Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll

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Speaking of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as we were back there (I know, it was quite a while ago, apologies for my desertion) with the news of the Hollies’ eventual induction next month, I noticed that the Museum has an exhibition deliciously entitled “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”. Get that.

Which got me thinking of answers to two questions:

1) Are there any David Gilmour/Pink Floyd songs in there (and if there aren’t, should there be)?
2) Have any of the songs written and recorded in, say, the last 30 years really influenced the way popular music has evolved?

Take a look at the list of 500, as chosen by a gaggle of curatorial staff at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum with a little help from rock critics and historians, or perhaps don’t just yet, because other than your thoughts on what has been listed, I’d like to know which songs you would select without first being influenced by what the exhibit values most highly.

I’m sure that we could come up with a decent list of 500 between us, so please list as many or as few as you wish, but please do bear in mind that these are songs that have shaped Rock and Roll, influencing and inspiring others to take up instruments, be they of the writing or the musical sort, and to get creative. Therefore, they almost all will have to have been popular, if not hugely commercially-successful (but many of them are most likely to have been worldwide hits, rightly or wrongly). And, of course, you don’t have to like them; you just have to acknowledge their influence, even if it is somewhat grudgingly.

All musicians and all genres. Songs only, not albums, please. If you think of an artist that absolutely deserves inclusion, but cannot decide on a song, do list him or her and perhaps others can chime in with suggestions for most deserving entry.

Looking forward to what you come up with.

Here are a few to get us started, which you may or may not agree with:

- Beach Boys, ‘Good Vibrations’
- Bill Haley & His Comets, ‘Rock Around the Clock’
- Sam Cooke, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’
- Carl Perkins, ‘Blue Suede Shoes’
- Queen, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Now we just need another 495…

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Originally published in the Official David Gilmour Blog on 02-15-2010 04:53 PM.