Rock’s 4 Best Four-Single Runs

It’s easy to lose track of what makes a great artist great.

Many songs become so embedded into culture that it’s worth remembering, at some point, they didn’t exist. Someone had to sit down with a guitar and pull magic from thin air. And when you’re alone in a room with a guitar, it’s not immediately apparent what’s iconic and what isn’t. Depending on the mood of your bandmates, maybe an idea becomes a song or it doesn’t.

Videos by American Songwriter

In Major League Baseball history, four consecutive batters have hit home runs only 11 times. Success is hard to achieve. Repeated success, even harder. But back-to-back-to-back-to-back success? Phew.

The legends below had four of the best four-single runs in rock and roll history.

The Rolling Stones

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (May 1968), “Street Fighting Man” (August 1968), “Honky Tonk Women” (July 1969), “Brown Sugar” (April 1971)

The Rolling Stones ended their psychedelic phase with Their Satanic Majesties Request in 1967. The Beatles would do the same as they transitioned from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to the White Album. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” kicked off a “crossfire hurricane” of jams featuring one of Keef’s (and rock and roll’s) most iconic guitar riffs. This four-song run between 1968 and 1971 was a defining period for the Stones but came with a cost. Soon, they’d lose founding member Brian Jones. “Honky Tonk Women” arrived the day after Jones’s death.

Led Zeppelin

“Good Times, Bad Times” (March 1969), “Whole Lotta Love” (November 1969), “Immigrant Song” (November 1970), “Black Dog” (December 1971)

Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham weren’t interested in bite-sized consumption. The album was the statement. In 2020, Page explained his thinking to Total Guitar, “You know how it is with A&R men going, ‘Oh, you’ve got to have a single.’ We had singles in America and other places, but I wanted to stay clear of that market and keep it as an albums thing.” Though they didn’t release many singles, this four-song run is quite a collection from a group that helped pioneer album-oriented rock.

Bob Dylan

“Blowin’ in the Wind” (August 1963), “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (March 1965), “Like a Rolling Stone” (July 1965), “Positively 4th Street” (September 1965)

There’s the Great American Songbook and there’s Bob Dylan’s songbook. Both titans and important canons of standards and popular songs. Some of Dylan’s most popular songs weren’t released as singles but this run, while just a peak into his writing, is a glimpse into how Dylan shaped culture in the 20th century. “Like a Rolling Stone” redefined the radio hit with a six-minute sneer, transforming the modern folk hero into a rock star.

Guns N’ Roses

“Welcome to the Jungle” (September 1987 and October 1988), “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (June 1988), “Paradise City” (January 1989), “Patience” (April 1989)

Gazing at the band photo on the album artwork for Appetite for Destruction, no one imagined they’d be around for very long. Nothing about Guns N’ Roses screamed longevity. It’s right there in the album title. Despite Axl Rose’s various permutations as Guns N’ Roses, Appetite remains a gutturally crude masterpiece. But the four-song run listed here spills over into the Lies EP, released as a stopgap in 1988. It also marked the beginning of the end of the band’s defining period. However, once you’ve already made a perfect rock album, it’s reasonable to ask: Where do we go now?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Photo by Peter Brooker/Shutterstock