Signature Songs

[Farmer Reil]

Sometimes, when you think of a band, there's one song that sticks out as being "their" song. Either because it's your personal favourite, their biggest hit, or something else that makes it very obviously "the" song for that band. I'm not talking about one-hit-wonders ¬_¬.

For example, whenever I think of Guns 'n' Roses, I think of Welcome To The Jungle. Because it's one of the most recognisable songs in history.

The same for Nirvana and Smells Like Teen Spirit. It might not be anything close to their best song, but it's the one EVERYONE who's heard of Nirvana knows, and most people who haven't.

Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls is another one, although Metallica are one of those bands who everyone will have a different signature song for. Master of Puppets, Enter Sandman, etc etc.

So yeah, what about signature songs for some of your favourite bands, both famous and not-so famous. What's the one song that you'd tell people to listen to if they'd never heard that band before. The one song that says "That is what Band X are about"?

Here's some of mine:

Edguy - Lavatory Love Machine.

Edguy are hard to categorise, because most songs are entirely different, but LLM is a happy, sing-a-long song about fucking an air hostess in the aeroplane toilets while the plane is crashing so that he'll die happy (the video reveals it's all a dream, but still... ¬_¬) Nothing says 'Edguy' like singing about something like that ¬_¬

Blind Guardian - Bright Eyes (Live)

I'm sure damshow will disagree, but for me Bright Eyes, especially the live version, is like a little bit of every BG song, mixed into one. It's got the intensity of Under The Ice and Valhalla, and elements of slower songs (maybe not as slow as Lord of the Rings, but most of the slower ones at least), with the singalongity © of the more popular songs.

Mind you, if Hansi Kurch was your vocalist, any song you ever did would be immediately recognisable

Hammerfall - Hammerfall

Even if it wasn't the name of the band, it'd still be their signature song for me, with close competition from Templars of Steel. It's just a power metal pizza; Double cheese with extra cheese grated on top ¬_¬.

Rhapsody - Reign of a Thousand Flames

It's not the most epic of their songs (but that's like saying "snot green isn't the most green shade of green"), but it's just got everything in it that you'd expect from a Rhapsody song. If you don't like it, you're not going to like Rhapsody.

Manowar - Metal Warriors

It's a song about how metal they are. If you don't 'get' it, you don't 'get' Manowar

Dream Evil - The Book Of Heavy Metal

See above.

Sonata Arctica - The End Of This Chapter

It includes the lines "I looked to the light, I sat in your coal mine" and "While you are sleeping, I steal your earring". Yup, that's them alright. It's sortof half way between a ballad and a "full-on power metal song". Which is where most of SA's songs end up. Victoria's Secret is the best song, imo, but that doesn't get across the "point" of Sonata Arctica quite as well.

[Number of the Breast]

I have to disagree with a few of them. 'Enter Sandman' is Metallica to the majority of people, myself included even if it's not my favourite song of theirs. I'd also point out 'Hearts on Fire' and 'Battle Hymn' as my choices for Hammerfall and Manowar respectively. A lot of it's subjective and can be down to the first song you heard by a band. That's why 'I Died For You' and 'Colony' are my signature songs for Iced Earth and In Flames respectively.

[Nerf]

"Templars of Steel" for Hammerfall.

[Benji]

I'm not going to list loads, but I have to say, despite a million and one artists covering the song, and the man himself not having written the song, I still consider Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" to be his signature.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

AC/DC pre-Back in Black - Thunderstruck

Old-school Aerosmith - Dream On

Softer Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing

Billy Idol - White Wedding

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA

Bryan Adams - Summer of '69

BTO (North America) - Taking Care of Business

BTO (Rest of the World) - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

The Clash - London Calling

Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water

Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me

Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing

Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

The Guess Who - American Woman

Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

KISS - Rock And Roll All Nite

Loverboy - Working for the Weekend

Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood

Neil Young - Old Man

Oasis - Wonderwall

Our Lady Peace - Innocent

R.E.M. - Man on the Moon

Rush - The Spirit of Radio

Sloan - The Other Man

Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild

Styx - Mr. Roboto

Supertramp - The Logical Song

Tom Cochrane - Life is a Highway

The Tragically Hip - Courage

Triumph - Magic Power

U2 - Beautiful Day

Van Halen (DLR era) - Jump

[Pesci]

Blur's quite obviously Parklife. Led Zeppelin would be a tough one. Stairway To Heaven and Whole Lotta Love are probably their most famous, but I don't know you can call something like Stairway a signature song since it sounds different from their usual sound. The Jam would probably be A Town Called Malice, right? Either that or Going Underground, or maybe I just know that because of the London Underground parody . Pulp would be Common People. For The White Stripes, I'd say Seven Nation Army. Bon Jovi would be Living On A Prayer, most likely. Those are just off the top of my head, I can't be assed to think of more.

