The Beatles. If I tried to list their best songs, we'd be here all day. It's nearly impossible to quantify their awesomeness. How can four guys have SO many hits and appeal to SO many people?
"Across the Universe", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Eleanor Rigby", "Tomorrow Never Knows", the entirety of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The entirety of Abbey Road, especially the Side 2 medley. "And in the end, the love you take...is equal to the love you make."
"Helter Skelter", with its killer guitar riffs and blister-inducing drumming.
"Twist and Shout", the infamously throat-shredding single take.
The opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night", the stuttering open to "I Want to Hold Your Hand", the feedback on "I Feel Fine".
Na... na-na nana-nana! HE-EY JUUUUUDE!!
You say you want a revo-LUTION?
"Happiness Is A Warm Gun".
"Let It Be".
"Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play, now I need a place to hide away, oh, I believe in yesterday."
The "one, two, three, FOUR!" at the beginning of "I Saw Her Standing There."
Well, she was just seventeen, you know what I mean...
The fade-in at the beginning of "Eight Days a Week".
"Paperback Writer" and its B-side, "Rain" (which contains some of Ringo's best drumming).
"Hey Bulldog".
The double A-side of "Day Tripper" (with its awesome guitar ostinato) and "We Can Work it Out".
The incredible crescendo of harmonies that opens their cover of "Twist and Shout."
The final piano chord of "A Day In The Life." So powerful.
If you want to talk about Beatles and awesome, for the first week in April of 1964, the band held all five spots on the Billboard charts. This will probably never happen again.
Bob Dylan. Try to find any album that's better than Highway 61 Revisited without resorting to Sgt. Pepper's.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the album that proved he was a musical genius. Even Rolling Stone says "the most optimistic Dylan fans underestimated this album."
How could Queen be mentioned without anyone saying We Will Rock You?. I mean seriously, the beat is probably one of the most easily recognized beats in the country. The *clap clap stomp* is practically a real-life meme.
Listen to Dazed and Confused and tell me you don't think of a Zombie Apocalypse.
When the Hammond organ starts and Robert Plant sings the title of Your Time Is Gonna Come
Cat Stevens. "Father and Son" is the most beautiful song I've ever heard.
Within reason...
And now there's the CD Roadsinger, which is amzing.
Cat definitely qualifies as awesome, if only because his lyrics are so beautiful. I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul. I let my music take me where my heart wants to go.
Sorry, did someone mention the beauty of Cat Stevens without mentioning Moonshadow? Yes I'm being followed by a Moonshadow, moonshadow moonshadow.
Let's not forget Where do the children play? "Will you keep on building higher 'til there's no more room up there?"
"I always flirt with death, I look ill but I don't care about it! I can face your threats and stand up straight and tall and shout about it! I think I'm on another world with you, with you..." Another Girl, Another Planet by the Only Ones. That intro...That guitar solo...The lyrics, hell everything about this song is amazing.
Tom Waits has quite a few amazingly good songs, but his awesomest would have to be "Goin' Out West" and "Hoist That Rag".
His crowning moment has to be "On The Nickel." Who thought a song about Skid Row could be so beautiful?
(adament mode) Nononono — take everything off Tom Waits' album RAIN DOGS. Insert here. That's just getting you STARTED.
You know there ain't no devil, just God when he's drunk!
Nick Cave's double album "Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus" contains a few of these things. "Hiding All Away", "Abattoir Blues", "Carry Me", and "O Children" stand out.
Nick Cave's "Into My Arms" kicks arse like nothing alive.
Not to mention Red Right Hand (from Let Love In), Tupelo (from The Firstborn is Dead) and The Carny (from Your Funeral, My Trial).
Speaking of Nick Cave, Grinderman. The song 'No Pussy Blues' is 4 1/2 minutes of shouting about a mid-life crisis, set to some of the noisiest guitar you'll ever hear.
'Grinderman 2' opens with "Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man," which manages to rock balls-out, and feature some sexy howling.
The Men They Couldn't Hang have a song called "The Ghosts of Cable Street", about the Battle of Cable Street, when a mob of enraged East-Enders beating the tar out of a parade of BlackShirts. The song is appropriately awesome.
The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets' "Power Up" is as kickass as the name demands.
Don't Stop Believing by Journey is so awesome that it's reached the point of parody due to overuse in Sports Venues and the end of The Sopranos. That does not diminish its awesomeness, however.
Separate Ways is another amazing uplifting song by Journey. Listen to it already.
This Troper believes that Don't Look Back in Anger is the best song to have come out of Britain during the nineties.
* cough* Champagne Supernova * cough*
Forms part of the immaculate "-ver" trilogy with the above mentioned Live Forever and the also brilliant Whatever.
