History AwesomeMusic / Rock

** "Mother Freedom". A {{Hard Rock}}ing tune that show's they're more than just AM Radio pleasantry.
** "Down On My Knees" is PowerPop joy. With Jimmy Griffin’s vocals and Mike Bolts' superb drum fills leading the whole track.

* CoveredUp: "Everything I Own" has the strange distinction of having had two covers hit #1 in the UK while the original only got to #5:

** [[CoveredUp It isn't for nothing that most people think Hendrix, not]] Music/BobDylan, [[CoveredUp wrote "All Along The Watchtower."]] [[BetterThanCanon Even Dylan himself considers it to be superior]].

* Bruce Cockburn's [[https://youtu.be/z02J_kPincA "If I Had a Rocket Launcher"]]. Inspired by his visit to Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that [[BananaRepublic were being attacked by Guatemalan helicopters on a regular basis]], this is one song in which a [[PrecisionFStrike Precision B Strike]] is more than deserved.

** From ''Music/PhysicalGraffiti'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfR_HWMzgyc "Kashmir"]] just oozes this epic feeling, like a big confrontation is about to go down.

** Might not be as well known, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vamReLUOlrA "Trampled Under Foot"]] might be one of their best displays of groove.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_qo5A_9bYY "Moonshadow"]]. "Yes I'm being followed by a Moonshadow, moonshadow moonshadow."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQIPVqLMUg "Don't Stop Believin'"]] by Journey is so awesome that it's reached the point of parody due to overuse in Sports Venues and the end of ''Series/TheSopranos''. That does not diminish its awesomeness, however.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afHQd-lP4yU "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)"]] is another amazing uplifting song by Journey. Listen to it already.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFC8sDTXlng "Wheel in the Sky"]] is another awesome Journey song.

** Most songs out of ''Music/DefinitelyMaybeAlbum'' and ''Music/WhatsTheStoryMorningGlory'' fit. For newer songs, how about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IQhui_Yy8 "The Shock of the Lightning"]]?
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGImSvcgzb8 "Falling Down"]]. This song was so awesome it was used at the opening for ''Anime/EdenOfTheEast'' in JAPAN. Not the U.S opening, the Japanese one. Japan liked this song enough to use it. That's how awesome it is.

* Music/SaidTheWhale. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCRGlfKZNGw "We Are 1980"]]. Even people who hate indie are bound to love it.
* Southern Rock. While most of its famous songs are awesome, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1mCQKuvzCM "Free Bird"]], by Lynyrd Skynyrd ([[Creator/ConanOBrien Now]] with 100% [[MemeticMutation more cowbell]]!), and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R82OM5tzcrk "Green Grass and High Tides"]], by The Outlaws, take guitar playing to a whole new level with it's gigantic, impressive "something you'll remember forever from the first time you hear them" solos.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FRtkek-Et4 The Primus version is also pure distilled awesome]]. Bonus for Tom Waits as the Devil.
** And then there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kecdNnykdng the Levellers' version]]. Ever wondered what a punk version would sound like?
** Riffing off a similar theme is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=und8Xsnjs4E "Tribute"]] by Tenacious D. "All of a sudden,/There shined a shiny demon,/In the middle of the road,/And he said!/'''Play the best song in the world, or I'll eat your souls...'''/Well me and Kyle,/we looked at each other,/And we each said,/'''Okay.'''"

* The initial trailer for ''Film/SinCity'' sparked a flood of 'what the hell is that awesome music?' comments; it's a song called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsWj4rMaOw "Cells"]] by The Servant, and many were disappointed that it didn't feature in the film.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-64CaD8GXw "I'm Shipping Up To Boston"]] by Dropkick Murphys. When you take cellos, a banjo, and a concertina and make them sound like a world of hurt is about to descend upon some poor bastard, you know you've accomplished something.
** Dropkick Murphys are carrying on the tradition from The Pogues, whose songs like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrBLqp-s__o "If I Should Fall From Grace With God"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_giKJLdfqk "Bottle of Smoke"]] are ideal drunken brawl music.
** Speaking of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iUEwB4ME3I "Shane MacGowan"]], the Dropkick Murphys version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7s-Bj-zuO0 "Spancill Hill"]] is a definite CMOA, for when you get to that reflective, melancholy phase of drunkenness.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq1Zp_gtUEo "Flannigan's Ball"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebHIxQ_zhNY "The Warrior's Code"]] are pretty awesome.
** If we're talking about Dropkick Murphys, we have to mention [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzF0hHb7xMc "The State of Massachusetts"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn7DavxmzkA "Bastards On Parade"]] is worth a listen.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNMDXEdxG9o "Skinhead on the MBTA"]], a cover of 60's country-rockers The Kingston Trio's jab at the MTA's high fees at the time. OI, OI, OI!
** Their version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA_ikf-vlWc "Peg O' My Heart"]], with a very [[Music/BruceSpringsteen awesome guest]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqUYV6eMrEo "Famous For Nothing"]] is another great one.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZN3weW1udE "Spicy McHaggis Jig"]]. Making bagpipes sound completely awesome is a regular day at the office for DKM.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yg8MuaWMT0 "Kiss Me I'm @#$%faced]].
* Dead Can Dance's version of Middle-Ages Italian folk song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcmpBCXOgVI "Saltarello"]]. Their whole career is a CMOA. Lisa's trademark OneWomanWail and Brendan's playing...
* Music/{{Cryoshell}} is an obscure Danish band that originally provided music for ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' commercials, but has since produced music on their own. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc73MRZiVuM Here]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NktqApbI06g are]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPbP-63QTjM examples]] of their music.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF9703NMD_c "Invincible"]] by Pat Benatar may just be the ultimate cure-all for any sad, depressed, or hopeless feeling anyone could conceivably feel. ''Ever''.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRDk5K-u6NI Muse's song by the same name]], though unrelated, has a similar effect, plus makes a mean warm-up song before any sort of competition.

** Then there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHaXv0Yu4AU this version of "Human"]]. A great song, epic visuals, and added thematically relevant lyrics? Awesome.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZTpLvsYYHw "All These Things That I've Done"]]. Their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrBxpaNVxU performance of it at Oxegen 2005]] is utterly brilliant.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k-v9cp9Fxc "When You Were Young"]] and their Cover of Music/JoyDivision's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzHE6KpI7i8 "Shadowplay"]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeVoGD-hzM8 "All the Pretty Faces",]] especially live. The song is just epic.
* Bruce Springsteen's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zylxfXyTefs "Jungleland"]]. Goddamn epic. There's an amazing version on the ''Live in Hyde Park'' DVD. We get to see Clarence Clemons playing his famous saxophone solo against the backdrop of a beautiful summer sunset.
** "Born to Run". The man made riding a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuThNgl3YA carnival ride]] sound ''epic''!

** His performance of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" at the 2009 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert, though his co-performer Tom Morello's absolutely mind-blowing guitar solo contributes to the awesome. Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzRbeHyIomk here.]]
*** "Youngstown" from the same album. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GaFUOQWi9A Folk]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9FgwO1ysNM rock]] version.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ExmL4LzCk BADLANDS]]".

** The other songs off ''Darkness on the Edge of Town'' aren't half bad either – especially the live radio broadcasted performances from the Darkness Tour. "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrxKkELQJiQ Racing in the Street]]" has got to be the most poignant song ever about car racing, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esKch643aYY The Promised Land]]" is a defiant roar in the face of adversity and the live version of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xab-th4ltU Prove It All Night]]" is, as one youtuber put it, "pull me off of the ceiling" euphoric.