[King Ellis]

I'd have to disagree with Potato Head on R.E.M Everybody Hurts is probably more prominent for them.

[figos]

Apart from the ones already mentioned,

Extreme-More than Words

[ClaRK! Kent]

Okay, some songs that 'sum up' bands for me, so to speak, and are probably good bets for the signature song of each group...

The Cranberries - Zombie

No Doubt - Don't Speak or Just A Girl

Massive Attack - Teardrop

Rolling Stones - I Can't Get No Satisfaction

Velvet Underground - Run Run Run

Rufus Wainwright - Oh What A World

The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

Rage Against the Machine - Killing In The Name Of

Radiohead - Creep

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Placebo - Every You, Every Me

The Smiths - This Charming Man or Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Hole - Celebrity Skin

Foo Fighters - Breakout or Monkey Wrench

Bob Dylan - Knockin' on Heaven's Door (which is a travesty 'cos he's got like a zillion better songs)

[Lord Nibbler]

The Cranberries - Zombie

Edited January 3, 2007 by The Faceman

[GoGo Yubari]

Blur's quite obviously Parklife.

Though in the States it's "Song 2," unfortunately.

Velvet Underground - Run Run Run

I always thought it was "Sunday Morning," "I'll Be Your Mirror," or "All Tomorrow's Parties," myself.

Other guesses:

Al Green - Let's Stay Together

The Pillows - Ride on Shooting Star

Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

Buddy Holly - That'll Be The Day

George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

John Lennon - Imagine

Paul McCartney/Wings - Another Day or Live and Let Die

Ringo Starr - Photograph

[DFF]

Long post warning coming up...

Sometimes, when you think of a band, there's one song that sticks out as being "their" song. Either because it's your personal favourite, their biggest hit, or something else that makes it very obviously "the" song for that band. I'm not talking about one-hit-wonders ¬_¬.

For example, whenever I think of Guns 'n' Roses, I think of Welcome To The Jungle. Because it's one of the most recognisable songs in history.

The same for Nirvana and Smells Like Teen Spirit. It might not be anything close to their best song, but it's the one EVERYONE who's heard of Nirvana knows, and most people who haven't.

Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls is another one, although Metallica are one of those bands who everyone will have a different signature song for. Master of Puppets, Enter Sandman, etc etc.

So yeah, what about signature songs for some of your favourite bands, both famous and not-so famous. What's the one song that you'd tell people to listen to if they'd never heard that band before. The one song that says "That is what Band X are about"?

Here's some of mine:

Edguy - Lavatory Love Machine.

Edguy are hard to categorise, because most songs are entirely different, but LLM is a happy, sing-a-long song about fucking an air hostess in the aeroplane toilets while the plane is crashing so that he'll die happy (the video reveals it's all a dream, but still... ¬_¬) Nothing says 'Edguy' like singing about something like that ¬_¬

Blind Guardian - Bright Eyes (Live)

I'm sure damshow will disagree, but for me Bright Eyes, especially the live version, is like a little bit of every BG song, mixed into one. It's got the intensity of Under The Ice and Valhalla, and elements of slower songs (maybe not as slow as Lord of the Rings, but most of the slower ones at least), with the singalongity © of the more popular songs.

Mind you, if Hansi Kurch was your vocalist, any song you ever did would be immediately recognisable

Hammerfall - Hammerfall

Even if it wasn't the name of the band, it'd still be their signature song for me, with close competition from Templars of Steel. It's just a power metal pizza; Double cheese with extra cheese grated on top ¬_¬.

Rhapsody - Reign of a Thousand Flames

It's not the most epic of their songs (but that's like saying "snot green isn't the most green shade of green"), but it's just got everything in it that you'd expect from a Rhapsody song. If you don't like it, you're not going to like Rhapsody.

Manowar - Metal Warriors

It's a song about how metal they are. If you don't 'get' it, you don't 'get' Manowar

Dream Evil - The Book Of Heavy Metal

See above.

Sonata Arctica - The End Of This Chapter

It includes the lines "I looked to the light, I sat in your coal mine" and "While you are sleeping, I steal your earring". Yup, that's them alright. It's sortof half way between a ballad and a "full-on power metal song". Which is where most of SA's songs end up. Victoria's Secret is the best song, imo, but that doesn't get across the "point" of Sonata Arctica quite as well.

Some bands are really hard to narrow down to just one song. Indeed, for me, Guns N' Roses are defined by 'Welcome To The Jungle', 'Sweet Child O' Mine', 'Paradise City' and 'November Rain'.

I agree with Aaron the Metallica point. 'Enter Sandman' is THE signature Metallica song. I also see the logic behind 'Hearts on Fire' for Hammerfall, though I would have put 'Hero's Return' up their first. 'Battle Hymn' is undoubtedly Manowar.

Rhapsody (of Fire ) is a tough one. I would go with either 'Emerald Sword' or 'Wisdom of the King', though I've listened to less of their stuff than, say, Hammerfall.

