Top 1000 Songs #30-#21

#30 - "Teenage Riot" - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation - #2/2 - Sonic Youth's alt-rock epic is one of the most important songs of the college rock era, opening up new markets and audiences that would eventually make up the fan base of the alt-rock 90's. The song starts out slow but then unleashes one of the best guitar riffs of all-time before building to a peak towards the end of the song.

#29 - "Under Pressure" - Queen And David Bowie - Hot Space - #6/6 - Although Bowie does the singing, Queen was credited with this song, the best by either artist. The beat is a classic (even more so after being stolen by Vanilla Ice) and the breakdown at the end of the song is about as good as classic rock ever got with that technique.

#28 - "Closer" - Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral - #7/7 - The finest moment in industrial rock, "Closer" combined a great chorus and brilliant lyrics with one of the most compelling backbeats ever made to create one of the best of the 90's.

#27 - "Layla" - Derek And The Dominoes - Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs - #1/1 - The song would be one of the best in classic rock even if it didn't have the instrumental half to it. That being said, the instrumental part of this song is the second greatest in rock history (second only to "Free Bird") and makes the song one of the best ever.

#26 - "Free Fallin'" - Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever - #17/17 - Petty's best, and that's really saying something, has great verses and a good beat, but the highlight is the soaring chorus that paints a picture vivid enough to make you feel the lyrics as though they were really happening as you hear them.

#25 - "Anarchy In The U.K." - The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols - #4/4 - The Sex Pistols were never better or more intense than they were on this early career classic that would later be compiled on the band's "album". The guitar work and vocals are excellent as always.

#24 - "The Magnificent Seven" - The Clash - Sandinista - #18/18 - Before rap ever crossed over to the radio in the United States, The Clash co-opted the style of music to create their best song. "Seven" has a pulsing beat, strange lyrics and one of punk's best guitar and drum riffs.

#23 - "All Along The Watchtower" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland - #9/9 - The song may have been written by Bob Dylan, but even he admits that Hendrix made it his own with his wicked guitar work and bluesy take on Bob's folk classic. The Experience was never better.

#22 - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana - Nevermind - #15/15 - The anthem that kicked off the alt rock revolution that dominated the 90's. Everything about it is earth-shattering from the opening riff that everyone knows by heart to the slow-fast dynamic to the cathartic chorus, the sound of teenage angst laid out raw for everyone to hear.

#21 - "Like A Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited - #14/15 - Only my second favorite Dylan song, but most people's favorite, "Rolling Stone" (for which the magazine is named) is supposedly about Edie Sedgwick (one of Andy Warhol's "muses"), but the song contains enough universal truth to be relatable to just about anyone at any time. The song is epic in scale and like the best Dylan songs, it's essentially a novel presented as a pop song.