“Helter Skelter” by The Beatles

Tucked into the Beatles' 1968 album The Beatles, the one everybody calls the White Album, "Helter Skelter" is Paul McCartney chasing the loudest, grimiest racket he could get out of a band, and very nearly bringing the roof down doing it. He wrote it, though it carries the usual Lennon–McCartney credit, and he sings lead and plays electric guitar alongside George Harrison, while John Lennon moves to bass and even blows tenor sax, Ringo Starr batters the kit and Mal Evans honks a trumpet into the chaos. Chris Thomas produced, with Ken Scott engineering.

It's often heard as a key early spark for heavy metal, and it has been covered by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, U2, Oasis and Pat Benatar; McCartney hauls it out in concert again and again. Rolling Stone later placed it 52nd among the Beatles' 100 greatest songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.