- 18 hours ago
Senior writers Brian Hiatt and Angie Martoccio join contributing editor Rob Sheffield in the Rolling Stone Studio for a deep dive on our new list of the 200 best rock songs of the 21st century. They go through the methodology (most acts only get one song, with a few exceptions), the arguments (not everyone loves Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag"), and the various subgenres represented (from emo to pop/punk to garage-rock revivalists to dance-rock to classic-rock survivors). They also explain why the list was broad enough to include pop stars and rappers along with the bands you might expect, and break down the top 10 in detail.
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00:00I really wonder if we had let Radiohead loose, how many Radiohead songs would be on this list?
00:0415, 20? Like, in a world where we could put all the Radiohead songs we want, maybe 20.
00:09There was that crazy meeting where I was like, hear me out, guys. Four. And everyone was,
00:13it was just a silent, a silent room, and I was like, got it.
00:21Hey, guys, I'm Angie Martosio, and we are here in the Rolling Stones studio today. I'm joined by
00:25senior writers Brian Hyatt and Rob Sheffield, and we are here to discuss our brand new
00:31200 Greatest Rock Songs of the 21st Century. This was not easy to put together.
00:37And it hasn't maybe been overall the best century commercially for rock. Maybe we can agree.
00:43It's had its ups and downs. It hasn't been as dominant as it once was. That said, I think as
00:48we put the list together, we kind of realized how diverse and amazing this century has been for rock.
00:54There's a ton of stuff. We tried to include everything. We tried to include
00:57emo and pop punk and garage rock and indie. There's even some hip hop and country that fit
01:05the bill. Yeah. And I think we should also talk about the criteria so no one yells at us.
01:09We tried to- They're going to yell at us.
01:11Yeah, absolutely. This is going to be a disaster. We tried to limit it to being one song per band.
01:16Obviously, we could have made that much more broad, but we tried to contain having some great rock
01:23songs that hit. We could have had some softer ones here and there, but we really tried to make it
01:28as rock sounding as possible. Yeah. So in some cases, we didn't pick the biggest hit. We picked
01:34the song that rocked the most, but that said, there are a lot of ballads. And we should mention that
01:38there are a few acts for whom we made an exception and there's multiple songs. That was actually one of
01:44the biggest arguments is which acts get more than one song. And I don't think, I mean, frankly,
01:49not all of us are happy with every choice on that list. Many arguments. Because we were arguing,
01:53we're still arguing, but this is the list. It's a collective enterprise.
01:57This is one where the arguments were really passionate just because rock has become so
02:02expansive that the list ends up being a tribute to the diversity of rock. Some of these songs are
02:08absolute air guitar headbangers. Some of these songs are for dancing, which was kind of unheard of
02:14in the nineties. Some of these songs are for staring at a brick wall at three o'clock in the
02:19morning and feeling miserable. A lot of those. Some are acoustic, some are metal, some are punk,
02:25some are skinny tie bands with the in their name. Some are really synthy, some have steel guitar.
02:31It's been a really astoundingly diverse time for rock and roll. And this list reflects that.
02:37I guess we should start talking about the top 10. Rob, do you want to kick it off?
02:41Top 10. Wilco, Impossible Germany.
02:46Impossible Germany.
02:50Unlock with Japan.
02:53Talk about a guitar solo epic. This is one that has everything you want in a Wilco song. Really,
02:59really miserable, vulnerable, soulful vocals, acoustic guitar, but also that amazing double guitar solo
03:07between Tweety and Klein at the end. Just really astounding live, astounding in the studio.
03:13It's the ultimate Wilco song.
03:15I think one of the best things Wilco did was have Nels Klein join the band. And this is like
03:19a great
03:19representation of why. It's like so psychedelic. It's a highlight in all of their shows. No one knows
03:25where it's going to go each time. It's very dead-like, some might say. But yeah, it's just like such
03:30a fan
03:31favorite. And I think there's an obvious reason why. I mean, Wilco themselves belong in the top
03:3610. And because I think some of these decisions were made in a representative way as well. Like
03:41Wilco had to have a song in the top 10. They are one of the most important rock bands of
03:45the 21st
03:45century. And they are sort of, if you're looking for a sort of modern version of a classic rock band,
03:51one that does a lot of different things. And I think this also speaks to like the younger
03:56generations that have really latched on to Wilco. My generation was very much like a Jesus,
04:02etc., Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. And then I meet all these young musicians who say that Impossible Germany
04:07is their favorite song ever. And for number nine, talk about an argument. It's the Arctic Monkeys,
04:13I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor.
