Slipknot "Psychosocial"

"Psychosocial" is the second single and fourth track from Slipknot's fourth studio album, All Hope Is Gone. It entered airplay on June 26, 2008 and was originally planned for release as a digital single on July 1 but was delayed and released on July 7. Slipknot performed "Psychosocial" live for the first time on July 9, 2008, at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington. In 2008 the track was featured on the soundtrack to Punisher: War Zone. The song has also been nominated to 'Best Metal Performance' for the 51st Grammy Awards, but lost to Metallica's "My Apocalypse". Percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan told The Pulse of Radio what he could regarding "Psychosocial", saying, "One thing I can feel is like that song has got a lot of, I would say social anxiety. It's got a real good tempo. It's really fun and it's different. I think most of the stuff that we have is different." Rolling Stone praised the song, saying that it "slows down the tempo to bludgeon with a steady, pounding groove instead of all-out thrash in a manner reminiscent of the band's more slow-burning but still malicious second album, Iowa." They went on to explain, "That track is capped off with a time-signature shattering guitar/drum breakdown that will leave the best air-instrumentalists stumped." [Wikipedia]

Disturbed "Inside the Fire"

"Inside the Fire" is the first single from American rock band Disturbed's fourth studio album, Indestructible. It was released on March 25, 2008 as a digital download. The song features suicidal themes, and, in May 2008, a music video was unveiled for the song. However, because of the suicidal themes of the original music video, an "all-performance" version was released, lacking the suicidal themes. On March 24, 2008, "Inside the Fire" debuted on more than sixty radio stations, quickly showing up on many significant music charts and reaching number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Chart. The single became nominated for a Grammy award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category. A music video for "Inside the Fire" premiered on May 2, 2008. A suicide hotline phone number appears before the video, due to its nature and content, along with a message from vocalist David Draiman regarding suicide. An "all-performance" version of the video premiered later, featuring no dark themes or messages. [Wikipedia]

Rammstein "Feuer Frei! [xXx]"

"Feuer Frei!" is a well-known song from the German band Rammstein. The title is from the command to start shooting in German military language. It is also often mistaken with Fuer Frei, a German Website. Feuer frei! is one of the band's better known songs thanks to the band's appearance in the 2002 movie xXx. It literally means "fire free" (or "fire freely"), but the closest equivalents in English would be "fire at will" or "open fire." [Wikipedia]

The Cranberries "Zombie"

"Zombie" is a protest song by the Irish band The Cranberries from the 1994 album No Need to Argue. The song, which laments The Troubles in Northern Ireland, features a heavy guitar riff which is uncharacteristic of the band's usual sound, more akin to heavy metal than their usual alternative rock style. This song met great success in many countries, including France, Belgium, Australia and Germany where it topped the charts. Zombie" was released as a music video in 1994. The video was directed by Samuel Bayer, and produced by Doug Friedman and H.S.I. Productions. In the video, Dolores O'Riordan, is covered in gold makeup. She wears an Egyptian headdress as well as Egyptian eye makeup, reminiscent of the Egyptian Goddess Isis. Standing in front of a cross, she's surrounded by golden children with bows and arrows. The video also contains shots of British soldiers on patrol in Northern Ireland. The unsuspecting troops were told that their footage was to be included in a documentary about the day to day operations of various peace-keeping/occupation forces.
[Wikipedia]

Uriah Heep "Easy Livin'"

Demons and Wizards is the fourth album released by British rock band Uriah Heep. The songs "The Wizard" and "Easy Livin'" were released as singles in the United Kingdom and North America, as well as many other markets. "Easy Livin'" entered the US Top 40 at #39, making it Heep's first American hit. "Easy Livin'" was also a mega hit in New Zealand and Germany, countries which were becoming a strong market for the band. It reached a disappointing #75 in Australia.[Wikipedia]

Motörhead "Ace of Spades"

"Ace of Spades" is a song by the English heavy metal band Motörhead, released in 1980 as a single and the title track to the album Ace of Spades. The song spent 12 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #15. The song is considered to be the definitive Motörhead anthem, and "put a choke on the English music charts and proved to all that a band could succeed without sacrificing its blunt power and speed". The song ranked in at #10 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at #27 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, stating "This song has an intro which wouldn't be out of place ushering in the end of the world". In 2009 it was named the 10th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[Wikipedia]

Steppenwolf "Born To Be Wild"

"Born to Be Wild" is a rock song written by Mars Bonfire and made famous by the Canadian rock band, Steppenwolf. It is often used in popular culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. The song is sometimes described as the first heavy metal song ever written and is also said to have inspired the name of the emerging heavy metal genre; although these claims are disputed, the song's second verse (which refers to "heavy metal thunder," though it is either a reference to the weight of the motorcycle or a powerful car) contains the first recorded reference to "heavy metal" in the context of rock music. [Wikipedia]

Heart "Alone"

"Alone" is a song composed by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It first appeared on via Steinberg and Kelly's pet project, 1983's I-Ten, Taking a Cold Look. It was later recorded by John Stamos in his role as Gino Minelli, on the original soundtrack of the CBS sitcom Dreams in 1984. American rock band Heart made it a hit in 1987. Twenty years later, Céline Dion recorded it for her album Taking Chances. The song was given to Heart and released as the first single from their ninth studio album Bad Animals. Heart's version is a power ballad which begins with a piano line and a subdued vocal from Ann Wilson, only to build to a dramatic love song. "Alone" is Heart's biggest hit, spending three weeks at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It is also their most successful single in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Paula Abdul was choreographer for the video. [Wikipedia]

Foreigner "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

"Waiting for a Girl Like You" is a song by British-American rock band Foreigner. The distinctive synthesizer theme was performed by the then-unknown Thomas Dolby. It was the second single released from the album 4 (1981), and was co-written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones. It has become one of the band's most famous songs worldwide, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at #8 on the UK Singles Chart. Despite not reaching the top of the Hot 100, it reached #1 on the Rock Tracks chart for one week. "Waiting for a Girl Like You" achieved an odd chart distinction by spending a record-setting 10 weeks in the #2 position of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, without ever reaching the top. [Wikipedia]

Johnny Hates Jazz "Shattered Dreams"

Shattered Dreams" is a hit pop song by British pop group Johnny Hates Jazz. Written by the band's lead singer, the band's debut single was a worldwide hit. The song entered the UK Singles Chart in March 1987 at a lowly #92 but gained popularity through extensive radio play and video rotation on MTV and the song quickly climbed the charts and peaked at #5 in mid May 1987 and spent 3 weeks there, and the song would spend a total of 16 weeks in the chart. The song fared even better the following year in the U.S. There, "Shattered Dreams" was released early in 1988 with a totally different music video, shot entirely in black and white, and the single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and went all the way to #1 on the ARC Weekly Top 40 chart. The song also topped Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart for one week. A midtempo club remix of the track was released on 12" vinyl. Billboard magazine ranked "Shattered Dreams" as the #26 song of the year 1988 in their December 31 issue.[Wikipedia]