The Ultimate Rock Collection

Rock ‘n roll is arguably the defining music genre of the last 50 years.

Since its early beginnings, it has gone through many changes, splintering into different sub-genres, including good ol’ rock music, which at its core was all about attitude, and about sticking it to The Man.

In this collection or rock anthems of the '60s, '70s and early '80s, one could argue until the end of time about whether the songs represented here truly deserve the "ultimate" in the album’s title, but one thing is clear: the attitude and musical middle-finger spoken about above, is evident throughout.

How else when the likes of Alice Cooper's 'School’s Out', Thin Lizzy's 'Boys are Back in Town' and Steppenwolf’s 'Born to be Wild' made the cut?

And among these supreme attitude songs you’ll also find the coolest of cool (ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’), the swinger of knees and hips (The Knack’s ‘My Sherona’), and the throwing your head back and hollerin’ at the top of your lungs with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’.

If the roots of rock music pumps through your veins, you won’t need to go out and get this album, because chances are, you’ll already have it.

The Ultimate Rock Collection – The Next Generation (Revised Version)
Gideon Nieuwoudt

If you discovered the roots of rock music as portrayed on ‘The Ultimate Rock Collection’ album, you’ll probably want to invest some scrutiny of its “follow-up”, ‘The Ultimate Rock Collection – The Next Generation’.

Fitting nicely in between good old rock music and the advent of grunge and hard rock, the songs selected for ‘The Next Generation’ resembles a nice portrayal of some of the best bands to star during this era, although the songs themselves might not always have been the bands’ best.

However, with Bryan Adams’ ever-popular-at-sokkies ‘Summer of ‘69’, Europe’s stadium anthem ‘The Final Countdown’, and one of the definitive movie soundtrack songs, Huey Lewis & the News’ ‘The Power of Love’, you probably won’t care.

Other top sellers and crowd pleasers include Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’, dodgy-dude-with-the-painted-face Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’, Gorky Park’s ‘Bang’ (classic '80s music fare), and the quintessential depressing song, ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ by Yes.

The scene is nicely set for ‘The Previous Generation’ (think Nirvana, Oasis, and Rage Against the Machine) and ‘The Current Generation’ (some Muse and Snow Patrol would be nice).

Bring it on, thank you very much.