre Love Triangle".

One of the greatest synthpop and new wave songs ever written finds New Order perfectly combining desperation and sensuality, which is no small accomplishment. Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes". I suppose we could just show you the video from "Say Anything" to justify this placement. Interestingly enough, while "In Your Eyes" is associated with love, it's mean to be rather ambiguous.

It's as much about God as it is a romantic relationship. Sade - "Your Love Is King". No one made sexier music than Sade. She knew it. We knew it. No one has topped it. Songs like "Your Love Is King" are meant to be played while in a bathtub sipping champagne.

Whether you're alone or not is up to you. It began as a throwaway guitar melody for Slash that Axl Rose overheard. The singer wrote the lyrics about his girlfriend and convinced his reluctant bandmates to record what would become one of the biggest hard rock hits of all time. The departure of Bobby Brown and his massive solo success did nothing to slow New Edition down.

In fact, the group released its biggest album with 's "Heart Break. Cyndi Lauper - "Time After Time". It's her voice and its restraint that makes the perfectly written song so easily digestible. For that reason, it's been covered, well, time after time. But the original remains the most heartfelt. Soft Cell - "Say Hello. Wave Goodbye". Soft Cell had one major hit in the U. Soft Cell was a monster act in the UK during the s thanks as much to songs like "Bedsitter," "What! Prince - "I Would Die 4 U".

But it can be a vague exercise in songwriting. It's also the moment in the movie the celebration begins. No tears, no heartache. Just raw dance power and a synthpop anthem for the ages. The Cure - "Just Like Heaven". Robert Smith's range as a songwriter was quite astonishing. The guy could write the most depressing songs in the world, while also evoking such a blissful sense of nostalgia on "Just Like Heaven. Madonna - "Crazy For You". Even with all her singles that helped define pop culture during the s and s, "Crazy For You" remains Madonna's most timeless song.

No gimmicks, dance crazes or crazy metaphors. Other Aerosmith Songs See All. Dream On Aerosmith - Aerosmith. Crazy Aerosmith - Big Ones. Pink Aerosmith - Nine Lives. Jaded Aerosmith - Just Push Play. Sign Up Login. About Song We all love listening to songs. Fleetwood Mac 's legendary record Rumours has sold more than 19 million copies in the U. A warts-and-all tale of real-life relationship break-downs within the band — yes, more than one, at the same time — Rumours has stood the test of time largely based around the honesty of tracks like "Go Your Own Way.

Ultimately, he concludes if she doesn't like what he has to offer, well, the door's right over there. Ironically, for a song that classic rock radio has almost played to death, it seems to be more revered nowadays than it was at the time of its original release.

Chances are that if you were to approach any random stranger on the street, they would be more likely to have heard "Go Your Own Way" that either of those other two tracks.

Let that sink in: This fully-formed, blues-drenched tune was the first many heard from Mark Knopfler and company. Its appeal was evident long before "Sultans of Swing" hit No. After all, a demo version of the song reportedly earned the band a record deal.

More specifically, the literal approach to the lyrics is subtle and clever. The year was busy for former Beatles star Paul McCartney.

April saw the release of his album Red Rose Speedway Then the stand-alone single song "Live and Let Die" — written for the James Bond movie of the same name — garnered McCartney one of his biggest hits ever. The No. Unlike much that McCartney had released to date, "Live and Let Die" starts with a hushed introduction featuring piano and McCartney's doubled-up vocals, but an entirely different dynamic comes into play after the first verse.

At this point, a bombastic run of strings and orchestral instruments brings approved action movie drama to the proceedings, before making another surprising move, into a pseudo-reggae bridge.

It was, to say the very least, an interesting mash-up of musical styles, and one that only a talented and studied artist like McCartney could pull off with such flying colors. In what could have been the ultimate tribute, Weird Al Yankovic had approached McCartney with the idea of writing a parody of the song that he was going to call "Chicken Pot Pie.

Otherwise, many bands have covered the track since its release. Elton John 's "Rocket Man" is not the first classic rock song about a lonely dude drifting through space. Hell, it may not even be the best, although a debate on the merits of this track versus David Bowie 's "Space Oddity" found later on this Top Classic Rock Songs list is a conversation for another day.

What sets "Rocket Man" apart also happens to be what makes the music of John and his songwriting partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin, stand the test of time, fads, and fading fame.

