I love long songs! They’re perfect for tuning out the world and entering your own. That’s going to be particularly useful for the next four years by the way. Long songs also tend to be challenging and they set a standard. The key to writing a long song is creating one that is interesting all they way through. Unfortunately they’re becoming more and more rare. In a world of ever shortening attention spans the market for the long song is drying up. However, if a song is quality all the way through, attention spans can become obsolete. To be considered a long song, it must be a minimum of 8 minutes. Not that songs under aren’t meaty in length. But to be truly long 8 minutes is the shortest. So here’s a post of my top ten long songs.
Fates Warning – The Light and Shade of Things
First up is one of the newest track from the progressive heavy metal pioneers. The entire album is a masterpiece. And at the center of it all is ‘The Light and Shade of Things’. A ten plus minute track that pretty much embodies everything that Fates Warning stands for. Time changes, heavy break downs, ballad moments and melodies galore. Even though they aren’t as well known as Dream Theater and defiantly not as popular as Queensryche or Rush. Fates Warning carved a niche for themselves in their own unique way in the prog metal world.
Genesis – Domino
By the time 1986 rolled around Genesis had become the biggest band in the world. Thanks largely in part to Phil Collins’ solo career and vision for the group. While Phil’s solo music and Genesis have many differences, this album is difficult to tell which is which. And that’s not a bad thing. Closing the album with the epic ‘Domino’, Genesis knew they had to write a track that perfectly summed up who they were at the time. They delivered a concert staple that perfectly combines Phil’s 80’s pop melodies with progressive hard rock.
Cheap Trick – Gonna Raise Hell
Even though Cheap Trick aren’t really known for long songs. They’re certainly known for at least one. 1979’s ‘Gonna Raise Hell’ embodied the more bluesy, heavy and aggressive side of the band. Their recent hit ‘I Want You to Want Me’ held a more poppy vibe. But their follow up album to their breakthrough live record would contain many heavy and almost punk like tracks. ‘Gonna Raise Hell’ is the perfect example of heavy Cheap Trick just rocking out.
Metallica – …And Justice for All
While the production of the album suffers, the musical arrangements are brilliant throughout. Metallica’s fourth album ‘…And Justice For All’ was another step forward overall, despite many set backs. The progressions are brilliant, the lyrics are inspiring and there’s riffs up the ass. The title track is everything the album offers in nine and half minutes. Still one of the most popular songs in their sets. ‘…And Justice for All’ set the standard for the long, heavy metal song.
Rush – La Villa Strangiato
If you thought YYZ was impressive, then check this out. Rush’s ‘La Villa Strangiato’ is so difficult that it almost tore the band apart. Their goal was to do the song in one take, ingesting mass amounts of cocaine to produce the energy for it. After the song was done the band realized that they needed a change or they would be destroyed. ‘La Villa Strangiato’ is the pinnacle of Rush’s most progressive moments. In the following years they would dial the difficulty back, writing hit after hit in the 80’s.
Temple of the Dog – Reach Down
Raw, real, sexy and fleshy. Those are the words that describe one of the greatest songs from a movement. In 1992, Temple of the Dog released their only album. A super group containing members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog paved the way for Soundgarden’s eventual break through. The second track from the album is one of their best. Perfectly combining the progressive heaviness of Soundgarden with the radio sensibilities of Pearl Jam.
Meshuggah – Dancers to a Discordant System
A nine minute plus track of powerhouse brutality. That and super advanced time changes. By 2008, Meshuggah had really made a name for themselves. And though the band had been around since 1991, it took them until 2008 to have a break through. This is mostly due to heavy metals comeback in the late 2000’s. By the time Meshuggah’s insanely excellent, innovative album ‘Destroy, Erase, Improve’ came out in 1995, heavy metal had begun to enter the dark hole of not being cool. Fortunately things turned around for the group and 13 years later they scored big time and there hasn’t been any looking back. ‘Dancers to a Discordant System’ is exactly what we should expect from the progressive, death metal pioneers.
Led Zeppelin – In My Time of Dying
This whole album is so good. The third track from the first disc is one of the reasons why. ‘In My Time of Dying’ is pure Zeppelin extended out over ten minutes. The band had been experimenting with long, live jams up to this point and thought they’d give the long song a go in the studio. It paid off and Jimmy Page wrote one of his finest pieces. A dark yet eerily catchy song. It starts soft with the blues and builds and builds in true Zeppelin fashion. I’m so glad they put it on the set list for ‘Celebration Day’, the 2007 reunion live album.
Guns N Roses – Locomotive
The shortest song on the list. ‘Locomotive’ is everything that Guns N Roses stands for. Everyone talks about ‘Appetite for Destruction’. But the ‘Use Your Illusion’ albums perform circles around it and ‘Locomotive’ is example number one. An 8 minute masterpiece of combining the older sounding Guns N Roses with the newer 90’s alternative sound they so subtly put into the albums. The song is split between those two parts. ‘Locomotive’ is also the catchiest riff that Slash and Izzy ever played. A simple, bluesy chug with brilliantly produced bass and drums to back it all up. It just doesn’t get much better.
Dream Theater – The Glass Prison
The kings of the long song. It was extremely difficult to choose which Dream Theater song was going to go on this list. I decided to go in the heavy thrash direction. The second movement of a six movement suite about drummer Mike Portnoy’s alcohol addiction. ‘The Glass Prison’ displays dark, introspective lyrics with the thrash to back it up. Everything from the intro to the end is mind blowing yet never tiring. Dream Theater has a knack for doing this. From the classic thrash intro to the nu metal break down to the solo exchanges and time changes, ‘The Glass Prison’ is a perfect example of how Dream Theater worked their way up to being one of the biggest bands in the world.
