"Epic" Pop/Rock Songs

[SeattleChris]

Hoping this thread might expand my musical horizons, maybe yours as well! For consideration:

My favorite pop/rock songs tend to elicit some kind of visceral, emotional response. Not a fan of "ditties" or background music, I listen purposefully to be invigorated, inspired, enlightened and even saddened if the mood fits. I refer to this music as "epic", some might call it "soundtrack" music. It often has different movements or builds to a crescendo. Below are some favorites, please post yours if you think they fall into this category!

Evanasence - My Immortal (band version with the 30 seconds of metal)
Poets of the Fall - Carnival of Rust
Meg Myers - I'm Not Sorry
London Grammar - Hell to the Liars
Whitesnake - Forevermore
Within Temptation - Stairway to the Skies
Seal - Daylight Saving
Ethel Cain - Strangers
Pink Floyd - High Hopes
Rivals - To Leila
Dire Straits - Telegraph Road
Sia - Breathe Me
Nothing But Thieves - Before We Drift Away
Exploring Birdsong - The Downpour
Shaman's Harvest - Silent Voice
Greywind - The Lake
Marillion - too many to list, one is Great Escape/Last of You/Falling From the Moon

 

[Gray]

I may not be a good one to answer Chris.
I looked down your list of 18.

I'd heard of a few of the artists but Telegraph Road is the only track I've heard - and I would need to play it again to remind myself of it 🤔

I'm with you on listening purposefully though - no background music 👍

 

[SeattleChris]

Given different tastes & perceptions this might be too vague a topic to be useful, but here's another batch of songs I consider "epic". If I listened to them all consecutively I'd be mentally & emotionally exhaused (in a good way)!

Flyleaf - Arise
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
The Broken View - Reverie
Louise Dowd - Call the Shots
Tesla - Song and Emotion
Paramore - Part II
Cyrenic - Lullaby
Sonic Adventure Project - Hollow
Eagles - The Last Resort
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Falling or Flying
Cheyenne Kimball - Full Circle
Of Allies - Open Sea
Alan Parsons Project - Turn of a Friendly Card pt.2
Crystal Joilena - The Apparition
Shooting Star - Burning
Takida - My Dove
Cryoshell - Creeping in My Soul
My Chemical Romance - The Light Behind Your Eyes
Earlyrise - Narcissistic Cannibal
Type O Negative - Love You to Death
Pvris - Eyelids
Aquilo - Human
Lemolo - Rogue Wave
Heart - Mistral Wind
Machineheart - Kill a Man
M83 - Oblivion (that piano fadeout is devastating)
Lenny Kravitz - Believe (those bells in the fadeout are also devastating)

 

[SeattleChris]

Will let this thread die now but thought I'd post one last batch of my "epics" in case anyone is interested. They don't all conform to the movements/crescendo formula but I find them epic from their style. Hesitated adding Madonna but wanted to demonstrate just about any artist can come up with that one epic!

Enemy Inside - Dark Skies
Snow Patrol - Make This Go On Forever
Lissie - Meet Me in the Mystery
Def Leppard - Foolin'
September Mourning - Mausoleum
Deacon Blue - Your Town
MarthaGunn - Love & Emotion
Triumph - Little Boy Blues (instrumental)
Sunsleep - Drifting Away
Blue Oyster Cult - Astronomy
Pearl Jam - Inside Job
Fleetwood Mac - Sisters of the Moon
Coldplay - Fix You
Cheryl Crow - Safe and Sound
Queensryche - Eyes of a Stranger
Jessie Ware - The Kill
Steve Rothery - White Pass (instrumental)
Keep Shelly in Athens - Stop Fooling
Joe Bonamassa - Sloe Gin
Mother Love Bone - Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns
Tori Amos - A Sorta Fairytale
Conjure One - Extraordinary Ways
Matchbox Twenty - English Town
Journey - Separate Ways
Chickenfoot - Come Closer
Alanis Morissete - Tapes
Counting Crows - A Long December
Silversun Pickups - Alone on a Hill
Madonna - Like a Prayer

 

[Gray]

Will let this thread die now but thought I'd post one last batch of my "epics" in case anyone is interested.

You've taught me that I've missed at least 73 tracks of epic music Chris 👍

I knew the Madonna track (though I don't consider it to be epic......sorry 🙂)

 

[SeattleChris]

You've taught me that I've missed at least 73 tracks of epic music Chris 👍

I knew the Madonna track (though I don't consider it to be epic......sorry 🙂)

Hi Gray - Thanks for being my only validator on this thread! Given different tastes it was indeed too vague to be useful, but at some point the list took on a life of its own as I scoured my playlists. If you listen to pop/rock you could list some of your own epics! Was kind of hoping to take some flak for the Madonna comment...

