#36 I Want Out - Helloween: I had this one high, but I understand it going out early. It's a fun burst of '80s metal, but it is pretty derivative by the genre's standards.
#35 You're Gonna Miss Me - The 13th Floor Elevators: I've heard plenty of good things about this group and Roky Erickson in general, but aside from the howling vocals, this song was very standard '60s psychedelic rock. While I don't own any 13th Floor Elevators music, I do have a boxset of music from The Explosives, who served as his backing band for a while in the late '70s/early '80s. They're not exactly an amazing group, but they're a fun listen if you're into power pop.
#34 I Wanna Destroy You - The Soft Boys: The melody certainly gets harsh at times, which I assume is why this one ended up so low, but there's a sort of '60s folk meets '70s punk vibe here that works wonderfully.
#33 Blank Generation - Richard Hell: What it lacks in innovation, it at least partially makes up for with shear personality.
#32 The Boy Who Destroyed the World - AFI: Enjoyable skate punk, but its motions are pretty predictable.
#31 (I'm) Stranded - The Saints: Nice energy to the instrumental work here. I just wish the vocalist could have put in something more. His rigid cadence starts to make him sound almost bored as the track goes on.
#30 Rise Above - Black Flag: '80s hardcore punk in a nutshell - fast tempos, intense instrumental work, and vocals that are only semi-coherent outside of the chorus. All in all, a nice blast of energy.
#29 Last Caress - Misfits: Despite hitting the peak of their shock value on this track, this is oddly a bit on the melodic side for the band, and also features one of their best choruses.
#28 Stuck in the Middle With You - Stealers Wheel: Breezy '70s soft rock. Nothing fancy in terms of songwriting, but the laid-back vibe and solid chorus makes for a pleasing listen.
#27 Hocus Pocus - Focus: I'm always torn as to whether the yodle-singing and weird voices here were a creative touch or just a needlessly weird one, but there are no questions for me about the excellent guitar riffs on display. In addition to the various covers this track has had over the years, Blitzkrieg clearly took some inspiration from it for their self-titled track, which would later be covered by Metallica:
#26 Psychotic Reaction - Count Five: It starts well enough with some '60s garage rock, but as dissociative noted, that double time bridge is what really seals the deal on this one.
#25 Solitude - Candlemass: This one admittedly may have gotten a few extra spots higher for me for being a fresh listen (a few of the other songs in my top 10 are great songs, but ones I'm a little tired of hearing.) This is an excellent doom metal selection regardless though, with dark riffs, an oppressive ambience, and a heavy focus on a long buildup that's executed perfectly.
#24 Last Train to Clarksville - The Monkees: An enjoyable piece of '60s sunshine pop, though I'd personally take "Daydream Believer" in terms of Monkees hits. I see another poster compared this to The Beatles and The Beach Boys, but the heavy focus on jangle guitar here had me thinking of a different B band from the '60s - The Byrds.
#23 Up the Junction - Squeeze: I enjoyed this Squeeze track, and I'm not honestly sure why. It's pretty mild mannered, but the slight sway in the rhythm of this track keeps things moving along in a pleasing way.
#22 For Tomorrow - Blur: I like the production work on this track and the string arrangements in the background. However, it feels like the group was trying to cram a little too much into these four minutes, and the la-las didn't work for me.
#21 Jailbreak - Thin Lizzy: Uptempo, no frills hard rock that wears its straight-forward songwriting as a virtue rather than a limitation. It's a little sad that Thin Lizzy (at least in the US) is known only for this and The Boys Are Back in Town, not because they're bad songs, but because the band had a fairly prolific career with plenty of other potential hits.
#20 New Rose - The Damned: More old-fashioned punk rock that delivers direct songwriting with urgency. I love the way the guitars just sort of pulsate on this track.
#19 Rip It Up - Orange Juice: The funk and synth-pop elements on this track just don't gel together for me; it sounds like a subpar Tom Tom Club song.
#18 Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull: I knew I'd be one of the lower ranks for this song. It's definitely my least favorite of the "classic rock" tracks here. "Locomotive Breath" as a whole feels strangely unfinished to me, as if the band wrote and played half a track and didn't know where to go from there, so they just stuck a flute solo at the end and wrapped things up. In fairness, it is a pretty good flute solo.
#17 Radar Love - Golden Earring: The brilliance of this track is in its structure. Rather than going for chorus-verse-chorus or gradual buildup, this one constantly boils then simmers in a rather playful way that keeps things engaging. Of course, the excellent chorus doesn't hurt things either. I agree with Sambalada that this was an odd song to have the highest standard deviation. I was expecting one of the metal tracks or "Close to the Edge" to claim that honor.
#16 Mirror In the Bathroom - The Beat: I love the frantic ska rhythm here and Dave Wakeling does a great job keeping pace over it on vocals.
#15 I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones: Simply put, this is The Ramones doing what they do. It's simple, it's energetic, it's catchy.
#14 Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo: Admittedly, the album version of this drags on a bit, but I can't help but love the new wave dance groove this one has. Plus, Danny Elfman has tons of charisma as a frontman. There's been sadly little of this group in the alternative rankdowns, so nice to see them here.
#13 I'm In Love With A German Film Star - The Passions: I really wanted to like this song for the spacey new wave atmosphere, but there was just something missing for me. I was left feeling this one was a bit too subdued.
#12 Close To The Edge - Yes: I knew this was going to be my #1 just skimming the list. I'm sure the runtime and maybe Jon Anderson's vocals put several off of this one, but for me, this track is a progressive rock masterpiece. The wonderfully melodic and catchy "Total Mass Retain," the ethereal beauty of "I Get Up, I Get Down," the majestic ending - just 18 minutes of musical perfection.
#11 California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys: Seeing this track immediately follow "Close to the Edge" really drives home the "random" in the game's title. This is definitely one of the best punk tracks on this list - just raw unfiltered energy and satirical rage, especially on the original "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" version.