Your Top 5 Songs of All Time

[bobzor]

Impossible, but I think I'd have to think about it in terms of what has influenced me the most during all these years and not just post the top 5 songs right now.

Iron Maiden - Caught Somewhere in Time
Metallica - Seek and Destroy
Manowar - Hail and Kill
Megadeth - Holy Wars
Dream Theater - Metropolis

The first four represent my entrance into metal music and those bands were pretty much the only thing I listened to during the first year or so. Dream Theater came much later, only after I had checked out almost every other metal genre there was. But it was something in Metropolis and later Pull me Under that got me into buying their whole discography. A little bit later, I had the same experience with Muse and if this was top 6 songs of all time nr 6 would probably be a Muse song.

Funny thing is that I listen to A SHITLOAD of extreme metal and didn't really pay attention to these classic bands or progressive metal for that matter for a long time. Yet not one of those black/death metal bands were as influential for me as those listed above. Maybe Emperor from Norway would be close. Or something like Slayer, I don't know.

[Elite]

I'm tempted to do a 'off the top of my head, this is what I come up with', but I already know I wouldn't agree with it tomorrow, simply because I don't really subscribe to the idea that you can think of 1 (or 5, or 10) songs as 'better' or 'more favourite' than the others. It's dependent on the day, my mood, what I'm doing, etc.

[twosuitsluke]

I'm tempted to do a 'off the top of my head, this is what I come up with', but I already know I wouldn't agree with it tomorrow, simply because I don't really subscribe to the idea that you can think of 1 (or 5, or 10) songs as 'better' or 'more favourite' than the others. It's dependent on the day, my mood, what I'm doing, etc.

I'd imagine at least 80% of the people who have posted so far are in the same boat! Just winging it and going with 5 songs, that could well change come the following day.

I'd be very surprised if many people could commit to 5 songs, knowing they wouldn't change their mind.

Metallica - Seek and Destroy

As a big Metallica fan,  I've gotta say, I don't get the love for this song. I find the chorus kind of annoying and everytime I've seen them live I just had my fingers crossed they wouldn't play it. If I was to pick a song off Kill Em All it'd be The Four Horsemen, hands down.

[kirksnosehair]

This is really hard.  But I will try.


5. "Wind at my Back" and "June" (tie) Spock's Beard
4. "Stranger In Your Soul" - Transatlantic
3. "2112: Overture / The Temples of Syrinx / Discovery / Presentation / Oracle: The Dream" - Rush
2. "Magnum Opus: Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat / Howling at the Moon / Man Overboard / Industry on Parade / Release the Beavers / Gnat Attack" - Kansas
1. "The Spirit Carries On" - Dream Theater

[Stadler]

I'm tempted to do a 'off the top of my head, this is what I come up with', but I already know I wouldn't agree with it tomorrow, simply because I don't really subscribe to the idea that you can think of 1 (or 5, or 10) songs as 'better' or 'more favourite' than the others. It's dependent on the day, my mood, what I'm doing, etc.

I didn't even make it to the afternoon before regretting mine.  I forgot Shine On You Crazy Diamond!   

[kirksnosehair]

5 songs is an impossibly small list for "favorite songs" when your current listening library contains around 6,500 songs 


I could probably post a list if 5 favorite songs every week for a year and still have a bunch left over.




I'm a sucker for 1-hit-wonders from the 70's too. 

[TAC]

You have only 5 songs you can listen to for the rest of your life. Pick them!

[TAC]

1. Dream Theater-Learning To Live
2. UFO-Rock Bottom (Strangers version)
3. Iron Maiden-Hallowed Be Thy Name
4. Michael Kiske-Do I Remember A Life?
5. Alice Cooper-The Ballad Of Dwight Fry

[King Postwhore]

1. Marathon - Rush
2. Octavarium  - Dream Theater
3. Crystallized  - Haken
4. The Raven That Refused To Sing - Steven Wilson
5.  Hotel California - The Eagles

[T-ski]

This is almost impossible, but I know three...

1. Subdivisions - Rush
2. Untouchable I and II - Anathema
3. I Will Awake - Vanishing Point

No doubt there are numerous options to round this out but those were the ones the immediately came to mind.

[emtee]

Untouchable I and II have moved me to the point of tears more than once. Powerful, emotional songs that I connect with deeply.

[mike099]

For now, but changes often

Breaking all Illusions - Dream Theater
Bleak - Opeth
Black Light Machine - Frost*
Pareidolia - Haken
Forced Entry - Leprous

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Untouchable I and II have moved me to the point of tears more than once. Powerful, emotional songs that I connect with deeply.

