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I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to a rock jam session and been bored out of my skull within ten minutes. First, everyone sets up and tunes, then they play with their gear to make sure it’s tweaked correctly, and then mass hysteria ensues as everyone simultaneously starts to play every lick and fragment of song they think they know to try and get everyone else to pick up on it. The problem is, no one ever knows the same songs. So then we get 10 minutes of running down everyone’s song lists to see if anyone else knows the tunes, which usually ends up being at best two songs. Most of the time the jam sessions degrade to playing crappy “blues” songs in the key of E minor so everyone can take turns wanking out stupid solos. I feel awful for the bass players who have to sit there and ride the E string the entire night, wanting to kill themselves while listening to us guitarists play the same pentatonic licks over and over again.

This problem doesn’t exist in jazz. There exists 300-500 common tunes (roughly; there certainly are a lot more) that everyone learns the chord changes and melody to, so whenever you go to a jazz jam session there is already a huge catalog of songs to play; you just have to choose which one you want to do, count off, and away you go! Having this common foundation of songs to choose has advantages all across the board, from calling out tunes at a gig to seeing exactly how well a musician plays, to making sure you don’t pigeonhole yourself into only knowing your own music. Jazz standards are invaluable to the genre.

So why does rock have no standards?

I know that there are certain songs that many people know, but I’m surprised that after 60 years of rock music there has been no organic development of a group of songs that have become “must know” for people learning to play. Yes, I know, there are tons of reasons why this is the case – different genres of rock, people starting their own rock bands as soon as they start learning to play their instrument, etc. I get all of that. But it almost does the rock community a disservice by not encouraging everyone to learn a select group of rock songs. Certainly when rock players first start out learning to play music – at least in my generation and older – you would always try to get people together to jam. This is how bands were formed back in the day.

I think a collection of 300-500 rock songs that become “standards” would be an excellent way to encourage collaboration and help promote live interaction of musicians. Granted, I don’t have the greatest knowledge of classic rock, but here are a few songs and groups off the top of my head that I think might qualify:

No introduction should be needed

Led Zeppelin – Rock and Roll
Cream – Crossroads
Aerosmith – Back in the Saddle
The Allman Brothers – Whipping Post, Jessica
Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower, Purple Haze
AC/DC – For Those About to Rock, Back in Black
Foo Fighters – Hero
Metallica – Enter Sandman
Def Leppard – Rock of Ages
The Beatles – Hey Jude, Back in the USSR
The Who
The Rolling Stones
Rush
Bad Company
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Coldplay
Oasis
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
The Smiths
Deep Purple
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Dave Matthews Band

I could obviously go on forever. This list is not exhaustive by any means. The point is, there are plenty of great rock songs out there, and coming up with 300-500 should not be that difficult. It doesn’t have to be a complete list, but it should be well-rounded enough in the rock genre to cover the bases.

Perhaps it’s just a childish pipe dream, but I would love to see The Rock Standards Project become a real thing, with musicians encouraging other musicians to learn these songs so future jam sessions don’t turn our brains into oatmeal.