Actually, most songs out of Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory? fit. For newer songs, how about "The Shock of the Lightning"?
Falling Down. Just...Falling Down. This song was so awesome it was used at the opening for Eden of the East in JAPAN. Not the U.S opening, the Japanese one. Japan liked this song enough to use it. That's how awesome it is.
Gas Panic! is definitely one of the awesomest songs off of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Southern Rock. While most of its famous songs are awesome, Free Bird, by Lynyrd Skynyrd (Now with 100% more cowbell!), and 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.
Don't forget the Allmans! Whipping Post, Ramblin' Man, Midnight Rider, and the iconic Jessica.
"Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who. Particularly Roger Daltrey's scream, about seven minutes in. You know the one.
Personally, This Troper feels that the Who's entire catalog from 1965 to 1973 qualifies.
Just the scream? Are you forgetting the guitar solo, the organ solo, and arguably the most epic drum solo of all time?
Everyone knows the scream, all thanks to Horatio Caine.
"Baba O'Riley." Beginning, middle, and end. Don't cry, don't raise your eyes, it's only teenage wasteland...
Not to be overlooked is Pete Townshend's demo of the original "Teenage Wasteland" (yes, it had that title at the time), featuring all the lyrics of "Baba O'Riley" and then some...with the first half in that gut-wrenching minor key. Lifehouse was quite the Missed Album of Awesome.
The last part of the song We're Not Gonna Take It, the See Me, Feel Me part when played at Woodstock. After finishing their two hour set, with the epic Rock Opera Tommy coming to the end, Roger Daltrey sings with all the powers he's got at the same time as the sun comes up.
Side 4 of Quadrophenia: "Doctor Jimmy/Is It Me?", "The Rock", "Love, Reign O'er Me". Full stop.
How about we just go with all of Quadrophenia?
The Devil Went Down To Georgia, a song based on the concept of a fiddle duel with Satan himself. (Both the original version and the cover in Guitar Hero 3 count, by the way. Which version you think is more awesome will depend on your personal tastes.)
Riffing off a similar theme is 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.
That and you have David Grohl of the Foo Fighters (and formerly Nirvana) playing the Devil in the music video.
The significant number of parodies of this song should speak for it's awesomeness.
Charlie Daniels collaborated with violinist Mark O'Connor on an official sequel, The Devil Comes Back to Georgia, with Travis Tritt as the Devil and Marty Stuart as Johnny. Adding to the awesome is the narration by Johnny Cash in full preacher-mode. Oh, and final score; Johnny 2, Satan 0
The initial trailer for Sin City sparked a flood of 'what the hell is that awesome music?' comments; it's a song called Cells by The Servant, and many of This Troper's friends were disappointed that it didn't feature in the film.
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.
With that, I present you 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!"
That's actually a Flogging Molly song. It still belongs on this page, mind you.
Speaking of Shane MacGowan, the Dropkick Murphys version of "Spancill Hill" is a definite CMOA, for when you get to that reflective, melancholy phase of drunkenness.
Dead Can Dance's version of Middle-Ages Italian folk song Saltarello.
Their whole career is a CMOA. Lisa's trademark One-Woman Wail and Brendan's playing... I once had sex while playing Spiritchaser on loop. We stopped the CD after the seventh time. It's 67 minutes long. Don't count : that's eight solid hours.
"Invincible" by Pat Benatar may just be the ultimate cure-all for any sad, depressed, or hopeless feeling anyone could conceivably feel. Ever.
The recent cover of this song by Ayria just adds to the awesomeness of this song. It turns it into a "stand-on-a-tank-and-wave-a-revolutionary-flag" anthem...
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.
The Killers have many. Read My Mind is this troper's favorite, but Mr. Brightside was once named the greatest song ever written by a British radio station.
Just to further back up how good Mr Brightside is - at every social occasion this Troper has been to, this song has played all of them out, and everyone, regardless of their musical tastes, knows all the words. That's how big it is, at least over here in the UK.
And then there's this version of Human. A great song, epic visuals, and added thematically relevant lyrics? Awesome.
Don't sell "Born to Run" short, either! Hell, the man made riding a carnival ride sound epic!
Bruce Springsteen's Magic, Radio Nowhere, or Last to Die.
The old stuff is the best. "Born to Run," "Rosalita," "No Surrender," "Born in the USA," "Dancing in the Dark," "Thunder Road." It's like he puts his whole soul into it.
Hey what else can we do now, except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair?
Well, the night's bustin' open these two lanes'll take us anywhere!
We got one last chance to make it real, to trade in these wings on some wheels.