 

[Gray]

Hi Gray - Thanks for being my only validator on this thread! Given different tastes it was indeed too vague to be useful, but at some point the list took on a life of its own as I scoured my playlists. If you listen to pop/rock you could list some of your own epics! Was kind of hoping to take some flak for the Madonna comment...

No problem Chris.
Often, when people list their favourites, it brings home to me just how mainstream / commercial my music tastes have always been.
If I was to tell you that I regard Boston's More than A Feeling as a bit epic....you see what I mean 😆.

And John Miles' Music probably gives me some of the feeling you describe - when played very loud. (A track once described by a work colleague as 'bland' - he must've meant cheesy as bland it surely isn't).

...and guitar solo at the end of Carpenters' Goodbye To Love can never really be played too loud as far as I'm concerned.

Top music for me is Salsoul and Philadelphia from mid 70s - plenty of what I describe as epic stuff from some real musicians and singers.

I will certainly work through some of your lists (not least because it must've taken you ages to type them out) 👍

 

[Revolutions]

@SeattleChris - if you make a Spotify playlist, will happily listen 😊

 

[SeattleChris]

Gray: Agreed on Boston - More Than a Feeling. It's amazing how fresh Boston still sounds after all these years. John Miles - Music reminded me of early Alan Parsons Project and while not quite my style it's definately "epic"! Suspect most of my list will be too noisy and not melodic enough for your tastes.

Revolutions: I'm on Amazon Music HD, never tried Spotify!

 

[Rui]

i could give some great songs examples , like:

-the young ones, Cliff Richard and the Shadows;
-the end of the world, Skeeter Sisters;
-my bonnie, Tony Sheridan (with the Beatles);
-surfin`bird; the Trashmen;
-california dreamin`, The Mamas & the Papas
-wouldn´t it be nice, the Beach Boys;
-the letter, the Box Tops;
-girl, you´ll be a woman soon, Neil Diamond;
-san francisco, Scott Mckenzie;
-heard it through the grapevine, CCR
-eve of destruction, Barry Mcguire;
-vincent, Don Mclean;
-summer wine, Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra;
-my guitar gently weeps, the Beatles;
-masters of war, Bob Dylan;
- diamonds and the rust, Joan Baez,;
-these arms of mine, Otis Redding ;
-me and Bobby Macgee, Janis Joplin;
-waterloo sunshine, the Kinks;
-litle wing, Jimmy Hendrix;
-a whiter shade of pale, Procul Harum;
-she´s not there, the Zombies;
-summer in the city, Lovin`spoonfull
-white room, Cream;
-heart full of soul, the Yardbirds;
-time as come today, Chamber Brothers;
-American woman, the Guess who;
-put my last clean shirt(on my brother Bill),Eric Burdon & the Animals;
-coz i love you ,Slade;
-the Nile song, Pink Floyd;
-maggie may, Rod Stewart;
-Daniel, Elton John;
-the show must go on, Leo Sayer;
-Natbush city limits, Ike & Tina Turner
-giving it all away, Roger Daltrey;
-whatever gets you through the night, John Lennon & Elton John;
-soap-box opera, Supertramp;
-ashes to ashes, David Bowie;
-games without frontiers, Peter Gabriel;
-wunthering heights, Kate Bush;
-baker street, gerry raferty;
-i don´t like monday´s , Bottomed Rats;
-tom sawer; Rush
-is that love, Squeeze;
-owner of a lonley heart,Yes;
-so long ;Fischer-Z;
-god´s zoo, the Death Cult;
-cities in dust, Siouxie & the Banshes
-moonlight shadow, Mike Oldfield;
-when the dove cries, Prince;
- the power of love, Frankie goes to Hollywood;
-please don´t let me be missunderstood, Elvis Costello;
-t.v. man, Bolshoy;
-counting the days, the Sound;
-she´s in the parties, Bauhaus;
-she sell´s sanctuary, the Cult;
-medicine show, Dream syndicate;
-a love like blood, Killing Joke;
-hold on( to what you´ve got )Danse society;
-the walk, the Cure;
-lucretia my reflexion, Sisters of Mercy;
-pretty in pink, Psychedelic Furs;
-lip´s like sugar;Echo & the Bunnymen;
-april skies, the Jesus & the Mary Chain;
-fisherman´s blues, Waterboys;
-here comes your man, Pixies;
-fool´s gold ,Stone Roses;
-movin`on up, Primal Scream;
I think i´ll stay by the 80´s, or i would have to writte a several times bigger list of resumed iconic pop rock songs, the last one ,i can´t remenber if it was already 1990 or 89, but it can be a good source of songs that made it big ,in the 60´s, 70´s and 80´s, sorry if i made it too long,

