Best choruses

[Scorpion]

I've been quite obsessed with the songs "Born" by Nevermore and "Where the Earth and Sky Meet" by Beyond the Bridge, and one of their major selling points in both cases is an absolutely incredible chorus - the chorus of "Born" might be my favourite chorus by anyone, ever.

This got me thinking - what are your favourite choruses? What makes a chorus great in your opinion? Any examples that you'd like to share?

[Zantera]

A great chorus is catchy IMO. In some cases it can be a song I hear for the first time, and after only having heard the chorus once, you're "along for the ride" once the chorus comes in the second time. That's just generally speaking though. I love catchy choruses the most, but there's other kinds of choruses that work too.

Some of my favorites would be:

Kimbra - Cameo Lover
Oceansize Savant
Porcupine Tree - Trains
Dredg - Sang Real
Radiohead Pyramid Song

that's just a few. I could probably give you 100.

[Accelerando]

To me, a chorus doesn't necessarily have to be catchy and sing-ability. A chorus gets me when there is a strong hook and there's a distinct melodic climb that pre-sets the melody. Some of my favorites:

Alter Bridge - Cry of Achilles

David Bowie - Life On Mars

Faith No More - Epic

Demon Hunter - I'm Not Ready To Die

Atmosphere - You

[ReaperKK]

Look to Fair To Midland for some of the best choruses, songs like "The Wife, The Kids, The White Pickett Fence" & "Golden Parachutes"

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Dillinger Escape Plan - Crossburner

[Kotowboy]

Mastodon - The Motherload.

[senecadawg2]

First one that came to mind was Coheed and Cambria's "Mother Superior". I get that one stuck in my head all the time.

Also on the shortlist would be Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

[Outcrier]

First that came to mind:

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
New Order - True Faith

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Sammy Hagar - Two Sides of Love

[hefdaddy42]

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

[Podaar]

Hell yeah! Kansas has a ton of them. How about "People of the South Wind"? 

[hefdaddy42]

Hell yeah! Kansas has a ton of them. How about "People of the South Wind"? 

[KevShmev]

Hell yeah! Kansas has a ton of them. How about "People of the South Wind"? 

All of the great Kansas choruses and you pick that one??  Then again, despite being a big Kansas fan, I've never cared for that song.  For Kansas alone, go with these:

Miracles out of Nowhere
The Pinnacle

And we're done.

[Rattlehead]

Peter Gabriel - Red Rain 

[ozzy554]

W.A.S.P - Sleeping (in the fire)

[Sacul]

While I'm not so keen on Fear of a Blank Planet, I think it has some of the best choruses I've heard. But the best ones are on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, both song and album.

[TempusVox]

Tons...here are some random examples of some old school favorites.

Rock N Roll All Night- KISS
Another Brick in the Wall- Pink Floyd
American Pie- Don McLean
We Are the Champions- Queen
Love is Like Oxygen- Sweet
Renegade- Styx
Feel Like Makin' Love- Bad Company
Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard- Paul Simon
Band On the Run- Paul McCartney and Wings
Sweet Baby James- James Taylor
Can't You See- Marshall Tucker

[TheAtliator]

I have WAY too many to name

DT- Lost Not Forgotten, Under A Glass Moon, Voices, Learning to Live, Scarred, Forsaken, Medicate, all of the In the Presence of Enemies choruses, Live Die Kill (We seek to understand part), The Shattered Fortress, Fatal Tragedy

Kansas- The Pinnacle, Icarus, Child of Innocence

Symphony X- Inferno, Accolade I and II, Masquerade

Queen- Tenement Funster, The Prophet's Song

Styx- Lords of the Ring, One With Everything, These Are the Times, Captain America, Great White Hope, Borrowed Time, Queen of Spades, Sing for the Day, The Grove of Eglantine, Winner Take All, Young Man, Serpent is Rising, Everything is Cool

Okay I am being reminded right now of why Styx and Dream Theater are my favorite  .