Elton and Bernie practice a unique division of labor: Taupin writes lyrics almost as stand-alone poetry, with an eye toward the rhythms of pop music. Then Elton sits at a piano with a pile of these lyrics and writes the music. Some of their biggest hits have emerged after just a half-hour or less at the piano, and if he can't find the hook quickly, Elton will simply walk away.

Taupin's lyrics for "Rocket Man" emphasize the personal over the sci-fi. The astronaut's wife packs his bags; Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. John's melody underscores the words with a melancholy, wistful tone, while the production brings in a light element of futuristic sheen, never abandoning that fragile, perfect melody. Would the song be as successful if Elton John had the skill to write lyrics and melody? But it might not accomplish its emotional goals with quite as much grace.

The years since the breakthrough success of the group's live album At Filmore East , however, were anything but kind. They lost both guitarist Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley in separate motorcycle accidents barely a year apart, and many probably wondered if the Allmans would ever recover. The answer, in the form of 's Brothers and Sisters , was a clear "yes. In response to the tragedies that had unfolded, Allmans guitarist Dickey Betts stepped up to the plate on Brothers and Sisters and delivered several strong songs, including the beautiful, wistful instrumental "Jessica" and, of course, this anthem.

Perhaps one of the most concise examples of Southern rock, the song's guitar lick and chorus are firmly entrenched in the minds of millions of fans, and will remain there for generations to come. Perhaps the most indelible of those tunes, however, is "Just What I Needed. This clear choice for our Top Classic Rock Songs list crams together hooks in simple, yet inventive ways. Things build even more before the second verse, thanks to the emergence of an unexpected curveball: a fuzzy keyboard line which languishes like a siren.

That crucial element anchors "Just What I Needed" for the duration, as it unfolds into a rather biting tune. Heartthrob bassist Ben Orr assumes lead vocal duties, which softens the tone of the song somewhat. After The Cars , mingling rock elements with electronic sounds became de rigeur. Do politics belong in rock 'n' roll? You might say no. But when the result is a barnburner like Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World," it's hard to deny the value of self-righteous rage when it comes to penning a classic tune.

Whatever your political leanings, there's plenty to love about this track, not least of which is the simple gut-punch riff that churns throughout the tune. Young shreds away at his guitar with the ferocity of a pissed-off teenager in his garage, spitting out words that were a scathing indictment of America under George H.

Artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have woven politics seamlessly into the fabric of their music, chronicling the American condition over decades.

And anger has always been part of the backbone of rock music, whether the singer's angry at the government, another man, or a girl who's done him wrong.

Young captured that anger perfectly with "Ohio" in the wake of the Kent State shootings in , and he did it again in with this Top Classic Rock Songs entry. It feels like decades of rage over every betrayal of the American promise, spitting out line by line and lick by lick over three and a half minutes. Although they were only together for two years, the impact that British power trio Cream had upon the world is truly remarkable.

No song illustrates this better than "Sunshine of Your Love," which mixed hard rock with aspects of psychedelia to wonderful effect. The song centers around what is perhaps one of the most simplistic guitar riffs of all time, courtesy of "Slowhand" himself, Eric Clapton. In many ways though, restraint is what propels "Sunshine of Your Love" forward, although Clapton's remarkable skill with the guitar are on prominent display throughout the solo section.

Vocal duties are shared between Clapton and Jack Bruce , as the latter's menacing bass gives the song it's hefty low end. Drummer Ginger Baker cuts slightly loose during the song's chorus, but otherwise keeps time as if he were in a military band. We'd venture a guess that Jimi Hendrix would have given this song a spot on his own personal Top Classic Rock Songs list, as the guitar legend began adding the song to his concert setlists — much as he had done with the Beatles ' Sgt.

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sports nuts can visit their favorite teams and ballparks. Movie buffs can visit landmark scenery from their favorite films. But how exactly do you get to Hotel California? For decades, it's played host to the annual Montreux Jazz Festival. When Deep Purple first visited however, the festival was in its early stages, lasting only a couple of days.

They had come to town in to record the album which would become Machine Head. Recording in a mobile studio owned by the Rolling Stones within the Montreux Casino complex, the band was in the midst of laying down basic tracks when lead singer Ian Gillan was sidelined with hepatitis.