04:22Talk about an argument because I am definitely partial to AM. I wanted some of the tracks off
04:28there. Brian, how do you feel about this song? For me, I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor
04:32is
04:32just this explosion of punky energy. And it's one of the most exciting pure rock songs of the 21st
04:41century. I still remember first hearing it and first hearing Arctic Monkeys and seeing them
04:46at Mercury Lounge, this tiny club in New York. And just, there were so many moments when it felt
04:51like rock was back and it never really, it never really came back the way we thought it was going
04:57to come back. This was their Smells Like Teen Spirit. It's one of the many Smells Like Teen
05:02Spirits that weren't quite Smells Like Teen Spirit of this century. That's sort of what I'm saying is
05:06like, My Chemical Romance is I'm Not Okay is another one where it's like, this is it. And it wasn't
05:10quite it, but it's still amazing. And so that's what I'd say.
05:13I will say this album and this song in particular reminds me really just of like the LimeWire days.
05:18Like I love it. You saw it live. But for me, it was like, I downloaded off LimeWire for sure
05:22at
05:22that age. Also just love having a song in the top 10 that gives a shout out to Duran Duran.
05:28Always relevant, always at the cutting edge. And at number eight, Jay-Z's 99 Problems.
05:33I don't know what you take me as or understand the intelligence that Jay-Z has. I'm from Rags,
05:39the richest niggas. I ain't dumb. I got 99 Problems, but a bitch ain't one.
05:43And I'm really happy with this one. And I'll take all the credit slash blame for this one.
05:48This song is the heir to one of the great rock and roll traditions of the past, I don't know,
05:5330 years or so, which is a tradition that began with the same producer of this song,
05:57Rick Rubin with Walk This Way and Aerosmith and Run DMC. And it goes into, you know,
06:02Bring the Noise with Anthrax and Public Enemy. It is a great rap rock song. It happens to come
06:09as previous great rap rock songs came from the hip hop side, as opposed to the rock side.
06:15Those power chords are insane.
06:17The moment at the beginning when he comes in acapella and then is like,
06:21hit me and then the guitars come in is just one of the greatest rock moments of this 21st century
06:28and one of the greatest, if not the greatest rap rock moment of all time. I do imagine,
06:33but maybe, maybe I'm underestimating the broad-mindedness of our rock fans,
06:38but I imagine that some people who are rock purists might object to this, but they shouldn't.
06:45Let's get to number seven.
06:46Number seven is The Strokes.
06:56The Strokes came out of New York at a time when there were rock stars for a new era at
07:03a time
07:03when we were really rock star deprived. I first saw them at Mercury Lounge, a tiny little bar in
07:11the Lower East Side. They were doing a Saturday night residency in early 2001. It's fair to say
07:17anybody in that room being told that last night would be on a list like this, 25 years later,
07:23nobody would have been the least bit surprised by that. Last night, a song that totally expressed
07:29their defiance, their sulkiness, their narcissism, their violence, everything cool about The Strokes,
07:36their glamour, their streetness, everything pop about them, everything Brit about them,
07:42everything New York about them, all in here. Rock had become this big, ungainly thing. If you're
07:47thinking of The Strokes at the turn of the century, right before that was Woodstock 99. And Woodstock 99,
07:54you had Korn and Limp Bizkit. Korn were amazing at Woodstock 99, but the whole thing of new metal was
08:00this huge bludgeoning thing that couldn't get any bigger and louder. Everything was enormous and
08:08very masculine, very aggro. It had to shrink. Rock was having a serious charisma deficiency in those
08:15days. And The Strokes really addressed that. What I always remember about seeing them for the first
08:19time in that bar, the room is set up very strangely. It's still with us, thank goodness. And it's set
08:27up
08:27with the backstage is downstairs. So for the bands to come on stage, they have to slither through the
08:34audience and usually do this really shy perp walk with, you know, like the guy with the flashlight
08:39leading them to the stage. How The Strokes made their entrance is they strutted right through the
08:44crowd with their guitars hoisted over their heads, like they were conquering samurai come to destroy the
08:50village. And it was an absolutely mind-blowingly charismatic and also really narcissistic way to make an
08:59entrance. Here we are 25 years later, still marveling at the greatness of last night. The