It´s a resumed list, lot´s of other iconic songs were ledft out and tried not to repeat the same artist or band to be more acurate trying to not leave behind other great ones and also many other great songs,
maybe i´ll make a part II of this listing from 1990 to 2024 , hope you enjoy them, if you feel like it.

 

[Gray]

i could give some great songs examples , like:

-the young ones, Cliff Richard and the Shadows;
-the end of the world, Skeeter Sisters;
-my bonnie, Tony Sheridan (with the Beatles);
-surfin`bird; the Trashmen;
-california dreamin`, The Mamas & the Papas
-wouldn´t it be nice, the Beach Boys;
-the letter, the Box Tops;
-girl, you´ll be a woman soon, Neil Diamond;
-san francisco, Scott Mckenzie;
-heard it through the grapevine, CCR
-eve of destruction, Barry Mcguire;
-vincent, Don Mclean;
-summer wine, Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra;
-my guitar gently weeps, the Beatles;
-masters of war, Bob Dylan;
- diamonds and the rust, Joan Baez,;
-these arms of mine, Otis Redding ;
-me and Bobby Macgee, Janis Joplin;
-waterloo sunshine, the Kinks;
-litle wing, Jimmy Hendrix;
-a whiter shade of pale, Procul Harum;
-she´s not there, the Zombies;
-summer in the city, Lovin`spoonfull
-white room, Cream;
-heart full of soul, the Yardbirds;
-time as come today, Chamber Brothers;
-American woman, the Guess who;
-put my last clean shirt(on my brother Bill),Eric Burdon & the Animals;
-coz i love you ,Slade;
-the Nile song, Pink Floyd;
-maggie may, Rod Stewart;
-Daniel, Elton John;
-the show must go on, Leo Sayer;
-Natbush city limits, Ike & Tina Turner
-giving it all away, Roger Daltrey;
-whatever gets you through the night, John Lennon & Elton John;
-soap-box opera, Supertramp;
-ashes to ashes, David Bowie;
-games without frontiers, Peter Gabriel;
-wunthering heights, Kate Bush;
-baker street, gerry raferty;
-i don´t like monday´s , Bottomed Rats;
-tom sawer; Rush
-is that love, Squeeze;
-owner of a lonley heart,Yes;
-so long ;Fischer-Z;
-god´s zoo, the Death Cult;
-cities in dust, Siouxie & the Banshes
-moonlight shadow, Mike Oldfield;
-when the dove cries, Prince;
- the power of love, Frankie goes to Hollywood;
-please don´t let me be missunderstood, Elvis Costello;
-t.v. man, Bolshoy;
-counting the days, the Sound;
-she´s in the parties, Bauhaus;
-she sell´s sanctuary, the Cult;
-medicine show, Dream syndicate;
-a love like blood, Killing Joke;
-hold on( to what you´ve got )Danse society;
-the walk, the Cure;
-lucretia my reflexion, Sisters of Mercy;
-pretty in pink, Psychedelic Furs;
-lip´s like sugar;Echo & the Bunnymen;
-april skies, the Jesus & the Mary Chain;
-fisherman´s blues, Waterboys;
-here comes your man, Pixies;
-fool´s gold ,Stone Roses;
-movin`on up, Primal Scream;
I think i´ll stay by the 80´s, or i would have to writte a several times bigger list of resumed iconic pop rock songs, the last one ,i can´t remenber if it was already 1990 or 89, but it can be a good source of songs that made it big ,in the 60´s, 70´s and 80´s, sorry if i made it too long,

It´s a resumed list, lot´s of other iconic songs were ledft out and tried not to repeat the same artist or band to be more acurate trying to not leave behind other great ones and also many other great songs,
maybe i´ll make a part II of this listing from 1990 to 2024 , hope you enjoy them, if you feel like it.

Some good ones in there Rui 👍
(The Slade one was the first vinyl I ever bought.....helping to make it UK number 1 in 1971).