Their progress was further delayed when a concert-goer shot off a flare at a Frank Zappa show at the Casino that set the roof on fire and destroyed the building. Watching the fiery events inspired the immortal opening riff from guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. It would be painstakingly imitated by budding guitar players of many future generations, and also patiently taught to the younger set by Jack Black in the movie School of Rock.

Bassist Roger Glover came up with the title "Smoke on the Water," and that provided the linchpin for Gillan to write lyrics which provided a scene-by-scene account of the debacle. It was a scary vision, as Gillan remembers. The wind was coming down off the mountains and blowing the flames and the smoke over the lake.

And the smoke was just like a stage show and it was hanging on the water. Hence the title, and also unfortunately, the need for a new recording location. Decades later, Deep Purple gave the familiar classic a turbo-charged update, performing it during a orchestral tour.

A live DVD release from these dates was recorded at Montreux, bringing them full circle. In the years leading up to the release of their classic self-titled record in , Metallica achieved massive success on their own terms. Joining forces with producer Bob Rock for the first time, Metallica's so-called "Black Album" introduced them to an international audience.

Arguably unlike any other the band had written to date, the record's streamlined — and some might argue overly accessible - sound undoubtedly played a big part in Metallica's massive success. Indeed, Rock was responsible for pushing James Hetfield and company in directions they had not previously traveled.

Listening to the ferocity of the band's playing in the song, it is tough to believe that they had any doubt about the path they had chosen. Largely abandoning the thrash-metal roots that had built them such a loyal following, they dared fans to follow along after a pretty big left turn.

Everyone had to decide quickly if they were in or out, and fortunately the masses gave a big collective thumbs-up. Decades later, each of the singles released were among the best received in concert. However, with more than 15 million copies of the "Black Album" sold in America alone, there is little arguing that Metallica became the bona-fide superstars that they deserved to become. The "supergroup" label has been wrung dry of most of its original value nowadays, after decades of being attached with overblown record label fanfare to ad-hoc assemblies of B-list talent.

More importantly, they sometimes surpassed even the dreamiest of those expectations. Heck, it still sounds like a wonderful new idea: Buffalo Springfield 's Stephen Stills, David Crosby from the Byrds and Graham Nash from the Hollies bringing together their prodigious songwriting skills and amazingly complimentary voices.

Here's another candidate for rock history moments we'd most like to visit once time travel is sorted out: The party where the trio spontaneously sang together for the first time. They immediately decided to join forces and record an album, and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," written by Stills about his gradual breakup with singer Judy Collins, was one of the first songs they tackled.

The epic track or more accurately, the four mini-songs that make up the suite — and yes, Judy really does have blue eyes came together very quickly, with Stills recording the basic guitar track not long after arriving at the studio. In fact, the engineer thought he had ruined Stills' magic by over-brightening the guitar sound, leaving no low end. By now, my whole life was flashing in front of me, and certain that my career was over, I began to sweat.

Luckily, Stephen liked what he heard. In fact, it was this event that motivated album producer Tony Visconti to decline getting involved with its recording. The song starts the sounds of a spaceship lifting off, a dramatic effect pulled off successfully thanks to guitarist Mick Wayne's use of a chrome-plated, cigarette lighter. Soon enough, Tom finds himself a hero in orbit, with the papers demanding to know whose shirts he wears.

Of course, as well all know by now, the mission doesn't go according to plan, and our brave explorer finds himself lost — intentionally? In the fall of America's bicentennial celebration of , Boston burst on to the airwaves with their debut LP. With a sound that was unique and yet somehow familiar, Boston were tailor-made for mid '70s FM radio. In a typical tale of the times, the band was loved by fans and hated by the press.

Often labeling the group "corporate rock," critics hated Boston with a passion. And while its true that they were miles away from the burgeoning punk rock movement, Boston actually had a lot more to offer than the day-old bread that was so prominent in the rock musical landscape.

An almost sickly sweet ear worm that to this day can still be heard daily on any given classic rock radio station. There are moments where Delp's voice blends so seamlessly with Sholtz's guitar, that they seems to become one. Boston issued an allegedly rushed follow-up two years later and a third album presumably on a schedule more to their liking some 10 years after their debut, but things would never again gel as they did on album number one.

Sholtz has continued forward with Boston despite member defections and Delp's death, however, ensuring that new generations of fans can enjoy the soaring wonders of "More Than a Feeling. Would TMZ have caught "slowhand" kissing the former Beatles ' wife before he had a chance to confess this forbidden love to his friend? Would the two have gotten into a Twitter flame war instead of unbelievably remaining friends, with Harrison years later attending Clapton and Boyd's wedding?

