Rockingest songs EVAR

auspeople wants people to nominate what they think are the five Rockingest Songs Evar.

Here were her nominations, and her definition:

* One of either Unchained or Panama (Van Halen)
* Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
* Foreplay/Long Time (Boston)
* Young Lust (Pink Floyd)
* Closer (Nine Inch Nails)


I'll admit my perspective is colored by growing up squarely in the 80s. Somehow, in order to rock, the song must have:

* Good solid driving beat
* Unobtrusive or otherwise contributory keyboards
* Guitars, often playing some sort of solo
* Appropriately tenored vocals, usually shouted


It must also, of course, sound best when cranked.

Here's another person's definition of "rockin'," hwrnmnbsol's:

My definition of a 'rocking song' is somewhat parallel to yours but uses a different metric. For me, a song can be said to 'rock' if you can imagine yourself and several buddies, back when you were in your mid-to-late teens, drinking beer in the back of a pickup truck with a boombox cranked, and this song comes on, and you are spontaneously compelled to throw the goat with both hands and and bang your shaggy head to the beat. As an exclamation point, it would be best if when the song ends, you can realistically imagine this younger-you shouting "That RAWKED!"

auspeople also wanted to hear particularly about goth/ska/New Wave songs that Rawked, because she couldn't think of any.

So, with that, my first nomination is

This Corrosion, by the Sisters of Mercy.

hwrnmnbsol contends that anything touched by Jim Steinman can't RAWK and is irredeemably weenie. I submit that this song proves otherwise.

Ska songs just don't fit for this, sadly. There are many that I love, and plenty that I'll crank if I hear them, but "skank"!="rawk."

And New Wave is pretty much the antithesis of this. If anyone wants to give me a counter-example, I stand ready.

So my other nominees are:

Won't Get Fooled Again, the Who

Black Dog, Led Zeppelin (there are about a thousand Zeppelin songs that work)

Mother, Danzig

and, because we need to have a NEW example:

House of Wolves, My Chemical Romance. Off the new Black Parade album. That link leads to a streaming version of the album, btw, and if you have not listened yet, GO DO IT. Even if you don't think you like My Chemical Romance. It's a brilliant and powerful album and I'm thinking it joins the pantheon with "A Night At The Opera" and "Abbey Road" and "The Wall." Seriously. Go listen.

I could probabably think of plenty of rocking songs, but those came off the top of my head.