** ''Wrecking Ball'' features the first studio version of "Land of Hope and Dreams", perhaps the defining song of the E-Street reunion tour in 1999. The song features [[TearJerker Clarence Clemons' last recorded performance.]] It is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9qc8Xe_Ho unbelievable.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAB4vOkL6cE "The River"]] from the eponymous album. Very melancholy but gorgeous regardless.
** Also from ''The River'' is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQcxrt9-6ZI "Point Blank"]]. Moody, atmospheric, and emotionally devastating.

* Leonard Cohen's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfS8LyeUyM "Everybody Knows"]]. Quite possibly the single best song ever recorded.

** Also, "Billy the Mountain" from ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA'', quite possibly the greatest absurdist rock opera ever. The only way to make it better is to do it a cappella... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZa2uhtZDg and here it is]]. Dweezil even signed off on how awesome it is.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-6U0ccc_Hg "Muffin Man"]] and its utterly epic guitar solo.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9XKVTNs1g4 "Jumpin' Jack Flash"]], their most-played song, [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic and for good reason, too]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga9YAMLGr6E Now get a load of the EBA cover]].

*** Did someone mention an EpicRiff [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzlgJ-SfKYE in the context of a discussion on The Rolling Stones...?]]

*** The guitar riff that opens the plaintive [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AA64eCt2zs "So Far Away"]] gets the album off to a great start, with Knopfler in fine form as both guitarist and vocalist.
*** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDDswGsJ60 Money for Nothing]]" is more than just a memorable early use of CGI in music videos. Anchored, like so many Dire Straits songs, by a killer guitar riff, and with special guest backing vocalist [[Music/ThePolice Sting]] using the tune from the verses of the Police's 1980 hit "Don't Stand So Close to Me" for the "I want my MTV" chants, it remains one of the most enduring tracks on the album.[[note]] When one sets aside the ValuesDissonance in some of the lyrics, anyway.[[/note]]
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9_VOy7VipQ "Walk of Life"]] opens with a catchy organ riff that will make almost any listener want to get up and dance.
*** The sax solo from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvupYWA8Pg4 "Your Latest Trick"]] is so well-known that if someone walks into a music store with the intent of buying a saxophone, chances are this is what they'll play to test it.[[note]] Well, that or "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty.[[/note]]
*** The haunting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4T1MQGTV9U "Ride Across the River"]] is awesome enough in the studio version, the "panpipes" (rendered by a synth) and drums really conveying the atmosphere of a soldier of fortune deep in the jungle ready to give his life if need be. Live, however, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hHfCMh-G-s complete with extended guitar and flute solo,]] it reaches whole new levels of epic.
*** The angsty [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI01DDseJEM "One World"]] may be one of the most overlooked tracks on the album, but Mark's outstanding guitar work and the catchy guitar/synth hook make it a winner.
*** If you can listen to the album's closer, the heart-rending title track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC-Ox4eSzlw Brothers in Arms]]" (often said to complete a story arc beginning with the soldier of fortune in "Ride Across the River" who then becomes a tyrant in "The Man's Too Strong" but meets a tragic end in "Brothers in Arms"), without being moved, you make the StrawVulcan look emotional.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDK0UoAkfY "Tunnel of Love"]]. One of the best guitar solos ''ever''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjJzlIedCuo "Telegraph Road"]] ain't half bad either, being ''the'' best driving song ever, especially if it's raining.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jH74e3Qo9k "Sultans of Swing"]] is already an outstanding ''tour de force'' for Mark as both guitarist and singer in the studio version. But in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pa9x9fZBtY live version]] from ''Alchemy'', where the closing guitar solo is expanded from thirty seconds to over five minutes (which finally ends by returning to where it began), it becomes one of the greatest displays of guitar virtuosity Knopfler ever gave.

* Jason Mraz is the veritable walking example of this trope. The proof lies in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH44eOiUC_8 "The Remedy"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8cRehfrxA "You and I Both"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyAdIG-j3MU "WordPlay"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfi_PQEUQ-c "Geek in the Pink"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcTLAlYuVWM "Lucky"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5GxUeerBfg "Make It Mine"]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfyLt_tsW1s here's another version]]), and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKGmR0Z1Unc "The Beauty in Ugly"]] from the OST to ''Series/UglyBetty''.
** "The Remedy" doubles as Heartwarming Music when you realize [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QC1gWVyV2o the true story behind this song.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYwoDL8rDuQ "I'm Yours"]] was immensely successful in the U.S. on the Billboard charts. It spent 76 weeks on the Hot 100, breaking the record for most weeks on the chart. It is currently the eighth-best selling digital song of all time in the U.S., selling in excess of 6 million downloads.
%%** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVKjlQ0_WWo "Song.]] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments For. A.]] [[TearJerker Friend"]].

%%** Blur. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=936oRZXcAsw "Song 2"]], people, "Song 2"!

* Music/TheBeachBoys were the undisputed masters of applying the RuleOfFun to music. Examples being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5jZiPd2Y48 "Good Vibrations"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wbMqRO6lnc "Barbara Ann"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz9c5b72KJ4 "Fun, Fun, Fun"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJOevhjS20 "I Get Around"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_KY_d9MQv8 "Sloop John B."]], with its copious LyricalDissonance is damn fun.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWPo5SC3zik "God only knows what I'd be without you."]]

** Brian Wilson? Awesome. Brian Wilson completing an unfinished Gershwin song? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6P_FNQyDSY Magical]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baNHAUegGiU "Just Like You Imagined"]] requires at least a ''little'' awesome to be used in the trailer for ''Film/ThreeHundred''. What clinches it is the rising scream at the climax.

** Grace Slick's mind-blowing vocals in...well, every song she sings, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jj3wZVc7nw "Somebody to Love"]] is worthy of a special mention.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3nbYr8NKGQ White Rabbit]]" is a surreal classic with some slick bass playing.
* Jefferson Airplane's follow-up band, Music/JeffersonStarship, had some rather awesome music too - cheesy, but awesome. The most (in)famous was "We Built This City", but "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUW_Y0wYNMs Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now]]" is a high point.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBBp2GUjT88 "Sturmnacht"]] by the German Medieval Rock band Music/{{Schandmaul}}. Translates to "Storm Night". Despite the name it doesn't have any connection to ThoseWackyNazis. It's purely instrumental and pure awesome.
* The album ''Alaska'' by Between the Buried and Me is epic in its entirety, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19UZd_DKs2Q "Selkies: The Endless Obsession"]] takes the cake. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNSnzQciTQ "White]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrU2Upud518 Walls"]] too. Specifically the the intro, the White Walls and "We will remembered for this" roars, and the incredibly amazing ending solo.

%%** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs6F1KwzGwE "Human"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0aCt--Y_SU "Pilots"]].

* Music/{{REM}}. Their BreakthroughHit [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gteuTLhO7N0 "The One I Love"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS21CbjOYIU "Me in Honey"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fxfDRYGtjw "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"]], and - on a completely different level - the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlYCqi9G66g eleventh untitled song]] from ''Green'' are all utterly triumphant moments in the history of music.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjjxH9O_PjA It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)]]". '''[[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein LEONARD BERNSTEIN!!!]]'''

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyi7jaB1u1Y "Orange Crush"]] Follow me, don't follow me. I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush. Collar me, don't collar me!

