The LAPERO.com rock playlist, "ROCK - LES CLASSIQUES", gathers 150 rock classics on Spotify, from "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley (1957) to "Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys (2013). Along the way you meet The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, U2, Nirvana and The Strokes. Here is what it contains, where its songs come from and how to turn it into a music quiz.
Rock classics playlist: 150 songs from the 1950s to the 2010s
What is in the LAPERO rock playlist?
The playlist is called "ROCK - LES CLASSIQUES" and is published by LAPERO.com. It has 150 songs on Spotify. It used to have 250: in 2026 the selection was tightened to 150 tracks.
It opens with "Scar Tissue" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, followed by "Dream On" by Aerosmith, "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley. So the order is not chronological. The decades alternate from one track to the next, which works on shuffle as well as in sequence.
Rock is a music genre that appeared in the United States in the 1950s. Its roots are in rock and roll, itself shaped by rhythm and blues and country.
The table below lists fifteen songs from the playlist, with the year they first appeared and the album you will find them on.
| Song | Artist | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jailhouse Rock | Elvis Presley | 1957 | Jailhouse Rock (EP) |
| (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction | The Rolling Stones | 1965 | Out of Our Heads (US edition) |
| Like a Rolling Stone | Bob Dylan | 1965 | Highway 61 Revisited |
| All Along the Watchtower | Jimi Hendrix | 1968 | Electric Ladyland |
| Stairway to Heaven | Led Zeppelin | 1971 | Led Zeppelin IV |
| Smoke on the Water | Deep Purple | 1972 | Machine Head |
| Wish You Were Here | Pink Floyd | 1975 | Wish You Were Here |
| We Are the Champions | Queen | 1977 | News of the World |
| Highway to Hell | AC/DC | 1979 | Highway to Hell |
| Sunday Bloody Sunday | U2 | 1983 | War |
| Money for Nothing | Dire Straits | 1985 | Brothers in Arms |
| Sweet Child o' Mine | Guns N' Roses | 1987 | Appetite for Destruction |
| Smells Like Teen Spirit | Nirvana | 1991 | Nevermind |
| Last Nite | The Strokes | 2001 | Is This It |
| Do I Wanna Know? | Arctic Monkeys | 2013 | AM |
From the 1950s to the 2010s: which eras of rock?
1950s: Elvis Presley and "Jailhouse Rock"
"Jailhouse Rock" was released on 24 September 1957 by RCA Victor. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote it for the film of the same name. It spent seven weeks at number one in the United States in the autumn of 1957, then three weeks at the top in the United Kingdom in early 1958.
1960s: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dylan, Hendrix
The year 1965 carries a lot of weight in the playlist. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones came out first in the United States, then in August in the United Kingdom, and reached number one on both sides of the Atlantic. Keith Richards came up with the riff in his sleep and recorded it on a cassette player.
"Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan was released on 20 July 1965. It runs more than six minutes and reached number 2 on the Billboard chart. Al Kooper plays the organ. On 23 July 1965 The Beatles released "Help!" in the United Kingdom, the title song of the film, number one in the United Kingdom and the United States.
In 1966 The Rolling Stones released "Paint It, Black", with Brian Jones on sitar. In 1968 Jimi Hendrix covered "All Along the Watchtower", written by Bob Dylan a year earlier, on the album Electric Ladyland. In 1969 David Bowie released "Space Oddity" on 11 July, five days before the launch of Apollo 11.
1970s: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, AC/DC
"Riders on the Storm" by The Doors is on the album L.A. Woman (April 1971) and came out as a single in June 1971. It is the last song Jim Morrison recorded before his death in Paris on 3 July 1971. The same year, on 8 November, Led Zeppelin released their fourth album and "Stairway to Heaven", about eight minutes long, which the band never agreed to edit for a single.
"Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple (Machine Head, 1972) tells a true story: the 1971 fire at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland, during a concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
In 1975 Pink Floyd released "Wish You Were Here", sung by David Gilmour, on the album of the same name. In 1977 Queen released "We Are the Champions", written by Freddie Mercury, with "We Will Rock You" on the B-side. The decade closes with "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC, released on 27 July 1979, and with two 1979 songs that point to what came next: "Walking on the Moon" by The Police and "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure.
1980s: U2, Dire Straits, Guns N' Roses
AC/DC singer Bon Scott died in February 1980. "Back in Black", sung by Brian Johnson, is a tribute to him released the same year. In 1981 Queen and David Bowie recorded "Under Pressure" at Mountain Studios in Montreux: the single reached number one in the United Kingdom.
U2 released "Sunday Bloody Sunday" on the album War in 1983. The song deals with the violence of the Northern Ireland conflict. In 1985 "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, with Sting's voice in the introduction, spent three weeks at number one in the United States. Finally, "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses, from Appetite for Destruction (1987), topped the Billboard Hot 100.
1990s: Nirvana, Radiohead, Oasis, Green Day
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana was released on 10 September 1991, from the album Nevermind. The title comes from a phrase written on Kurt Cobain's wall by Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill: Teen Spirit was a deodorant brand, which Cobain said he did not know at the time.
1992 brought "Creep" by Radiohead (21 September) and "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine (October).
