Like the other commenters here, I remember most of these songs as popular radio hits. They weren't underground songs, just good rock and roll.

Here's a really obscure reference for you: Lenny Kaye plays on Andy Zwerling's "Spiders in the Night," a sadly neglected proto-emo album (a year before the first Nuggets compilation). (I could write an entire essay on Zwerling--and probably should.) Spiders in the Night also features rock journalists (Zwerling was a Rolling Stone reviewer) Lisa and Richard Robinson. Here's my favorite track: https://youtu.be/eVihp4IjtZY