Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself

From the same album as "July Morning", also named "Look At Yourself".

Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven

Is this the best song ever, or what?

AC/DC - For Those About To Rock

We salute you!

The name of the album was inspired by a book Angus Young read, entitled For Those About To Die, We Salute You, about Roman gladiators. The gladiators' final words to the emperor were "Ave Caesar morituri te salutant" - or, "Hail Caesar, we who are about to die, salute you."

Tenacious D - Tribute

"Tribute" is a tribute to "The Greatest Song in the World", which Tenacious D themselves came up with, but have since forgotten.

During earlier performances of this song Kyle Gass played the opening to "Stairway to Heaven". The two songs are both in A minor and have very similar chord progressions, and critics have said the songs sound alike.

Given the "Stairway to Heaven" interlude in the original TV series version, it might be suggesting the best song in the world is indeed that song, but the lyrics make clear that the song Tenacious D is playing sounds nothing like the song they came up with to please the demon (specifically, "This is not / The greatest song in the world, no / This is just a tribute").

In an interview the band claimed that the inspiration from the song came after Jack Black played Metallica's "One" for Kyle Gass, describing it as "the best song in the world", leading to a failed attempt to themselves write an even better song, and a discussion of the meaninglessness of labeling any song that way.

Blue Öyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by the rock band Blue Öyster Cult from their 1976 album, Agents of Fortune.

The reaper is a reference to the Grim Reaper, a traditional symbol of death in European folklore. Moreover, songs and poetry pairing "Death and the Maiden" date back from before the Middle Ages. Lyrics such as "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity" have led many listeners to interpret the song to be about a murder-suicide pact, but song-writer and lead-guitarist Dharma says the song is about eternal love, not death.

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

Just a nice song from the writers of the much more known "Dust In The Wind".

Aerosmith - Dream On

"Dream On" is the first single by Aerosmith from their 1973 debut album, Aerosmith. Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this blues-influenced power ballad became their first major hit.

Eminem used this as the basis for his 2002 song "Sing For The Moment." Tyler's vocals were sampled and Aerosmith guitarist Perry played guitar on Eminem's track.

Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laugh, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away, yeah

Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until the dream come true

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

"Black Hole Sun" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Black Hole Sun" was released in 1994 as the third single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown (1994). It is arguably the band's most recognizable and most popular song.

Mountain - Mississippi Queen

"Mississippi Queen" is a song originally performed by the American rock band Mountain. It was written by Leslie West (who supplies lead vocals and guitar) and drummer Corky Laing. Originally appearing on their 1970 album Climbing!, it has remained Mountain's most popular song. It begins with the banging of Laing's cowbell and West's easily recognizable guitar riffs.

Being put together by David Rea and Corky Laing, the lyrics were inspired by an incident that happened to Laing while playing at a club in Nantucket. An unnamed friend's girlfriend was there, visiting from Mississippi. She happened to be wearing a see-through dress that evening. Quite suddenly, the power on the entire island went out, and in a drug-induced moment of creativity, Laing began belting out the words.

The Who - Baba O'Riley

"Baba O'Riley" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by vocalist/guitarist/pianist Pete Townshend. The other band's vocalist, Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, with Pete Townshend singing the middle eight: "Don't cry/don't raise your eye/it's only teenage wasteland". The title of the song is derived from this combination of the song's philosophical and musical influences: Meher Baba (an Indian mystic and spiritual master) and Terry Riley (American composer).

The violin solo in the coda of the song is based on Indian classical music as homage to Meher Baba, who inspired this song.

Rush - 2112

In the year 2062, a galaxy-wide war results in the union of all planets under the rule of the Red Star of the Solar Federation. The world is controlled by the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx, who determine all reading matter, songs, pictures... everything connected with life during the year 2112 ("The Temples of Syrinx").

In the midst of this assembly line living, a man discovers what was once known years before as a guitar ("Discovery"). The man begins to pluck the strings and turn the knobs, discovering that he can make his own music - a music very different from that of the Temples. He rushes to tell the priests of his discovery ("Presentation"), but to the man's dismay, the priests destroy the instrument, saying it doesn't fit the plan of the Solar Federation.