It's funny you mention this. The first 5 tracks of that album, when listened to all at once, never fail to move me to tears at some point. The pure raw emotion in the lyrics, and the way they are sung, and music is among the best I've ever heard in my life.

I've learned the hard way not to listen to this album in full while driving. I had to pull over once about halfway through Sunlight.

[pg1067]

You have only 5 songs you can listen to for the rest of your life. Pick them!

Rush - Hemispheres
Yes - Close to the Edge (or Gates of Delirium)
DT - ACOS
Fates Warning - The Ivory Gate of Dreams
Helloween - Halloween or Keeper of the Seven Keys

[KevShmev]

Untouchable I and II have moved me to the point of tears more than once. Powerful, emotional songs that I connect with deeply.

It's funny you mention this. The first 5 tracks of that album, when listened to all at once, never fail to move me to tears at some point. The pure raw emotion in the lyrics, and the way they are sung, and music is among the best I've ever heard in my life.

I've learned the hard way not to listen to this album in full while driving. I had to pull over once about halfway through Sunlight.

I never heard Weather Systems till about a year ago, but it's pretty great.  I agree that the first five songs pack a helluva punch, but The Lost Child has emerged for me as a beast of a song.

[King Postwhore]

The Storm Before The Calm for me.

[KevShmev]

That's a great one, too.  The climax at the end with both male and female vocals is one of the things that won me over right away when I first heard the record.

[Stadler]

I'm a sucker for 1-hit-wonders from the 70's too.

Maybe not LITERALLY one hit wonders, but I have a playlist of 70's AM radio hits:

1. Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
2. Dream Weaver - Gary Wright
3. Sentimental Lady - Bob Welch (former Fleetwood Mac)
4. December, 1963 - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
5. More Than I Can Say - Leo Sayer

HM:   Jenny (Tommy Tutone, though it was 1981); Please Don't Go (KC and the Sunshine Band); The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)

[Dedalus]

1. Avalanche (Leonard Cohen)
2. Comptine d'un autre été : L'Après-Midi (Yann Tiersen)
3. Echoes (Pink Floyd)
4. The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel)
5. Subdvisions (Rush)

maybe...

[LordCost]

Leprous - Forced Entry
Tool - The Grudge
Thrice - For Miles
Cardiacs - Dirty Boy
Pain Of Salvation - Idioglossia

Just picked the songs at one moment in time I had considered my favorites, in no particular order.
For Pain Of Salvation I could choose a lot of other songs that I like as much as Idioglossia, for Cardiacs 3 or 4..

[HOF]

I somehow mentioned two Peter Gabriel songs without including Wallflower, which I’ve often thought is my favorite PG song.

[Elite]

Okay, here goes nothing then:

(reluctantly)



The Dear Hunter - The Bitter Suite I, II & III (yes, I know that's two songs)
David Bowie - Life on Mars
Ulver - The Future Sound of Music
Leprous - Forced Entry
Cardiacs - Dirty Boy




omitted:

Radiohead - Idioteque
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
King Crimson - Starless
Pain of Salvation - King of Loss
The Beatles - Oh! Darling

[ReaperKK]

I should take another stab at this, a couple of those songs in my top five are not in my top five anymore.

[LordCost]

3 people voting for Forced Entry.. Since we can choose from the entire musical universe, it is quite impressive.

[jingle.boy]

I'm a sucker for 1-hit-wonders from the 70's too.

Maybe not LITERALLY one hit wonders, but I have a playlist of 70's AM radio hits:

1. Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
2. Dream Weaver - Gary Wright
3. Sentimental Lady - Bob Welch (former Fleetwood Mac)
4. December, 1963 - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
5. More Than I Can Say - Leo Sayer

HM:   Jenny (Tommy Tutone, though it was 1981); Please Don't Go (KC and the Sunshine Band); The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)

I've got a 'one-and-done' playlist as well.  And any one-hit-wonder list without a mention of Black Betty is just wrong.  Oh, and My Sharona.

Back on topic...

DT / Octavarium
Rush / Xanadu
Zeppelin / Battle of Evermore
Triumph / Magic Power
Floyd / Welcome to the Machine

(if we are to include multiple artists, Red Barchetta and ACOS would've bumped the latter two songs)

[Evermind]

Something like this, I guess

Pink Floyd - High Hopes (a few years ago I would've said Echoes)
Avantasia - The Scarecrow
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (a toss up between this and Telegraph Road)
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing
Rainbow - Stargazer

[bobzor]

Metallica - Seek and Destroy

As a big Metallica fan,  I've gotta say, I don't get the love for this song. I find the chorus kind of annoying and everytime I've seen them live I just had my fingers crossed they wouldn't play it. If I was to pick a song off Kill Em All it'd be The Four Horsemen, hands down.

