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Song Stories

“(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”

The Rolling Stones | 1965

"Satisfaction" begins its musical and lyrical assault on the senses with what can be called, with little argument, the most iconic guitar riff of 1960s rock. What's most remarkable is that Keith Richards literally wrote that intro in his sleep. "I woke up in the middle of the night. There was a cassette recorder next to the bed and an acoustic guitar," he told Rolling Stone about putting his slumber-derived inspiration down on tape. "The next morning when I woke up, the tape had gone all the way to the end. So I ran it back, and there's like 30 seonds of this riff -- 'Da-da da-da-da, I can't get no satisfaction' -- and the rest of the tape is me snoring!"

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Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

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