# What's your "perfect" rock song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466 "2010-09-03T04:53:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/101 "2010-09-07T05:44:05Z")
Dude, you’re never too old. Hey, that’s a good one to add-- **Jethro Tull** , Aqualung. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/102 "2010-09-07T05:58:29Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > On edit, you’re probably right about _Heart of Glass_, but it’s damn GOOD disco, and there aren’t many songs I would say that about Check out **Cake** ’s version of [I Will Survive](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VOMDAgWbOA), then. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/103 "2010-09-07T06:12:46Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > Dude, you’re never too old. > > Hey, that’s a good one to add-- **Jethro Tull** , Aqualung. The unifying theme of this thread could well be _Living in the Past_ - **Jethro Tull**. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/104 "2010-09-07T06:16:00Z")
…and the one that reminded me of Tull to begin with-- _Too Old to Rock 'n Roll, Too Young to Die._, but I was nice, and didn’t go there. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/105 "2010-09-07T06:24:32Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > > [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > > > Dude, you’re never too old. > > > > Hey, that’s a good one to add-- **Jethro Tull** , Aqualung. > > The unifying theme of this thread could well be _Living in the Past_ - **Jethro Tull**. I thought of Cross Eyed Mary, but I ultimately decided that Tull’s music was just a little too… individualistic, to be classic rock exemplars. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/106 "2010-09-07T12:21:27Z")
It’s not the only one of course, but Buddy Holly’s _Not Fade Away_ is a “perfect”, basic black rock n’ roll song. ---
**Author:** ![Rodney\_of\_Texas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cab0a1/32.png) [@Rodney\_of\_Texas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodney_of_Texas)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/107 "2010-09-08T00:26:08Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > > [@tdn](#): > > > > Holy crap, you’re right. > > And _that_ is just one of many reasons that, to me, _Louie, Louie_ is the perfect rock and roll song. It’s simple, it’s catchy, it’s about sex and hardship, and it’s been copied hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times over, and every copy (both covers and stuff like the Troggs song) are almost always nearly-perfect themselves. > > It’s 3 chords, no waiting, no slow parts, no whining. BAM! POW! > > That’s rock ‘n’ roll. Agreed. How can any song be considered the perfect rock song unless it has a history of being banned. Todd Snider reinforces my view with The Ballad of the Kingsmen: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVaJoNxyS8&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVaJoNxyS8&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Saganist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Saganist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saganist)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/108 "2010-09-08T02:43:16Z")
I don’t know how you can get more perfect rock n’ roll than early AC / DC. Specifically, [Let There Be Rock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98I85ceICRM) and [Whole Lotta Rosie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8iKgIOwV2c). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/109 "2010-09-08T12:15:42Z")
> [@iophobon](#): > > I don’t know how you can get more perfect rock n’ roll than early AC / DC. Specifically, [Let There Be Rock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98I85ceICRM) and [Whole Lotta Rosie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8iKgIOwV2c). Speaking of which, the most perfect rock song in the past 30 years has to be “All Lit Up” by Buckcherry. (If by “rock” you mean “classic rock and/or rock n roll,” as opposed to simply “rock n roll” as posited by some posters.) ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466/110 "2010-09-08T15:38:29Z")
[Keep on Rocking in the Free World](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDzL_WU3mmE) by Neil Young (backed up by Pearl Jam) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-perfect-rock-song/552466.md?page=5)