re: The Greatest Hard Rock Song Ever?

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nothing about them is anywhere close to "hard rock",

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I should have put the little laughy guy there. Just joking about ABBA.

I love Rock although Im more of a song guy than a group guy. I really dont care for the acid stuff or some of the lame 70's melodramatic shite. I think this is my single favorite rock song:

Also the video has it all, long hair, hot babes, a story to tell. Song has some great change of pace.

Cinderella - Coming Home

LINK

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Too many hair bands in that list for me to take it serious.

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Hair bands? I count 3 of 20: Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, and Motley Crap.

Rush, prior to "Moving Pictures" ("Tom Sawyer," etc) was a hard rock band, albeit one that leaned prog. They recorded dozens of songs that blow away "Tom Sawyer" -- and didn't need to be taken to different level, as per the added "exposure" gotten from airplay of "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight." Rush consistently sold records and sold-out concert halls. Substitute "Spirit Of Radio" for "Tom Sawyer."

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If that's the case, why not crown Miley Cyrus the best ever?

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is she anywhere close to being the top selling act of all time?

you guys are complaining about a highly subjective list by making even more subjective arguments. You may not like Bon Jovi or Guns and Roses, but a list of "hard rock" acts with out them would be a farce.

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so are we ranking bands or songs?

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Good point. But the argument was made that Bon Jovi was one of the "biggest" bands of all time.

But, this list was about songs not bands. And, like a lot of others have said, it really is a matter of taste.

I mean if i sat down and made a list of what i considered the best hard rock songs ever, it would probably be a lot different than yours would be. And I don't think any Bon Jovi songs would be in the top 50.

ETA: And that would have nothing to do with liking or not liking the band itself. I just think there are a lot of songs I consider better.

Any list like this is inherently subjective, but I think you have to weigh more than your personal aesthetics when making the lsit. For example, I hate Def Leppard. I think they suck, and think rock music would have been better had they never existed. I'm not a fan.

OK, that said, I think "Photograph" absolutely belongs in the top 20. Hair metal was the dominant form of rock in the 80s, and Def Leppard were one of the foremost bands of that genre. A list of the top hard rock soungs without a mention of Def Leppard would be ridiculous, despite my personal hatred of them. Same goes for Bon Jovi (who I don't really hate). They were one of the defining bands of their era. If you turned on rock radio in the mid-80s, you heard Bon Jovi, or bands that tried to sound like them. And honestly, they were better than a lot of their contemporaries, which is how they attracted crossover success. They wrote good pop songs.

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The Clash – “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”

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this is as much "hard rock" as The Bangles.

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AC/DC – “Back In Black”

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3rd on my list of just AC/DC songs. Toss up between "Thunderstruck" and "She Shook Me All Night Long". I will never forget when I was in the Dome watching the high school football championships and some small town dance line performed to "Shook Me All Night Long." The song sounded great over those speakers especially when they sang - "knocking me out with those American thighs" or "she told me to come but I was already there".

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But the argument was made that Bon Jovi was one of the "biggest" bands of all time.

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I think you can use that to justify having one of their songs in the top 20.

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I mean if i sat down and made a list of what i considered the best hard rock songs ever, it would probably be a lot different than yours would be. And I don't think any Bon Jovi songs would be in the top 50.

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That's why I think when compling a list like this things like popularity and influence need to be consiered. A top 50 list with 15 Led Zepplin songs would not a good list. You would make a list of your favorite songs, which is fine, but an all time greatest list made for publication or broadcast, needs to be a little more objective. I don't like Bon Jovi at all, but they were too big to be left of a list like this. As much as I HATE Bad Company, they need a song to on a classic rock list.