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADFJGENj92E Harborcoat]]", from 1984's ''Reckoning''. Great album opener, and truly underrated overall.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WESAoBjPEM A Month of Saturdays]]", "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpwd1YLgDaM We All Go Back to Where We Belong]]", and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgjRABK9lgU Hallelujah]]", the last three songs on their ''Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011'' compilation album, and the last three songs they recorded together before their breakup.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4VfQBDoX6E This unbelievable performance of "Country Feedback"]] from the Bridge School fundraiser concert in '98. That's Music/NeilYoung behind him.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK0ORP8Zm9s "Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)"]]. The vocal part of the song has a great groove to it, but wait until 4:24. If you're familiar with the song, you know what this is getting at...and if you don't, be prepared for an ending that just melts in your ears.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnamP4-M9ko "Soul Sacrifice"]], from freakin' Woodstock. Possibly the best drum solo ''ever'', and by a 19 year old kid. Check out 3:48 especially.
** Try not to enjoy this 1-2 punch of Clapton and Santana, known as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryR9riRqNC0 "The Calling"]].

*** ''Everybody'' has heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkWHzP4XLDw "The Game of Love"]]. It's one of Carlos' most popular songs for a reason; it's uplifting and can easily put you in a good mood.
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXUi1v-Q4I8 America]] is Santana's take on heavy metal, backed by none other than Music/{{POD}}, and it ''will'' get you banging your head. And that fucking ''solo''.
*** His collaboration with Macy Gray, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sde-wveFriM Amore (Sexo)]], is just ''begging'' to be played at a beach party.
*** The opera song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_LFhcVLYSQ Novus]] is something that really shouldn't work, but somehow ''does''. Doubles as a TearJerker. Carlos couldn't have picked a better song to close out the album.
*** The instrumental [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmlgeXY-0g Victory Is Won]] is ''incredible''.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFjC4oIwKpA "Into the Night"]] is absolutely infectious. With [[Music/{{Nickelback}} Chad Kroeger]] on vocals, no less. (It's SugarWiki/BetterThanItSounds.)

** Both [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq_tQPnp8nw Devil Running]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDabD-HOccw Mist]] are pretty good too.

** "Reluctantly crouched, at the starting line/Engines pumping, and thumping in time... HE'S GOING [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_HoMkkRHv8 THE DISTANCE]]!" *riff*
** Their cover of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMPrpG09u90 "War Pigs"]].
** Their cover of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BStgfLhN-wA "I Will Survive"]]. I Will Survive, sung in that funky, halting Cake style, with trumpet solos, and a few lyrical tweaks, the most badass of which being,

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgJJ4quoCZ4 Have a look at what Turner Classic Movies did with this version.]]

* Music/NeilYoung. Dude's entire carrier is one great, big, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdiCJUysIT0 "Rockin' in the Free World"]] CMOA.
* A bit indie, but nevertheless serious SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_exh76zsfak "Headlights Look Like Diamonds"]] by Music/ArcadeFire. Like all the painful joy and joyous pain in the world condensed into a song. Catch them in a smaller venue singing balls out and the glory of the thing hits you in the face like a ton of bricks.
** If that doesn't get you, try [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNfWC4Sgkcs "Rebellion (Lies)"]].
** As well as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zdNdjF-htY "Wake Up"]].
*** Furthermore: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-wEBmLht5g "Wake Up"]] WITH DAVID EFFING BOWIE.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wq917ucGaE "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)"]].
** What about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH_7_XRfTMs "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"]]?

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHHLISaLe44 "The Suburbs"]] is just an amazingly melancholic song.
** And so is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P77GfpzqDvQ "No Cars Go".]]
* Another indie CMOA: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hxTwwhdMFw "Light and Day"]] by the Polyphonic Spree.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K57szVmdVac The live performance of "Maps"]] by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the MTV Music Awards, especially when they hit that last note.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QqVt7UAEqk "Flowers"]] by Music/{{Hurt}}.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGlhTotwaeM "Fighting Tao"]]. Also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-NLa1K7Dj8 "Rapture"]]. And if we need something from ''Vol. II'', how about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqTaws60EH0 "Summers Lost"]]?
* What's that you say? [[MundaneMadeAwesome Acoustic instrumental post-rock isn't awesome?]] Do Make Say Think says otherwise, creating goose-bump inducingly beautiful songs. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYRwE9HPgpM "A Tender History in Rust"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx2LYaHNlWk "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6XIKCmZw44 "In Mind"]] are amazing.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb5h6z4NCqA "Khe Sanh"]]. Whenever an Australian radio station does a "greatest songs of all time" countdown, it's guaranteed to be at least in the top 5, and probably number one.
* Music/{{Chicago}}'s early years, particularly ''The Chicago Transit Authority'' (their first album) and ''Chicago (II)''. These guys brought together blues-rock, jazz, and the early prog-rock movement together into one big package (literally; their first three studio outputs were all double albums, and the Carnegie Hall release was four vinyls long). Need to be convinced that Chicago had more than one good rocking song besides "25 or 6 to 4"? Try these: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psHpgomSisg "Poem 58"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lghDG9vYfRQ "South California Purples"]], an early live version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeOwFyxZNoI "It Better End Soon"]] (the studio version is even better), and from the same concert, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BZxa0P_BR4 "Introduction"]].
** Also consider [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-wHixgp2RE "Feelin' Stronger Everyday"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YildA2nBE8c "Saturday in the Park"]]. Those songs ''always'' make for good moods.
** How about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcuE_Qzj9aY this version of "25 or 6 to 4"]], performed live with Earth, Wind & Fire? The best part about that song is how meta it is. It's not about drugs, or gambling, or any of the other random interpretations. It's about... writing "25 or 6 to 4". The title refers to how the band had writer's block early in the morning.
* Possibly Oscar did a cover of "Dead Again". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaPeDWPr-e4 There were no survivors.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwKw6BsrlZM "Twilight Zone"]]. Three words: Epic Bass Riff.

* Try sitting still while Farin Urlaub of Die Ärzte fame performs [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mHWv7QpIWI "Zehn"]]. "I want to see you jump" indeed. Also, Bonus points for the female drummer and guitarists.
** Similarly, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzZTEQZ_cBQ "Unrockbar"]] (un-rockable) by Die Ärzte is a song about his rock-hating girlfriend. The last third deserves special mention for being objectively epic.
* "Break Me Down" by Red. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqHRcGBUvzA As AMV'ed here]].

* Music/{{Buckethead}}. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTcg9JybEp8 "Jordan"]] is a classic, as are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeEFgVCC1w8 "Nottingham Lace"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgmf0iSWflA "King James"]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adV8-_hgL4g "Soothsayer"]] can be both this and a TearJerker at the same time. There's just something about listening to someone with a near-complete mastery of the guitar that's incredible - even if said person is an insanely creepy, impossibly tall man with a KFC bucket on his head.
* Gogol Bordello. Unusual and gimmicky, but their music is more loud and energetic than possibly anything else in the world. Also, they have an impossibly cool-looking fiddle. For example, "Mishto!" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMtYzF9b6hA Here's]] a live performance.

** Pure happiness streaming from speakers. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM1Ahn0Osjo "Start Wearing Purple"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkwHcIQ3m-E "Not a Crime"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi9yVjurZjc "Baro Foro"]], which includes fiddle-induced orgasming.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elyQ4ShVw-Y "Wonderlust King"]]. Try not to turn it up when the chorus kicks in. "'''''BUT I'M A WONDERLUST KING'''''!!!"
* Heading Mary My Hope's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFufY0_w6-c "Communion"]] ''once'' will make you buy the entire album. It's just that good.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBcDoZnN8ac "The Hounds"]], an epic VillainSong, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUpIg9ZFsd4 "The Stand"]], another epic VillainSong and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R8MkEsgf-I "Keep Quiet"]], the only song to beat up assassin robots too.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpSHC1dqX1o LIGHT UP THE NIGHT!]]
** Let's face it, pretty much every song they've put out count, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP2NePWJ2pQ "The Good Doctor"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72dNF9LEhDE "The State Vs. Thomas Light"]] ''deserve'' mention. That's raw emotion there, ladies and gentlemen.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncVTPuU7CBY "Breaking Out"]]. The ultimate LaResistance theme.

