1) "Man on the Silver Mountain"-Rainbow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9nfVrusSMg
-With this song, the beat is so extremely catchy, Dio's voice is incredible, the bass groove is awesome. I don't know about you, but all that can be said about this one is that it's pretty darn amazing. Although it lacks a super crazy guitar solo that metal songs are famous for, it's great.
2) "Rainbow in the Dark"-Dio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYlDltwm-JY
-This one actually has a keyboard melody that pops around here and there within the song which I think is pretty cool. Once again, the beat is catchy, the guitar riff is great, the bass groove is amazing, Dio's voice is incredible as usual, and to top it all off, there's a cool guitar solo. "Rainbow in the Dark" is probably one of my favorite songs of all time now that I think about it.
3) "You've Got Another Thing Coming" - Judas Priest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K7CNzFhnCE
-The syncopated rhythm in the beginning is pretty cool and makes the song a bit more intriguing. The beat is actually pretty prominent in this song and very catchy. I'm not a big fan of Halford in this particular song. There's nothing really unique about the vocal part except for the one "COMING FOR YOU!" scream. It's still a great song, but it's not exactly my favorite Priest song. Despite the slightly disappointing vocals, you should still listen to it for the instrumental part, it's awesome.
4) "The Elements" - Tom Lehrer. (I actually memorized all the lyrics lol) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFIvXVMbII0
- Haha, so, this song in my opinion epitomizes the combination of humor, chemistry, and pretty cool piano music. It's kinda annoying how the elements aren't in order of atomic number but I guess it was necessary.
5) "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" - Black Sabbath http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXtliOzw6QE
-This song is a beast. I wish I could simply leave it at that, but that's not really a "review". So the beginning has this really catchy guitar riff that repeats itself throughout the song which is followed very quickly by the bass and drum set. This kind of sets the base of the song which gets more intricate.
6) "Fear of the Dark" - Iron Maiden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nba3Tr_GLZU
-The song has kind of a ABAB format, tempo wise. It starts out at the tempo for the majority of the piece and then moves into this slower tempo which I guess can be interpreted as a cut time meter. After that little bit, it moves back into the original tempo. Finally, it finishes off with the "B" tempo.
7) "Aces High" - Iron Maiden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEcpwSenouQ
-The link that I've included is the music video with that strange introduction. I kinda like this one because it really links the lyrics to a tangible historical event as well as capturing the general idea of the song. Overall, the song is fast paced with kind of a steady riff/beat that repeats itself throughout the entire piece. Of course, similarly to most of Maiden's songs, it has an awesome guitar solo. Oh, Dickinson has this awesome hair style in this video, it's really different from his usual short and clean cut.
8) "American Pie"- Don McLean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsV5-Hv-7U
-So, this is really different from the stuff that I usually listen to, but it's still a good song. (Thank you Tommy) Instead of going into the meaning of the song and all that, I'm going to stick to the purely musical aspects of it. Similarly to "Fear of the Dark" by Iron Maiden, it's composed of slow sections and slightly faster sections. The bass is surprisingly prominent throughout the faster section which is pretty cool because I almost never really pay attention to bass parts which is not a good habit.
9) "Black Magic Woman" - Santana http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18rd5w7Bsjw&feature=related
-I actually heard this song on the radio and looked it up the minute I got home. It has this cool tambourine part that goes really nicely with the general feel in the beginning. In fact, the whole percussion part of this song is unique. Again, I don't really pay attention to the bass and percussion parts, but a song like this almost commands for the listener to do so. The guitar solo in the beginning is not really "crazy" but it goes really well with the feel of the song. I am aware that Fleetwood Mac was indeed the first to make the song, but I really like Santana's version.
10) "Honor Thy Father" - Dream Theater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlX6iJEnYSg
-So, with this song, the first time I heard it I thought it was good but not really great. After a while, something like 3 months, I came back to it and immediately fell in love. The beginning drum solo by Portnoy was phenomenal and gave a really interesting first impression. The thing about Dream Theater is that all of the members of the band are truly talented and capable of spectacular music. The interesting vocals surprisingly add to an already quirky song instead of making it contemptible. The keyboard part at 6:25 is really cool. Rudess is a great keyboardist but I detest his thin beard, that has nothing to do with this song, but yeah, every time I see him I have the strangest urge to rip the beard off. Anyhow, definitely listen to this song if you don't listen to anything else on this list.
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