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The 16 Most Overrated Rock Songs of All Time

By YPB Team

Great songs played so often they stopped being heard: Stairway to Heaven, Hotel California, Bohemian Rhapsody, Wonderwall and the rest of the radio's permanent rotation.

  1. Stairway to Heaven — ranked #11
    Stairway to Heaven
    Eight minutes that guitar shops famously banned, and the song most often named when people say a classic has been played into the ground.
    1000pts
  2. Imagine — ranked #22
    Imagine
    Lennon's hymn, quoted at every occasion until the words stopped registering.
    691pts
  3. Hotel California — ranked #33
    Hotel California
    The Eagles' checkout-desk allegory, inescapable on classic rock radio for fifty years.
    639pts
  4. American Pie — ranked #44
    American Pie
    Eight and a half minutes of coded references people have been decoding for fifty years.
    579pts
  5. Satisfaction — ranked #55
    Satisfaction
    The Rolling Stones' fuzz riff, a genuine turning point that has been used as shorthand ever since.
    571pts
  6. Free Bird — ranked #66
    Free Bird
    Lynyrd Skynyrd's nine-minute finale, now mostly a heckle shouted at other bands.
    511pts
  7. Smells Like Teen Spirit — ranked #77
    Smells Like Teen Spirit
    Nirvana's breakthrough, which Cobain grew to resent playing.
    511pts
  8. November Rain — ranked #88
    November Rain
    Nine minutes, an orchestra and a video in a church — ambition that not everyone thinks landed.
    443pts
  9. Sweet Child o' Mine — ranked #99
    Sweet Child o' Mine
    A warm-up exercise Slash was playing as a joke, now the band's signature.
    443pts
  10. Wonderwall — ranked #1010
    Wonderwall
    Oasis's acoustic staple and the reason some pubs ban guitars.
    443pts
  11. Born to Run — ranked #1111
    Born to Run
    Springsteen's wall-of-sound single, carrying more critical weight than any three minutes can.
    443pts
  12. Layla — ranked #1212
    Layla
    Clapton's seven-minute plea, with a piano coda longer than most singles.
    443pts
  13. Bohemian Rhapsody — ranked #1313
    Bohemian Rhapsody
    Queen's six-minute suite, revived by a film and karaoke until the seams show.
    443pts
  14. Smoke on the Water — ranked #1414
    Smoke on the Water
    Four notes that every beginner learns first, which is exactly the complaint.
    365pts
  15. Losing My Religion — ranked #1515
    Losing My Religion
    R.E.M.'s mandolin hit, the band's biggest song and rarely their fans' favourite.
    0pts
  16. Don't Stop Believin' — ranked #1616
    Don't Stop Believin'
    Journey's bar anthem, resurrected by a TV finale and never allowed to rest since.
    0pts

#music834#rock209#overrated5#classic rock2

Comments

Stairway to Heaven was never sold as a single in Britain or America, and still became the song guitar shops put up signs about: https://youpick.best/articles/led-zeppelin-ranked-many-ways

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