Climb in back, heaven's waiting on down the tracks.
This Troper's a New Yorker, which may give his work on "The Rising" a more weighted meaning; but still, dammit, this bit in "City of Ruins" gets her every time:
Now, with these hands, with these hands
I pray for the faith, Lord
I pray for the strength, Lord
I pray for Your love, Lord —
Come on, Riiiiiiiise up, come on riiiiiiise up....
No discussion about Sprinsteen's awesomeness could go unfinished without discussing his performance of The Ghost of Tom Joad at the 2009 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert, though a good part of it would also go to co-performer Tom Morello's absolutely mind-blowing guitar solo. Watch it here.
Leonard Cohen's 'Everybody Knows'. Quite possibly the single best song ever recorded.
Hell, just Leonard Cohen, period.
Couldn't agree more. "Hallelujah", his most famous work. (Too bad the cover versions failed to notice that the last verse is the emotional climax the whole song is building up to.) "The Faith", his last song. It's so perfect that once he wrote it, there was nothing more to be said.
Frank Zappa's "Over-Nite Sensation" is more than qualified to be on this list. The solos on this album really bring it to CMOA, particularly the ones on "Dirty Love" and the second one on "Fifty-Fifty".
Also, "Billy The Mountain", quite possibly the greatest absurdist rock opera ever. The only way to make it better is to do it a cappella... and here it is. Dweezil even signed off on how awesome it is.
"Bela Lugosi's Dead", by Bauhaus. No, seriously. The parts when he sings "Ooohh, Bela" always raises the hairs of This Troper (note that a horrible song may make you raise your hairs in fear, while a very good one makes you do the very same thing with pleasure. The human body is, indeed, weird).
The Rolling Stones. We know, it's only rock and roll, but we like it, we like it, yes we do!
And, of course, Your Latest Trick. The sax solo 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.
How about Romeo and Juliet? They took one of the most cliched, over-used allusions in history, and they made one of the best, most emotional songs ever written out of it.
I'm Yours. * ("I'm Yours" was immensely successful in the U.S. on the Billboard charts. As of September 3, 2009, it has spent 72 weeks on the Hot 100, breaking the record for most weeks on the chart set by Le Ann Rimes song "How Do I Live" in 1998. It is currently the third best selling digital song of all time in the U.S., selling in excess of 4.4 million downloads. 1).
Damon Albarn. The Good the Bad and the Queen, and Journey to the West are some of the best.** And don't forget Blur. "Song 2", people, "Song 2"!
"Girls who want boys, who like boys to be girls..."
The chorus of Tender deserves a mention
The Beach Boys were the undisputed masters of applying the Rule of Fun to music. Examples:
Smile. Brian Wilson 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.
Brian Wilson? Awesome. Brian Wilson completing an unfinished Gershwin song? Magical.
This troper has always been fond of "Right Where it Belongs"
The Hand That Feeds, Heresy, Only, and Every Day Is Exactly The Same are all awesome too.
Just Like You Imagined requires at least a little awesome to be used in the trailer for 300. What clinches it is the rising scream at the climax.
Acid Folk Rock band Jefferson Airplane's "We Can Be Together" is a fairly easy-going song... it's not even epic in length (though it does come close at 5:50). However, it does have its own crowning moment, in which the vocalists harmonize to sing the line, "Up against the wall, *** , tear down the wall!" The song sparked a good bit of controversy when it was performed, uncensored on The Dick Cavett Show in 1969, and the performance is often noted for being one of the first times "fuck" was ever said on national television. The fact that this song is more well-known than it's A-Side is something astounding, as well.
For the record, the lyrics also quote, word-for-word, the philosophies on a leaflet written by a member of an anarchic group called Up Against the Wall *** s. The song helped the phrase rise in popularity as a rallying cry. Not bad, considering the song was originally released as a B-Side.
Don't forget Grace Slick's mind-blowing vocals in...well, every song she sings, but Somebody to Love is worthy of a special mention.
'Sturmnacht' by the German Medieval Rock band Schandmaul. Translates to 'Storm Night'. Despite the name it doesn't have any connection to Those Wacky Nazis. It's purely instrumental and pure awesome.
The album Alaska by Between the Buried and Me is pretty epic in its entirety, but the song Selkies: The Endless Obsession takes the cake.
WhiteWallstoo. Specifically the the intro, the White Walls and "We will remembered for this" roars, and the incredibly amazing ending solo.
They score at least one every album. * ahem* Since three have been covered, This Troper will just add "Wolves, Lower," "Perfect Circle," "So. Central Rain," "Green Grow the Rushes," "The Flowers of Guatemala," every single song on Automatic for the People, "Electrolite," "Diminished," "Beat a Drum," and most of Accelerate.
