Once upon a time, rock & roll was the dominant musical force in the USA. If you grew up when I did (Hint: I barely missed being able to sing the Police song “Born in the 50’s” without lying), rock & roll dominated the Billboard charts and the FM dial of your radio, in case that reference is archaic.
That has not been true for a long time, and that has left a lot of casual music fans with the mistaken belief that rock & roll is dead. It isn’t. You just have to know where to find it. And maybe you have to open your ears and broaden your definition. But it’s there. From grinding metal to fey pop punk. It may carry echoes of folk or be rooted in funk, but it’s there.
Now, not all of it is good. Probably most of it isn’t. It’s derivative and ponderous. But that was true of plenty of rock & roll in those glorious ‘60s and ‘70s. It’s just we don’t remember the crap. That’s the nature of nostalgia. That’s why we have a tendency to think everything used to be better.
Soft, heavy, sweet, or vulgar, 2025 produced some great rock & roll
We keep listening to the old stuff that was good, while we hear everything – gold and lead alike – that comes out today.
Maybe rock & roll was in fact better back then. But there is still plenty of great rock being produced today. Like the following 20 songs – the best rock songs of 2025 in one old guy’s opinion.
20. “Infinite Source” by Deftones
They started as just another metal band from the Central Valley. They won a Grammy in 2001 for their song “Elite,” but for the most part, Deftones pushed too many boundaries to become huge in any one genre. Fans never exactly forgot them, but despite steadily putting out new material every few years, they were not making top-20 lists for the better part of the 21st century.
Until 2025, when their Grammy-nominated album Private Music served as a reminder. The Deftones are still here, and they are still pushing boundaries, inspiring younger bands, and cranking out melodic hard rock, as they do on this collection of crunching guitars and layered melodic harmonies.
19. “Lachryma” by Ghost
Another Grammy nominee – this one is up for Best Metal Performance. Punishing guitar riffs in support of an actual melodic song with a killer solo. Yes, it can all exist in the same song. At least it can when the song comes from someone like Tobias Forge.
18. “Monday Murder” by Yungblud
This one actually is not a Grammy nom, though Yungblud does have three nominations this year, including best rock song (“Zombie”) and best rock performance (“Changes”). I just happen to like this Robert Smith-inspired blend of bright jangle and languid vocals a bit more.
17. “Julia’s War” by Hotline TNT
It assaults you hard from the opening drums and sludgy guitars, then seamlessly morphs into a rather poignant shoegaze singalong without losing even the slightest distortion. You may note that this is a bit of a trend in the songs to which I’m responding.
Multi-genre layering within the wide confines of “rock.” Smashing guitars, sweet harmonies. If the basic building blocks of rock & roll were indeed patented 60 years ago, musicians like Hotline’s Will Anderson can create endless new sounds by chopping up those pieces and putting them back together in creative ways.
16. “Townies” by Wednesday
“Townies” continues Wednesday’s uncanny facility in taking a country song and making it a rock song. It isn’t simply country rock. There are no twangs or fiddles. Karly Holzman doesn’t appear to see a distinction between the genres. Occasional bandmate M.J. Lenderman is on a similar journey.
Whatever they are doing, it continues to work. “Townies” comes from their highly-regarded Bleeds album, which follows on the heels their sensational 2023 release Rat Saw God. They are on such a roll that “Townies” wasn’t even one of the four songs they chose to release as singles this summer.
15. “Up All Night” by Alice Cooper
How did this even happen? 52 years after glam rock legend Alice Cooper split up the band that bore his name, Cooper got the surviving members of the gang back together to put out a new album. The Revenge of Alice Cooper has no business being as good as it is. And this particular track would stand out in any era.
With its heavy riffs and earworm chorus, this may be the greatest Kiss song that Kiss never did. Though original Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton appears via old recordings on a few tracks (he died in 1997), Cooper gets fine contributions from one of his young disciples, Gyasi. You might want to keep that name in mind as you read on.
14. “Autonomous Overdrive” by the Violet Mindfield
If Alice Cooper brought us back to the ‘80s, this SoCal quintet go back further, to the heady days of garage rock in the 1960s. Simultaneous to this countdown, I’m writing something on the great 60’s Nuggets anthology, so those songs are in my head.
This would fit right in, but those early outfits would marvel at the torrent of sound Violet Mindfield is generating. They may be an American band, but if you like the particular brand of British invasion coming from Status Quo and the early Who, check this one out pronto.
13. “Slowdive” by Turnstile
Maybe the heaviest song on this list, the unrelenting guitar provides the underpinning for a nuanced melody which careens from tame to riotous without ever feeling forced. I do have particular interest in this band, which broke through big time in 2025, since they come from right up the road in Baltimore, MD.
I am very happy for their five Grammy noms, which cover both Rock and Metal genres, though once again, I am ignoring their three nominated songs for my own favorite.
12. “Emily’s Shop” by The Len Price 3
Wait, did I already compare Violet Mindfield to early Who? I meant to save that for this Brit trio. Oh well, maybe there’s some Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd going on instead, though I’m probably only responding to the name Emily in that comp. No, I just listened again. This is “Mary Anne With the Shaky Hands,” only with a much beefier sound.