09:04other song I believe is Reptilia. It is, yeah. From their astoundingly underrated second album,
09:10which is arguably even better than the first one. Oh my God. It's weird that you say that's
09:13underrated because I'm a more like defender of first impressions of Earth. I feel like that one
09:17is completely ignored. It is. That's a good point. I would have had like red light on here if I
09:21could. What? Yeah. Over Juicebox? Yeah. Juicebox sounds like Jaws and I love it, but it's very
09:27Jaws-like to me. Number six, somebody that we both saw recently. This is Phoebe Bridger's I Know
09:33The End. Phoebe's got a lot of contenders for this list. This is the one I would say that rocks
09:48the
09:48hardest. She literally has people on stage that she recruits from the crowd sometimes, like some of
09:53her friends will come up for these live renditions for the very end scream. It's very Wizard of Oz
09:59coded. She has spent most of her career writing about being on tour. And this is one of those
10:04songs that she was reflecting on what it's like to be far from home all the time. If not for
10:10the
10:10second half of the song, it probably would be weird for this to be in the top 10 of a
10:15rock list,
10:16but it builds and builds and it's pretty apocalyptic. If anyone remembers 2020, which is this album
10:22coming out was such a big moment and she releases this video of her kind of like walking around the
10:28locker room. There's like an apple. It's very strange. And in the very end during the build,
10:32she makes out with an older version of herself. Seeing it live was really cathartic. We both saw
10:38this amazing new tour this weekend and everybody knew that there was going to be this big cathartic
10:44screaming thing. Just that sort of excitement. And the fact that she does these phone-free shows
10:48adds to the level of concentration, focus, devotion. Makes you wish that all shows were
10:53like that, but it takes a very confident performer to do something like that.
10:57I love hearing the crowd for certain songs, like when she's opening with like Moon Song
11:01or she starts to strum like Scott Street, you'll hear people be like, oh, brutal. Or like, fuck.
11:09But for some reason, for I Know the End, everyone's like, oh, I'm ready for this. Like put on their
11:13best
11:13scream. So number five is Radiohead's The National Anthem.
11:22This is a band that is beyond essential to rock this century. And choosing songs by them was
11:33really, really hard. But National Anthem is really interesting, of course, because it's a rock moment
11:38on an album that was their famously Radiohead has to kill rock to save it or whatever the people at
11:47Sunset at that point. At the time, at least it seemed. Now that album seems totally normal to me
11:51and I don't understand what the big deal was. But, you know, they did reinvent their sound. It was more
11:56electronic. And this was more of a guitar moment on Kid A. I really wonder if we had let Radiohead
12:01loose. How many Radiohead songs would be on this list? 15, 20? Like, you know, in a world where we
12:07could put
12:07all the Radiohead songs we want, maybe 20. There was that crazy meeting where I was like, hear me
12:11out, guys. Four. And everyone was just a silent, a silent room. And I was like, got it. But yeah,
12:16this is
12:16definitely like Colin Greenwood's moment to shine. And I love it. He doesn't get enough attention as it
12:22is. And it's such a great definitive Kid A moment. Also, what Johnny does with it live, you could make
12:29a case that the album version is the least interesting version of it because it always goes
12:34such interesting places live. You could argue that the studio version isn't even the canonical version.
12:39Well, I will. I do want to shout out the horns on the studio version because they are influenced by
12:44probably my favorite artist of all time, Charles Mingus. They've copped to that. That was because they
12:48were listening to a lot of Mingus Ah'am, which might be the greatest album ever made. At the time,
12:52I had no idea who Mingus was, but now I do. And I really appreciate that Radiohead was there. And
12:57what a cool thing to put in the middle of a rock song. 15 years ago this week was the
13:02Radiohead shows
13:03at Roseland. The national anthem that night was just absolutely on fire. What Johnny does with
13:12mixing the guitar and the radio and just everybody taking off, like you said,
13:17Colin Greenwood's Time to Shine. The bass just is absolutely thunderous. That's maybe my favorite
13:24version of this just astounding Radiohead song. I kick myself every day for being in high school
13:29when that show happened. And now we have number four. It's definitely one I'm excited to talk
13:35about. This is Olivia Rodrigo's Good For You.
