@Ashley Rogers

The initial furnace blast of mid-’70s punk in the U.S. and U.K. wasn’t all sonic chaos. Rabble-rousing bands Buzzcocks and Ramones cherry-picked popular music elements they loved—sticky melodies, lovely harmonies, buoyant tempos—and created pop-punk. The genre’s angsty, heartbroken lyrics would in time become a beacon for the bored teenagers who congregated in all-ages concert spaces, including 924 Gilman in Berkeley, California, to see bands such as Green Day. However, pop-punk’s pogoing rhythms and irresistible hooks also resonated with grown-up audiences: blink-182 hit big in the ’90s, and a mid-2000s mainstream wave swept up bleeding-heart romantics Fall Out Boy and Paramore, whose success would continue throughout the 2010s. Yet what’s most remarkable about contemporary pop-punk bands is how much they have in common with the early ones: As it turns out, buzzsawing riffs paired with insecurity-riddled sentiments are timeless.

Rock ’n’ roll may have been born in the ’50s, but it was in the ’60s that it reached its zenith as the voice of youth culture. After all, the decade produced many of the music’s most iconic artists, beginning with The Beatles, who along with the rest of the British Invasion (The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks) delivered refreshingly new sounds to a United States reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet rock in the ’60s wasn’t solely a pick-me-up; it also reflected the turmoil of a generation questioning war, racism, even consciousness itself. Bob Dylan, serving as a bridge between topical folk music and snarling rock ’n’ roll, delivered a string of fiery protest anthems; Jimi Hendrix unleashed a mind-bending soundtrack for hippies exploring psychedelia; and, at decade’s end, Led Zeppelin invented heavy metal with a crushing, blues-informed style as loud as bombs.

In 2005, the actor/screenwriter J.D. Ryznar wrote, directed, and produced a TV series for the Los Angeles short-film festival Channel 101 called Yacht Rock. The idea was to tell comically overblown backstories about the creation of a strain of ultra-smooth music from the late ’70s and early ’80s. Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins—to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s 1964 description of obscenity, you know it when you hear it. As entertainingly corny as some of the tracks here are, they also represent some of the era’s more serious songwriting efforts, exploring themes of longing and regret with a muted tension not even the slickest production could fully smooth over—a sense of contrast and depth the music doesn’t always get due credit for. Interestingly, as mainstream as these tracks were, their richest second life came in the form of 2010s electronic subgenres like vaporwave, which took the soft-focus quality of the music to surreal extremes. For now, though, lock in, settle down, and surrender to the breeze.

Memes don’t lie: Hair really was that big in the ’80s. And so was the rock. Dive into the decade’s classic tunes, and you’ll find yourself lost in an ocean of soaring choruses, in-your-face production values, humongous drums, and epic synthesizers. Just about every A-lister—Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Journey, Guns N’ Roses, U2, you name it—conquered the charts and MTV with larger-than-life anthems. But it wasn’t just size that mattered; in contrast to the earthy introspection that dominated the ’70s, the ’80s were all about fun. Joan Jett raised her fists to rock ’n’ roll, while heartland icon John Mellencamp howled about sucking down chili dogs. Even R.E.M., the toast of the college-rock scene at the time, were having a blast proclaiming the end of the world. Of course, the world didn’t end, and the ’80s gave way to the much more angsty ’90s, but not before leaving behind some of rock’s most colorful and energetic jams.

After a decade of hair bands singing about wild times and fast living, hard rock in the ’90s turned darker, heavier and meaner. This can be credited to the commercial success of a wave of bands emerging from outside the mainstream. Metallica’s bulldozing arena anthems reflect their thrash-metal roots, Nirvana’s grunge revolution delivered the angst of underground rock to MTV, Rage Against the Machine’s politically charged attacks reflected their days in the hardcore scene and Tool’s harsh nihilism grew out of the fringes of alt-metal. Outside of Guns N’ Roses, who managed to score some awfully big hits early in the decade, few veteran pop-metal acts survived these seismic shifts. It wouldn’t be until the tail end of the ’90s that a brash young MC from Detroit calling himself Kid Rock would help revive high-volume party music with his infectious mix of swaggering rock riffs and megaton hip-hop beats.

A good cover not only tells you something about its source material—it’s also strong enough to stand on its own. Maybe you know the originals here, maybe not—that’s not the point. The point is to tap into a tradition of metal, punk, and hard-rock bands joyfully ripping through other people’s songs that conjure the garages, basements, and holes-in-the-wall where rock was born. Because, really, what wouldn’t sound better faster and louder? Our editors swap out these picks regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Rock anthems were forged in the furnace of Aussie pubs in the '70s and '80s, born of sweat, beer, and rowdy audiences. AC/DC triumphed with brute force and larrikin showmanship, melding Angus Young's blistering riffs with Bon Scott's snaggle-toothed snarl. Cold Chisel and Midnight Oil were no less incendiary, the former marrying eloquent songwriting to Jimmy Barnes' lethal howl, while the latter had both a political outlook and a mammoth rock attack. This was a broad church with big hooks—witness the Sunnyboys' perfect distillation of '60s jangle and '70s power-pop, or the lioness growl and powerful sexuality of Chrissy Amphlett in Divinyls.

Alternative rock called, and Silverchair, Spiderbait, and Grinspoon answered: Revisit the hits, album cuts, and iconic tracks of the decade. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Roughly a century after someone first thought of plugging a guitar into the mains, shaping head-nodding riffs around a big, sing-along chorus remains a very potent way to make life-affirming music. Home to some of today’s most rousing rock and indie anthems, this playlist is your perfect pre- and post-gig soundtrack—songs you’ll love air-guitaring to in your bedroom, chanting along with at festivals, and belting out with your friends as you find your way home from a big night out. They’re tunes to make memories to, firing up nostalgia for good times with every play. You won’t just find current classics here—there are plenty of tracks by rock and alternative’s fastest-rising stars too. So dig in and find your next favorite guitar heroes. Our editors regularly refresh this playlist. If you hear something you like, add it to your library.