** Their versatility is just stunning. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ousFDjPrh58 Here's]] a good example. Have you ever heard a Zeppelin cover rock so hard and sound so joyous? As an added bonus, that song that they segue into at the end - one of their originals called "Tweezer Reprise" - is in a completely different key than they normally play it in (E instead of D). They never rehearsed that or anything. It just ''happened''.
** Trey Anastasio is just a stunning guitarist. Check out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7jpd4dSyls him sitting in with Dave Matthews Band]]. There has never been a finer long-form guitar solo.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSdQ3Ze2VOM= "What it is"]] is the perfect combination of rhythm, lyrics, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5JkHBC5lDs storytelling]] that will capture the hearts of everyone and anyone that listens to them.

* [[Music/TheSmiths Morrissey's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMefojdIL4Q "Jack the Ripper"]], which more makes up for every bad or mediocre song that he's ever written, and is so objectively awesome that even people who hate Morrissey have to admit that it's good.
* My Dying Bride. If [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQJUUDsfRek "The Cry Of Mankind"]] is not awesome enough, there's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaI7eBa5430 opening song]] of the 2004 album ''Songs Of Darkness'', "Words Of Light". They even did an ''awesome'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bVO5DduK98 Portishead cover]] (and the Youtube video is a Tim Burton-esque uncanny / [[NightmareFuel horrifying]]/Narm clip).

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlkx_cIqtE "Rebels of the Sacred Heart"]]. While definitely not their best song, it deserves a CMOA for the first chorus. "Oh yeah, some psuedo-protest song, nice flute playing, but it's not really pun-WOAH WHAT THE FUCK AWESOME!"

* Hoobastank's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdW9pU_S09w "Born to Lead"]] should be on here. Quite a driving, heart pumping song for those of us who love a good positive song we seem to be lacking nowadays. The music video is also fairly trippy and cool as well.

* Even haters of Music/MyChemicalRomance love [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqUJ8nB18sQ "Welcome to the Black Parade"]]. It's just... listen to it. Read the lyrics, too. And don't get discouraged by the slow opening or the band it's by. Looks can be deceiving.

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXAujry_DSM "House of Wolves"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGEf8NoD2wE "Mother"]]
*** The B-sides from ''The Black Parade'' are pretty good too: the absurdly catchy "Where Is My Mind?" soundalike [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfqZ7suQ0_I "Kill All Your Friends"]] and slightly epic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apktvOsFxaY "Heaven Help Us"]].

** Their single [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egG7fiE89IU "Na Na Na"]] counts as this too, and not only because that's Creator/GrantMorrison at the beginning there.
** Holy ''crap'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3L6T0dfHa0 "Vampire Money"]] has to be the catchiest TakeThat to ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' EVER.

** From ''Danger Days'', special mention must go to: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4xq9_9QKJY "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W"]] for being a NightmareFuel MindScrew, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBBDuIpct5o "Planetary (GO!)"]] for having the most romantic line ''ever''. ''"Let's ruin EVERYTHING!"''

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EQAOmJrbw Teenagers, my good sir.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3TACZW6aig "The Sharpest Lives"]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN1ec9sBp8U "Astro and Mary"]] is definitely worth a listen. Great lyrics, great voice and a sweet guitar solo.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqh54rSzheg "Sunshine Of Your Love"]] starts with an instantly memorable guitar/bass riff and just gets better from there.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdwVVI4B3oY "Crossroads"]], which contains one of the most awesome guitar solos of all time by Music/EricClapton.

** Another GBS example- "Gallows Pole", specifically [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s1r_ksv2Qk the performance]] at the 2009 Junos. Sean [=McCann=] was singing this with a lung infection.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EBMo8xHGNs "Vehicle"]] by Ides of March.

** Another brilliant Australian group: Dead Letter Circus. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2GAW87Jmw0 They]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBPqjkle6U8 epitomize]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnrvBHDZjzE the term]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdmnMlWokRs "epic",]] and they've only released one album and two extended plays so far!
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9bxbq9A9ls "Field of Daggers"]] by House of Heroes. The title may sound like a ''Naruto'' attack, but just wait until the song gets to 1:06, at which point the epic begins.
* "Telstar", originally by the Tornados, is almost an anthem to human achievement. It has an extensive CoverVersion record for that reason. Here's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9rJTZbJ8ks the Shadows's version]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysSxxIqKNN0 "New Divide", good sir]]. "New Divide". Possibly one of the best music videos ever.
** The whole Jay-Z mashup album was genius, but especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Op6v6nJ9_8 "Numb/Encore"]]. ''Far'' better than the sum of its parts. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypdvapjgmdc This remix]] also counts, replacing most of Jay-Z's Encore with parts from Eminem's song of the same name.
** Props to Mike for turning [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd9OhYroLN0 this Grammy-winning turd]] into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqLdbQWd8Wk this jaw-dropping piece of excellence]]. That and the entire band reworking [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP2OKqTc04o "High Voltage"]] into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAcPHtgN9TY one of the most cataclysmic b-sides in recent memory]].
*** ''Reanimation'' is an entire Album of Awesome. Even people who hated ''Hybrid Theory'' or hate Linkin Park in general would find themselves drawn to ''Reanimation'', because of the quality of the music. To name two songs off the top of my head, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDleM19_RtE "P5hng Me A* wy"]] (which is definitely better than the original, and is the version they perform live) and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU8vCyf8pyQ "1Stp Klosr"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-EmcOli28U "The Little Things Give You Away"]]. Over 6 minutes (!) of distilled awesome. Doubles as FridgeHorror and a TearJerker when you realize the song is about Hurricane Katrina. It isn't difficult to figure out, but it hits hard.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51iquRYKPbs "The Catalyst"]]. That ending is auditory bliss in its purest form.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoRqeYgAGuI "Don't Stay"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYiIBCN9ec "Iridescent"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh_YCSW5lPc "Burning In The Skies"]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpf1-VUyOa4 "Awaking the Centuries"]] and arguably any other song by Haggard.
** Richard Thompson. Elvis Costello. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJKnk09YuQU "Shoot Out The Lights"]].

* The live version of Music/TheSmashingPumpkins song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6LQvDbCRH8 "silverfuck"]] is made of this trope. With a "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" tease, an extended middle section and the ending which usually detoriates in to mess of feedback makes it a prime example of this trope!

** "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4blSrZvPhU set to the theatrical trailer for Watchmen]]. Just watch it.
** Probably the most unexpected example is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoaZ3PAHjmg Quasar]], which opens the first album in years that just about all Pumpkin fans can agree is pretty great. And it's not even the best song on it.

* Music/ChuckBerry's "Johnny B. Goode." Good luck finding an individual song, other than ''maybe'' "Like a Rolling Stone," with a greater influence than this one, which apparently convinced Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} to get serious, was the subject of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TAlVQgtkuM one of the earliest Beatles demos]], and practically invented the EpicRiff and RockstarSong as we know them. Go, Johnny, go.
* Music/{{Weezer}}. Say what you will about them now, but they have had so many good songs, including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENXvZ9YRjbo "Undone - The Sweater Song",]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHQqqM5sr7g "Island in the Sun",]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3zgYW_FAM "Say It Ain't So",]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9BGLtqqkVI "Hash Pipe".]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPZCGleqh7M "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived"]] is made of awesome.