As well as It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).
"Man on the Moon" is also deserving of a mention.
"Nightswimming" is haunting and lets Michael Stipe's voice shine. So beautiful.
What, no mention of "E-Bow The Letter"?
And 'The Great Beyond', which this Troper believes reaches 'Nightswimming' levels of haunting beauty.
"Drive" sounds like the sort of song that would play over the opening credits of an old western, and "Find the River" will make you cry, period.
Santana's "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" and "Smooth" are truly brilliant. And for a legendary song that is This Troper's number-one cheering up song, try, "Samba Pa Ti."
Raising you one with "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 troper is hinting at...and if you don't, be prepared for an ending that just melts in your ears.
Raise you both with Soul Sacrifice, from Freakin' Woodstock. Possibly the best drum solo ever, and by a 19 year old kid. Check out 3:48 especially.
I just became an official troper for the sole purpose of raising you all "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)."
I challenge anyone to not enjoy this 1-2 punch of Clapton and Santana, known as "The Calling"(My apologies for the ad filled video)
Personally, I think pretty much any song from Santana counts as this trope.
The John Butler Trio's song "Caroline" always makes This Troper want to jump up and down and scream the last verse, where the string instruments kick in and the music just gets that much more awesome.
And if birds could fly high over their troubles
She gonna find some of her own wings and fly
And no one could convince or pay her double
Or tell her she was too young to die! Oh, Caroline, Caroline!
Cake:
"Short Skirt/Long Jacket", "Race Car Ya-Ya's", and "Satan Is My Motor."
"Arco Arena" and "Long Line of Cars."
"Reluctantly crouched, at the starting line/Engines pumping, and thumping in time... HE'S GOING THE DISTANCE!" *riff*
This Troper thinks that Opera Singer is fantastic.
Their cover of 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,
"And so you're back from outer space; I just walked in to find you here without that look upon your face. I should've changed that fucking lock; I would've made you leave your key, if I'd have known for just one second you'd be back to bother me."
L. Udo's rock opera, The Broken Bride. Especially the chorus: "I crashed before the birth of Christ / Pterodactyls swarming / You died in nineteen eighty-nine / I want to get back to that morning in May —"
A bit indie, but nevertheless a serious Crowning Music of Awesome: "Headlights Look like Diamonds" by the Arcade Fire. 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.
Go to a B-52s concert. Just do it. If you don't have the urge to get up and dance at least once, then you just might be a robot.
And besides, if you're like this Troper, seeing them in concert will be how you learn that the bit in "Planet Clare" where it sounds like they're using a theremin is actually KATE PIERSON SINGING, and your mind will be blown clear into the next county.
"Take me home, country roads..."
Approximately 70% of everything ever performed by Cold Chisel.
This list is unfortunately missing the early years of Chicago, 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: "Poem 58", "South California Purples", an early live version of "It Better End Soon" (the studio version is even better), and from the same concert, "Introduction".
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.
Try sitting still while Farin Urlaub of Die Ärzte fame performs Zehn. "I want to see you jump" indeed. Also, Bonus points for the female drummer and guitarists.
Similarly, Unrockbar (un-rockable) of Die Ärzte is a song about his rock-hating girlfriend. The last third deserves special mention for being objectively epic.
Turn! Turn! Turn! manages to be super-awesome in its simplicity despite being basically just a series of Bible quotations. 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 that really, really needed to be dropped.
"Basically"? It's taken nearly verbatim from the book of Ecclesiastes.
Buckethead. Jordan is a classic, as are Nottingham Lace and King James. Soothsayer can be both this and a Tear Jerker 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, this.
This black troper from suburban Ohio does not have a fiancé, but "Dogs Were Barking" does have a place in her hypothetical wedding reception playlist.
This Troper spent three years tracking down a copy of Mary My Hope's Museum after hearing "Communion" once. It's just that good.
So is this rendition of "Ashes to Ashes". Made even more awesome by a few things: the absolutely bitchin' guitar solo (one guy on rhythm AND bass simultaneously) that dominates the last half of the song. And the fact that, on a call-in/request concert, this was the song requested by a 5-year old boy. Yeah. Get 'em started early.
What about the entire Ziggy Stardust era! This troper will always believe that The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust is the most crowning music achievement of ALL TIME!
"Cygnet Committee". Epic Rocking at its best, in 1969.
Much of Bowie's post-Scary Monsters output in The Eighties is dismissed, but there's gorgeous stuff there too. In particular, "Blue Jean" and "Underground" can leave you dizzy with delight.