Meanwhile, Boyd later claimed that these years actually featured more of a love hexagon, with she and Harrison engaging in dueling affairs with Ron Wood and his wife, while Harrison was also allegedly cavorting with Ringo Starr 's wife Maureen behind his former bandmate's back.

How has this not become a TV movie yet, or at least a board game? It's probably very selfish to say, since we didn't go through any of these romantic betrayals ourselves, but the twin-movement genius of "Layla" is totally worth it. The pain in Clapton's vocals cut even deeper than the famous stinging guitar riff that propels the first part of the song. Hearing Clapton exorcise his demons on guitar — in tandem with unofficial and all-too-temporary bandmate Duane Allman — would probably be enough to get this song onto any responsibly run Top Classic Rock Songs list.

Amazingly, that's only half the musical story of this song, as Clapton was also able to convince Dominos drummer Jim Gordon to graft a lovely piano piece he had been developing separately onto the end of the song. The contrasting yet somehow complimentary moods of the two pieces elevated "Layla" into a work of art, albeit one that Clapton later said was very difficult to present live.

Years later, it's all taken on a dream-like quality for Clapton. I love to hear it. Hard-core Kiss fans may scoff a little bit at the decision to represent their face-painted heroes on our Top Classic Rock Songs list with the relatively populist track "Rock and Roll All Nite. Those classic tracks helped established the band's sonic template, which blended the Rolling Stones ' ballsy grit with a surprising dose of Beatles -type tunefulness, then cranked up the volume.

Three albums following this formula — released in a dizzying month blitz — combined with a grueling tour schedule that helped perfect a flashy and literally explosive stage show had earned the band a devoted following among hard rock fans, and reputation as a band you did not want opening for you.

What it did not do, however, was sell very many records. Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart figured out what was missing as the band assembled their third album, 's Dressed to Kill. Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons put together parts of two songs each had been working on, the latter providing the verses and the former delivering one of rock's most universally appealing and memorable choruses.

The song says it all. Despite the band's immediate pleasure, the studio version of 'Rock and Roll All Nite' also failed to make a dent on the charts. With both band and label at the end of their financial ropes, they decided to throw a last-ditch Hail Mary six short months later by releasing the double-live album Alive! Freed from the constrictions of their underfed studio versions and supercharged by the band's live delivery, Kiss's songs connected with a massive new audience, and a newly released concert version of 'Rock and Roll All Nite' led the charge.

The rest, you probably know. Full Moon Fever was the first time Tom Petty had released a record without his longtime backing band, the Heartbreakers. Still, even though Petty's name alone adorned the record sleeve, the remainder of the Heartbreakers — with the exception of drummer Stan Lynch — supported him by performing on the record. In addition, Petty got help from Traveling Wilbury compatriots Jeff Lynne , George Harrison and Roy Orbison, meaning this so-called solo record hardly lacked star power.

This was the highest charting song released from Full Moon Fever , ascending to the No. Yet Petty disclosed during a episode of VH1 Storytellers that the song's lyrics were thrown together rather haphazardly. Primary consideration was given to how well they fit the melody of the song, as opposed to how well they delivered any story or message. Well, if that's the case, then the meaning found its own way to the surface and into his audience's hearts. Here, he showed a new level of vulnerability, casting himself as the villain in a break-up and bitterly mocking his own so-called freedom.

At least that's how some pessimists choose to see it, while others focus instead on the positive celebration of freedom from the first half of the chorus. It would be a shame if Ted Nugent was remembered by future generations more for his outlandish personality and controversial political and hunting views than for his music. Thanks to songs like "Stranglehold," however, that's not very likely to happen. In recent years, despite fronting one of the most dependably inspiring live shows you can witness — year after year after year — "Uncle Ted" gets far more attention for criticizing liberals or violating wildlife laws then he does for having merged Motown funk and soul with primal Chuck Berry rock and roll so effortlessly.

Granted, some of that is due to the fact that his more recent studio work hasn't reached the same heights as his undeniably brilliant '70s albums, including the self-titled solo debut that features the epic musical explorations of opening track "Stranglehold.