13:37Good for you. You look happy and healthy. Not me if you want the chair with your eyes.
13:42Unbelievably great song. This was a number one hit in 2021. And it was the first rock-coded song
13:52to hit number one in quite a long time. It was a little shocking that there was a number one
13:58hit
13:58that was such an explicit rock song. And it really epitomizes the audacity of Olivia Rodrigo. This was
14:06the third song of hers that anybody had heard. I remember hearing this with my nieces and just
14:13thinking, wow, this is their music now. Olivia had gone back to that 90s legacy, the feminist rock
14:19punk explosion of the 90s and brought that legacy forward into the 2020s. One of her most influential
14:27and daring and original creative moves. Generally, a tremendously influential song,
14:33I would say, both in establishing the rock star Olivia that we now know. It is such a great song.
14:39And it
14:40also shows, with the help of her great producer Dan Nigro, how you can do a rock song in a
14:48pop context in
14:49the 21st century. The way they pull the live drums and the guitars in and out is brilliant.
14:54This was also the first time we saw Olivia showing her cards and her actual interest in this kind of
14:59genre, where she comes out with Driver's License. It's this gigantic breakthrough hit. It's this
15:04gorgeous ballad. Follows it up with Deja Vu, which was a bit of a sleeper for a lot of us.
15:09And then all
15:10of a sudden, she comes out with this song. And it was very much like, this is what else I
15:15have up my
15:16sleeve. And I don't think any of us were expecting it. And it really paved the way for guts, I
15:21think.
15:21It was just so mind-blowing that someone that could have coasted through into show business
15:28as Disney Moppet grows up, it was a shocker to realize this was what she wanted to do.
15:34She wanted to rock. She wanted to be punk rock. And as we learned later from your amazing interview,
15:41I still remember the shock of when you interviewed her for Rolling Stone. And she told you about how
15:47her mom used to get her ready for school in the morning by playing Babes in Toyland? That was
15:53really, really mind-blowing. And yet, anybody could hear it in this song.
15:57Many of our best Gen Z artists are the product of very cool parents who brainwashed them. And I'm
16:01grateful for that.
16:02Yeah, absolutely. And that's a great segue into number three, which is The Killers, Mr. Brightside.
16:16I don't even know where to go with this song. Do you want to kick it off, Ryan?
16:19I've never heard it, actually. How's it go? Mr. Brightside is one of those songs that was both
16:26instantly recognizable as a classic and stayed a classic for whatever it is, 23 years. If you think
16:32about rock as something that makes you want to throw yourself around the room and feel joy and
16:39catharsis, like Mr. Brightside is that from the first moment.
16:43And that album is full of songs that easily could have been in the top 10. I mean, talk about
16:48a band
16:49that makes a greatest hits album the first time around.
16:51It's also interesting to note, and we're going to talk a little bit later about the Meet Me in the
16:55Bathroom era and the whole rock revival in New York at that time. And Killers, of course,
17:01we're not from New York. And thus, when my experience was when the Killers first came,
17:07there was some suspicion of them. They weren't like with many bands that became the biggest out
17:13of a scene. They seem like, you know, maybe like a major label plant or whatever. And it turned out
17:18they were bigger than anything else. They were from Vegas, as far as you can get from the Lower
17:24East Side or Williamsburg. They absolutely knew that for them to be stars, they had to come to this
17:30specific scene, which was full of all the things that they loved. They were so much bigger in
17:36in that scene than they were anywhere else. But that was the place to reach the world.
17:41Much like Jimi Hendrix coming to London. Let's think of it in that sense.
17:44Well, unlike the White Stripes, you know, like these bands who like knew that this audience was
17:49the one that was going to be receptive, and that this is where they came to become stars.
17:54And number two, very obscure song. The White Stripes, Seven Nation Army.
17:59I'm gonna fight them all.
18:02I said the nation army couldn't hold me back.