 

[SeattleChris]

i could give some great songs examples , like:

-the young ones, Cliff Richard and the Shadows;
-the end of the world, Skeeter Sisters;
-my bonnie, Tony Sheridan (with the Beatles);
-surfin`bird; the Trashmen;
-california dreamin`, The Mamas & the Papas
-wouldn´t it be nice, the Beach Boys;
-the letter, the Box Tops;
-girl, you´ll be a woman soon, Neil Diamond;
-san francisco, Scott Mckenzie;
-heard it through the grapevine, CCR
-eve of destruction, Barry Mcguire;
-vincent, Don Mclean;
-summer wine, Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra;
-my guitar gently weeps, the Beatles;
-masters of war, Bob Dylan;
- diamonds and the rust, Joan Baez,;
-these arms of mine, Otis Redding ;
-me and Bobby Macgee, Janis Joplin;
-waterloo sunshine, the Kinks;
-litle wing, Jimmy Hendrix;
-a whiter shade of pale, Procul Harum;
-she´s not there, the Zombies;
-summer in the city, Lovin`spoonfull
-white room, Cream;
-heart full of soul, the Yardbirds;
-time as come today, Chamber Brothers;
-American woman, the Guess who;
-put my last clean shirt(on my brother Bill),Eric Burdon & the Animals;
-coz i love you ,Slade;
-the Nile song, Pink Floyd;
-maggie may, Rod Stewart;
-Daniel, Elton John;
-the show must go on, Leo Sayer;
-Natbush city limits, Ike & Tina Turner
-giving it all away, Roger Daltrey;
-whatever gets you through the night, John Lennon & Elton John;
-soap-box opera, Supertramp;
-ashes to ashes, David Bowie;
-games without frontiers, Peter Gabriel;
-wunthering heights, Kate Bush;
-baker street, gerry raferty;
-i don´t like monday´s , Bottomed Rats;
-tom sawer; Rush
-is that love, Squeeze;
-owner of a lonley heart,Yes;
-so long ;Fischer-Z;
-god´s zoo, the Death Cult;
-cities in dust, Siouxie & the Banshes
-moonlight shadow, Mike Oldfield;
-when the dove cries, Prince;
- the power of love, Frankie goes to Hollywood;
-please don´t let me be missunderstood, Elvis Costello;
-t.v. man, Bolshoy;
-counting the days, the Sound;
-she´s in the parties, Bauhaus;
-she sell´s sanctuary, the Cult;
-medicine show, Dream syndicate;
-a love like blood, Killing Joke;
-hold on( to what you´ve got )Danse society;
-the walk, the Cure;
-lucretia my reflexion, Sisters of Mercy;
-pretty in pink, Psychedelic Furs;
-lip´s like sugar;Echo & the Bunnymen;
-april skies, the Jesus & the Mary Chain;
-fisherman´s blues, Waterboys;
-here comes your man, Pixies;
-fool´s gold ,Stone Roses;
-movin`on up, Primal Scream;
I think i´ll stay by the 80´s, or i would have to writte a several times bigger list of resumed iconic pop rock songs, the last one ,i can´t remenber if it was already 1990 or 89, but it can be a good source of songs that made it big ,in the 60´s, 70´s and 80´s, sorry if i made it too long,

It´s a resumed list, lot´s of other iconic songs were ledft out and tried not to repeat the same artist or band to be more acurate trying to not leave behind other great ones and also many other great songs,
maybe i´ll make a part II of this listing from 1990 to 2024 , hope you enjoy them, if you feel like it.

Thanks, Rui, lots to sample! Definately a different mix than mine and most will be new to me.

 

[Rui]

Thanks, Rui, lots to sample! Definately a different mix than mine and most will be new to me.

thank you , but i left a lot of artists out and stoped by 1990 or i would have to writte a lot longer list

 

[Rui]

@SeattleChris - if you make a Spotify playlist, will happily listen 😊

that didn´t came to my mind, it was a way of listening to all songs listed by everyone

 

[Rui]

Gray: Agreed on Boston - More Than a Feeling. It's amazing how fresh Boston still sounds after all these years. John Miles - Music reminded me of early Alan Parsons Project and while not quite my style it's definately "epic"! Suspect most of my list will be too noisy and not melodic enough for your tastes.

Revolutions: I'm on Amazon Music HD, never tried Spotify!

that are tastes for everything ,i never heard just one style of music but whatever sounded good to me ,i can have the first album from Jewel but also have Lp´s from bands like dead kenndy´s, black flag or fugazi , never to forget the Ramones or Misfits(glenn Danzig on vocals)

 

[plastic penguin]

The Bends - Radiohead. The Bends is my top ten of favourite albums.