Kicking off with one of rock's most famous, stuttering and funky guitar riffs "real fing simple, as long as you got the fing attitude," as he declares on 's live Full Bluntal Nugity album , "Stranglehold" quickly locks into place with a deep, hypnotic and vaguely psychedelic bass-and-drums groove that allows Nugent to roam far and wide with his guitar. Which is exactly what he did, reportedly in an incredibly spontaneous single take while demonstrating the song to his bandmates in the recording studio.

We were going to leave a hole there so that I could overdub a solo later. Then I started playing lead work, just kind of filling in and though I had never played those licks before in my life, they all just came to me. Despite the objections of his engineers, Nugent decided to leave the results untouched for the final record. The song has gone onto become one of his twin calling cards — shout out to "Cat Scratch Fever" — a classic rock radio staple, and our choice for a high spot on our Top Classic Rock Songs list.

More importantly, we're confident that long after the fuss has died down regarding what he did with his off-stage life, the mastery and magic of this fortuitously captured moment will stand the test of time as an important part of both Nugent's and rock and roll's history.

When John Lennon joined his fellow Beatles on August 20, for what would be their final recording session together as a band, how could he know that his greatest work lie ahead of him? Perhaps that's sacrilege. But consider: While Paul McCartney 's songwriting gifts seemed to emerge almost whole cloth at the band's outset, Lennon's style evolved over the band's career — from the boys-love-girls-love-boys crunch of the Hard Day's Night album to the serenity of "Across the Universe.

Lennon's music always chronicled a searching spirit, struggling to come to terms with the central contradictions of human nature, and constantly attempting to put humanity into some kind of larger spiritual context. With 's "Imagine," Lennon achieved his most clear, complete, and complex statement, slotting in the Top 25 of our Top Classic Rock Songs.

The central message of "Imagine" is one of peace; there's no question. That message is why the song has found a comfortable home as part of anti-war movements around the world.

What is not as apparent is what exactly Lennon suggests we must surrender to achieve that peace — not just the material trappings of wealth and success, but the religious artifice built up over millennia, and even the fundamental structures of government.

Only by abandoning everything can we come to terms with everything; only in letting go can we realize what's important.

With unexpectedly discrete production from Phil Spector, "Imagine" achieves a gentle touch that Lennon rarely reached throughout his career, preferring instead to explore the brittle edges of his voice and his guitar. Though it only hit No.

Although his dream that "the world will live as one" has yet to occur, his song lives on. By the time Bob Seger had written the song that lands at No. To Seger's credit, few other "life on the road" songs can rival the intensity and passion heard in his single "Turn the Page," featured on 's Back in '72 full-length. The song starts with a saxophone which set a somewhat ominous tone for the remainder of the proceedings. Seger's vocals come across as rather hushed: You can almost picture the rock and roll legend quietly singing to himself as to not disturb the other members of his band as they try to get some sleep on the bus.

Despite how glamorous "life on the road" might appear to some, "Turn the Page" does a remarkable job summing up the grueling and lonely realities of the day-to-day life of a musician on the road in the early '70s. In perhaps the most striking line of the lyrics, summing up an era when long hair on guys might not have been seen as acceptable in the truck stops of America, Seger sings: " Most times you can't hear 'em talk, other times you can.

All the same old cliches, is that a woman or a man. And you always seem outnumbered; you don't dare make a stand. Compared to the cover performed by Metallica , Seger's version is considerably more minimalist yet somehow carries at least as much power.

A number of other artists have attempted their own versions of this classic: Country outlaw Waylon Jennings, Staind and Kid Rock have been known to perform "Turn the Page" live. It should be little surprise that Seger's words would resonate so well with his peers, those who were most able to identify with where the singer was coming from when he wrote this classic song. Released in July of , Bob Dylan 's "Like A Rolling Stone" was, in many ways, the dividing line between the past and the future of rock and roll.

The lyrics, the mood, the ramshackle rock and roll sound — it was the way forward. Issued as a single and the lead track on the Highway 61 Revisited LP, it ran for a then-unprecedented six minutes. Dylan and his entourage don't waste a second of that time, plowing through a field of sound and words to concoct one of the most magical records of all time. Even with its odd shape and size, the record shot to No. Pre-Dylan, song lyrics were pretty much your standard love and longing, perhaps a bit of life and death, but usually with ground-floor wording.

