Hello OperatorThe White Stripes
Hello Operator
2000 · From De Stijl
Jack White turned a children's clapping rhyme into a complaint about the phone company, cut in his own living room.
★ 4.3
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
KicksPaul Revere & the Raiders
Kicks
1966
Mann and Weil wrote it about Gerry Goffin's drug problems, by Mann's account; the Raiders took it to number four.
★ 5.2
Are You Gonna Be My Girl
2003
A cough left in from the demo, a Motown-derived stomp, and a riff everyone insisted they had heard before.
★ 5.4
Someday
2002 · From Is This It
Moretti woke to hear Casablancas inventing the melody in the bathroom, and it became the warmest song on Is This It.
★ 5.5
12:51
2003 · From Room on Fire
Guitars pushed to sound like synthesizers, and a Roman Coppola video that borrows its neon from Tron.
★ 5.7
1969The Stooges
1969
1969 · From The Stooges
The album's opening shot, cut with Cale at the Hit Factory, and Iggy making boredom sound like a threat.
★ 6.0
Hard to Explain
2001 · From Is This It
Four feet of air between hi-hat and snare mic, and a drum machine sketch reborn as live New York rock.
★ 6.2
Crimson and Clover
1968
Five hours on brand-new sixteen-track, with a vocal fed through an Ampeg amp's tremolo for that shimmering close.
★ 6.3
You're Gonna Miss Me
1966
Erickson wrote this kiss-off at fifteen, and Tommy Hall's electric jug gave Texas garage rock its strangest sound.
★ 6.4
All Day and All of the NightThe Kinks
All Day and All of the Night
1964
Ray Davies's publisher wanted to sue the Doors over the riff; Davies declined, and the snarl outlived the argument.
★ 7.4
Wild Thing (The Troggs)
1966
Ten minutes at the end of somebody else's session, and an ocarina solo standing in for a hand whistle.
★ 7.5
The PassengerIggy Pop
The Passenger
1977
Gardiner found the riff wandering under apple blossom, and Bowie sings behind Iggy at Hansa by the Wall.
★ 7.5
96 Tears
1966
A Vox Continental organ, a Michigan basement studio, a tiny local label, and somehow the number one record in America.
★ 7.5
Search and DestroyThe Stooges
Search and Destroy
1973 · From Raw Power
Pop lifted the title from a Time column on Vietnam, and Bowie's mix made Williamson's guitar a threat.
★ 7.6
I'm Waiting for the ManThe Velvet Underground
I'm Waiting for the Man
1967 · From The Velvet Underground & Nico
Recorded in Hollywood with Cale on piano, the rhythm pushing like a subway train under Reed's flat delivery.
★ 7.7
I Wanna Be Your DogThe Stooges
I Wanna Be Your Dog
1969 · From The Stooges
Three chords, sleigh bells, and Cale leaning on a single piano note throughout. Punk starts here.
★ 7.7
Last Nite
2001 · From Is This It
Built on the bones of Tom Petty's American Girl, which Petty confirmed without complaint, and recorded in Gordon Raphael's basement.
★ 7.7
You Really Got MeThe Kinks
You Really Got Me
1964 · From Kinks
Dave Davies took a razor blade to his little Elpico amp's speaker cone, and distortion arrived on British radio.
★ 8.3
Seven Nation Army
2003 · From Elephant
A guitar pitched down to fake a bass, and the seven-note riff every stadium on earth now sings.
★ 9.1