Well I agree with you, The Four Horsemen is arguably the better song. It's just that I'm looking at it from an overly sentimental position where Seek and Destroy had a bigger impact on me in my youth and got me to explore the band further.

[Zantera]

Okay, here goes nothing then:

(reluctantly)



The Dear Hunter - The Bitter Suite I, II & III (yes, I know that's two songs)
David Bowie - Life on Mars
Ulver - The Future Sound of Music
Leprous - Forced Entry
Cardiacs - Dirty Boy




omitted:

Radiohead - Idioteque
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
King Crimson - Starless
Pain of Salvation - King of Loss
The Beatles - Oh! Darling

Dirty Boy would make my list too! 

[Zydar]

Really tough to choose.

Beach Boys - God Only Knows
Dream Theater - Learning To Live
Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland
Beatles - Penny Lane
Pink Floyd - Time

It's been over 10 years ago, and I don't think my Top 5 would change that much. Perhaps replace 'Jungleland' with '1985' by Paul McCartney, or 'Firth Of Fifth' by Genesis.

I hadn't started listening to Rush then, so perhaps a song by them would be near the Top 5 as well.

[kirksnosehair]

I'm a sucker for 1-hit-wonders from the 70's too.

Maybe not LITERALLY one hit wonders, but I have a playlist of 70's AM radio hits:

1. Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
2. Dream Weaver - Gary Wright
3. Sentimental Lady - Bob Welch (former Fleetwood Mac)
4. December, 1963 - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
5. More Than I Can Say - Leo Sayer

HM:   Jenny (Tommy Tutone, though it was 1981); Please Don't Go (KC and the Sunshine Band); The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)

The wife and I listened to one of those 70's channels on satellite radio on our ride to and from Georgia last week - 1,100 miles each way (18 hours straight through).  I think I heard every one-hit wonder in existence.     

[lanemeyer]

Oh wow, I didn't realize this was a DECADE-OLD THREAD, but seeing my first reply in this thread really brings me back. My top five bands now are a bit different than they were back then, especially after discovering Big Big Train and getting really deep into The Tangent and Haken and several other bands since then.
-Marc.

I've been cruising this thread and playing anything I didn't recognize or already know and I don't know how the fuck I've missed Big Big Train in my life. Shit is great! Thanks so much for mentioning it here and unknowingly introducing me to them.

[HOF]

Oh wow, I didn't realize this was a DECADE-OLD THREAD, but seeing my first reply in this thread really brings me back. My top five bands now are a bit different than they were back then, especially after discovering Big Big Train and getting really deep into The Tangent and Haken and several other bands since then.
-Marc.

I've been cruising this thread and playing anything I didn't recognize or already know and I don't know how the fuck I've missed Big Big Train in my life. Shit is great! Thanks so much for mentioning it here and unknowingly introducing me to them.

Oh man, welcome aboard. You’re in for a treat.

[lanemeyer]

Okay, gonna take a swag at this. Maybe in 10 years I'll remember to look back at it.  No order:

Stranger in Your Soul (Transatlantic) - Just a prog masterpiece.
The Count of Tuscany (DT) - Yes, the lyrics still make my cringe, but my god that intro is insanely good and the middle section through the end is transcendent. Petrucci is a god on this song.
Flight (Devin Townsend) - This might not be here in 10 years, but fuck, I love the way this song makes me feel. Somber. Reflective. Beautiful. Listened to it a lot in this shit year.
Ghost of Perdition (Opeth) - This is the best of Opeth when they were still quite metal but really matured their progressive tendencies. Martin Lopez's drumming is worth noting... he was great on the whole album.
Duel with the Devil (Transatlantic) - Not as good as SiYS but still a masterpiece. That's a top 5 album for me easily.

Took me way too long to write this. The only song I didn't struggle to put on was SiYS.

[Moor]

3 people voting for Forced Entry.. Since we can choose from the entire musical universe, it is quite impressive.

Not my cup of tea...although I love Leprous. I prefer their recent sound.

[Elite]

To me personally (the reason I had it in my list) is that I think it's one of the best progressive metal tracks ever made. I could swap it with King of Loss (Pain of Salvation) or a song by Dream Theater (probably Metropolis), but in recent years Leprous have become on of my favourite bands. Bilateral was listed as my #2 album ever the last time I did a top 50 list and Forced Entry is a good reason for that. It's got everything good about prog metal in a single track and it's the best representation of the genre I could think of for this 'Top 5 songs ever' thing.