Rock/Metal's greatest anthem?

[Ziggy St. Valentine]

What is rock and heavy metal's most anthemic song? What epic riff can't you get out of your head? What catchy chorus makes you wanna jump up, throw your fist in the air and thrash your head around like mad? What solo drives you absolutly crazy?

My votes go to:

Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
Iron Maiden - Run To The Hills
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil

[Bulldog19892]

Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
Nirvana- Smells Like Teen Spirit
Metallica - Enter Sandman
AC/DC - Highway to Hell

[Hats of!]

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Jukebox Hero - Foreigner
Child in Time - Deep Purple
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Aqualung - Jethro Tull

[Chocoholic]

AC/DC - Back in Black
Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop
The Doors - Break on Through (To the Other Side)

Mainly because they're songs pretty much everyone knows. They'll get anyone feeling the sweet, sweet melodic sounds of rock.

[Android]

We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions - Queen

There's a reason why it's played at like every single sporting event. This song was written in the universal language of rock.

[Shagg]

"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
"Another Brick In The Wall II" Pink Floyd
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Nirvana
"Smoke On The Water" Deep Purple

[Kenneh]

Cowboys From Hell - Pantera

[OddKid506]

Megadeth - Holy Wars... The Punishment Due
Pantera - Walk
Annihilator - King of the Kill
Arch Enemy - My Apocalypse
Black Label Society - Forever Down
Iced Earth - Ten Thousand Strong
Eidolon - Nightmare World
Machine Head - Imperium
Iron Maiden - Bring Your Daughter... To the Slaughter
Dio - Holy Diver

[Hats of!]

The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again/Baba O'Reily

[Iiro]

Gary Moore - Over the hills and far away

fucking epic

[February Stars]

Some of these songs, I'd never ever consider to be rock or metal, let alone an anthem. Smells Like Teen Spirit. Come on. That's mediocre grunge, at best, and it's no anthem.

Foreplay / Long Time - Boston

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd

Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne

[P0K3M0N_MA5T3R]

Sweet Child O' Mine-Gun's N' Roses
We Will Rock You-Queen
Kashmir-Led Zeppelin (that riff is in every advert for an action movie ever.)

[hardcoresk8r69]

One of These Days - Pink Floyd

[Triple J]

Rock and roll aint noise pollution- AC/DC
Fat Bottomed girls- Queen

[reigninblood666]

Master Of Puppets-Metallica
Raining Blood-Slayer
Walk-Pantera
Domination-Pantera
Whiplash-Metallica

[Audioslave]

The Bitch Is Back - Elton John

[Profane Methane]

Iron Man - Black Sabbath

[Knight of Cydonia]

Smells like teen Spirit-Nirvana
We Will rock you-Queen

[Antisaint]

Rock You Like A Hurricane - Scorpions
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Thunderstruck - AC/DC

[Pelican Man]

Some of these songs, I'd never ever consider to be rock or metal, let alone an anthem. Smells Like Teen Spirit. Come on. That's mediocre grunge, at best, and it's no anthem.

Grunge is rock, don't be picky. And Smells Like Teen Spirit was, at the time of it's release, insanely popular and catchy, and looking at the first post in this thread, that's the definition of anthem we're going with.

[Tempest]

The opening theme from The People's Court.

This is kind of a silly question to ask, everyone is going to have different opinions based on their tastes, and everyone else is going to trash on them for their choice while making an equally unfounded-by-anything-but-love-for-the-band pick. Also, rock has been going on for way too long to try and pick something out of the last 10 or 20 years.

[exetra]

Also, rock has been going on for way too long to try and pick something out of the last 10 or 20 years.

How about this:

60's - Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream
70's - Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin
80's - (the 80's sucked so pick any song by Iron Maiden and move on)
90's - Cowboys From Hell by Pantera

According to my opinion, anyway.

[sparta47]

Don't Fear the Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult
Schools Out-Alice Cooper
Aces High-Iron Maiden
Mama Kin-Aerosmith

[Assassin]

Manowar - Battle Hymn :salute:

[xkittenxsocksx]

Manowar - Battle Hymn :salute:

I second this.

http://www.13thnote.co.uk/extras/manowar.jpg

[DreamTheater]

War Pigs - Black Sabbath
Painkiller - Judas Priest
Time - Pink Floyd
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
For Those About to Rock(We Salute You) - AC/DC
Motorbeath - Metallica
Fear of the Dark - Iron Maiden

Many many more, but those songs are all fuckin' awesome.

[Ziggy St. Valentine]

Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
Stratovarius - Hunting High And Low

Forgot to mention those 2 in my earlier post.