** And of course, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnXOSxka1Q "Bad"]] at Live Aid, which epically coincides with a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. Seriously, the whole thing feels like it's ripped out of a movie.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM4vblG6BVQ This song is NOT a rebel song. This song is Sunday Bloody Sunday.]] Especially [[http://youtu.be/gGTbAa-7GTM the version on the Rattle & Hum film]], recorded at a concert on the night of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day_bombing Enniskillen remembrance day bombing]]. The anguish and desperation is obvious, certainly a tearjearker...

* Andrew WK's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WccfbPQNMbg "Party Hard"]].

* Chiodos' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3blK9KpDmw "The Undertaker's Thirst for Revenge is Unquenchable"]]. Emo never sounded this epic before.
* Then there is Music/VelvetUnderground. Their level of influence could very well be on the same level as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, acting as the leaders of the proto-punk movement of the late 60s/early 70s and taking rock music to new, artistic heights. Some of their most famous songs include [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rkVQgX6mC8 "Venus in Furs"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffr0opfm6I4 "Heroin"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ckXALWn1M "White Light/White Heat"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOmZimH00oo "I'm Waiting for the Man"]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nir4BnNIFmg "Pale Blue Eyes."]]

* Everything and anything by INXS. It's no wonder the death of Michael Hutchence is regarded a national tragedy in Australia. Which song is most awesome? Take your pick: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkLL7JdnIk0 "Need You Tonight"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imr8GLO9uNQ "Never Tear Us Apart"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSME53nL8tg "What You Need"]], or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FRI5Eatbas "Suicide Blonde"]], to name but a few.

* Music/DuranDuran. From [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1N19zOBKCE "Careless Memories"]] to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjdmZUevIbI "Hold Back the Rain"]] to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6p5Q6_JBes "Union of the Snake"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFQhkluZOn4 "Hold Me"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn0D1RfBrrw "I Don't Want Your Love"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPuctyYSLFA "First Impression"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kn5cLZIaDc "Love Voodoo"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg9NEZbzUfY "Big Bang Generation"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9wfBHdxEi8 "Playing With Uranium"]], and quintessentially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3W6yf6c-FA "Rio"]]... and that's not even scratching the surface! Almost their entire CAREER is SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.

** Elvis' ''other'' CMOA can be found on his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSSNCJRBrRY '68 Comeback Special]]. Elvis is playing the ''lead'' guitar, too.

* Music/{{Incubus}} had a hit in 2001 with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgT9zGkiLig "Drive"]], an acoustic rock song with inspirational lyrics about embracing new experiences, good or bad, and deciding for yourself what to make of them.
* A lot of songs by the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers. To name one, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnfyjwChuNU "By The Way"]], which has the most [[EpicRiff epic]] bass riff ever.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPTBq18shxo "Venice Queen"]] doesn't get nearly enough love.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KJ5S-ruX9U "Don't Forget Me".]]

* This is an obscure one, but it is one gem worth tracking down; the ''Artists United Against Apartheid'' project. It was one of the gazillion "mass-supergroup charity albums" from the '80s-- THIS one, though, was an anti-apartheid album, specifically targeting the "Sun City" resort in Johannesburg. There's one hell of a cast on board -- Little Steven started it, so he got Bruce Springsteen in easily; but he also got Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, Joey Ramone, Eddie Ruffin (from the Temptations), Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Ruben Blades, Peter Gabriel, Nona Hendryx, Bonnie Raitt, Miles Davis, Gil-Scott Heron, Herbie Hancock...the video for the main song was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlMdYpnVOGQ pretty kick-ass]] and gives an idea of the scope of artists. The album also has Bono's original SOLO version of U2's "Silver And Gold". The original features just Bono singing, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood on guitar and slide guitar, and some random studio hand whanging on a cardboard box for the "percussion."
* DC Talk started out as a Christian hip-hop group, but they eventually switched to rock and became seriously awesome. Their musical style was very similar to that of Music/TheBeatles, but their songs conveyed a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbB0QrBIs9k completely]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVlod4SdLD8 different]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnHVQl3faVs message.]] While they were much better after the switch, their transitional album, ''Free at Last'', is all quite interesting.

* Say what you want about the rest of Music/PhilCollins' music, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkADj0TPrJA "In The Air Tonight"]] is awesome in song form. And if that's not good enough for you, check out the Ben Liebrand remix!
** Also, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY353c6y48Q "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven"]]. So. Very. CATCHY.

* Harry Chapin. In the interest of not running favourites all the way down the page, just one: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWKpblxejWE "Sniper"]]. Pure lyrical brilliance with a soundtrack to match.

* The Pretty Things may have been largely forgotten, but their 1970 album ''Parachute'' contains [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilbzf9VYT3k "Grass"]], one of the most beautiful rock songs ever.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tgWkItPGd4 "Don't Talk In Your Sleep"]] by the Magik Markers. Quite simply the most seething, visceral, and powerfully feminine song ever recorded. The pulsing, repetitive melody, scatterbrained drums, knife-sharp hiccups of funk guitar, all slathered in a terrifyingly emotionless warning. The chorus alone speaks volumes.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsV-rQ23bus "Goodbye Stranger"]] is really awesome, especially the ending solo.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfBY96qxVRQ Cosmic Love]]. With powerful, ethereal lyrics, a pounding instrumental, and truly fantastic singing, it becomes a small opera, evoking more than one kind of emotion with every verse.
** The follow-up, ''Ceremonials'', sounds quite different from the previous album, but no less amazing. Standouts include the haunting "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am6rArVPip8 What the Water Gave Me]]" and the upbeat "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC-_lVzdiFE Spectrum]]", perhaps the straightest love song the group has done.
* Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, kids. An absolute rock GODDESS with some of the best pipes ever. And the band is killer too. Their entire albums constitute this trope start to finish. But if you're looking for particular examples, "Apologies", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NzXz4B2h98 "Sweet Hands"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHlhOgQ36m8 "Paris"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S667cxL1ML0 "Ah Mary"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1xwfF5q4ak "Mastermind"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1PpRwRsDZc "Medicine"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma9lzcUe2Zg "Tiny Light"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrGObBbsCk8 "Oasis"]]...on and on it goes.
%%* Music/BobSeger had such amazing hits as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70McARIKuw "Old Time Rock and Roll"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zunyXjzJLp0 "Hollywood Nights"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1tstiCxybQ "Main Street"]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3khH9ih2XJg "Turn The Page"]] more than trumps them all.
%%* Music/{{Ween}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YlExaL57QI "Buckingham Green".]]

* Music/{{Swans}}, as a group, period. Often goes hand-in-hand with NightmareFuel, but still: The only singular words appropriate to describing something like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz--mUSi36M "Helpless Child"]] are "epic" and "awesome" in their original senses.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtbh6CRua_U "The Power]] [[ThePowerOfLove of Love"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrdUD5JV_rM "Why Bother?" by Weezer]]
** Even ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pvjgBn4m4k The Legend of Zelda!]]''
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S50ovRMxqtw Can you say "DragonROLL with Mario on top"?!]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cw1ng75KP0 "Alone"]] is probably one of the best power ballads released. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cw1ng75KP0 See for yourself.]] Two other nominations are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkIhyJ-f590 One Republic's All The Right Moves (DANGER Remix)]] and the candlelight remix of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLCUoUUBuk DJ Sammy's Heaven]]. Be warned though, it is a TearJerker.