After Dylan's early efforts sunk into the consciousness of his contemporaries, the field was blown wide open. The Byrds hit big with their take on Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," and launched the folk-rock parade. Dylan himself took things yet another step forward by bringing electric instrumentation into his music in early with side one of Highway 61 's predecessor, Bringing It All Back Home.

But with "Like a Rolling Stone," he made the ultimate folk-rock statement, closing one door and opening another at the same time.

Poetry was now as much a part of the arsenal for young musicians as the electric guitar. This would inspire more literate writers such as Paul Simon , the Beatles , Neil Young and so on to up their ante and push the ball forward.

Musically, that crack of the snare drum that sets "Like a Rolling Stone" in motion is the shot heard 'round the world. Mike Bloomfield's sharp-as-nails guitar and Al Kooper's hammond organ give the song mighty wings.

This is rock and roll as it was meant to be: Raw, literate, exciting, challenging and above all, memorable as hell. It can be said that "Like A Rolling Stone" was not only the pinnacle of Dylan's career, but it may also have been the crowning achievement of the genre.

Never before or since has one single record delivered so much. It embraced the future as fondly as it cherished the past. It was perfectly of its time and yet transcends history by creating its own universe. Entire books — good ones! In a perfect world, some of us might say this should sit at the very top of out list of Top Classic Rock Songs. News flash, it ain't a perfect world, but with records like this around, it's really not such a bad place to hang out, ya know. Yet if you ask a dozen people what the lyrics mean, you'll quickly find out this entry in our Top Classic Rock Songs countdown has at least that many explanations.

The band itself has described the six-minute song as its "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles," with Don Felder, who wrote the music, explaining: "If you drive into L. All of that aside, listener imaginations ran wild. One group of Christian evangelists insisted "Hotel California" referred to a San Francisco hotel converted into a Church of Satan, while other people thought the song's title was about a state mental hospital.

Henley's always been resistant to explaining exactly what the metaphors in the song mean, but here's what we do know: the word "colitas" in the first stanza is Mexican slang for the buds of the Cannabis plant oh, stop looking so surprised , and the phrase "steely knives" was a playful nod to Steely Dan , who referenced the Eagles in their song "Everything You Did.

Do with all that what you will, but there's no mystery about the electric guitar interplay between Felder and Joe Walsh at the end of the song. Walsh once told us he remembered his recording session with Felder fondly, saying, "We decided we would each have a personality to each of our guitar parts, and we would work together in the body of the song — and then we would have a go at each other at the end.

We brought out the best in each other. We were real competitive. If he played something great, it was like 'Oh yeah? Watch this! The magical combination of metaphors, allegory and some bad-ass guitar work took "Hotel California" to the top of the charts in May of , and the song earned the Eagles a Grammy award for record of the year, as well. Pretty lofty stuff for a song most people still don't even understand.

But if it wasn't today, it was probably yesterday — and it could have reached us from a hundred different sources.

It may be hard to believe, listening to the radio today, but there was a time when ZZ Top had trouble even getting noticed.

Certainly, this wasn't due to a lack of talent: The trio had the attention of their peers right from the start, with Jimi Hendrix naming frontman Billy Gibbons " America's best young guitarist " early in their career.

However, despite releasing two extremely solid albums including 's Rio Grande Mud and developing a reputation as a powerful live band, large-scale success eluded the group until "La Grange" knocked down the door in The song nearly hit the Top 40, and propelled their third album, Tres Hombres , to the top reaches of the album charts.

A loving lyrical tribute to Texas's favorite little whorehouse, the track found ZZ Top enhancing a souped-up but otherwise highly traditional blues boogie with their own distinctive twists and turns. Part of what's made the gruop so special over the years has been their ability to expand, mutate and transcend the blues genre on songs such as "Cheap Sunglasses" and "Sharp Dressed Man.

Gibbons didn't need any trickery to work his magic on this track. If you need another reason to justify placing "La Grange" on our Top Classic Rock Songs list, simply go to the movies, turn on your radio or watch television for a few hours. Odds are you'll hear the track setting the mood for at least one film, TV show, commercial or video game before too long. Released in April of , L. Woman was the final album the Doors made with Jim Morrison.