[Hickabod]

No song will ever beat Freebird!

[Rui]

Ace of Spades by Motorhead.

[TheHighwaySong]

No song will ever beat Freebird!
I think I'll have to second that. Who hasn't gone to a small gig and as an old joke yelled "FREEBIRD!" between songs?

But other close ones would be:

Cowboys From Hell - Pantera
Run To The Hills - Iron Maiden
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Santeria - Sublime

Basically songs that have catchy riffs that once you get them in your head they're very hard to get rid off.

[Hickabod]

I think I'll have to second that. Who hasn't gone to a small gig and as an old joke yelled "FREEBIRD!" between songs?

Actually as a joke we shout Abba. But the last time I went to a gig it was Mike Estes of Lynryd Skynrd and he did play Freebird.

[The Bobster]

In Flames - Pallar Anders Visa
Rush - Xanadu
Iron Maiden - Holy Smoke

[irockyourmom]

ACDC - For those about to rock, we salute you; Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution, Its A Long Way to The Top if You Wanna Rock n Roll; and Let there Be Rock.

[hoopymo]

Black night - deep purple.

Or Hush - deep purple


Especially the latter as its in so many adverts.

[TheHighwaySong]

Hah, I thought this was a brand spanking new thread that I had never posted in but it turns out I posted in it a year ago.

The first thing I thought of when looking at it this time around though, was We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions by Queen. Most def. :rock:

[JohnnyPark]

What is rock and heavy metal's most anthemic song? What epic riff can't you get out of your head? What catchy chorus makes you wanna jump up, throw your fist in the air and thrash your head around like mad? What solo drives you absolutly crazy?

There are different answers to each of these questions.

1: Freebird, by far. Come Sail Away is second.
2: "School" by Nirvana.
3: "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi, only I find headbanging idiotic.
4: Oof. The tough one. "Suicide Solution" by Ozzy Osbourne, off Tribute. I get an erection every time I hear it.

[SourChicken]

Any song by Queen ever made-Queen

Prove me wrong.

[TheFerret]

Freebird - Lynryd Skynrd
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Walk - Pantera
Master of Puppets - Metallica
We Will Rock You/ We are the Champions - Queen

And for all the guitarists out there:
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple

[JohnnyPark]

Yes, because guitarists love a riff that repeats the same boring slow note over and over. Listen to "Burn" before you say guitarists love shitty riffs.

[TheFerret]

Dude, Smoke on the Water is like a guitarist rite of passage. Countless guitarists learn it as their first son. That's why I would consider it an Anthem. You know? Like how the title of the thread is, "Rock/Metal's Greatest Anthem" and not "Songs JohnnyPark Likes", or "Watch JohnnyPark Be an Asshole Yet Again."

[JohnnyPark]

It's not a fucking rite of passage. I know several great guitarists who have never learned Smoke on the Water because it sucks balls. It's the most boring guitar riff ever.

[TheFerret]

There are plenty of guitarists who do learn it though. Of course there are going to be guitarists who never learned it, it's not like when I said rite of passage, I meant every guitarist on the face of the earth has to learn it. It's just a popular beginning song.

Yeah, it's simplistic. That's why its good for beginners. Simplistic =/= boring. I'm sorry not all guitarists can pick up guitars for the first time and play fucking masterpieces like the great JohnnyPark evidently did.

[Jonlol]

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Ride the Lightning - Metallica
Peace Sells - Megadeth
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

The best of the best, in my opinion at least.

[JohnnyPark]

I don't even bother learning songs. I take the Kurt Cobain route and just write (or, more accurately, improvise). The only songs Kurty ever learned the whole way through were "Louie, Louie", "Back in Black" (because it used the Louie, Louie chords) and "More Than a Feeling" (whose riff was stolen for their biggest hit).
And I agree, simplistic =/= boring, but Smoke on the Water IS boring. How long does it take for Ritchie to get from note to note? Aaaaaaaaaages. Every time I hear that riff, I puke in my mouth.
I'm not even going to get started on Stairway to Heaven's shitty guitar part.

[TheFerret]

The problem with that is you're not Kurt Kobain, your just a guy who looks for attention for criticizing anything that's popular to make yourself look edgy as fuck. I don't think there's a thread you've been in where instead of just joining the fucking conversation, you have to steal the spotlight with "outrageous" opinions. Speaking of which, why don't you tell us why Stairway has such a shitty guitar part?

[JohnnyPark]

I don't think there's a thread you've been in where instead of just joining the fucking conversation, you have to steal the spotlight with "outrageous" opinions.

Fallout 3 thread, GTA IV thread, scariest videogame enemies thread, etc.