The man returns to the cave in which he found the guitar and, during a dream, is led by an oracle to a "strange and wond'rous land" ("Oracle: The Dream") where the 'Elder Race', who "left our planets long ago", has been forced to make their home after being defeated by the priests. He "Sees the work of gifted hands". The protagonist notes that the Elder Race is still waiting to return, and take power over the Priests again. Upon awakening, he can not believe it was a dream—the perceived beauty was so real to him.

He remains in the cave for several days, becoming more and more depressed with each passing hour ("Soliloquy"). The man decides he can not go on as part of the Federation and takes his life to move on to a better one. As he dies, another planetary battle begins ("Grand Finale") resulting in the (perhaps deliberately) ambiguous ending "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control." (This spoken section was created by vocalist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson reportedly "messing around with a tape recorder".)

I. Overture (0:00-4:33)
II. The Temples of Syrinx (4:33-6:45)
III. Discovery (6:45-10:14)
IV. Presentation (10:14-13:56)
V. Oracle: The Dream (13:56-15:56)
VI. Soliloquy (15:56-18:17)
VII. Grand Finale (18:17-20:31)

Accept - Princess Of The Dawn

The ending track of the 1982 "Restless & Wild" album, Princess Of The Dawn is a terrific way to end the album, and only Accept could have turned six minutes of monotonous riffing into a masterpiece.

Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann achieved the haunting mandolin-like effect by recording the guitar at half-speed, then having it played back at normal speed. He describes the sudden ending as "an idea that didn't work so well." (for those who might think the recording is not complete)

Cinderella - Dead Man's Road

Whoa, watch out boy
Don't go messin' with your life 'cause it ain't no toy
Lord help ya to carry life's load
Don't you let it pass you by down on Dead Man's Road

Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

"Immigrant Song" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released as a single from their third album, Led Zeppelin III, in 1970. The song is famous for its distinctive, wailing cry from vocalist Robert Plant at the beginning of the song. More about it on Wikipedia.

Scorpions - The Zoo

"The Zoo" is a song by the German heavy metal band Scorpions, written by band members Rudolf Schenker (guitar) and Klaus Meine (vocals). It first appeared on the band's 1980 album Animal Magnetism.

Schenker wrote much of the song's music during the band's first tour of the United States in 1979. When Meine first heard Schenker's riff, it reminded him of the band's earlier visit to a street in New York City, which was humorously called a "zoo." Meine later composed the song's lyrics, which contain references to city streets - most notably, New York's 42nd Street.

Uriah Heep - Time To Live

From the Salisbuty album, this song was written by Mick Box, Ken Hensley and David Byron. Byron wrote the lyrics about a man who is about to get released from prison after 20 years, which he had to serve for killing a man who was assaulting his woman.

AC/DC - Rock 'N Roll Train

Time again for AC/DC! The first track from their latest album, Black Ice. Pure hard rock!

The song was notable for being the first song from a major artist to be leaked online legally when one Scottish fan, at the shooting of the music video in London, memorized the riff and sung it on YouTube on the 17th of August.

Queen - Fat Botomed Girls

A classic from the 1978 Jazz album.

Uriah Heep - The Magician's Birthday

The Magician's Birthday was originally meant to be a full concept album, but Heep's busy touring schedule made it impossible to finish. Therefore, the concept had to be squeezed into this song, with the other songs being lyrically and musically different.

The song was mainly written by keyboardist Ken Hensley, and the lyrics were based on a fantasy novel of his. The novel was basically about a good and an evil wizard challenging each other to a duel after meeting during the former's birthday party. The long instrumental section, with the dueling guitars and drums and the dissonant keyboard playing, was supposed to depict the battle.

AC/DC - Back In Black

Known for its opening guitar riff, "Back in Black" was AC/DC's tribute to their former singer Bon Scott. His replacement Brian Johnson recalled to Mojo magazine in 2009 that when the band asked him to write a lyric for this song, “they said, ‘it can’t be morbid-it has to be for Bon and it has to be a celebration.’” He added: “I thought, ‘Well nae pressure there, then‘ (laughs). I just wrote what came into my head, which at the time seemed like mumbo, jumbo. ‘Nine lives. Cats eyes. Abusing every one of them and running wild.’ The boys got it though. They saw Bon’s life in that lyric.”