Let's face it, pretty much every song they've put out count, but The Good Doctor and The State Vs. Thomas Lightdeserve mention. That's raw emotion there, ladies and gentlemen.
Now, consider Phish's "Divided Sky," as well as "Guyute" and "Harry Hood."
This Troper has only just started getting into Phish, but he's already stunned by their versatility. 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.
And while I'm on the subject, Trey Anastasio is just a stunning guitarist. Check out him sitting in with Dave Matthews Band. This Troper has never heard a finer long-form guitar solo.
Mark Knopfler. "What it is" is the perfect combination of rythym, lyrics, and storytelling that will capture the hearts of everyone and anyone that listens to them.
"Boom, Like That" is a song about Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's and it is badass.
Morrissey's "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 The Cry Of Mankind is not awesome enough, there's the opening song of the 2004 album Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light. They even did an awesomePortishead cover (and the Youtube video is a Tim Burton-esque uncanny/horrifying/Narm clip).
Gogol Bordello's Wonderlust King. I dare you to not want to turn it up when the chorus kicks in. "BUT I'M A WONDERLUST KING!!!"
Flogging Molly's Requiem For A Dying Song.
Also, What's Left of the Flag, and Drunken Lullabies.
If I Ever Leave This World Alive deserves a mention as well.
John Coltrane. Just John Coltrane. Nothing more needs to be said. Same with R.E.M. and Jimi Hendrix.
I'm surprised Hoobastank's Born to Lead isn't on here. Quite a driving, heart pumping song for those of us who love a good positive song we seem to be lacking nowadays. "Born to Lead" Check it out for yourself. The music video is also fairly trippy and cool as well.
This troper hates My Chemical Romance, and yet... Welcome To The Black Parade. It's just... listen to it. I won't spoil it with words. Read the lyrics, too. And don't get discouraged by the slow opening or the band it's by. Looks can be decieving.
All of The Black Parade is Crowning Music of Awesome (just check out the album page) Also, the My Chem version of "Desolation Row" definitely qualifies.
The B-sides from The Black Parade are pretty good too: the absurdly catchy Where Is My Mind soundalike Kill All Your Friends and slightly epic Heaven Help Us.
You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison just for the lyrics.
Their new single "Na Na Na" counts as this too, and not only because that's Grant Morrison at the beginning there.
Astro and Marry was just released not too long ago. But it's definitly worth a listen in this troper's opinion. Great lyrics, great voice and a sweet guitar solo.
Why the fuck isn't Cream on this list? "White Room", "Badge", and "As You Said" are just magnificent.
Great Big Sea's version of John Barbour. Starts out as your basic ballad, then subtly builds until after the final line it swells until it makes a tin whistle sound Badass. Cool enough on the album, but live it more than deserves this title.
Another GBS example- Gallows Pole, specifically the performance at the 2009 Junos.([1]) Additional note- Sean Mc Cann was singing this with a lung infection.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Their pieces always take a while to get into stride, but the wait's always worth it.
Seconded. They treat every single song like it's a symphony, taking as long as they need to run the full gamut of emotions. I would list individual standout tracks, but...it's impossible.
The Australian band Bridezilla's song, "Chainwork". Bloody brilliant. They should win an ARIA for that.
Another brilliant Australian group: Dead Letter Circus. Theyepitomizethe term"epic", and they've only released one album and two extended plays so far!
Field of Daggers by House of Heroes. I know the title sounds 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 Cover Version record for that reason. Here's the Shadows's version.
"Bleed it Out" by Linkin Park. Yes, the song follows the same done-to-death "rapped verses, screamed everything else" formula that they've been doing since they formed, but eschewing nu-metal in favor of alternative/Rap Metal and the fact that Mike and Chester sound so pissed off just makes the song work better than any of their previous attempts.
The whole Jay-Z mashup album was genius, but especially "Numb/Encore". Far better than the sum of its parts. This remix also counts, replacing most of Jay-Z's Encore with parts from Eminem's song of the same name.
Reanimation is an entire Crowning Album of Awesome. I suspect that 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, "P5hng Me A* wy" (which is definitely better than the original, and is the version they perform live) and "1Stp Klosr".
"One Step Closer" "Points Of Authority" "Runaway" "Crawling" "Papercut" "In The End" "By Myself" "With You" "Easier To Run" "Hit The Floor" "Faint" "Lying From You" and "Somewhere I Belong" are all great as well.
"Can't Win" by Richard Thompson, especially on the "Ducknapped!" live recording. It is just the angriest fucking thing this troper has ever heard.
"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.
Their "Dear Science" album is one big example, really. There's a reason Rolling Stone named it the best album of 2008.