Speaking of which, why don't you tell us why Stairway has such a shitty guitar part?

It's the single most overrated guitar part ever. The intro is monotony, and the solo is mediocre, at best. Thirty seconds of mediocrity =/= GR8IST SOLO EVAR ZOMFFFFFF
And don't say "you don't like slow songs", because there's a difference between slow and monotonous. More Than a Feeling is slow; Kashmir is monotonous. Hell, even fast riffs can be monotonous, like The Four Horsemen.

[K3nn3h]

The God That Failed - Metallica
Cool The Engines - Boston
I Want It All - Queen
Space Truckin' - Deep Purple
Highway Chile - Hendrix
2 Minutes Till Midnight - Iron Maiden
Gimme Three Steps - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Tush - ZZ Top
Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh.

[TheFerret]

The Stairway solo is not "monotonous". I understand that not everyone is going to like Stairway, but you're just being critical to be critical now. And even if you find Smoke on the Water boring, who gives a shit?
1. My first point remains valid that just because you find it boring doesn't mean it ceases to be an anthem.
2. It's a widely learned song for beginning guitarists.
3. You're a douchebag.

[K3nn3h]

JPark, shut the fuck up, you're completely wrong.

[Sieda]

Most of the songs I'm seeing mentioned aren't anthems at all. An anthem is meant to praise or celebrate something. So unless the song is celebrating rock/metal, or possibly the rock/metal lifestyle... it's not an anthem.

The thread has turned more into what song do you feel is an epitome of rock/metal. Personally, I know whenever I hear Slayer's Raining Blood, or Metallica's Master of Puppets I think 'THAT is what metal is all about!'

[JohnnyPark]

The Stairway solo is not "monotonous".

I said the solo was mediocre, not monotonous. I said the guitar before the solo was monotonous.
ALL UR POINTZ R INVALID TRY AGAIN PL0X

USER WAS PUT IN TIMEOUT FOR THIS POST. (http://forums.explosm.net/eventlog.php)
Reason: Don't be an idiot.

[TheHighwaySong]

I said the solo was mediocre, not monotonous. I said the guitar before the solo was monotonous.
ALL UR POINTZ R INVALID TRY AGAIN PL0X
Here's a tip JohnnyPark, grow the fuck up and accept the fact that not everybody is going to share your opinion, and that everyone will have a different one. Just because we disagree with you, doesn't make us stupid, although the way you present yourself does make you look pretty retarded.

[K3nn3h]

Yeah, and if you show your ugly mug around here again I'll have Pony Boy cut you up good.

[Pelican Man]

It's not a fucking rite of passage. I know several great guitarists who have never learned Smoke on the Water because it sucks balls. It's the most boring guitar riff ever.

We get it dude, you're totally underground and hate anything popular. You're totally rad and shit. *bows before you* You're a fucking hero.

On another note, I'd agree with Smoke on the Water. It IS a riff that a lot of beginners learn and use it to move on to bigger and better things.
And I'd add "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi. Earliest I can remember, this was one of my favourite rock songs. It really got me pumped for the genre.

[Allen]

Layla. Clapton is God and Duane Allman is Christ on heavy hallucinogens.

[Arielcz]

Money - Pink Floyd
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Thunderstruck - AC/DC
Tales of Brave Ulysses - Cream
House of the Rising Sun - Animals
Money for Nothing - Dire Straits
No More Mr. Nice Guy - Alice Cooper
Fortunate Son - Credence Clearwater Revival

[lollercaust]

I take the Kurt Cobain route

Do you own a shotgun?

[Fruitality]

Sweet Child O Mine/Paradise City - Guns N' Roses

[Ziggy St. Valentine]

I don't even bother learning songs. I take the Kurt Cobain route and just write (or, more accurately, improvise). The only songs Kurty ever learned the whole way through were "Louie, Louie", "Back in Black" (because it used the Louie, Louie chords) and "More Than a Feeling" (whose riff was stolen for their biggest hit).
And I agree, simplistic =/= boring, but Smoke on the Water IS boring. How long does it take for Ritchie to get from note to note? Aaaaaaaaaages. Every time I hear that riff, I puke in my mouth.
I'm not even going to get started on Stairway to Heaven's shitty guitar part.

The part in bold is why you suck at guitar.

[WongSifu]

I think The Who - My Generation fits TC's description very accurately, in my opinion. I think for a song to be considered an anthem, it has to be symbolic of it's time, like a zeitgeist or something. So I would definitely consider Smells Like Teen Spirit an anthem. Another song that's a really great anthem is Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot, though I don't know whether to count that as an anthem of the late 80s or the 90s.