** There's also "Heart" and "You", both of which can be considered TearJerker songs. Oh, and you think she doesn't have power in her voice? Get a load of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWH0m3FUjdA "Victory"]]! There are female singers and then there's Taylor Momsen!
* Before Music/{{Nightwish|Band}} covered it, there was Gary Moore's version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlZvGW-CWUw "Over the Hills and Far Away"]], a truly epic song.

* Bruce Cockburn's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02J_kPincA "If I Had a Rocket Launcher"]]. Inspired by his visit to Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that [[BananaRepublic were being attacked by Guatemalan helicopters on a regular basis]], this is one song in which a [[PrecisionFStrike Precision B Strike]] is more than deserved.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgV6VUinDEA "Citizen/Soldier"]]. The true SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome lies in the fact that it's a tribute to the [[HomeGuard U.S. National Guard]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPU8OAjjS4k "Kryptonite"]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh3qy4dShLk "Chillout"]] by Youth of Britain. A song that does the exact opposite of its title, it is made three times as awesome by its [[CuteKitten music]] [[BadassBiker video]].
* Alternative rock band Ludo are so awesome. Their defining song may well be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkJ2ru68Cx8 "Save Our City"]], a song about one of the last cities on earth being attacked by zombies. They also have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRCDmHwlEQ "Good Will Hunting By Myself"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XH3oMNKApI "Love Me Dead"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUw-V0GPvQU "Whipped Cream"]].
* Music/TheZombies' 1968 album ''Odessey and Oracle''. Only "Time of the Season" was ever a hit, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afrdo2qneoI "Care Of Cell 44"]] (an oddly cheery love letter to a convicted criminal), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOIXARpyetk "A Rose For Emily"]] (a piano elegy for a spinster who dies alone), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2-bBSy8u9o "Brief Candles"]] (a breakup song that's actually about getting over it instead of wallowing), and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utk2pEbOUbo "Hung Up On A Dream"]] (despite the psychedelic Mellotron, possibly the most beautiful anti-drug song ever) all deserve to be more famous.

* The Doobie Brothers bring us [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbXlLUUbX8U "Long Train Runnin'"]]. It's epic for an acoustic song, and you'll be hearing it for days.
* Music/TheHoosiers' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCOIjvWFFo8 "Choices"]] is quite frankly one of the most incredible songs in its simplicity.
** The heartbreaking but strangely catchy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hewEMQUIuU "A Sadness Runs Through Him"]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvAoVV33Mg4 "Where]] [[EpicInstrumentalOpener Butter]][[GriefSong flies]] [[HeartrendingInHindsight Never]] [[TearJerker Die."]] Never heard of it? If not, don't worry, you aren't alone. Broken Iris's only [[ConceptAlbum album,]] ''The Eyes of Tomorrow'', is a masterpiece of [[HeroicBSOD anguish]] and [[GriefSong grief]], showing the progression of a troubled relationship ending in tragedy that continues into [[GoMadFromTheIsolation unst]][[GoMadFromTheRevelation able]] [[LoveMakesYouCrazy insanity.]]

* Music/FosterThePeople, anyone? They're masters of catchy melodies and dark lyrics; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nt4Lujk9NE "Warrant"]] is a triumph, from the soaring angelic beginning to the foot-tapping chorus to the garbled verse at the end.

* Music/JetBlackStare [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWX2ORLTuSw "Ready To Roll"]]. WARNING: this song is so awesomely catchy that you should not under any circumstances listen to it while driving.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrrch43CweU "Glad All Over"]] by the Dave Clark Five. One of the early British Invasion hits, it's not just catchy, but ''awesome.''
* Bon Jovi's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2u5uUu3DE "It's My Life"]].

* Music/KidRock: "All Summer Long" is the PERFECT song for driving along during a warm summer day, while "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glb2U6y-GdU Cowboy]]" is just 10 levels of badass.
* Orianthi's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZOQVbNjUVM "According To You"]]. Just listen to that solo!

** If you think [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HWPCa5yRRE "Oh Jungleland"]] is a good song, just listen to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ-1YnlszMY 12-inch version!]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot5lObb4YDs "Glittering Prize"]] is particularly uplifting. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRr1HHRnXfk live version]] from the B-side of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0y69CTkMAY "Promised You a Miracle"]] single (''Live in the City of Light''), might be even better

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu-xFvLaE68 I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems grow...]]
* Girls' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIrjFnnit5A "Jamie Marie"]]. The song is a heartfelt acoustic guitar track, up until the very end, where the drums kick in and the rest is an epic organ solo.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7tpz1juyM "Jojo's Jacket"]]. So awesome..

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH0gnwtSEGI "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns"]] by Mother Love Bone. EpicRocking at its finest.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHhKnc0XZrs live version]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K8SYmWjV6w "Whipping Post"]]. The "At Fillmore East" live album version is 23 minutes long and manages to be gorgeous and heartbreaking every step of the way. Plus EPIC GUITAR.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k6r4yG6NIM "Fall Down"]] by Toad The Wet Sprocket.
* The wailing vocals and incredible medley of space rock makes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG6DEW-PQMA M4 Part II]] is the [=CMoA=] for a band all about epic space rock.

* The Pixies' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTQmClWe5N4 "Gigantic"]]. Incredibly breathtaking, especially at the moment when the guitars kick in after the second chorus.
* Anastacia & Ben Moody: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKCccyZvtIo "Everything Burns"]]. The theme song to every WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds ever.
* Celldweller's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JKC43hNB-U "Own Little World"]] is a rock song about ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve. There's an entire CD of nothing but remixes of the song. In particular [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R57_xDfnjQ The Remorse Code Remix]] stands out as pure awesome.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSxrwosAs-k KEEP DANCIN' IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD SHE SAID OH BABY IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD, C'MON BABY IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD SHE SAID SMILE TO THE END OF THE WORLD!]]

%%* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GePsvwfi7wA "Young Lions"]] by the Constantines, anyone?
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtDWPN4s8Vo "Starblood"]] by Cranes. A creepy broken little girl voice against epic, tribal drumming, and then when it reaches the chorus? Epic wall of guitars, and even more epic drumming. Just, wow.

* Matthew Good. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpeNL8oPaGI This]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPaw6FN8Vj4 this]] are two in a massive flock of awesome songs that are, well. Awesome.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOBb13yDnzo "The '59 Sound"]] by Music/TheGaslightAnthem, which is a goodbye to a friend of theirs who'd passed away. Ever since the early 90s, many have wondered who if anyone would be the rightful heir to Bruce Springsteen. We now have a definite answer.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oST77VRHXt0 "45"]] is a catchy, punchy song with a clever music metaphor.
* Ludo's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkJ2ru68Cx8 "Save Our City"]] is about a zombie apocalypse and is part of a rock opera from the CD ''Broken Bride''. They have incredibly hilarious songs like "Girls on Trampolines", "Good Will Hunting by Myself."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA_qIycirRA "Under a Vast/Boundless Sky"]] by Beyond. There're reasons they're legends of Cantopop, and this is one of them.
%%* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rOMGIbY-9s "Journey of the Sorcerer"]] by Music/TheEagles, better known as the theme to Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy.
%%** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyy4yaVwsv0 Hotel]] [[HellHotel California]] is a rock classic for good reasons.
* The absolutely beautiful [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8G-cEMUFAw "Buried Alive By Love"]] (Deliverance version) by HIM.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmoYuMOnX_U "Conquistador" ]]. Procol Harum. A SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA playing with Procol Harum.
* Jukebox the Ghost, an indie rock band from Washington, D.C., kicks butt on the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1whUHF7eVE Somebody]]". The problem is, you may find yourself singing it randomly.
%%* Music/MelissaEtheridge's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC8FfGvCFho Angels Would Fall]]".
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra_%28American_band%29 Ra]]. Their music has a very distinct Egyptian-inspired tune, alongside some amazing rock melodies; IT. IS. AWESOME. ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9vBcn2DyPU Sky]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpcEed5ZKNk Don't Turn Away]]'', and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssQC3uiyv0 Running Blind]]'' are great examples.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vq_WDf6NT0 Youth Of The Nation]] by P.O.D., which was written as a result of two school shootings, one of which being the Columbine shooting. Very powerful and moving.