The Stone Roses in general, This Is The One, Waterfall, She Bangs The Drums, I Am The Resurrection, I Wanna Be Adored, Made Of Stone in particular.
Uh, as a drummer for nearly half my life, I can say that Elephant Stone has the most epic drum beat since Kieth Moon.
And carrying on from there, The Seahorses with Love Is The Law (the opening riff is awesome and the lyrics are quite funny in places) and Blinded By The Sun.
The live version of The Smashing Pumpkins song "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!
"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" shows that no matter how well you can control yourself, we are all just animals underneath. Put it on your car stereo and crank it to 11.
That moment in "Soma" when the wall of fuzz guitar erupts out of silence.
The Smashing Pumpkins are basically a band made up of this trope, as far as most of their fans are concerned.
Chuck Berry'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 The Rolling Stones to get serious, was the subject of one of the earliest Beatles demos, and practically invented the Epic Riff and Rockstar Song as we know them. Go, Johnny, go.
Weezer. Say what you will about them now, but they have had so many good songs. Hereareafew.
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived is, in this troper's opinion, made of awesome. Watch it here.
Whatever you think of Weezer or the song, it's near impossible not to sing along to the chorus of Beverly Hills.
Continuing with the above, no matter what you think of their current work, their Magnum Opus Pinkerton is absolutely brilliant from start to finish. "Across The Sea" has to be one of the most simultaneously heartfelt and creepy statements in music history.
No U2? BLASPHEMY!!! "One" is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful song ever.
Their newest album, No Line on the Horizon, has no shortage of awesome, as evidenced by "Magnificent", and "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight".
Then there's just...you know, I was going to name individual songs, but I'll just say "The Joshua Tree," completely. (How the HELL do you choose between the opening to "Where The Streets Have No Name" or that anguished shriek in Bono's voice at the end of "One Tree Hill" or....).
"Achtung Baby" is this trope personified. The transition from the idealistic, ethereal "Joshua Tree" into a rather dark, yet powerfully anthemic and emotional album's worth of awesome is done so brilliantly.
And of course, "Bad" at Live Aid, which epically coincides with a Crowning Moment of Awesome. Seriously, the whole thing feels like it's ripped out of a movie.
The version of "Love is Blindness" from their Zoo TV Live in Sydney concert. There's no U2 like live U2.
"New Years Day".
This troper is sorely disappointed at the lack of Eric Clapton on this page. The man who brought us Layla, Tears in Heaven, and more deserves to be recognized!
No Silversun Pickups? They're the best indie band of this DECADE! "Future Foe Scenarios", "Well Thought Out Twinkles", and.... scratch that, the entirety of "Carnavas" was awesome!
Not to mention Swoon here would be criminal. This troper would like to nominate it for some of the most effective uses of strings in modern rock ever.
Then there is The Velvet Underground. 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 Venus in Furs, Heroin, White Light/White Heat, and I'm Waiting for the Man.
Anything by Sublime, but especially their Self-Titled album, which went quintuple platinum, despite the band being unable to tour, due to lead singer/lead guitarist Bradley Nowell tragic overdose, weeks before the album came out.
The Breeders. Cannonball. That is all.
Everything and anything by INXS. It's no wonder why the death of Michael Hutchence is regarded a national tragedy in Australia. Which song is most awesome? Take your pick: Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart, What You Need, or my personal favourite, Suicide Blonde, to name but a few.
"Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain" is another epic song.
While they fell out of favor in America after a while, THIS American gives a shout out to their later songs "The Stairs," "Beautiful Girl," "The Gift," and, "I'm Just A Man." And as for their post-Hutchence album Switch, there's "Pretty Vegas" which honestly lead to a well-earned (but brief) comeback and made their stupid reality show worthwhile..
That Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" isn't on this list is madness! It's the perfect anthem for people who refuse to be pushed around by the world and for people whom the world is constantly dragging down.
The Birthday Massacre. "Blue", "Looking Glass", "Under the Stairs", "Goodnight", "Walking With Strangers", "Movie" (YMMV on that last one), "Lovers End", "Happy Birthday" and "Play Dead" are some of the most awesome songs this troper's heard, and that's only a few of them.
"Red Stars" and "In The Dark" are amazing.
The Dresden Dolls aren't on this page yet? "Coin-Operated Boy", "Backstabber", "Girl Anachronism"... Amanda Palmer's pounding piano and heartfelt vocals combine with Brian Viglione's awe-inspiring drum work to create punk-cabaret-rock. And it is AWESOME.
More songs of theirs which are amazing include "Lonesome Organist Rapes Page-Turner", "Shores of California" and "Mandy Goes to Med School".
