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Watched VH1's "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" this week. I must say they had a VERY liberal interpretation of what constitutes hard rock! Still, they did manage to include some of the essentials.

Here are the songs they listed that I happen to like. I'll use a wide interpretation of hard rock too. In parentheses, I've included songs that I thought were just as good or better by that artist:

Sammy Hagar - "I Can't Drive 55"
Buckcherry - "Lit Up"
The Edgar Winter Group - "Frankenstein"
Creed - "Higher"
Autograph - "Turn Up the Radio"
Smashing Pumpkins - "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
Andrew W.K. - "Party Hard"
Alice in Chains - "Would?"
Marilyn Manson - "Beautiful People"
Velvet Revolver - "Slither"
Evanescence - "Bring Me to Life" ("Going Under")
Black Sabbath - "Heaven and Hell"
Billy Idol - "Rebel Yell"
Soundgarden - "Black Hole Sun" ("The Day I Tried to Live")
Lita Ford - "Kiss Me Deadly"
The White Stripes - "Seven Nation Army" ("Fell in Love with a Girl")
The Cult - "Love Removal Machine"
Pat Benatar - "Heartbreaker"
Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song" ("Been Caught Stealing")
Living Colour - "Cult of Personality"
White Zombie - "More Human Than Human"
Ratt - "Round and Round"
Billy Squier - "The Stroke"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Interstate Love Song" ("Vasoline")
The Kinks - "You Really Got Me"
Warrant - "Cherry Pie"
Blue Oyster Cult - "Don't Fear the Reaper" ("Godzilla")
Faith No More - "Epic"
Steppenwolf - "Born to Be Wild"
The Runaways - "Cherry Bomb"
Megadeth - "Peace Sells"
ZZ Top - "Tush"
MC5 - "Kick Out the Jams"
Rollins Band - "Liar"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away"
Iggy Pop and the Stooges - "Search and Destroy"
Korn - "Freak on a Leash"
Kid Rock - "Bawitdaba"
Dokken - "Breakin' the Chains"
Anthrax - "Mad House"
Cream - "Sunshine of Your Love"
Dio - "Holy Diver"
The Clash - "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
Quiet Riot - "Cum on Feel the Noize"
Poison - "Talk Dirty to Me"
Boston - "More Than a Feeling" ("Don't Look Back")
Queen - "Stone Cold Crazy"
The Who - "My Generation"
Van Halen - "Hot for Teacher" ("And the Cradle Will Rock")
Alice Cooper - "School's Out"
Heart - "Barracuda"
Green Day - "Basket Case"
Ted Nugent - "Cat Scratch Fever"
AC/DC - "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
Pearl Jam - "Evenflow"
Joan Jett - "Bad Reputation"
Foo Fighters - "Everlong" ("All My Life")
Whitesnake - "Still of the Night"
The Ramones - "Blitzkrieg Bop"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
Jimi Hendrix - "Hey Joe" ("Purple Haze", "Foxy Lady")
Led Zeppelin - "Kashmir" ("Black Dog", "Rock and Roll")
Rush - "Tom Sawyer" ("Working Man", "2112", "The Spirit of Radio")
Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
Twisted Sister - "I Wanna Rock"
Kiss - "Rock and Roll All Night"
Motley Crue - "Dr. Feelgood" ("Looks That Kill")
Iron Maiden - "Run to the Hills"
Def Leppard - "Photograph" ("Rock of Ages")
Judas Priest - "Breakin' the Law" ("You Got Another Thing Coming")
Deep Purple - "Smoke on the Water"
Motorhead - "Ace of Spades"
Van Halen - "Runnin' with the Devil"
Aerosmith - "Walk This Way"
Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
The Who - "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Metallica - "Enter Sandman" ("One", "Seek and Destroy", "Master of Puppets")
Black Sabbath - "Paranoid" ("Iron Man")
Led Zeppelin - "Whole Lotta Love"
AC/DC - "Back in Black"
Guns N' Roses - "Welcome to the Jungle"

In the "WTF" category are the following. Even if I try to think like a typical VH1 viewer, I still can't see how these songs belong here:

Journey - "Any Way You Want It" (SERIOUSLY??)
Europe - "The Final Countdown" (Anything constantly performed by high school marching bands is NOT hard rock)
Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger" (All I can think of when I hear this is doing aerobics in my leotard and purple leg warmers)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Freebird" (Sorry....even though this is classic rock, I don't see it as hard rock)
Bon Jovi - "You Give Love a Bad Name" (Ok, I like this song, but no way would I put it at #20 like VH1 did. #99, maybe)

And although this is probably frivolous, here are a few songs I wouldn't have minded seeing on the list:

Disturbed - "Down with the Sickness"
Nine Inch Nails - "Head Like a Hole"
Blur - "Song 2"
Hole - "Celebrity Skin"
Rammstein - "Du Hast"
Cheap Trick - "Dream Police"
System of a Down - "B.Y.O.B." or "Chop Suey!"
Veruca Salt - "Seether"

Finally, choosing from VH1's list, my top 10 picks:

10. Heart - "Barracuda"
9. Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
8. Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
7. Guns N' Roses - "Welcome to the Jungle"
6. AC/DC - "Back in Black"
5. Aerosmith - "Walk This Way"
4. Van Halen - "Runnin' with the Devil"
3. Led Zeppelin - "Whole Lotta Love"
2. The Kinks - "You Really Got Me"
1. The Who - "My Generation"