* Avenged Sevenfold gave us [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIRNdveLnJI "Afterlife",]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHS3qJdxefY "Bat Country",]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUkoL9RE72o "Seize the Day",]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNZwMG_QUGs "Fiction"]].
** The song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL7lEe36MYs "A Little Piece of Heaven".]] It is an epic song of Operatic porportions.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zci2ilhf4UE "Now your Nightmare comes to life!"]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPpLVdbVXFI Blinded in Chains.]] Many a gamer in the mid-2000s recalls this from their ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted'' days.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz3HShQkdd4 One Country]] is in a class by itself. It can send the listener into an ecstatic trance.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E HOW DO WE SLEEP WHEN OUR BEDS ARE BURNING?!]]

* Music/{{Sodagreen}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z72ReHQMuQY The Last One in Your Heart]]. The arrangement pulsates with magic and the ethereal vocals soar beautifully.

* Music/TheCab has "Angel with a Shotgun" which ''begins'' with a rather epic chorus and only gets better from there. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA_ONzF9Xz4 Unofficial video]]. The bridge where the chorus returns only ups the awesomeness.
* Music/MyBloodyValentine. In particular, their second album, ''Loveless''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chaYm2TqfHM "To Here Knows When"]] is without question one of the most ethereal songs ever recorded.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc9S9qfL7Ts "Juicebox".]]

* The Arrows' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHg0uRAyVs I Love Rock n' Roll]] [[CoveredUp as made famous by the cover by]] Music/JoanJett is that rock anthem that you know the words to even if you don't think you do.

** ''The Crossing'' is made of awesome. From the opener [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RJyuLs0EgQ "In A Big Country"]] to the [[EpicRocking epic]] closer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMXodwZnrqY "Porrohman"]].
** This list would be incomplete without mention of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT255v-evw8 "Fields Of Fire"]], which is perhaps their best-known song. {{Epic Riff}}s abound.

** This extract from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0NpHoqn-nk "Restless Natives"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vWOBhJ4rWI "Just A Shadow"]], which has a fantastic ending.
** Even their [[BSide B-sides]] are awesome. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxUZFpFUepI "Angle Park"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u86nd96lrr4 "All Of Us"]] are two particularly great examples.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9ZdrzTTang "To the dream that fires the furnace, give all your heart and soul!"]]. What a fantastic chorus.
* And speaking of Scottish rock bands, we also have Music/BiffyClyro, who are known for making big, awesome music. Case in point: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Evn9MiIuqM "The Captain"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxUb9Yzr1sE "Bubbles"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pDSZw6UmCg "That Golden Rule"]] are two explosive songs with even more explosive endings.
** The thunderous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myc_RViTHhY "Black Chandelier"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSATJGgaoqs "Stingin' Belle"]]. [[EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes Everything is indeed Louder With Bagpipes]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8kuWH7sjFo "I'm a fire and I'll burn, burn, burn tonight..."]]
** The album version of "Glitter and Trauma". The track starts off with a weird, slightly creepy techno beat, which doesn't sound like Biffy Clyro at all. The come the drums. Then the guitar. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcwN92_7D3U Then the song]].
* {{Music/Evanescence}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anLPw0Efmo My Immortal (band version)]] will remind you of why they were successful. That piano, those vocals, the bridge leading into the band joining in.

** "Fell In Love With A Girl" and its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTH71AAxXmM LEGO music video]].
* 30 Seconds to Mars has the GORGEOUS Jared Leto, and most of their songs (especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTMrlHHVx8A "Kings and Queens"]], as well as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLqHDhF-O28 "Closer to the Edge"]]) just SCREAM triumph.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmOIDAa3Dy0 "Stranger In A Strange Land"]].
** "A warning to the people/the good and the evil/[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyAm8YhL1Wo this is war]]"

* Ozomatli, probably the most L.A. of all the L.A. bands. They combine Latin music, hip-hop, and rock into songs like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9rbpybXfa8 Saturday Night]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xMr8VaMUfk Believe]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULL7apmAJTE The epic guitar riffs]] from the first 28 seconds of the Raspberries' "Go All the Way".
* Music/{{Badfinger}}. A staple of PowerPop, the band recorded some awesome tracks, not least of which is a little number called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UvqPC6wgR "Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch/Should I Smoke".]] The guitar solo at the end is simply ''mesmerising''.
* Music/ThinLizzy's most famous work internationally may be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQo1HIcSVtg The Boys Are Back in Town]] or their rendition of folk staple [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyQ-tScuzwM Whiskey in the Jar]]. But for grand romantic themes and gorgeous instrumentals, it's hard to top their 1979 patriotic ballad [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjjpBb9q1PA Róisín Dubh]].
* Music/FleetwoodMac's discography is full of them, but special mention goes to and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJh0TogkAFM "My Heart Beat Like A Hammer" from the debut album]] for its [[EpicRiff awesome blues riff]] and the powerful vocals by Green, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z2E37iNV0w "Monday Morning"]], for how it introduced the Pop Era of Fleetwood to the masses with a soaring vocal delivery and awesome guitar work from Buckingham, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_aYibUx1B8 and "Rhiannon"]], one of their most iconic songs due to Nicks' beautiful delivery and [[EpicRiff Buckingham's guitar work]], from the second self-titled, all of ''[[https://open.spotify.com/album/3nuRoTy7gi52Z4C0negdw1 Rumours]]'', with special mention to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcawnRIyeok "The Chain",]] especially the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcawnRIyeok#t=184s section near the end]] that will be familiar to any [[UsefulNotes/FormulaOne fans of Formula One]] for its blend of [[EpicRiff an epic bassline and an awesome guitar solo]], and [[SerialEscalation all of]] ''[[https://open.spotify.com/album/5FIN8pyPVx8ggNs5jQ86Re Tusk]]'', with special mention to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7U7XtYeq8c the title track]], with the [[EverythingIsAnInstrument use of Kleenex boxes and hitting meat with spatulas in the tribal-inspired drumming]] and the USC Trojan Marching Band's stunning performance that kicks in during the chorus being the major highlights.

%%* You can always count on Music/PattiSmith for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPwOfwhpiW8 wildly cosmic visions]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxygqSTO1lQ stupendous rave-ups]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPR-HyGj2d0 righteous anthems]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH8KCo8IG5A breathtaking hymns]].

* To anyone who doubts that instrumental music rocks, listen to "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65XSHM3jlAY Frankenstein]]" by The Edgar Winter Group. All five minutes of this song are worth it. Nine minutes if you watch [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8f-Qb-bwlU this version]].