For me, Sonata Arctica's big song is 'Fullmoon', although opinion seems divided on favourites of theirs between about 5 or 6 different ones quite equally on different boards.

AC/DC pre-Back in Black - Thunderstruck

Old-school Aerosmith - Dream On

Softer Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing

Billy Idol - White Wedding

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA

Bryan Adams - Summer of '69

BTO (North America) - Taking Care of Business

BTO (Rest of the World) - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

The Clash - London Calling

Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water

Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me

Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing

Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

The Guess Who - American Woman

Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

KISS - Rock And Roll All Nite

Loverboy - Working for the Weekend

Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood

Neil Young - Old Man

Oasis - Wonderwall

Our Lady Peace - Innocent

R.E.M. - Man on the Moon

Rush - The Spirit of Radio

Sloan - The Other Man

Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild

Styx - Mr. Roboto

Supertramp - The Logical Song

Tom Cochrane - Life is a Highway

The Tragically Hip - Courage

Triumph - Magic Power

U2 - Beautiful Day

Van Halen (DLR era) - Jump

I agree with the emboldened ones.

As for alternatives to the ones I've listened to a fair bit...

AC/DC pre-Back in Black - Highway to Hell (though, I don't begrudge you Thunderstruck. I'd have that next in line).

Old-school Aerosmith - My First Your Face (this is more to do with what I've heard of the older stuff. This songs has just stuck in my head).

The Clash - Should I Stay of Should I Go (although, again, London Calling would be next. Then probably I Fought Law... with Rock The Cabsah on the next tier down)

Johnny Cash - Walk The Line (for me it's WTL and RoF - and I simply prefer WTL).

KISS - God Gave Rock And Roll To You OR~! Crazy, Crazy Nights.

U2 - Pride.

Others...

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (that wasa given if there ever was one. Arguments could be made for stuff like We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You, etc though).

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper

Free - All Right Now

Bad Company - Feel Like Makin' Love

Gary Moore (rocked up) - OverThe Hills and Far Away

Gary Moore (ballad) - Parisien Walkways

[Cadet Ember McLain]

Black Sabbath - Iron Man

Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train

[NobBe Nobbs]

Black Sabbath - Iron Man

[ADG]

If U2 have one recognisable song then "One" is surely it.

As for other bands, I'd say:

REM should be 'Losing My Religion' or 'Everybody Hurts'

The Who should be 'Who Are You?' or 'Pinball Wizard'

Richard Ashcroft - 'Bittersweet Symphony'

Radiohead - 'Creep' or 'Karma Police'

Placebo - 'Nancy Boy' or at a stretch 'Pure Morning'

George Harrison - 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'

Muse - 'Time Is Running Out'

The Charlatans - 'The Only One I Know'

Feeder have quite a few but I'd say 'Just A Day' would be their top one.

The Offspring - 'Come Out And Play (Keep 'Em Separated)' or 'Pretty Fly For A White Guy'

[Lord Nibbler]

The Who should be 'Who Are You?' or 'Pinball Wizard'

Edited January 3, 2007 by The Faceman

[Rashid]

No Doubt - It's My Life

-Even though I like Don't Speak, and Just a Girl more.

Sum 41 -Still Waiting

blink 182 - Adam's Song or What's My Age Again

Pearl Jam - Jeremy

Nirvana - Polly and Smells Like Teen Spirit

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine and November Rain (Welcome to the Jungle is much overrated, not even one of their best 15 songs)

Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven

Lynryd Skynryd - Freebird

Meatloaf - Paradise on the Dashboard Light

Rob Zombie - Dragula

So basically, I usually go by my favorite song of a band.

[DFF]

Surely, Muse would be 'Plug in Baby'?

[Steeb]

I'd go with 'Pure Morning' for Placebo. S'more known, and more indicative of their 'dark' nature, IMO.

Others:

Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Under The Bridge' (unfortunately :ohwell:)

Smashing Pumpkins - 'Geek USA' (More indicative of their sound than most of their well known tracks, IMO.)

Pearl Jam - 'Alive' (Just a pure anthem.)

Broken Social Scene - 'Almost Crimes' (Showcases a lot of what they 'do', well.)

Sufjan Stevens - 'Chicago'

The Smiths - 'This Charming Man'

Jimmy Eat World - 'The Middle' (Not the best song, but the most well known and fairly representative of their earlier stuff at least.)

John Frusciante - 'Past Recedes' (Although his music is so varied it's hard to give a 'signature'.)

Incubus - 'Are You In?' (Shows what their 'modern' sound is about well.)

Foo Fighters - 'My Hero' (Similar to a lot of their 'mainstream' material, whilst being not a million miles from their album tracks.)

Feeder - 'Just A Day'

Faith No More - 'Epic'

Deftones - 'Change (In The House of Flies)'

[Buford Ripley]

Sum 41 - Fat Lip (Y)