Paul Weller - Wild Wood, classic album.

Green Day - Warning album. Fab album.

Squeeze - East side Story

Stevie Wonder - Talking Book

Sparks - Indescreet. Great album

Muse - Origin of Symmetry. Excellent album, even a better group live.

Jeff Buckley - Grace. Amazing voice.

David Bowie - Hunky Dory. One of very few albums where every track hits the mark. Inside my top 3 fav albums.

Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous. Awesome.

 

[Leon74]

You've taught me that I've missed at least 73 tracks of epic music Chris 👍

I knew the Madonna track (though I don't consider it to be epic......sorry 🙂)

Lol, same here, only recognised the Madonna track.

 

[Rui]

, some do are great to refer ,like , (forgive me if some names are not well written)

Josh rouse- salton sea

Einsterzende neuebauten-sabrina

Jason Isbell and the 400 unit- if we were vampires

Finley Quaye, Beth Orton, William Orbit-dice

Silver Jews- wild kindness

Jonnhy Cash and Joe Strummer- redemption song(Bob Marley Cover)

Cat Power- metal heart (either versions)

Mark Lanegan- constant craving (jefreey lee pierce ,ex-Gun Club)

Seu Jorge- the Model(kraftwerk)

Bobby Gillespie & Jennhy Beth-you don´t know what love is

Kira Skov & Mark Lanegan-idea of love

kira skov & Bill callahan-Love is a force

Blixa Bargeld & Teho Teardo-a quite life

Warpaint-Billie Holiday

Tarnation-your thoughts and mine

R.E.M.-at my most beautifull

Band of Horses-no one´s is gonna love you

Deus-nothing really happens

The Breeders-drivin`on 9

Throwing muses-the visit

Paolo Nutini-candy

Grant Lee Bufallo-stars n`stripes (i think everybody knows "fuzzy")

Beth Orton-stolen car

Silver Jews-punks in the beerlight

The House of Love-she paints words in red

Depeche Mode-world in my eyes

Cowboy Junkies-to lay me down(greatfull dead cover)

Mark Lanegan-man in the long black coat

Grinderman-star charmer

where the wild roses grow-Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds feat.Kylie Minogue

The Verve-weeping willow

Mercury Rev-godess on a highway

Luna-beggar´s bliss

Gomez-we haven´t turned around

Tindersticks-willow

Morphine-candy

Travis-writing to reach you

PJ Harvey-c´mon billy

Passenger-all the litle lights

Air, Beth Hirsch-all i need

Elliot Smith-angeles

U.N.K.L.E. ,Ian Brown-be there

Deus-1989

Athlete-wires

Crowded House-four seasons in one day

Morcheeba-enjoy the ride

Ryan Adams-when the stars go blue

Camille, Nouvelle Vague-in a matter of speaking(cover version)

Sylvie Kreusch-walk walk

Noir Désir-le vents nous portera

Zero 7,Sia-somersault

Cinematic Orchestra-To build a home

Air-how does it make you feel?

Kristin Hersh-your ghost(is it with Michael Stype)

,i tried to resume, some songs from the 90´s and 2000´s, hope you enjoy some.
I have a list of a very resumed songs from the 60´s, 70´s and 80´s, missing a lot of good songs and artists

 

[SeattleChris]

Thanks, Rui. This batch of newer songs was more my style and several added to my playlist!

Wanted to call out one more missing from my list above because it's a live performance only available on Youtube: Grace Potter & Joe Satriani performing Neil Young's Cortez the Killer. That voice, and that guitar shredding against a trumpet! Kudos to Young for writing it but this performance elevates it to my favorite recording ever. I'll attempt to paste the link below but if it fails please search, I'd like to hear what you guys think of it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paeNnR33i5Q

 

[jjbomber]

Thanks, Rui. This batch of newer songs was more my style and several added to my playlist!

Wanted to call out one more missing from my list above because it's a live performance only available on Youtube: Grace Potter & Joe Satriani performing Neil Young's Cortez the Killer. That voice, and that guitar shredding against a trumpet! Kudos to Young for writing it but this performance elevates it to my favorite recording ever. I'll attempt to paste the link below but if it fails please search, I'd like to hear what you guys think of it.

Link works! My mate opened for Joe Satriani about 10 years ago. He said Jow was the nicest guy he'd ever met in music.