%%* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKJDAVvs_JA I AM A REAL AMERICAN! FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF EVERY MAN! I AM A REAL AMERICAN! FIGHT FOR WHAT'S RIGHT, FIGHT FOR YOUR LIIIIIIIIIIIFE!]]
* Music/CreatureFeature's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwqkBG0ulE "The Greatest Show Unearthed"]] is this mixed with NightmareFuel, with the catchy CreepyCircusMusic mixed with GothRock and lyrics inspired by ''Literature/SomethingWickedThisWayComes''. Truly is a great show.
* Music/TheKnack spent their entire career trying to live down the fact that their label tried to market them as a SpiritualSuccessor to Music/TheBeatles, but they got pretty close with 1998's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53CHD7uaJow (All in the) all in all]]", a gorgeously trippy number that recalls the Beatles' "Dear Prudence", or possibly "Real Love" or "Free as a Bird". It even got used in ''Film/DaydreamBelieverTheMonkeesStory'' for a scene where the Monkees meet the Beatles.
* Van Fan's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3HajLSq3EA "What Brings You Here"]] is a good soft rock ballad with an epic hard rock chorus.
* Tsai A-Ga's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55rKnc5rCKo Taiwan is So Awesome]] is so awesome, indeed. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWdLX8p1zMg The cover made for NTNU's camp]] adds a country and acoustic sound into it.

* My Dying Bride. If [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQJUUDsfRek "The Cry Of Mankind"]] is not awesome enough, there's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaI7eBa5430 opening song]] of the 2004 album ''Songs Of Darkness'', "Words Of Light". They even did an ''awesome'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bVO5DduK98 Portishead cover]] (and the Youtube video is a Tim Burton-esque [[UncannyValley uncanny]] / [[NightmareFuel horrifying]]/Narm clip).

* [[Music/FlorenceAndTheMachine Florence + The Machine's]] whole first album ''Lungs''.

* Music/BobSeger had such amazing hits as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70McARIKuw "Old Time Rock and Roll"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zunyXjzJLp0 "Hollywood Nights"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1tstiCxybQ "Main Street"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3khH9ih2XJg "Turn The Page"]] more than trumps them all.
* Music/{{Ween}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YlExaL57QI "Buckingham Green".]]
* [[LoveHate Love/Hate's]] [[http://www.lovehate.com/songs/maryjane.mp3 "Mary Jane"]], [[http://www.lovehate.com/songs/angel.mp3 "She's An Angel"]], and [[http://www.lovehate.com/songs/rockqueen.mp3 "Rock Queen"]] from the album ''Blackout in the Red Room''.

* "Club Foot" by Kasabian. Especially when used as the theme tune for ''Series/TheTake''.

-->Will you still call me {{Superman}}?

* "Club Foot" by Kasabian. Especially when used as the theme tune for the TV adaptation of ''Film/TheTake''.

* "Club Foot" by Kasabian. Especially when used as the theme tune for the TV adaptation of ''TheTake''.

** Even though most people think it's a flop and the band [[CreatorBacklash disowned]] it, "Shiny Happy People" is brilliant.

* Music/ChuckBerry's "Johnny B. Goode." Good luck finding an individual song, other than ''maybe'' "Like a Rolling Stone," with a greater influence than this one, which apparently convinced Music/TheRollingStones to get serious, was the subject of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TAlVQgtkuM one of the earliest Beatles demos]], and practically invented the EpicRiff and RockstarSong as we know them. Go, Johnny, go.

* Music/TheRollingStones. We know, it's only rock and roll, but we like it, we like it, yes we do!

** Even though most people think it's a flop, "Shiny Happy People" is brilliant.

%%** Hell, all of ''Music/{{Aftermath}}'' and ''Music/ExileOnMainSt'' and ''Music/StickyFingers'' and ''Music/BlackAndBlue'' and ''Music/LetItBleed'' and ''Music/BeggarsBanquet'' and ''Music/SomeGirls''.

** ''Music/{{Abraxas}}'', one of the records that really put Music/{{Santana}} on the map, is a whole album of awesome.

* Music/{{Heart|Band}}: "Barracuda".

* Music/{{Heart}}: "Barracuda".

** "Seven Nation Army" from ''Music/{{Elephant}}''. One of the great {{Epic Riff}}s.

** Though it produced no recognizable single hit song, their second studio album ''7800 Degrees Farenheit'' could qualify as one big SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

* Before Music/{{Nightwish}} covered it, there was Gary Moore's version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlZvGW-CWUw "Over the Hills and Far Away"]], a truly epic song.

** Hallelujah", his most famous work. "The Faith", his last song. It's so perfect that once he wrote it, there was nothing more to be said.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVKjlQ0_WWo "Song.]] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments For. A.]] [[TearJerker Friend"]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYwoDL8rDuQ "I'm Yours"]]. It was immensely successful in the U.S. on the Billboard charts. It spent 76 weeks on the Hot 100, breaking the record for most weeks on the chart. It is currently the eighth-best selling digital song of all time in the U.S., selling in excess of 6 million downloads.

** How about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcuE_Qzj9aY this version of "25 or 6 to 4"]], performed live with Earth, Wind & Fire?
*** The best part about that song is how meta it is. It's not about drugs, or gambling, or any of the other random interpretations. It's about... writing "25 or 6 to 4". The title refers to how the band had writer's block early in the morning.

* "Halfway Home" by TV on the Radio. It starts off high, but at the "Is it not me" bridge around 2:00 it takes off into the stratosphere.

* "Rock Around the Clock", by Music/BillHaleyAndHisComets. The song that started Rock and Roll. Its guitar solo, originally played by Danny Cedrone, inspired many future guitarists, including Music./JeffBeck.

* Celldweller's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JKC43hNB-U "Own Little World"]]. It's a rock song about ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.
** There's an entire CD of nothing but remixes of the song. In particular [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R57_xDfnjQ The Remorse Code Remix]] stands out as pure awesome.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GePsvwfi7wA "Young Lions"]] by the Constantines, anyone?

* Speaking of epic drumming, Music/TheNational.
** "Boxer" is THE indie rock masterpiece of the 2000s.

* There's this lovely song out there called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkJ2ru68Cx8 "Save Our City" ]] It's about a zombie apocalypse.
** That song is actually part of a rock opera by a band called Ludo and is from the CD ''Broken Bride''. They have incredibly hilarious songs like "Girls on Trampolines", "Good Will Hunting by Myself."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rOMGIbY-9s "Journey of the Sorcerer"]] by Music/TheEagles, better known as the theme to Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyy4yaVwsv0 Hotel]] [[HellHotel California]] is a rock classic for good reasons.

* Music/MelissaEtheridge's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC8FfGvCFho Angels Would Fall]]".

* Celldweller's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JKC43hNB-U "Own Little World"]]. It's a rock song about ThePowerOfImagination.

* AwesomeMusic/FreeBand

** Their 1985 album ''Music/BrothersInArms'' was the first million-selling CD. It's not hard to see why; there's hardly a weak song on the whole record.

* ''[[Music/{{Smile}} SMiLE]]''. Music/BrianWilson again faces a project which was the source of painful personal issues, had a massive reputation to live up to, was conceived as a studio work but was put together as a live show, and ended up with one of the most acclaimed albums of recent times.

* Yes, Music/TheProtomen are based off of ''VideoGame/MegaMan'', but the music is original and ''extremely'' awesome. Words cannot express how great this band is.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSdQ3Ze2VOM= "What it is"]] is the perfect combination of rhythym, lyrics, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5JkHBC5lDs storytelling]] that will capture the hearts of everyone and anyone that listens to them.

* "Turn! Turn! Turn!" manages to be super-awesome in its simplicity despite being [[TheMoralSubstitute a series]] [[Literature/TheBible of Bible quotations from Ecclesiastes]]. The fact that it was set to music by Pete Seeger in the 1950s (although not released until 1962), a time where Cold War paranoia was gripping much of the world makes its "world peace" subject an anvil [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped that really, really needed to be dropped]].

* Music/ToriAmos, Music/KateBush, and Music/{{Bjork}}, a.k.a. the CrazyAwesome eccentric female musician trio.