18:06How could this not be near the top of the list? And I will say it is not the only
18:10Jack White entry
18:11on the list. I have to look at my card for this.
18:13We made sure of that.
18:14So at number 46, we have Beyonce and Jack White, Don't Hurt Yourself. And number 104,
18:20we have another White Stripes song, Ball and Biscuit. At number 168, we have Electric Six
18:25and Jack White, Danger High Voltage. And at number 188, we have the rockin' tour, Steady As She Goes.
18:31So I think we did justice to Jack White. Jack White, he sort of is in some ways 21st century
18:36rock.
18:36He was a true believer of keeping this stuff alive, maybe when other people didn't care as much.
18:43And he's a link to the blues rock tradition that really was, other than the Black Keys,
18:50not a huge part of rock in this century, but he managed to modernize it.
18:54Jack is a phenomenal guitar player, a riff maker, and Seven Nation Army, the riff alone, as we know,
19:01lives on in soccer stadiums and everywhere. It's the only example I know in all of rock history,
19:08really, of just the riff being bigger than the song. People just sing the riff. People aren't
19:13singing the guitar intro, Stairway to Heaven, at football stadiums, you know? It's just,
19:18it's possible that, you know, it's probably in the top five of rock riffs of all time,
19:24which is quite an achievement when you think of how much rock had happened by the time he did
19:27Seven Nation Army. Shout out to Meg as well, who is a tremendously underrated presence. Everyone
19:32who ever saw her live knows what an absolute monster she was on drums. I don't even know how
19:37she did what she did because it seems simple, but it hits so hard.
19:41And unlike Stairway to Heaven, all these years later, Jack totally leans into it,
19:46performs it at most of his concerts. You're going to hear it if you go. And it's always just like
19:51what even, you don't have to be even a normie. You can be like a hardcore fan. It's impossible not
19:54to enjoy hearing that live. It's a song that invites people to claim it as their own. You
20:00know, it's favored for marching bands. The story of the song is really just beginning. And that,
20:05as we see with its influence on, you know, younger artists like Olivia Rodrigo, who like
20:11epitomizes like the Gen Z artist who grows up worshiping Jack White. He is to her a symbol of
20:16freedom, of cool, of independence, doing what you want, not following trends. For artists like her and
20:23the many, many younger artists who are like going to follow in her footsteps, Jack White is a patron
20:29saint. Number one, what makes the greatest rock song of the 21st century? Soul, passion, little
20:37noise, little aggression, little abandon, a lot of chaos, a lot of wildness. Put that together and you
20:44get the best rock song of the 21st century. What else but maps by the yeah, yeah, yes.
21:00Unbelievable song full of a lot of things that should not have made up for mainstream success.
21:07This is a three person scrappy punk rock band, very noisy guitar riff. Roland Howard is alive and well
21:16in Nick Zinner's guitar. There's no bass player. It's really wild that the top three songs on our
21:23list, only one of them has a bass player. That's a great point. It's really rough. It was a rough
21:28century for bass players, especially the first five years. Yeah. This song to come out of a completely
21:36unfettered noise rock post-punk sort of sound and just speaks to the heart, which is what's made it
21:43a classic across the board. Every time I forget how heavy it is because, and I think that's says
21:49something really interesting about how it's constructed because the melody is so pretty
21:53that it could have been a beautiful ballad. But then every time I listen to it, it's like, oh man,
21:58like the drums are so awesome and the guitar is so awesome. And I don't know any other song that
22:02my
22:02brain does that with. I think that might be the secret key to its greatness. All three of them are
22:08doing something wild and original all the way through the song. What you said of Seven Nation
22:11Army being the guitar riff of this century. Maps is that way with the drums that everybody just air
22:19drums to that like astounding Brian Chase beat in the song, which is really thunderous. Kara Noe,
22:25one of the truly great rock stars, vocalists, songwriters of this century.
22:31Yes. And she is so archetypal for this era. A Korean American girl from New Jersey grows up
22:37feeling like a misfit, like an outsider, the class clown. And she always said, I think this might be
22:42the only love song in the top 10. It's just pure emotion plus pure noise. That's such a great point.