In 1994 Green Day released "Basket Case" (from Dookie), whose lyrics deal with Billie Joe Armstrong's panic attacks, and The Cranberries released "Zombie", written by Dolores O'Riordan after the Warrington bombing of 20 March 1993. In France, "Zombie" spent nine weeks at number one in 1995. In 1996 Oasis released "Don't Look Back in Anger": it was the band's first single with lead vocals by Noel Gallagher rather than his brother Liam.
2000s and 2010s: The Strokes, Muse, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys
"Last Nite" by The Strokes was released as a single in autumn 2001, from the album Is This It. In 2003 The White Stripes released "Seven Nation Army": the riff is not played on a bass, but on a semi-acoustic guitar plugged into a pedal that lowers the pitch by an octave. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
Then came "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand (2004), "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse (2006, from Black Holes and Revelations) and "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon (2008, from Only by the Night). "Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys, released in 2013 on the album AM, is the band's first single to enter the Billboard Hot 100.
| Decade | Song | Artist | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | Jailhouse Rock | Elvis Presley | 1957 |
| 1960s | Paint It, Black | The Rolling Stones | 1966 |
| 1970s | Riders on the Storm | The Doors | 1971 |
| 1980s | Under Pressure | Queen and David Bowie | 1981 |
| 1990s | Creep | Radiohead | 1992 |
| 2000s | Seven Nation Army | The White Stripes | 2003 |
| 2010s | Do I Wanna Know? | Arctic Monkeys | 2013 |
Where to listen to the playlist
The "ROCK - LES CLASSIQUES" playlist is available on Spotify, Deezer and YouTube Music. You can start it straight from the Spotify player below.
How do you run a rock music quiz with the playlist?
The French call it a blind test: you play a few seconds of a song and the first team to name it scores. With 150 songs, you can host several evenings without repeating a track. Here is a simple format for four to ten people.
- Make two or three teams and pick one person to play the songs and hide the screen.
- Play 15 to 20 seconds of each song. If nobody gets it, let it run to the chorus.
- Play four rounds of five songs, from easiest to hardest, following the table below.
- Keep the playlist open on the phone of the person playing the songs: it is your answer sheet.
| Round | Rule | Songs from the playlist |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Warm-up | Name the song from the intro, 1 point | Smoke on the Water, Seven Nation Army, Highway to Hell, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Smells Like Teen Spirit |
| 2. Title and artist | Give both, 2 points | Last Nite (The Strokes), Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand), Basket Case (Green Day), Walking on the Moon (The Police), Zombie (The Cranberries) |
| 3. Year or album | Give the album or the release year, 3 points | Riders on the Storm (L.A. Woman, 1971), All Along the Watchtower (Electric Ladyland, 1968), Wish You Were Here (1975) |
| 4. Trick questions | Answer a question about the song, 3 points | Who sings Don't Look Back in Anger? (Noel Gallagher) Who wrote All Along the Watchtower? (Bob Dylan) Whose voice opens Money for Nothing? (Sting) |
Outside quiz night, shuffle works well for drinks with friends: the eras alternate without any effort on your part. To change register between two rounds, LAPERO also has a French rap classics playlist and a playlist of French song classics.
FAQ: rock playlist, classics and music quiz
How many songs are in the LAPERO rock playlist?
The LAPERO.com playlist "ROCK - LES CLASSIQUES" has 150 songs on Spotify, a figure checked on 3 October 2026. It used to have 250: the selection was tightened to 150 tracks in 2026. It is also available on Deezer and YouTube Music.
Where can I listen to the ROCK - LES CLASSIQUES playlist?
The LAPERO.com playlist "ROCK - LES CLASSIQUES" is available on Spotify, Deezer and YouTube Music. The direct links are at the top of this article, and a Spotify player is embedded in the "Where to listen" section. On Spotify it holds 150 songs.
Which rock songs work best for a music quiz?
For a rock music quiz, start with intros that are easy to recognise, such as "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes or "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. Then raise the difficulty with "Last Nite" by The Strokes or "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand, and finish by asking for the album or the release year.
Was "Stairway to Heaven" ever released as a single?
No. "Stairway to Heaven" is on Led Zeppelin's fourth album, released on 8 November 1971, but the band never authorised an edited version for single release, despite pressure from Atlantic Records. The song runs about eight minutes. It entered the UK Singles Chart in November 2007 through download sales, at number 37.
Who wrote "All Along the Watchtower"?
"All Along the Watchtower" was written by Bob Dylan, who released it on his album John Wesley Harding in 1967. The version in the playlist is the one by Jimi Hendrix, released in 1968 on the album Electric Ladyland. It reached number 5 in the UK charts and number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Why is "Seven Nation Army" sung in football stadiums?
The riff of "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, released in 2003, was picked up in October 2003 by Club Brugge fans during a Champions League match against AC Milan. After Italy won the 2006 World Cup, it was sung in the streets of Rome and became the unofficial theme of the Italian team.
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Conclusion
The "ROCK - LES CLASSIQUES" playlist fits seven decades into 150 songs, from Elvis Presley in 1957 to Arctic Monkeys in 2013. For the quiz, all you need is a phone, a speaker and someone to keep score.
Sources: Wikipedia, Jailhouse Rock, Wikipedia, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Wikipedia, Stairway to Heaven, Wikipedia, Smoke on the Water, Wikipedia, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Wikipedia, Seven Nation Army, Wikipedia, Do I Wanna Know?, Wikipédia, Rock.
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