Everything off of Them Crooked Vultures' debut could count, but particular mentions have to go to No One Loves Me And Neither Do I, Mind Eraser (No Chaser), New Fang and Gunman.
You list all these artists but not the King? Elvis had some of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time! "Jailhouse Rock", "Hound Dog" and "Heartbreak Hotel" are some of his greatest works. Some of his later work like "Suspiscious Minds" and "Burning Love" also deserve to be on here.
Elvis' other CMOA can be found on his '68 Comeback Special. Elvis is playing the lead guitar, too.
Incubus had a hit in 2001 with Drive, an acoustic rock song with inspirational lyrics about embracing new experiences, good or bad, and deciding for yourself what to make of them.
Seriously? "By the Way" is their most epic bass riff ever? No mention of "Hard to Concentrate," "Throw Away Your Television," "Torture Me," "This Velvet Glove," "This is the Place," "Hey," or "Road Trippin'"? Flea himself says "Hey" was his best.
T'Pau's Only a Heartbeat, was written to symbolise the fall of the Berlin Wall and does so to almost tearjerking effect.
"They took the wall away
Brick by brick it came down again
A Chain reaction, a solemn vow
Who in the world can stop this now?"
Rock Around The Clock, by Bill Haley and the Comets. The song that started Rock and Roll. Its guitar solo, originally played by Danny Cedrone, inspired many future guitarists including Jeff Beck.
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 80's— 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 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." This Troper's old-school blues-loving father actually BURST HER DOOR DOWN when he heard her listening to it, and stood in awe, asking "who is THIS?..."
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 The Beatles, but their songs conveyed a completelydifferentmessage. While they were much better after the switch, their transitional album, Free at Last, is all quite interesting.
"Der Ring der Nibelungen" by E Nomine.
This troper recently bought ex-Soft Machine bassist Kevin Ayers' debut album Joy Of A Toy, and is confident to say that it's a worthy candidate, especially the title track with it's cool parade atmosphere that foreshadows the music from Lemmings.
Switchfoot: "Dare You to Move", "Meant to Live", and "Dirty Second Hands" are absolutely mind blowing when performed live.
Paramore's live performance of Let the Flames Begin comes right the hell out of nowhere and turns a pretty good middle-of-the-album song into one of the most epic performances This Troper has ever seen, despite a few vocal slips on Hayley's part.
Harry Chapin. In the interest of not running favourites all the way down the page, just one: Sniper. Pure lyrical brilliance with a soundtrack to match.
Peter Gabriel. "In Your Eyes." A thing of glory well before John Cusack blasted it on a boom box.
The Pretty Things may have been largely forgotten, but their 1970 album Parachute contains "Grass," one of the most beautiful rock songs this troper has ever heard.
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.
Don't talk in your sleep, don't leave a trace
Because a loving woman can have the devil's face
I don't want to be mean, but I'm not afraid
Anything you steal baby you'll pay for in spades
"The Logical Song" by Supertramp. Upbeat, yet cynical, meaning it somehow matches the attitudes of Generation Y, and it's just so epic.
Love's Forever Changes album. All of it. Rhino even put the whole thing on a Love compilation. It is that good.
"7 & 7 Is" from Da Capo, one of the most insane pieces of garage-based rock to come out of the '60s, with it's high speed energy, surprisingly good lyrics and an atomic explosion in its ending, all in just two minutes and thirteen seconds.
Drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, Romeo.
Cold Chisel's "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.
To list a specific example, "The Drumming Song". Excellent.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, kids. An absolute rock GODDESS with some of the best pipes I've ever heard, ever. And the band is killer too. Their entire albums constitute this trope start to finish. But if you're looking for particular examples, may I suggest "Sweet Hands" , "Paris", "Ah Mary", "Mastermind", "Medicine", "Tiny Light", and "Oasis"...I can go on if you'd like. I just wanna meet her and kiss her feet and thank her for changing my life. Come to think of it, I have to make a page for them on the wiki.
Ahem.. No Green Day on here? Come on, so many amazing songs! Like:
American Idiot
Welcome to a new kind of tension,
All across the alienation.
Holiday
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Jesus of Suburbia
21 Guns
21st Century Breakdown
Macy's Day Parade
Know Your Enemy
Minority
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
It's something unpredictable,
But in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.
Whatsername
Longview
Brainstew
Welcome to Paradise
When I Come Around
BASKETCASE!
Sometimes I give myself the creeps,
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me,
It all keeps adding up,
I think I'm cracking up,
Am I just paranoid?
Or am I just stoned?
You've forgotten "St. Jimmy".
I really hate to say it but I told you so
So shut your mouth before I shoot you down ol' boy
Swans, as a group, period. Often goes hand-in-hand with Nightmare Fuel, but still: The only singular words appropriate to describing something like "Helpless Child" are "epic" and "awesome" in their original senses.
"Club Foot" by Kasabian. When this was used as the theme tune for the TV adaptation of The Take, this troper promptly bought the single.
Every time I Fight Dragons does a cover, that song can be easily defined as Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons. EVERY TIME. Examples:
The Pretty Reckless, created such magic as, Make Me Wanna Die, He Loves You, Miss Nothing, Light Me Up, Since You're Gone...Taylor has one of the best voices ever!
The Zombies' 1968 album Odessey and Oracle. Only "Time of the Season" was ever a hit, but Care Of Cell 44 (an oddly cheery love letter to a convicted criminal), A Rose For Emily (a piano elegy for a spinster who dies alone), Brief Candles (a breakup song that's actually about getting over it instead of wallowing), and Hung Up On A Dream (despite the psychedelic Mellotron, possibly the most beautiful anti-drug song ever) all deserve to be more famous.
Siouxsie and the Banshees Dazzle. This could easily be the sound of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE in your ears!
As far as chillwave goes, people aren't very inclined to call it "awesome." Go listen to "Amor Fati" by Washed Out. Your mind may change.
"WhereButterfliesNeverDie." Never heard of it? If not, don't worry, you aren't alone. Broken Iris's only album, "The Eyes of Tomorrow," is a masterpiece of anguish and grief, showing the progression of a troubled relationship ending in tragedy that continues into unstableinsanity.
Bright Lights by Matchbox Twenty, from those lines of:
Baby baby baby, when all your love is gone
who will save me from all I'm up against
in this world
to the big rock ending and flawless build
No mention of Billy Joel until now, huh? For shame, Tropers. I recommend "Piano Man", "We Didn't Start The Fire", "Miami 2010 (Lights Go Out on Broadway)", and "Leningrad", just to name a few.
What about Limp Bizkit? How can you not love "Break Stuff", "Rollin", "Head For The Barricade", "Gimme The Mic", "Phenomenon", "Red Light Green Light", "Shotgun", "Douchebag", "Shark Attack" and "Gold Cobra"?
Most songs by Tenacious D. Especially Tribute and Master Exploder.
Foster The People, anyone? They're masters of catchy melodies and dark lyrics; Warrant is a triumph, from the soaring angelic beginning to the foot-tapping chorus to the garbled verse at the end.
ANYTHING by Phil Collins. Especially, "Invisiible Touch" back when he was in Genesis.
I noticed a disturbing lack of any Buddy Holly on this list... for fucking shame! 'Rave On', 'Peggy Sue', 'Rock Around With Ollie Vee', 'Everyday', 'Maybe Baby', 'Brown Eyed-Handsome Man', the list goes on.
And for that matter, 'La Bamba', 'Donna', 'Come On Let's Go', 'We Belong Together'. Welcome to your spot here Richie Valens!
Also pioneers such as The Everly Brothers and Eddie Cochran.
Finally where the blue hell is Roy Orbison?! 'Only The Lonely', 'Oh, Pretty Woman', 'It's Over' and 'In Dreams' to name but a few. One of, if not the, greatest voices in Rock ever.
"Forever" by In This Moment, one of the best female singers ever along with a KILLER chorus makes for one hell of a song!
Halestorm are just awesome incarnate, "It's Not You" "Taste Of Poison" "I Get Off" are all great.
Rev Theory "Hell Yeah", the song title says it all really, "Light It Up" rocks pretty hard as well.
Jet Black Stare "Ready To Roll" WARNING: this song is so awesomely catchy that you should not under any circumstances listen to it while driving.
Disturbed full stop, it's easier to say which song of theirs ISN'T awesome, but the best ones for me are "Indestructible" "Fire In My Eyes" "Down With The Sickness" "Hell" "The Night" "Haunted" "Criminal" "The Animal" and "Ten Thousand Fists"
Hinder "Up All Night" "Take Me To The Limit" "Use Me" and "The Best Is Yet To Come" all rock hard.
I know little about Jimi Hendrix, but just by listening to All Along the Watchtower, you can tell what kind of guitarist he was. The last verse gives me chills.
"Glad All Over" by the Dave Clark Five. One of the early British Invasion hits, it's not just catchy, but awesome.
Bon Jovi, It's my life watch it at watch?v=vx2u5uUu3DE or in 8-bit at /watch?v=5xsuOkUuQXQ
Kid Rock "All Summer Long" the PERFECT song for driving along during a warm summer day.