22:48I didn't realize that it's our only love song in the top 10. It's the song that you hear it
22:52and
22:52it sounds so unlike anything else in the pop moment then or now. It's a song that just makes
23:01everything seem freer, more full of possibilities. Its impact on musicians was gigantic. And you can
23:06still see that in the impact. Still to this day. Absolutely. For sure. So we've gone through the top
23:1010. We've made it. We probably should also talk about some of the currents running through the list,
23:16some of the genres, some of the eras, because it encompasses a lot. We should pay our respects to
23:20emo and pop punk. One of the biggest things to happen this century. Paramore leads the charge
23:26at number 12 with That's What You Get.
23:32My favorite karaoke song, I will say. I think Hayley Williams could have been on here multiple
23:38times in different iterations, whether it's her incredible solo career right now. I think her
23:44being this high on the list in terms of like this genre makes complete sense to me with how many
23:49songwriters are still following in her footsteps. And then, yeah, you have all of my favorite,
23:55favorite songs from my middle school years on here. We have a lot of other highlights on here.
23:59At number 20, we have Fall Out Boy's Sugar We're Going Down.
24:08We have Jimmy Eat World, The Middle at 25. Brian, I know you love Jimmy Eat World also.
24:13I do. And I love Fall Out Boy. I was even fighting for this end of scene over that song,
24:20but they're both great. And these are all acts that help keep rock alive, especially commercially.
24:272005, 2006 was a moment when it seemed like emo was going to save rock and roll. I'm happy to
24:32say
24:32that My Chemical Romance has two songs in this list, which I kind of personally fought for.
24:36At number 121, they have I'm Not Okay, I Promise. And at number 16, they have Welcome to the Black
24:43Parade.
24:49Another band that's so key to rock in the 21st century. And also another band that seems to be
24:56like if you're looking for this sort of new classic rock canon, I would say they're one of them.
25:00They're just a monster band, and I'm really hopeful that they're going to come back with
25:03a great album. But they have the two sides of My Chem, which is the early I'm Not Okay, I
25:08Promise,
25:09which, as I said, was one of the Smells Like Teen Spirits that wasn't. And then Welcome to the Black
25:13Parade, which is just a queen-worthy, who-worthy rock opera epic and such a great song.
25:20And, you know, we have Phoebe on this list. It goes without saying that the last 10 years in indie
25:25rock alone are worth mentioning. You also have her boys on here.
25:28We have Night Shift by Lucy Dacus coming in at 13. One of the best, honestly, like her greatest
25:35song for sure. And we have Stay Down by Boy Genius, specifically because that is Julian's
25:40moment. It is such a perfect song to me that really showcases her vocals. Kind of kick-started
25:45this amazing decade. You have Car Seat Headrest, Drunk Driver, Killer Whales. You have Mannequin
25:51Pussies, Drunk 2. Two songs about being drunk that would really take on to the next decade.
25:55But I also want to talk about Waxahachie really quick, because as you pointed out,
25:58Katie Crutchfield really set the template for how indie rock was to follow.
26:02I would call her the most influential rock artist of the last 15 years, in terms of somebody who
26:10arrived with a new template for how to express yourself emotionally with a guitar and a song,
26:17because her songs were just so far ahead of what other people were daring or risking,
26:22in terms of just the emotion in them. Yet, she was such an inspiration to anyone who heard her,
26:29that, you know, if you started listening to Waxahachie in 2011, 2012, 2013, and it's no
26:37surprise that so many artists in that vein have followed directly from their inspiration.
26:42A couple other great artists on the list from the past 10 years, the great MJ Lenderman. So happy to
26:48see him on there. And then also, as much as rock was veering towards singer-songwriters for the last
26:54decade, that's part of what we're talking about. It's being a solo thing, as much as they teamed up
26:59for Boy Genius. So I'm really happy that geese are on the list, because we've had so many singer-songwriters,
27:06and singer-songwriters are amazing, and they've kind of dominated the last decade of rock.
27:09My argument is that it's for economic reasons, in part, because who can afford to split their
27:14teensy royalties with four other people? But that's a whole other story. And also artistic,
27:19it's just been an age of confession and quieter rock, and that's awesome. But I'm really happy
27:25that geese, who are a real band in which every member is essential to the sound, and the drummer
27:32is super essential to the sound, are huge now, and they are not a psyop. I urge everyone to read
27:38Simon Vazic-Levinson's great cover story, clears that all up. And then another great band that could
27:43only be a band is Wednesday, and also so happy they're on the list.