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Belle and Sebastian - If She Wants Me

This one's just really stuck in my head today.

[Zantera]

I'll add a new song and say Dog Fashion Disco's "Tastes So Sweet", which has been stuck in my head since the album dropped.

[aprilethereal]

Symphony X - Inferno (Unleash The Fire)

Perfect.

[Bertielee]

Jorn - Sunset Station
DT - UaGM
JLB - Euphoric
Nilsson - Without you (I know he's not the original singer but still...)

And many others

B.Lee

[hauswife]

like someone said earlier the chorus has to be catchy in some way. and it has to touch me. these come to my mind:
pain of salvation - iter impius
porcupine tree - the sound of muzak
transatlantic - we all need some light
haken - visions, celestial elixir
dream theater - breaking all illusions, lines in the sand, trial of tears
pink floyd - comfortably numb
symphony x - paradise lost

[Ben_Jamin]

Van Halen - Dreams

Halestorm - Bad Romance, I like the way she sings it.

Doobie Brothers - Blackwater
Many others I can't think of at the moment

[425]

haken - visions, celestial elixir

Came in here to say this, namely Celestial Elixir, which is probably my all-time favorite chorus. Really a lot of Haken's choruses are really good. I don't know what it is about them, but they have just a ton of really great choruses (Drowning in the Flood, Pareidolia, Falling Back to Earth, Atlas Stone, Nocturnal Conspiracy, and just all of them really).

I like a lot of choruses. Often I find bands that have a lot of great choruses. I named some of my favorite Haken ones above, let me see if I can list off a few more.

Nightwish has some pretty great ones: Passion and the Opera, Sleeping Sun, She Is My Sin, Wishmaster, FantasMic, Beauty of the Beast part I ("Oh do you care..."), Ever Dream, Amaranth, Storytime, Ghost River, Song of Myself.

And, though I know this isn't a popular opinion on this forum, Coldplay is a pretty awesome pop rock band with some fantastic choruses: A Rush of Blood to the Head, Viva La Vida, Hurts Like Heaven, Princess of China, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, Major Minus.

I'll also second Sacul on saying that Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet is a stellar album in this regard (and disagree with him by saying that it's stellar in EVERY regard!). Particularly Sentimental, Way Out of Here, Sleep Together and The Pills I'm Taking.




My all time favorite though has to be Celestial Elixir. That chorus has catchiness, epicness, emotional power and memorability. Those huge riffs come crashing down and Ross Jennings soars with the vocal lines "She may never retuuuuuuuurn... But I will wait foreeeeeeeveeeeeeer... If we cannot make ameeeeeeeeeeeends.... I'll chase your rainbow to the end." This one will be in my head until the end of time.

[FiberglassMoon]

Look to Fair To Midland for some of the best choruses, songs like "The Wife, The Kids, The White Pickett Fence" & "Golden Parachutes"

Fair to Midland is the first band that comes to mind when I think about strong choruses.  They are the masters.

[Dellers]

There are so many great choruses around. I suppose that the catchiness is what makes me like some choruses better than others. Here are a few favorites of mine in various genres:

Dirty Loops - Sayonara Love
Leprous - Foe
Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking
Toto -  Falling In Between
Al Jarreau - Breaking Away
Anubis Gate - World In A Dome
Michael Jackson - Will You Be There
Withem - Phrenesis
Ole Børud - Under Control
E-type - Arabian Star
DJ Mendez -  Razor Tongue
Michael Mcdonald (originally Four Tops) -  Reach Out, I'll Be There
Myrath - Wide Shut
Kamelot - March Of Mephisto

[aprilethereal]

Look to Fair To Midland for some of the best choruses, songs like "The Wife, The Kids, The White Pickett Fence" & "Golden Parachutes"

Fair to Midland is the first band that comes to mind when I think about strong choruses.  They are the masters.

Got into them a few weeks ago and I have to agree.

[wolfking]

W.A.S.P - Sleeping (in the fire)

Haven't listened to this one in ages, great pick.