11. “Life Signs” by Water From Your Eyes
In Water From Your Eyes, Rachel Brown writes and sings. Nate Amos writes and creates the music. Trust me, you will want to remember that. They have been putting out cutting-edge indie rock that defies most generic monikers.
This is a clever, buzzy little tune that grows titanic in places, all the while maintaining a time signature that somehow fits despite not fitting at all. Not all of these singles come from great albums. This one does. And there is more to come from this particular well.
10. “Up ‘n’ Down” by Jeremy & and the Harlequins
And now we move on to the jangly pub rock of Nick Lowe or Matthew Sweet. The New York rockers are ten years into their recording career and have perfected finding fresh ways to present classic rock tropes. Just a few weeks ago, they released a new single called “Thunderbolt,” which builds the “Summertime Blues” riff into a brand new song. As for “Up ‘n” Down,” well, as the name suggests, it is the year’s bounciest rocker.
9. “Guts” by Cleopatrick
It roars from the needle drop with a raw power that you might not expect from a couple of guys from Canada. Luke Gruntz plays the fuzziest of guitars while Ian Frazier turns a drum kit into a melodic instrument as well as a tidal wave of rhythm. Somehow, it all propels a Portugal the Man-style melody forward with magical seemlessness.
8. “Catch These Fists” by Wet Leg
If you worried that Wet Leg would not be able to match the magic of “Chaise Longue” in a sophomore effort, never fear. Their album Moisturizer soars with a beefed-up sound, but the wry wink and clever deadpan delivery that made them ubiquitous a few years ago returns very clearly in this lead single.
7. “Young & Dumb” by Avril Lavigne (featuring Simple Plan)
Talk about your throwbacks. It is open in its sense of early-century nostalgia, when Lavigne and Simple Plan were riding high in the pop punk revolution. And it sounds exactly like that era. Impossibly catchy, even if you were not involved in that particular scene. And if you were, be prepared to laugh and cry, and dance. And then hit repeat.
6. “Name the Band” by This is Lorelei
I have seen Nate Amos playing in support of Rachel Brown’s artistic vision as part of Water From Your Eyes. And I have seen him leading his own band as This is Lorelei. Up until this year, I thought the Brown colab was essential. Now I think Amos has moved on.
There has been no indication that Water… is breaking up, as witnessed by their presence on this list. But Amos is such a gifted musician who seems to be growing more and more comfortable in his own voice. This is his most accessible song to date yet it still bristles with a clever interplay of words and music in barely 90 seconds of bliss.
5. “Man Made of Meat” by Viagara Boys
You might guess from the name that transplanted Swede Sebastian Murphy and his Stockholm bandmates are a bit too smartass for their own good. That’s what makes them special. Because they write songs that would be vulgar if they weren’t handled with such muscular grace and maturity.
This explosive tune comments on modern culture in ways that few hard rockers bother to try. And that’s because there aren’t a lot of Sebastian Murphys out there.
4. “Girl in Trouble” by The High Frequencies
I’ll give you a little ‘inside list-making” here. When I sit down to do these, I jot down every song I can think of that I liked during the year. Then I check out a few critics whom I respect to find songs I overlooked. Then I start weeding out, because I invariably have way too many titles.
Every once in a while, something fortuitous will happen, and I stumble upon a song I didn’t know existed. That’s “A Girl in Trouble” from The High Frequencies.
I’m actually pretty sure I saw this title and assumed it was a cover of the Romeo Void song from the mid-‘80s, and since I love that song, I don’t think I bothered with this one. Turns out, it’s a very different tune. Lisa Mychols has been belting out power pop for a long time now with a variety of bands. If this track is any indication, she may have found a permanent home.
3. “Take Me Back” by Haim
We haven’t had a Grammy nominee for a while, so let’s toss in a final one. The Haim sisters did not get a nod for this song. None of their songs got tapped, though Tobias Jesso, Jr., who co-wrote this one as well as the inescapable “Relationships,” is up for Songwriter of the Year.
I like “Relationships,” just like I like a lot of the nominated album I Quit. But I just love this sweet, jagged, raunchy ode to nostalgia and lost loves. It has glorious syncopation and a wandering sax, and is as close as you’ll get to the San Fernando Valley without hopping a plane.
2. “She Says” by Gyasi
Unlike “Girl in Trouble,” I knew that this song, from the modern face of glam, would be on my list. I just had no idea it would be this high until I started listening to all the choices anew. This one was impossible to avoid. It just wouldn’t go away. It would be a classic rock song in any era.
A pummeling rhythm, strong vocal, and finally that awesome guitar that ties it all together. In case you forgot, this is Gyasi’s second appearance, after his guest guitar stint on Alice Cooper’s song.
1. “Cuntology 101” by Lambrini Girls
The hottest punk group on the planet released two superb screeds last year. They have not even scratched the surface of melodic contempt for sexual dynamics that define the world we live in.
It begins with an ascending throb of sound before Phoebe Lunny runs through a laundry list of behavior that gets women labelled as, well, check the title. It is frenetic, desperate, passionate, and pounds forward in a way that makes you move.
In other words, it is simply a great rock & roll song.