27:49Carly Harpsen has these really introspective songs, and yet rocks out with such a band, and
27:55very much an archetypal artist for what we hope the late 2020s will be like.
28:01Yeah, and all these artists we're mentioning, Wednesday, MJ Lunderman, Phoebe Bridgers, it's
28:06not a secret that all of them have been heavily influenced by Neil Young. And that brings me
28:10to what I also want to talk about, are these awesome rock veterans that did make it onto
28:14the list in the 21st century. I know we have Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Ramada Inn.
28:20Every morning comes the sun.
28:27That's off 2012's Psychedelic Pill. What an amazing, amazing, heartbreaking song.
28:33Heartbreaking song.
28:34And then you guys can take it away with the Dylan entries. There's a couple on here that
28:37I really, really love.
28:38The most inspiring, amazing 21st century. This is a guy who started it already with one of
28:46the greatest careers in rock, started this century, and then made all these great songs
28:51from Things Have Changed on, and showed how long you can sustain and renew greatness. And
28:58I think it's one of the most inspiring stories of the 21st century. And speaking of inspiring,
29:03David Bowie, for his final album, I almost can't talk about this without getting emotional,
29:08but he exited the stage like he entered it as a showman right before his death. He just casually
29:16dropped one of the greatest albums he ever made. One of the amazing songs on it is the title track,
29:22Black Star.
29:27If you've never heard it, it's not what you might expect from a classic rock veteran in the 21st
29:33century. It's more like Radiohead or even D'Angelo was an influence. It's an absolutely wild song. And
29:43nothing to me could be more inspiring than someone in their last days on earth making some of the
29:48greatest music they'd ever make.
29:50I have a hard time listening to that song and that album in general because it's so emotional. But I
29:54want
29:55to hear you talk about it a little too because I associate so much of that era and Bowie's final
30:00chapter with you and that amazing book you wrote. What was it like hearing Black Star in that room?
30:06Black Star was Christmas 2015. And it was just astounding that David Bowie had a new song that
30:15was this ambitious. It was a new sound. He got a jazz band together and he told them he wanted
30:19to
30:20follow in the footsteps of Kendrick Lamar and D'Angelo. He knows at this point that he's got a very
30:26limited time left. He wants to do another masterpiece before he goes. And this is what he's doing is
30:32he's so inspired by these younger artists. I mean, Kendrick Lamar was born in the late 80s. He was born
30:38during the Glass Spiders tour, when he may be the nadir of Bowie's creative experimental road. And yet
30:46he was still experimenting. Every song on this album is so full of ideas for other songs that he wouldn't
30:53get to write. And it ends so heartbreakingly with, I can't give anything away. I can't give
30:58everything away. So many songs on this album would be contenders for this list. But Black Star is the
31:06most ambitious. It's a song we're still figuring out, still unpacking the mysteries of this song
31:1110 years later. I got to shout out Bruce. Bruce Springsteen, much like Bob Dylan, had a really
31:18amazing 21st century and just sustained and sustained and sustained, stayed on the road,
31:23kept making great songs. The Rising was his great comeback album, as people perceived it. I might
31:29dispute that, but people perceived it as a comeback album, the first album with the East Street Band.
31:32And The Rising is an anthem responding to one of the most important days of this century. And it still
31:40kills. I will fight anyone who says that they don't like The Rising, the album. Obviously, I know you
31:45said it's regarded as his comeback at the time. I still defend it so much.
31:49That's great. It's a little too long, but it's great.
31:52Come on. You're missing?
31:53Yes, it's great.
31:55We've got Paul McCartney on this list. What an astounding centuries he's had. The last 20 years
32:00have been one of the best runs of his career. He took a gigantic creative leap in 2005, making an
32:06album with Nigel Godrich. They did not hit it off on a personal level, because Nigel's very contentious,
32:12very argumentative. And suffice to say, he's never been invited back to do anything else
32:17with Paul ever again.
32:18He was not invited to Egypt Station.