Within three months of its release, the singer would be dead. Sad as his loss is, talk about going out on a high note. The title track holds up as one of the finest recorded statements from one of rock's greatest bands and lands itself at No. So many things about this album are truly iconic, one of which is certainly this song. In nearly eight minutes of glory, the Doors take the listener on a wild ride down a road that winds, bends, twists, and turns as the vehicle accelerates, then let's its foot off the gas slightly before driving us off into the sunset.

It is certainly one of the Doors' brightest shining recorded moments. With the opening sound of auto acceleration leading straight into the driving beat of John Densmore, Ray Manzerek's pulsating organ and Robbie Krieger's slithering guitar line, the ground work is laid for Morrison's gruff and demanding vocal.

He certainly rises to the occasion. More than ever, Morrison conjures up the old bluesman within that contradicts the year-old man at the mic, with his world-wise, take-no-prisoners attitude. The band, and Morrison, play like the ship is going down, which of course, it was. Written by all four members, "L. Woman" captures all the best elements of the Doors' music. The haunting sense of mystery and road-weary poetry lock up with primal instinct, below the waist rock and roll, to create the group's definitive song.

It's terrifyingly easy to think of a rock music landscape without Ozzy Osbourne 's towering presence. Instead, and seemingly against his own efforts, we have the mighty "Crazy Train" blasting out of every football stadium in the nation. The substance abuse problems which got Osbourne fired as lead singer of Black Sabbath in also left him adrift and searching for a lifeline as he sought to form his own solo band. When that savior arrived in the form of guitarist Randy Rhoads , Ozzy was reportedly almost too messed up to see the light.

Luckily, the determination of a friend and the sheer talent of Rhoads were able to cut through the haze and launch one of hard rock's brightest and sadly, briefest collaborations. Bassist Dana Strum, originally intended to be a member of Osbourne's solo band, described the struggles he had getting Rhoads and Ozzy together in the book Randy Rhoads , and without those efforts we'd never have heard this future Top Classic Rock Song.

I was so frustrated that I cranked the volume of Randy's amp really loud. He started playing power chords to warm up, and suddenly Ozzy's face looked up. Even though he couldn't even see the guitarist through the reflection of the studio glass, Ozzy declared, "Tell the kid he's got the job," and then, "Now take me home.

No song on that fantastic album shines brighter than "Crazy Train," which features Rhoads' anthemic main guitar riff and soloing that merged his heavy metal and classical music influences to wonderful effect. Suddenly, Eddie Van Halen had a serious rival for the title of world's favorite guitar hero. The record soon helped establish Osbourne as a solo star perhaps even more popular than Black Sabbath itself, and though Rhoads' life was cut short in , "Crazy Train" and other songs from the two albums he recorded with Ozzy remained the foundation of Osbourne's concert setlists.

By early , Bruce Springsteen 's career was stuck. Although his first two albums were critically acclaimed, he had trouble finding an audience outside the Northeast corridor where his live shows were knocking crowds dead every night. Knowing that Columbia Records would drop him if his next release stiffed, Springsteen knew he had, as he would say in "Thunder Road," one last chance to make it real.

Enter "Born to Run. Recorded later in the summer of that same year, "Born to Run" is Springsteen's masterpiece. Throw in some Duane Eddy guitar and a King Curtis-like sax solo from Clarence Clemons , and you have a song that encapsulates pretty much everything great about the previous 20 years of rock n' roll history.

What sets "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road," from the same album apart from virtually every other great anthem on our Top Classic Rock Songs list is that it's not a song of outright rebellion, but of escape to a better life than the one you're destined to live. This provided an interesting irony in the mid-'80s, when there was talk of making it the official state song of New Jersey. Even though the rest of the album had not yet been recorded, Springsteen's then-manager Mike Appel leaked the song to some Bruce-friendly FM radio stations.

It quickly became popular and forced Columbia to release it as a single a few months later, when it reached No. Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan replaced the duo, and remain for decades. In , America was waist-high in a muck of chaos, politically and emotionally. In just two and a half minutes, Creedence Clearwater Revival spit out enough venom via "Fortunate Son" to disarm, or at least disorient the enemy.

This song was written with middle finger in full flight to the Nixon administration, the legacy of the "silver spoon in hand" kids, and the contradictions and struggles of a wartime America. People like to remember the "peace and love" aspect of the '60s, but it was a violent, brutal time as well. Putting flowers in their hair may have been a novel pastime for bored kids with nothing to do a couple years prior, but by , the voice of frustration spoke louder — and CCR captured that in full ragged glory here.