Nice. I chose “Live With Me” (also from Let It Bleed) for much the same reasons. (I also considered “Bitch,” from Sticky Fingers – even though I don’t really like that song.)
Stones: “Let it Bleed”
Queen: “Seven Seas of Rhye”
The Who: “The Seeker”
Beatles: “Penny Lane”
Stones - Start Me Up
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody, which is nearly operatic in nature
The Who - Won’t Get Fooled Again
The Beatles - Blackbird, if for nothing else than the guitar work
Stones: Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Queen: Somebody to Love
The Who: See Me, Feel Me (Live at Woodstock – far superior to the studio version)
Beatles: Hard Day’s Night. (It’s against the rules, but they really should be split into a Beatlemania Era / Psychedelic Era.)
I think an interesting piggyback/follow up question might be “Best single song by another band that most sounds like The Stones, Queen, The Who and The Beatles”.
You read my mind. As a joke, I considered putting “Lies” by The Knickerbockers as the song most representative of The Beatles.
Oh, “Live With Me”, also a good choice. “Bitch” I don’t remember, but I listened to Sticky Fingers much less.
Okay, now The Who. For background, I owned all their albums in high school and college, went to their shows, and had that Maximum R&B shirt in the 70s. I was enough known as “that Who nut” that a girl I had an (unrequited) crush on once said to me, “I thought of you over the summer when I heard the Who had a new album.” Ah, Edie.
So, what am I looking for?
- Keith Moon destroying the drums
- Power chords!
- Roger Daltrey bellowing
- Synthesizers? Hmmm…yes.
For me it’s down to “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” but what Baba O’Riley has in its favor is that quasi-bridge/chorus that Townshend loves where he sings something in his reedy near-falsetto while the song slows a bit, and then it explodes. In my mind that puts Baba O’Riley ahead.
Neither of those are my favorite songs. Maybe 5:15 or Love Reign O’er Me, but both of those have somewhat atypical strings/horns. And quite a few songs off Live at Leeds, but as Entwistle pointed out, it’s one of the few times they actually let you hear his bass the way it sounds live (which is one of the biggest things in its favor), so representative of the life band at least, but not with what most are familiar with.
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
The Who - Baba O’Riley
The Beatles - A Day In The Life
Those were my picks, except for the Beatles I chose Sgt. Pepper’s.
It’s Only Rock & Roll would have been another good one for the Stones.
The Rolling Stones - “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
Queen - “Keep Yourself Alive”
The Who - “My Generation”
The Beatles - “Day Tripper”
The Rolling Stones: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Queen: Somebody to Love
The Who: Baba O’Reilly
The Beatles: Hey Jude
I see a lot of good picks for the Rolling Stones in this thread, but I’m struggling a little bit with “Gimme Shelter” as representative, which is funny because it’s maybe my favorite song of theirs, definitely top three. Not only does it have that spooky, brilliant tremolo guitar intro, but it’s got Merry Clayton’s (almost Dark-Side-of-the-Moon-like) vocals soaring all over the song. To me at least it’s not like many of their songs, which is maybe one of the reasons I like it so much.
Queen - either Killer Queen or Radio GaGa
Rolling Stones - not my fav band, but I really love Gimme Shelter
Beatles - I’ll Follow the Sun (sentimental fav from my childhood)
The Who - don’t have a favorite
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
Queen - The Prophet’s Song
The Who - Love Reign O’er Me
The Beatles - All You Need Is Love
These aren’t the “#1 with a bullet” songs - they’re multifaceted songs that I believe show the range of the artists.
Didn’t Eric Clapton play the guitar solo in that song?
Yes. George invited him because he knew the other Beatles would be on their best behavior with him present; George felt they often gave his stuff short shrift.
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
The Who - Baba O’Riley
Beatles - Day Tripper
The Beatles were of course the hardest. There really is no good single-song representation of their work, they covered so much ground. I went with a song that’s in that transitional period where they’re leaving behind the pop songs about girls and moving on to broader fields, but they aren’t there yet.
The Who: I was torn between “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Tough choice.
The other two were easy for me. “Satisfaction” is of course one of the best rock n’ roll songs ever, and it’s always epitomized the Stones for me. And Queen - well, ever since “Wayne’s World,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” has all but overwhelmed the rest of their catalog.
Reminder that the goal is to pick the most representative song, not your favorite.
Ack, by the time I read through the thread I’d forgotten how it started!
I’d have gone with something by The Rutles, but good choice. One of the most Beatleish non-Beatles songs ever.
Blue Suede Shubert?