Johnny is a poor, near-illiterate country boy playing guitar by the railroad tracks, but his chops are so uncanny he doesn’t need a rhythm section, just the din of the trains to keep in time. Chuck could riff better than anyone, and with all the duckwalkin’ stage show flair to match, he’d be the first to tell you how rock’n’roll would make him rich. 9: Chuck Berry: “Johnny B Goode” (1958)Ĭhuck Berry’s signature song glorified rock’n’roll, sure, but also saluted what rock can do when you play it really well: get you paid. On this ode to the doo-wop and R&B he was raised on, however, Joel owns his squareness like the rock’n’roll legend he is. Billy Joel’s been a lot of things – storied songwriter, commercial powerhouse – but he’s never quite been cool. The piano man had grown nostalgic around the early 80s, taking in the “hot funk” and “cool punk” of the new wave era, only to shrug his shoulders and spit out the title of this classic rock radio staple. “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” sputtered commercially at first, but once it was picked to soundtrack the opening of the hit MGM film Blackboard Jungle (about teenage delinquents, no less), the song was on its way to immortality.Ĭlick to load video 10: Billy Joel: “It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me” (1980) Turns out the youth wanted black America’s rhythm’n’blues, and they enjoyed copulating – around the clock, even! But if they couldn’t get away with singing that in New Jersey gymnasiums, their new genre of choice would suffice. Prior to recording the Max Freedman- and Jimmy DeKnight-penned song, Bill Haley and his bandmates had played hundreds of high-school dances, getting hip to the vernacular and dancefloor preferences of American teens. The term was coined in 1947, but no rock song had connected with the public close to the scale of “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock”. 1 single in Billboard Hot 100 history didn’t just glorify rock’n’roll it introduced it to the world. 12: Bill Haley And His Comets: “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” (1954) Wherever you stand, the spirit of rock music should feel very much alive when you crank the volume on these 12 songs that glorify rock’n’roll. These days, commentators can’t decide if rock is dead, dying, in need of saving, or primed to rise again. Over the years, punk and grunge tried to subvert it from within. Once upon a time, mourners thought no great rock’n’roll songs were written after Buddy Holly died in 1959.
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