You can’t talk hard rock without a specific trinity of bands who defined the DNA of the genre. To VH1’s credit, they didn’t overthink the Top 5.

It’s impossible to talk about hard rock without bowing to Zep. While "Stairway to Heaven" usually gets the accolades, "Whole Lotta Love" is the band at their most feral. The middle section—an experimental swirl of theremin and drum solos—proved that hard rock could be psychedelic, heavy, and sexy all at once.

Was VH1’s 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs the definitive canon? No. It was too safe in some spots (too much Aerosmith, not enough Motörhead) and too wild in others.