Classic Rock legends dropped some more sweet nuggets for us in 2014. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers hit the #1 spot on the Billboard album chart for the first time with their album, Hypnotic Eye. Sprinsteen also nabbed a #1 album, with High Hopes. Pink Floyd released their first album in 20 years, The Endless River, as a tribute to keyboardist Richard Wright, and AC/DC rocked through some difficult times. Here are the classic rock legends that kept us rockin' through 2014.
"High Hopes" - Bruce Springsteen
The Boss reworked his '90s song "High Hopes" with a New Orleans flavor and as the title track to his 2014 album. Another good one was the Beatles-esque tune "Just Like Fire Would."
"Royals" - Bruce Springsteen Live in Auckland, New Zealand 3.2.2014 (Lorde Cover)
Perhaps the Boss's best moment of 2014 was covering Lorde's "Royals" in New Zealand.
"U Get Me High"- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty got us all high with his new song, "U Get Me High."
"Louder Than Words" - Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd's The Endless River brought a sort of closure to the career of the legendary band. "Louder Than Words" was one of the most talked about songs that any rock band released the whole year.
"Whole Lotta Love (Rough Mix With Vocal)" - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin released their first 5 albums in deluxe reissues with previously unheard studio outtakes. This rough cut of Whole Lotta Love with a music video was one highlight.
"Rainbow" - Robert Plant
Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant came out with a new album, Lullaby And The Ceaseless Roar. The music video for "Rainbow" was a cosmic trip through a rusty hippy dream.
"Be Lucky" - The Who
The Who celebrated their 50th Anniversary with a new song called "Be Lucky" that had references to Daft Punk. The video features vintage clips of the band performing and pulling pranks.
"Mission Statement" - Weird Al (Crosby, Stills & Nash Parody)
Yes, that's right... Weird Al is a rock legend. His parody of Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" was one of many cool videos from his 2014 album, Mandatory Fun.
Let's take a moment to appreciate AC/DC. The quintessential rock band had a strong year in 2014, in spite of drummer Phil Rudd's legal problems and erratic behavior and guitarist Malcolm Young's health problems.
They put out a rockin' new album, rockin' videos, and rockin' young artists did fresh covers of classic AC/DC. Rock Or Bust isn't on Spotify, but if you like AC/DC, do yourself a favor and pick it up at your local record store, Amazon, or iTunes. Bang your head to two of their music videos below!
"Rock or Bust" - AC/DC
AC/DC know how to reward their loyal fans. They filmed this music video for "Rock or Bust" at an intimate venue in Europe. No frills, just hard rock with a steady groove and hair-raising guitars.
"Play Ball" - AC/DC
Balls! AC/DC do songs about balls better than anyone.
There were also a few videos of bands covering AC/DC that were so good, we had to include them in this list.
"Thunderstruck" - 2CELLOS (AC/DC Cover)
2Cellos brought excitement, energy, and creativity to "Thunderstruck" with a clever throwback video.
"Thunderstruck" - Steve 'N' Seagulls (Bluegrass AC/DC Cover)
Steve N Seagulls, a bluegrass band from Finland, brought us this killer bluegrass version of "Thunderstruck" with just the right amount of accordion.
"Highway To Hell" - Bruce Springsteen (AC/DC Cover) Live in Australia 2.11.2014
Finishing where we started, Bruce Sprinsteen shared this gnarly video performing "Highway To Hell" in Australia with a guitar army including Tom Morello, Nils Lofgren, and Little Steven Van Zandt.
