@philip johnson

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

The tracks you can’t get enough of lately, all in one place.

Rediscover the decade's chart-toppers, classics, and lost favorites. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

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.

For the rockers who swaggered and strutted through the ’70s, bigger nearly always meant better. Songs that were built to have maximum impact in stadiums and arenas somehow sounded even larger on home hi-fis thanks to multitrack recording technology and other studio advances that made the drums of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and The Who’s Keith Moon sound like cannon fire. Even the mellower, headphone-ready sounds of Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and the Eagles boasted unprecedented breadth and richness. Yet the decade’s sound was defined just as much by leaner, meaner takes on rock fundamentals, courtesy of artists such as AC/DC and Alice Cooper.

Here’s an ’80s playlist designed to celebrate summer: the laziness, the looseness, the kicking back, and the turning up. Covering New Wave, roots rock, R&B, and beyond, the tracks here not only frame their era, but a universal mood: cool drink, warm sun, nothing but time on your hands. Sink into it. Our editors mix things up here now and then, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

If one were to definitively name the golden age of the guitar riff, it'd be tough to argue against the ‘70s, when the lean rock ‘n' roll of the late ‘60s met the rise of heavy metal. Led Zeppelin sculpted goliath hooks that pushed their blues sound into the cosmos, and Black Sabbath, armed with a dark and towering din, struck fear into the hearts of parents around the world. Whether employing turbocharged takes on classic forms (AC/DC), building arena-crumbling walls of sound (The Who), or embarking on interstellar prog missions (Rush), the riff rose to glorious heights in the hands of these artists.

Behind the catch-all title of rock, you can find endless weird and wonderful gems.

Pete Townshend smashed them. Jimi Hendrix set them on fire. B.B. King nearly died trying to rescue one from a burning building. And Keith Richards apparently slept with them—which, as he put it, is how he managed to record the riff to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in the middle of the night without quite waking up. A great rock guitarist isn’t necessarily a virtuoso, but someone who shifts your understanding of what the instrument can do. So while this playlist pays deference to the fast (Eddie Van Halen), the smooth (Eric Clapton), and the powerful (Jimmy Page), it also makes room for primitives like The Stooges and Nirvana, Dave Davies of The Kinks, and Chuck Berry—players who weren’t flashy, but whose approach introduced sounds nobody had quite heard before. In six strings and a hundred songs, here’s what rock music sounds like.