Purple Haze
1967
The intro is a tritone, medieval music's forbidden interval, and Roger Mayer's new Octavia pedal makes the solo scream.
★ 8.9
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.
Comfortably Numb
1979 · From The Wall
A tranquilizer shot before a 1977 Philadelphia show gave Waters the lyric; Gilmour brought the chords and the solo.
★ 8.9
Gin & JuiceSnoop Dogg
Gin & Juice
1993 · From Doggystyle
Dr. Dre produced it, George McCrae supplied the sample, and Snoop's unhurried drawl became the West Coast blueprint.
★ 7.8
M.A.A.D City
2012 · From good kid, m.A.A.d city
Sounwave and THC build the first half, Terrace Martin the second, and MC Eiht walks in from Compton's own past.
★ 7.7
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
Eight Miles High
1966 · From Fifth Dimension
Columbia rejected the RCA session on a technicality, so McGuinn recut his Coltrane-inspired twelve-string and radio banned it anyway.
★ 7.6
White Rabbit
1967 · From Surrealistic Pillow
Slick borrowed the one long crescendo from Bolero and Lewis Carroll's cast, then rode both to number eight.
★ 7.6
The Next Episode
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
1999 · From 2001
Dre and Mel-Man built it on a David McCallum orchestral cut from 1967, arranged by Axelrod, and Nate Dogg closes.
★ 7.6
Minnie the Moocher
1931
Calloway forgot the words on a Cotton Club broadcast, by his account, and the hi-de-ho call and response was born.
★ 7.6
Day 'n' Nite
2008
Cut in Dot da Genius's home studio in East New York, using a Geto Boys favorite as its blueprint.
★ 7.0
Brown Sugar
1995 · From Brown Sugar
Every instrument on it is D'Angelo's, cut at Battery Studios, and the groove barely bothers to move.
★ 6.8
Blister in the Sun
1983
Busking outside a Milwaukee theatre got them discovered by the Pretenders, and Gano's riff has been filling dancefloors ever since.
★ 6.8
Mary Jane's Last Dance
1993 · From Greatest Hits
Originally called Indiana Girl, until Petty decided he couldn't sing that line; Stan Lynch's last sessions with the Heartbreakers.
★ 6.7
Break on Through (To the Other Side)The Doors
Break on Through (To the Other Side)
1967 · From The Doors
Densmore's bossa nova drum feel, Krieger's riff borrowed from a Butterfield blues cover, and a refrain their producer censored.
★ 6.3
I Got 5 On It
1995
A Club Nouveau hook, Michael Marshall on the chorus, and a Bay Area anthem Jordan Peele later made sinister.
★ 6.2
A.D.H.D
2011 · From Section.80
Sounwave's woozy loop, Ab-Soul in the margins, and Lamar naming a generation's numbness on his debut album.
★ 5.5
Mama Told Me Not to ComeThree Dog Night
Mama Told Me Not to Come
1970
Newman wrote it for Eric Burdon in 1966, and Cory Wells sings the bewildered party guest straight to number one.
★ 5.4
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
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
1977
Jankel lifted the bass figure from Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'"; the BBC banned the single, and Peel played it anyway.
★ 5.1
We Can't Stop
2013
Written for Rihanna, passed to Mike Will Made It, and the la-di-da-di hook earned Slick Rick a songwriting credit.
★ 4.3