Rolling Stone released their “200 Greatest Rocks Songs of the 21st Century (So Far)” list, and as you might imagine, it’s started some discourse and discussion.
Before we get too far, I’ve got to make it very clear that their list reflects their opinion, and the “rock songs” they chose actually ranges from pop to hip-hop as well. I was interested to see if the outlet gave country music any love, so I scrolled through the long list and was pleasantly surprised to see that some country acts that often push to the boundary of rock did make the list.
But for the most part, Rolling Stone largely ignored country and southern rock in favor of hip hop and pop acts.
As to how Rolling Stone came up with the 2o0 greatest rock songs from the year 2001 and on (so far), they mentioned that “rock & roll keeps moving too fast to get pinned down” and clarified that their list is a “a wide-ranging mix of different rock styles, different generations, different voices.”
They also mostly avoided repeating multiple tunes by the same performer, and while there are some exceptions to that repeat rule, most bands and artists only showed up once. And here are the songs they included that fall into the country music category and where they ranked on Rolling Stone’s rocking list:
175: Red Clay Strays – “Wondering Why”
167: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – “Cumberland Gap”
163: Sturgill Simpson – “Call To Arms”
112: Brandi Carlile – “The Story”
73: Tyler Childers – “Eatin’ Big Time”
33: Taylor Swift – “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)”
That’s all the country songs that showed up (yes, I know calling Taylor Swift “country” is a bit of a stretch), and only two cracked the Top 100. Is Eatin’ Big Time
Noticeably absent are some of the great country and southern rock bands that have emerged in the 21st century. Texas and Red Dirt rockers like Whiskey Myers or even Cross Canadian Ragweed would have liked a word, and undoubtedly deserved to be included on this list of the “200 Greatest Rock Songs of the 21st Century.” No Blackberry Smoke… one of the premiere southern rock bands of the era.
The Texas scene has arguably been producing some of the best rock music for the past two decades, and yet there’s not much love given to them, because what? It’s classified as country music? Think about artists like Koe Wetzel, Treaty Oak Revival, Pecos and the Rooftops, Read Southall, Dylan Wheeler, Kody West, Kolby Cooper, Austin Meade, Giovannie and the Hired Guns… I’m not saying all of them should be on the list, but the Texas scene is producing some great country-adjacent rock and roll lately. You’ve even got some country-rock groups coming up right now like Dexter & The Moonrocks, Fox N’ Vead, and Cigarettes @ Sunset.
Thankfully, names like Sturgill Simpson and The Red Clay Strays appeared on the list, albeit very high up. But it was a bit strange to see Tyler Childers on the list… at least for the song that Rolling Stone chose. And at 73? It was also a bit confusing to include a country artist like Childers, but then omit names like Eric Church (“The Outsiders” could have easily made the list) or Chris Stapleton (“White Horse” anyone?).
There were plenty of confusing selections on the list, and none more than what they did with Paramore and Olivia Rodrigo. Paramore peaked at 12 with “That’s What You Get,” but then the Olivia Rodrigo song that was an interpolation of Paramore’s “Misery Businesss” – “Good 4 U” ranked 4th on the list. Make that make sense to me… I’ll wait. You also see a number of straight up rap songs from Outkast and Jay-Z that… feature guitars? I guess that’s all it takes to make rock music.
At least country music did get some love in the list, but if you ask me, the genre could have gotten a whole lot more. And in case you were wondering what Rolling Stone deemed as the Top 10 of the 200 Best Rock Songs of the 21st Century (and wanted to save some time scrolling), here you go:
Top 10 Rock Songs of the 21st Century (So Far)
10) “Impossible Germany” by Wilco
9) “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” by Arctic Monkeys
8) “99 Problems” by Jay-Z
7) “Last Nite” by The Strokes
6) “I Know The End” by Phoebe Bridgers
5) “The National Anthem” by Radiohead
4) “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo
3) “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers
2) “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes
1) “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs