Cover Me Up by Jason Isbell
I didn't see it listed so I needed to add it.
Bruce IMHO is the best song writer of his generation. Isbell is the same of his generation.
**“Free Fallin’”** \- *Tom Petty.* That song had “hit” written all over it, and the dimwits at MCA Records refused to release it at first. Petty *had* to know that he and Jeff Lynne had just created a smash. After *that* near debacle (new management at MCA finally released it), he jumped ship and signed to Warner Bros.
Not trying to be argumentative here, just curious…how is it “fair to MCA” that their “A&R man at the time heard it, and *(you) heard* he said he didn’t hear a single?” I mean, I don’t have any more knowledge about music than the average listener/fan, and I bought the “Free Fallin’“ single when it first came out and KNEW without a doubt that this was going to be a monster hit for Petty. If an A&R man working for a major label couldn’t recognize what a lowly music consumer could, then something’s very wrong at MCA!
Oh, I have. Been a fan since 1979, have everything he ever released. I think most of his stuff is great (obviously, anyone with a long career is bound to have a few clunkers here and there), but I’d place “Free Fallin’” among the top 10 best T.P. songs.
As much as I enjoy and respect bob Dylan I think that petty is the better writer. He has so many iconic songs that are simple and accessible for the average listener. Maybe I’m nostalgic because it takes me back to a simpler time of my life but I feel like petty will endure for some generations.
Nothing to be sorry about. We all hear things differently and what appeals to me won’t necessarily appeal to you. Having been raised on Brill Building pop…the repetitive 3-chord structure, the full octave jump to the chorus and Jeff Lynne’s Coasters-like background harmonies all hit my musical sweet spot. And I like the lyrical twist that the narrator is painting himself as a not-so-nice guy getting ready to break up with the “good girl.” Those are some of things *I* like about it. What’s *your* favorite Petty song?
Ah, cool, that's fair. I love that people have different tastes in music. I think it makes the world much more interesting. My favorites are probably Breakdown and Mary Jane's Last Dance
Those are both excellent songs! My favorite version of “Breakdown” is the one from “Live Anthology,” which incorporates Ray Charles’ “Hit The Road, Jack” near the end. I saw T.P. & The H.B.’s do this when I saw them on tour in the early ‘90’s.
[https://youtu.be/Uj6FUBS5Fb8?si=Lub8PiBKNT88vL00](https://youtu.be/Uj6FUBS5Fb8?si=Lub8PiBKNT88vL00)
I just listened to it and woah that's really cool! I had no idea that Hit The Road, Jack would fit so well with Breakdown! I like the sort of extra groovy feel to that version. It's awesome that you got to see them live! How was the show?
Well, I saw them first in 1979, then twice in the 80’s, twice in the 90’s, and the last time in the early 2000’s. They were phenomenal every single time. They always did the big hits, but also threw in a bunch of great covers, like “A Little Bit O’ Soul,” “Shout,” “Oh Well,” “Stories We Could Tell” (one of my favorites!), “Mystic Eyes,” etc. I’ve seen lots of concerts since i was a teen in the 70’s, but very few performers who really connected with their audience like Tom Petty. He was one of the great ones. Gone way too soon.
I hate that song. MTV poured it into our brains in 1990 and ruined it, just as they ruined everything in time. Might not even crack Petty’s top 100. One of those simplistic songs that every doofus with an acoustic guitar could play that became something Tom had to include in every setlist (and i love TP and the HBs).
What I think the consensus from these artists would be and my personal fence swing in parentheses
Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (Song of Bernadette)
Elton John/Bernie Taupin - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Tower of Babel)
Warren Zevon - Keep Me in Your Heart (Mutineer)
John Hiatt - Thing Called Love (Crossing Muddy Waters)
Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Joy Inside My Tears)
Linda Ronstadt's You're No Good is one. Ronstadt was an amazing rock singer, and she really takes this one all the way. Yet there's more to this track. Producer Peter Asher and arranger Andrew Gold really made it shine. Every moment the sing develops, from the sombre guitar lick that opens the song, the serious verses leading to the emotional chorus, the jangly Beatlesque interlude, Gold's tasty guitar solo, the intense last chorus with its last four bars being vocals only, then the walk-away outro. It's a miniature masterpiece.
I truly believe Bruce is the greatest storytelling songwriter of all time. The fact he sat down and recorded Nebraska with just him and his guitar is baffling to me. Songs like Atlantic City, State Trooper and Highway Patrolman, where they are so stupidly simple, yet heartbreaking, breathtaking and haunting. The guy is a legend.
It's as if Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby. And that baby was abandoned on the side of the road between the exit interchanges 8A and 9 on the New Jersey Turnpike.
While I actually can't stand his voice? There's just no denying his songwriting chops. A real American storyteller who has real staying power. He has always been relevant by any standard one cares to choose. A supremely talented man.
Springsteen is a great songwriter, performer and all-around rocker. But if I was strictly categorizing the best *“storytelling“* songwriters (just my opinion), I’d probably put John Prine, Harry Chapin, Tom Waits and Gordon Lightfoot on top of that list. Having said that, “Jungleland“ and “Incident On 57th Street” are amazing pieces of writing/performing.
Getting back to Rush, their last recorded album, Clockwork Angels, does that ‘swing for the fences’ vibe for me as well. Geddy Lee (vocalist & bassist) even admitted to saying ‘if we left as that as our last album, I’m very happy’, or something along those lines. Also a concept album as well. These guys were in their 60s, for Pete’s sake!! For those not familiar, check out Caravan, Headlong Flight and the emotional closer The Garden. Simply amazing!!
2112 is such a good example of this. The record label told them to stop screwing around and put out some more singles like Working Man. They said, “okay, if you insist.” Then they went and made 2112 anyway — an entire A side long prog rock indulgence.
The record ended up being a masterpiece (as we all obviously know today) and the irony is that the first parts of 2112 (haven’t listened to the radio in ages but I think they usually played Overture and Temples, then stopped) seemed in my anecdotal experience to have received as much or more airtime than any of Rush’s true “singles” throughout their career.
If they’d done more Working Man like songs, they’d have had some success but probably just blended into the crowd of other rock bands of the era. Instead, they were true to themselves and they became legends with a cult like following. And they influenced an entire generation of musicians — especially drummers. Rush were heroes to nearly all of my favorite bands as a kid growing up in the 90’s.
Rush Tom Sawyer or my person favorite Limelight.
Boston More than a feeling or my personal favorite Rock & Roll Band
Guns and Roses welcome to jungle
ACDC Thunderstruck
Gorillas Feel Good Inc
Ram Jam Black Betty
Eminem Stan Featuring Dido...
Is there a genre your looking for or just songs that your like... where did that come from...
I cannot argue with this list. As I have stated previously, the intro to Welcome to the Jungle may be the best intro in all of rock music. Tom Sawyer is a progressive rock fever dream. Gorillaz Demon Days might as well be the 2K Nevermind. ACDC plays 2 chords over 40 years and they never fail to put out a hit. Eminem, Stan speaks for itself. Black Betty? Deserved to be recognized during its time.
I was an instructor for new army recruits and we lined them up outside and then blasted Welcome to the Jungle. Super corny, but you could see the "oh shit" in their faces as soon as it started. Everyone knows that intro
Lose Yourself - Eminem
Boys of Summer - Don Henly
Into the Mystic - Van Morrisson
LA Woman - The Doors
More Than a Feeling - Boston
I’ve Seen All Good People - Yes
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Shine On You Crazy Diamond is the ultimate tribute to a former band member. Or any person, really. A bombastic reverant lament for a brilliant soul that wandered off into the darkness.
Yeah, for me "Born to Run" is the second real concept album after the Who's "Tommy". I can't believe it's almost 50 years old, it still seems current.
The Rolling Stones "Let it Bleed" is like that for me. Fairly diverse in the song styles, it covers so much ground so well that it still amazes me.
Tom Waits can be an acquired taste for some, but once acquired "Mule Variations" is that kind of album. There is a richness and a depth that is hard to describe.
What do you consider a concept album? I would argue that In The Wee Small Hours, or even Marty Robbins' "Gunfighter Ballads" would be concept albums and earlier. Sgt. Peppers even came out 2 years before Tommy
I don't consider Sgt. Pepper to be a concept album, and apparently neither did any of the Beatles. That was something critics came up with after the fact. I'd like to hear what the concept is supposed to be that encompasses "Within You, Without You" and "She's Leaving Home".
I've never thought of Frank as being AOR, but I think I need to give that one a listen. At first glance, the issue I expect I would have with it being a concept album is that of the songs there that I know, they are songs that had been around for quite a while and had been recorded by others. So if there's a concept, then is it really Frank's concept?
I have no familiarity with Marty, and should give him a listen. When I was a kid, they would run ads for all kinds of compilation albums, and I remember one of the country ones had Marty singing "Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl...." I always liked it, but to all of us Bee Gees fans in the 1970's country music just wasn't cool.
Ironic, eh?
My friend Eric and I both got in trouble for singing song lyrics in fifth grade, him for Purple Stain by RHCP, which had just come out, and me for jumping on top of a bench and grabbing my crotch like Michael Jackson while yelling "I wanna be your backdoor man!"
Born to Run, like Like a Rolling Stone before it, and Smells Like Teen Spirit after, is one of those songs that simply CANT be duplicated. They are songs that transcend both genre AND artist. They have some power within them that the artist never really hit in the same way again, and in many ways they don’t even SOUND like the artists that wrote them in a way I can’t quantify. Bruce, Dylan and Cobain did it ONCE, and while they have many other great songs each and probably even BETTER songs, those three have some mystical force inside of them.
All three, as overplayed as they all are, are overplayed for that reason. They are all more than the sum of their parts, and more than the people who wrote them.
I’m following this because I think it’s an awesome question and I think about it all the time. How does a musician come to be that has that kind of vision? It’s unfathomable to me, but I’m also a terrible musician.
Seeing that one already mentioned warms my cockles (to quote another Roland Orzabal song).
From the TFF catalog, there's also Shout, The Working Hour, Badman's Song, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending and No Small Thing
arcade fire: intervention
if my kids ever ask what things were like in the mid 00s, i can just play that and be like "there, small human, your mind is blown but also you understand"
Some very strange answers in this thread. Essentially people answering the question: What is your favourite slightly left field song by a band you like.
Going back to the OP I remember seeing an Oasis interview where they said exactly that about (I think) Rock n Roll Star - they knew it was a bit record the moment they recorded it.
I'd say:
Bridge over troubled water
November Rain
Like A rolling stone
The Weight
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Good Vibrations
Jersey Girl
Angel from Montgomery
Yes I think we’re thinking about this the same way. The Weight is also one I considered.
Oasis really earnestly swings for the fences quite a bit. Champagne Supernova, Live Forever, and Whatever also approach what I’m talking about
This might just be stuff I like but maybe they'll scratch someone's itch -
I feel like Prog as a genre is pretty much shooting for the moon a lot of the time -
Graves by Caligula's Horse - which is just such a great song that sounds good, flows well and has interesting changeups(as prog does), and lyrically and emotionally is very compelling and doesn't get boring all the way through despite being 15 minutes long. Sounds personal and much like they all knew this was one to put it all into musically, lyrically.
Haken the band - Falling Back to Earth, The Cockroach King, Atlas Stone, Crystallized. The album the Mountain might be my favorite overall album ever, and it feels both really ambitious and like climbing up and down a mountain listening to it. These guys sound like they leave it all in studio on every song.
Jaguar God by Mastodon - might be another one. Starts slow but that builds up and explodes in epic fashion.
Where the Things have No Colour - by Destrage. Ambitious but also sounds almost emo or post-punk. Italian math metal never sounded so good.
Days go By - London by VUUR - Just sounds epic and ambitious.
Non prog/metal songs that come to mind -
Concealed the Outro by K.A.A.N - There's no way this isn't his attempt at a Magnum Opus. Feels very much like he left it all on the track with nothing left when he got done.
I Was Wrong by Christ Stapleton - Pretty much everything he does feels crazy emotive and sounds like he's giving it all.
Patient No.9 by Ozzy Ozbourne - just felt like he went hard on this underappreciated song.
Mr Roboto by Styx - A classic for a reason.
Eyes Behind the Wall by Orchid - A 2011, 7-minute banger, that sounds like a classic from the 70s.
Pressure by Fifth Dawn - An Alt-rock banger that sounds like the singer is leaving all in the studio.
Yea love Pareidolia, probably #2 or 3 behind Falling Back to Earth and maybe Cockroach King on that one. But every faster, non ambient song on that album is just amazing.
Obviously music is terrifically subjective, but for me a song that would fit the description of writing about 'everything' in a huge way that must have left the creators impressed with themselves would be The Ocean's [Nascent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9F-Nf3SWtc). I do like that the band name includes the word Ocean, so it clearly hits your prompt well.
Many of their albums are themed around songs about the various geologic ages of the earth and making them sound crazy epic.
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
[Piece of my Heart - Erma Franklin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0QAxIKf8G4) (even though Janis Joplin's cover is better than the original, the original by Franklin which hit #10 on the US R&B chart deserves far more praise than it has received.)
The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
Some bands do it again and again.
Nemophila: '[Rise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD3VMAm-9iA)' and '[Adabana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYiOwsu6wU)'.
*A Perfect Circle-"So Long and Thanks For All The Fish"*
Time is money and money's time
We wasted every second dime
On diets, lawyers, shrinks and apps, and flags and plastic surgery
Now Willy Wonka, Major Tom
Ali and Leia have moved on
Signal the final curtain call in all its atomic pageantry
Eat the Elephant was one of the best albums I have heard in a long time that had three absolute bangers in a row, and this is right in the middle. The other two track s are called "The Contrarian", and "The Doomed".
"Laplace's Angel" ("Hurt People Hurt People") -Will Wood.
So many genuinely good lines mixed in with a piano to make Oingo Boingo jealous and a vocal range to die for.
Descending by Tool. Hard to listen to it without pumping my fists in the air, reaffirming life, and coming away with a renewed sense of purpose and drive.
Alice with the Glory of Love - Say Anything
I can't imagine sitting down and trying to write a horny song about the Holocaust and how it actually fucking works and is a beautiful sentiment.
I think we have very different ideas of what constitutes an epic world ending song but
King Crimson’s Starless from the album Red is exactly what you’re looking for.
Eleven Pond - Watching Trees.
Blue Monday’s older cooler clove-smoking cousin you’ve never heard of.
Alternately, I’m Falling - Ministry is some of the tightest, sparest coldwave I’ve ever heard and it makes me wish Uncle Al had done more with that sound.
Sigur Ros - “Hoppipolla”, a song in a made up language about jumping in puddles but sounds like the best thing you want to listen to as the universe exploded around you.
Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the Silence" (or probably anything else off of "Violator")
That *ting* yeah that's the stuff op is talking about.
Cover Me Up by Jason Isbell I didn't see it listed so I needed to add it. Bruce IMHO is the best song writer of his generation. Isbell is the same of his generation.
**“Free Fallin’”** \- *Tom Petty.* That song had “hit” written all over it, and the dimwits at MCA Records refused to release it at first. Petty *had* to know that he and Jeff Lynne had just created a smash. After *that* near debacle (new management at MCA finally released it), he jumped ship and signed to Warner Bros.
Well, to be fair to MCA, their A&R man at the time heard it, and *I heard* he said he didn't hear a single.
Not trying to be argumentative here, just curious…how is it “fair to MCA” that their “A&R man at the time heard it, and *(you) heard* he said he didn’t hear a single?” I mean, I don’t have any more knowledge about music than the average listener/fan, and I bought the “Free Fallin’“ single when it first came out and KNEW without a doubt that this was going to be a monster hit for Petty. If an A&R man working for a major label couldn’t recognize what a lowly music consumer could, then something’s very wrong at MCA!
Might wamt to listen to more Petty songs
Oh, I have. Been a fan since 1979, have everything he ever released. I think most of his stuff is great (obviously, anyone with a long career is bound to have a few clunkers here and there), but I’d place “Free Fallin’” among the top 10 best T.P. songs.
It's a line from "Into the Great Wide Open".
Thanks. I guess since that was what we were actually talking about, I missed the reference to “…Great Wide Open.” 👍🏻
thank you for putting him out of his misery
I hope at one point that Tom Petty will be looked at the same as Dylan.
As much as I enjoy and respect bob Dylan I think that petty is the better writer. He has so many iconic songs that are simple and accessible for the average listener. Maybe I’m nostalgic because it takes me back to a simpler time of my life but I feel like petty will endure for some generations.
That would be a wonderful legacy for such a talented musician.
Good lord I hope not. Bob is terrible live. Tom sounds better live than in the studio. Gta6 will definitely boost his popularity to juke box hero.
I'm sorry, but I really dislike that song. Tom Petty is awesome, but that song just seems annoyingly repetitive and poppy. What's so great about it?
I am with you on this sentiment. He has so many great songs. I just don't feel this is his best work. Running Down a Dream is my fav.
Nothing to be sorry about. We all hear things differently and what appeals to me won’t necessarily appeal to you. Having been raised on Brill Building pop…the repetitive 3-chord structure, the full octave jump to the chorus and Jeff Lynne’s Coasters-like background harmonies all hit my musical sweet spot. And I like the lyrical twist that the narrator is painting himself as a not-so-nice guy getting ready to break up with the “good girl.” Those are some of things *I* like about it. What’s *your* favorite Petty song?
Not op, but "into the great wide open" band kills it, that song evokes a certain wide eyed wonder. The sky was the limit
That’s a great song! Pretty incredible video, as well.
Ah, cool, that's fair. I love that people have different tastes in music. I think it makes the world much more interesting. My favorites are probably Breakdown and Mary Jane's Last Dance
Those are both excellent songs! My favorite version of “Breakdown” is the one from “Live Anthology,” which incorporates Ray Charles’ “Hit The Road, Jack” near the end. I saw T.P. & The H.B.’s do this when I saw them on tour in the early ‘90’s. [https://youtu.be/Uj6FUBS5Fb8?si=Lub8PiBKNT88vL00](https://youtu.be/Uj6FUBS5Fb8?si=Lub8PiBKNT88vL00)
I just listened to it and woah that's really cool! I had no idea that Hit The Road, Jack would fit so well with Breakdown! I like the sort of extra groovy feel to that version. It's awesome that you got to see them live! How was the show?
Well, I saw them first in 1979, then twice in the 80’s, twice in the 90’s, and the last time in the early 2000’s. They were phenomenal every single time. They always did the big hits, but also threw in a bunch of great covers, like “A Little Bit O’ Soul,” “Shout,” “Oh Well,” “Stories We Could Tell” (one of my favorites!), “Mystic Eyes,” etc. I’ve seen lots of concerts since i was a teen in the 70’s, but very few performers who really connected with their audience like Tom Petty. He was one of the great ones. Gone way too soon.
That sounds awesome! It's great that you got to see him so many times before he passed away
I hate that song. MTV poured it into our brains in 1990 and ruined it, just as they ruined everything in time. Might not even crack Petty’s top 100. One of those simplistic songs that every doofus with an acoustic guitar could play that became something Tom had to include in every setlist (and i love TP and the HBs).
What I think the consensus from these artists would be and my personal fence swing in parentheses Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (Song of Bernadette) Elton John/Bernie Taupin - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Tower of Babel) Warren Zevon - Keep Me in Your Heart (Mutineer) John Hiatt - Thing Called Love (Crossing Muddy Waters) Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Joy Inside My Tears)
Paranoid Android- Radiohead
Linda Ronstadt's You're No Good is one. Ronstadt was an amazing rock singer, and she really takes this one all the way. Yet there's more to this track. Producer Peter Asher and arranger Andrew Gold really made it shine. Every moment the sing develops, from the sombre guitar lick that opens the song, the serious verses leading to the emotional chorus, the jangly Beatlesque interlude, Gold's tasty guitar solo, the intense last chorus with its last four bars being vocals only, then the walk-away outro. It's a miniature masterpiece.
I truly believe Bruce is the greatest storytelling songwriter of all time. The fact he sat down and recorded Nebraska with just him and his guitar is baffling to me. Songs like Atlantic City, State Trooper and Highway Patrolman, where they are so stupidly simple, yet heartbreaking, breathtaking and haunting. The guy is a legend.
It's as if Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby. And that baby was abandoned on the side of the road between the exit interchanges 8A and 9 on the New Jersey Turnpike.
While I actually can't stand his voice? There's just no denying his songwriting chops. A real American storyteller who has real staying power. He has always been relevant by any standard one cares to choose. A supremely talented man.
Springsteen is a great songwriter, performer and all-around rocker. But if I was strictly categorizing the best *“storytelling“* songwriters (just my opinion), I’d probably put John Prine, Harry Chapin, Tom Waits and Gordon Lightfoot on top of that list. Having said that, “Jungleland“ and “Incident On 57th Street” are amazing pieces of writing/performing.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Completely changed their legacy
Getting back to Rush, their last recorded album, Clockwork Angels, does that ‘swing for the fences’ vibe for me as well. Geddy Lee (vocalist & bassist) even admitted to saying ‘if we left as that as our last album, I’m very happy’, or something along those lines. Also a concept album as well. These guys were in their 60s, for Pete’s sake!! For those not familiar, check out Caravan, Headlong Flight and the emotional closer The Garden. Simply amazing!!
Clockwork Angels totally slaps. No resting on their laurels.
2112 and A Night at the Opera were both made by struggling bands.
2112 is such a good example of this. The record label told them to stop screwing around and put out some more singles like Working Man. They said, “okay, if you insist.” Then they went and made 2112 anyway — an entire A side long prog rock indulgence. The record ended up being a masterpiece (as we all obviously know today) and the irony is that the first parts of 2112 (haven’t listened to the radio in ages but I think they usually played Overture and Temples, then stopped) seemed in my anecdotal experience to have received as much or more airtime than any of Rush’s true “singles” throughout their career. If they’d done more Working Man like songs, they’d have had some success but probably just blended into the crowd of other rock bands of the era. Instead, they were true to themselves and they became legends with a cult like following. And they influenced an entire generation of musicians — especially drummers. Rush were heroes to nearly all of my favorite bands as a kid growing up in the 90’s.
Mr. Jones. I can’t imagine listening to this song and not getting hyped.
Keep on going, by yonder mountain string band.
RIP Jeff Austin
Rush Tom Sawyer or my person favorite Limelight. Boston More than a feeling or my personal favorite Rock & Roll Band Guns and Roses welcome to jungle ACDC Thunderstruck Gorillas Feel Good Inc Ram Jam Black Betty Eminem Stan Featuring Dido... Is there a genre your looking for or just songs that your like... where did that come from...
I cannot argue with this list. As I have stated previously, the intro to Welcome to the Jungle may be the best intro in all of rock music. Tom Sawyer is a progressive rock fever dream. Gorillaz Demon Days might as well be the 2K Nevermind. ACDC plays 2 chords over 40 years and they never fail to put out a hit. Eminem, Stan speaks for itself. Black Betty? Deserved to be recognized during its time.
I was an instructor for new army recruits and we lined them up outside and then blasted Welcome to the Jungle. Super corny, but you could see the "oh shit" in their faces as soon as it started. Everyone knows that intro
Black Betty is a cover of an old folk song. They’re version is cool as hell, but there’s a recording of Leadbelly singing it too
White Zombie - Thunder Kiss `65 Tell me you don't think this doesn't rock hard https://youtu.be/yPNFVj-pISU?feature=shared
"Question", the Moody Blues. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epEBm7iiU-s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epEBm7iiU-s)
Ted Leo: “Me and Mia” https://youtu.be/WBxiP_sj5js?si=6h6I-71WOq5amPXg
This is really nice!
Lose Yourself - Eminem Boys of Summer - Don Henly Into the Mystic - Van Morrisson LA Woman - The Doors More Than a Feeling - Boston I’ve Seen All Good People - Yes Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
You Oughta Know by Alanis Morisette. Great song soaring with emotion.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond is the ultimate tribute to a former band member. Or any person, really. A bombastic reverant lament for a brilliant soul that wandered off into the darkness.
Yeah, for me "Born to Run" is the second real concept album after the Who's "Tommy". I can't believe it's almost 50 years old, it still seems current. The Rolling Stones "Let it Bleed" is like that for me. Fairly diverse in the song styles, it covers so much ground so well that it still amazes me. Tom Waits can be an acquired taste for some, but once acquired "Mule Variations" is that kind of album. There is a richness and a depth that is hard to describe.
What do you consider a concept album? I would argue that In The Wee Small Hours, or even Marty Robbins' "Gunfighter Ballads" would be concept albums and earlier. Sgt. Peppers even came out 2 years before Tommy
I don't consider Sgt. Pepper to be a concept album, and apparently neither did any of the Beatles. That was something critics came up with after the fact. I'd like to hear what the concept is supposed to be that encompasses "Within You, Without You" and "She's Leaving Home". I've never thought of Frank as being AOR, but I think I need to give that one a listen. At first glance, the issue I expect I would have with it being a concept album is that of the songs there that I know, they are songs that had been around for quite a while and had been recorded by others. So if there's a concept, then is it really Frank's concept? I have no familiarity with Marty, and should give him a listen. When I was a kid, they would run ads for all kinds of compilation albums, and I remember one of the country ones had Marty singing "Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl...." I always liked it, but to all of us Bee Gees fans in the 1970's country music just wasn't cool. Ironic, eh?
I, too, have read the wikipedia article
Me: 2+2 is 4 You: I also can use Wolfram Alpha Almost like it's possible to just know things about music without Googling them?
Haha totally dude good one
Stares in *Dark Side of the Moon*
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking? - Rolling Stones
Disintegration by The Cure
Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love. It's the musical equivalent to the end of 2001 Space Odyssey.
My friend Eric and I both got in trouble for singing song lyrics in fifth grade, him for Purple Stain by RHCP, which had just come out, and me for jumping on top of a bench and grabbing my crotch like Michael Jackson while yelling "I wanna be your backdoor man!"
Born to Run, like Like a Rolling Stone before it, and Smells Like Teen Spirit after, is one of those songs that simply CANT be duplicated. They are songs that transcend both genre AND artist. They have some power within them that the artist never really hit in the same way again, and in many ways they don’t even SOUND like the artists that wrote them in a way I can’t quantify. Bruce, Dylan and Cobain did it ONCE, and while they have many other great songs each and probably even BETTER songs, those three have some mystical force inside of them. All three, as overplayed as they all are, are overplayed for that reason. They are all more than the sum of their parts, and more than the people who wrote them.
I’m following this because I think it’s an awesome question and I think about it all the time. How does a musician come to be that has that kind of vision? It’s unfathomable to me, but I’m also a terrible musician.
The first thing I thought of after reading the thread title was Born to Run. Truly EPIC.
"Taking Water"-Billy Strings (BMFS!)
Sowing the Seeds of Love - Tears For Fears
Seeing that one already mentioned warms my cockles (to quote another Roland Orzabal song). From the TFF catalog, there's also Shout, The Working Hour, Badman's Song, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending and No Small Thing
arcade fire: intervention if my kids ever ask what things were like in the mid 00s, i can just play that and be like "there, small human, your mind is blown but also you understand"
Some very strange answers in this thread. Essentially people answering the question: What is your favourite slightly left field song by a band you like. Going back to the OP I remember seeing an Oasis interview where they said exactly that about (I think) Rock n Roll Star - they knew it was a bit record the moment they recorded it. I'd say: Bridge over troubled water November Rain Like A rolling stone The Weight The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down Good Vibrations Jersey Girl Angel from Montgomery
Yes I think we’re thinking about this the same way. The Weight is also one I considered. Oasis really earnestly swings for the fences quite a bit. Champagne Supernova, Live Forever, and Whatever also approach what I’m talking about
This might just be stuff I like but maybe they'll scratch someone's itch - I feel like Prog as a genre is pretty much shooting for the moon a lot of the time - Graves by Caligula's Horse - which is just such a great song that sounds good, flows well and has interesting changeups(as prog does), and lyrically and emotionally is very compelling and doesn't get boring all the way through despite being 15 minutes long. Sounds personal and much like they all knew this was one to put it all into musically, lyrically. Haken the band - Falling Back to Earth, The Cockroach King, Atlas Stone, Crystallized. The album the Mountain might be my favorite overall album ever, and it feels both really ambitious and like climbing up and down a mountain listening to it. These guys sound like they leave it all in studio on every song. Jaguar God by Mastodon - might be another one. Starts slow but that builds up and explodes in epic fashion. Where the Things have No Colour - by Destrage. Ambitious but also sounds almost emo or post-punk. Italian math metal never sounded so good. Days go By - London by VUUR - Just sounds epic and ambitious. Non prog/metal songs that come to mind - Concealed the Outro by K.A.A.N - There's no way this isn't his attempt at a Magnum Opus. Feels very much like he left it all on the track with nothing left when he got done. I Was Wrong by Christ Stapleton - Pretty much everything he does feels crazy emotive and sounds like he's giving it all. Patient No.9 by Ozzy Ozbourne - just felt like he went hard on this underappreciated song. Mr Roboto by Styx - A classic for a reason. Eyes Behind the Wall by Orchid - A 2011, 7-minute banger, that sounds like a classic from the 70s. Pressure by Fifth Dawn - An Alt-rock banger that sounds like the singer is leaving all in the studio.
I was going to recommend Pareidolia by Haken. Prog certainly isn’t a genre known for leaving anything back.
Yea love Pareidolia, probably #2 or 3 behind Falling Back to Earth and maybe Cockroach King on that one. But every faster, non ambient song on that album is just amazing.
OK Computer - Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique Metallica, Master of Puppets U2, The Joshua Tree The Smiths, Meat is Murder
Evil Empire is so good.
Are these songs?
These are albums.
The first word in this post is songs. Did I read it wrong?
You did not.
Obviously music is terrifically subjective, but for me a song that would fit the description of writing about 'everything' in a huge way that must have left the creators impressed with themselves would be The Ocean's [Nascent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9F-Nf3SWtc). I do like that the band name includes the word Ocean, so it clearly hits your prompt well. Many of their albums are themed around songs about the various geologic ages of the earth and making them sound crazy epic.
Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of the Silent Earth: 3
When You Were Young by The Killers. It’s a beauty. From the guitar riff at the start to the booming crescendo, pure awesomeness.
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen [Piece of my Heart - Erma Franklin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0QAxIKf8G4) (even though Janis Joplin's cover is better than the original, the original by Franklin which hit #10 on the US R&B chart deserves far more praise than it has received.) The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
Purple Rain - Prince Bastards of Young - Replacements
Surprised no one mentioned this yet : Maggot Brain - Funkadelic
Rolling in the Deep- Adele Black- Pearl Jam
Grateful Dead
Some bands do it again and again. Nemophila: '[Rise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD3VMAm-9iA)' and '[Adabana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYiOwsu6wU)'.
*A Perfect Circle-"So Long and Thanks For All The Fish"* Time is money and money's time We wasted every second dime On diets, lawyers, shrinks and apps, and flags and plastic surgery Now Willy Wonka, Major Tom Ali and Leia have moved on Signal the final curtain call in all its atomic pageantry Eat the Elephant was one of the best albums I have heard in a long time that had three absolute bangers in a row, and this is right in the middle. The other two track s are called "The Contrarian", and "The Doomed".
Phoenix - Lisztomania
"Laplace's Angel" ("Hurt People Hurt People") -Will Wood. So many genuinely good lines mixed in with a piano to make Oingo Boingo jealous and a vocal range to die for.
In The Silence https://youtu.be/jGJ3aCCCAxc?si=0rFscKqm8pfHNARu Beautiful. Every thirty seconds or so it gets more intense and more beautiful.
It’s All Gonna Break- Broken Social Scene
Descending by Tool. Hard to listen to it without pumping my fists in the air, reaffirming life, and coming away with a renewed sense of purpose and drive.
The Ocean's [Jurassic Cretaceous](https://youtu.be/BPMrwSwl8is?si=FXanJ0lBIjSXvxRy) is definitely one for me.
Alice with the Glory of Love - Say Anything I can't imagine sitting down and trying to write a horny song about the Holocaust and how it actually fucking works and is a beautiful sentiment.
Rust In Peace. [Relevant Onion article.](https://www.theonion.com/humanity-still-producing-new-art-as-though-megadeth-s-1819578062)
I think we have very different ideas of what constitutes an epic world ending song but King Crimson’s Starless from the album Red is exactly what you’re looking for.
Jacob Collier, Djesse Vol 1 [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy\_nhzGQeVePsahNKbIK1U6qLRYkSvHwDTtw&si=bF6Cp6IbvY\_1YClt](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nhzGQeVePsahNKbIK1U6qLRYkSvHwDTtw&si=bF6Cp6IbvY_1YClt)
Devil In A Blue Dress - Mitch Ryder
Elvis Costello. Alibi. Knocks the "Fuck you, bitch" halfway across the ocean.
A Perfect Circle - Orestes
Eleven Pond - Watching Trees. Blue Monday’s older cooler clove-smoking cousin you’ve never heard of. Alternately, I’m Falling - Ministry is some of the tightest, sparest coldwave I’ve ever heard and it makes me wish Uncle Al had done more with that sound.
Where the Streets Have No Name
Johnny Cash- his cover of Hurt is emotionally draining every time I hear it.
Many songs off the new Rosenstock record Hellmode, like "Future is Dumb" and "3 summers" as just one more recent example
Hallowed be thy Name- Iron Maiden
Stand - Blues Traveller
Hocus Pocus by Focus https://youtu.be/GyxSvZOby54?si=3rg8itsed4v2rXE4
The Isley Brothers - "This Old Heart of Mine"
Lately - British Sea Power Duet - Everything Everything
Sigur Ros - “Hoppipolla”, a song in a made up language about jumping in puddles but sounds like the best thing you want to listen to as the universe exploded around you.
Jbt ocean
*Jungleland*, to me, is the best example of this from the BTR album.