32:18And yet, yes, he got these songs out of him. And Fine Line is on this list. Just a phenomenal
32:24top-tier Paul McCartney song. And it really turned a corner for him. Paul has not made a
32:29weak album since this. And he is still doing these amazing shows, still making these amazing
32:36albums at a prolific rate. His album this year is one of the best since The Beatles.
32:41And it's just astounding that Paul McCartney can keep that level of inspiration going when
32:46he has every incentive to coast. And that, I think, says a lot about all the classic rock
32:51veterans on this list, that they all had the opportunity to coast, and they all chose not
32:55to.
32:56We've mentioned a lot of bands here that have multiple entries, but I do want to take a
32:59moment to talk about these one-hit wonders that we had to include. We have, at 72, Teenage
33:06Dirtbag by Weedis.
33:07Because I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby.
33:12Shout out John Bernstein, the resident Weedis fan on staff. We obviously had to include this
33:18one. Teenage Dirtbag. I'm a little biased because even as a child, it was a big deal.
33:24But I know that it's grown into this cult one-hit wonder status.
33:28I understand why we put Teenage Dirtbag on the list. But I'm going to say, I don't like
33:33that song.
33:34Why?
33:34I think it's corny.
33:37Again, I'm biased because it was a really fun CD my sister had, and we would call it the
33:43Noel song. That's what we called it, because that was her name. But it wasn't until I got
33:47to Rolling Stone that I realized I was revered as it is, and I wasn't alone in that.
33:51At number 111, we have The Darkness, I Believe in a Thing Called Love.
33:59No other darkness song. Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet at 152. I will say this is my
34:05teenage
34:06dirtbag on this list where I do not care for this song. It drives me nuts.
34:09Early 2000s had this explosion of bands in a mod style that were guitar bands that were
34:16designed for drunk girls to dance to, which was such a mind-blowingly avant-garde
34:20concept at the time. This was, as Brian pointed out earlier about this era, this is the era
34:25of new metal, Woodstock 99, doing it all for the nookie, for the nookie. This was a totally
34:32different approach where it was about people not elbowing each other in a crowded bar, but
34:38actually dancing at 3 a.m., dancing on tables, dancing on bars. And there was this explosion
34:45of bands that paid attention to this imperative. As Kanye West brilliantly called Franz Ferdinand,
34:52it was white crunk music, but that applies to a lot of this stuff, and it was just a fantastic
34:57time to be a rock fan. We've got The Rapture on this list with House of Jealous Lovers, unbelievably
35:05influential indie single on DFA from 2002. We have LCD Sound System on this list, one of the most
35:13influential bands in rock to this day. Harry Styles being a great example. His latest album is
35:19his response to seeing LCD Sound System live. They could have had so many songs on this list,
35:26a band who just had so many bangers that were designed to rock and were designed to work on
35:32the dance floor. I also really love that during Harry's shows, he plays Daft Punk is playing
35:37at my house in his live audience. A song with such an amazing afterlife. And that is definitely a weird
35:43moment of it to be in an arena full of people who are rocking out. People who are not even
35:49born when
35:50James Murphy was complaining about the kids coming up from behind. Like these are the kids coming up
35:56from behind the kids who are coming up from behind. It's just a beautiful moment. We have the Walkman,
36:01who Brian mentioned. We have Interpol. What a phenomenal band. They couldn't have happened
36:10any other era. This is a band that in many ways, a guitar band version of the Pet Shop Boys.
36:16Very
36:17ironic, very clever, very emotional, very melodic, absolutely ridiculous lyrics in the most awesome
36:24way. Again, very danceable. What I was thinking as you were talking about the dance rock of the early
36:292000s is it only emphasizes how this list really does contain multitudes and it shows how versatile
36:36and huge a genre rock is and was in this century. Like there's songs to cry to, there's songs to
36:42dance
36:42to. However much people may argue about this list, it may also remind them the extent to which this
36:48genre is sort of semi-secretly, totally thriving in the 21st century. Well, I could talk to you guys
36:53for hours about this. I know that's true. Everyone, please be nice to us. Thank you so much,
36:58Brian Hyatt and Rob Sheffield for being here. Check out the full list on rollingstone.com
37:03and I will see you guys next time in the Rolling Stone studio.