47   "Panama"
Van Halen (1984)

One of the great combinations of hard-rock thunder, technical skill and meticulous detailing from the guitarist who had mastered all three: The riff to "Panama" couldn't be blunter, and Eddie Van Halen couldn't spin it with much more finesse. Eddie and David Lee Roth spend the whole song trying to out-flash each other, and both of them win.


"Panama" from 1984 (Warner Bros.)


Van Halen performing "Panama" live during their 2007 reunion tour

48   "London Calling"
The Clash (1980)

A perfect mix of punk ferocity and classic ambition, "London Calling" also has one of the Clash's most memorable guitar lines. Mick Jones and Joe Strummer stab at sharp little chords and trade push-pull riffs, until Jones unleashes a solo that starts as a piercing squeal and coalesces into a swarm of bees; his final feedback burst is a Morse-code SOS.


"London Calling" from London Calling (Epic)


The Clash performing "London Calling" live

49   "Machine Gun"
Jimi Hendrix (1970)

Perhaps the greatest live document of Hendrix in full flight, this anti-war blues is little more than a skeletal march, but Hendrix fills the spaces with simulated gunfire, moaning notes and kamikaze dives. Dedicated to "soldiers that are fighting in Chicago and Milwaukee and New York," as well as Vietnam, it's the sound of a nation at war with itself.


"Machine Gun" from Band of Gypsys <(Capitol)


Jimi Hendrix performing "Machine Gun" live

See all of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All TIme