Music: Each Band's/Artist's Most Iconic Song

[Mr Jiggyfly]

cars - just what i needed
doors - l.a. woman
styx - blue collar man
rush - limelight
judas priest - you've got another thing coming
metallica - creeping death. yeah i'm totally disregarding the black album. i hate that album and enter sandman is just shit.
billy idol - white wedding
santana - oye como va
steve miller - fly like an eagle
chicago - 25 or 6 to 4

Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face
Steve Miller - Abracadabra

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin’

Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

metallica - creeping death. yeah i'm totally disregarding the black album. i hate that album and enter sandman is just shit.

I’d go with Fade to Black over Creeping Death

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

I’d go with Fade to Black over Creeping Death

yeah you got me there. even for whom the bell tolls would be a better pick than creeping death.

i'll go with master of puppets then.

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

I would've thought The Joker for Steve Miller and Tom Sawyer for Rush...

And since I've never heard or heard of Creeping Death until today, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's not Metallica's most iconic song

fair enough.

wow - finally heard of creeping death for the very first time? dude how old are you?

btw. i'm old enough to remember when fly like an eagle was released. that song was and still is being played everywhere, whether it's steve miller's or seal's version. this song made steve miller's career really take off.

 

[Perennial]

fair enough.

wow - finally heard of creeping death for the very first time? dude how old are you?

btw. i'm old enough to remember when fly like an eagle was released. that song was and still is being played everywhere, whether it's steve miller's or seal's version. this song made steve miller's career really take off.

It may very well be Fly Like An Eagle... I'm not saying it's The Joker, that's just the one I would've put my money on

And I'm old enough to have heard The Joker and Tom Sawyer...

 

[Lshap]

Surprised I never noticed this thread.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 9 in D minor

A shout-out to this last item on your list. However, the right answer is Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

About 20 years ago I taught music in a primary school to kids between 4 and 11 years old. Almost all these children were from families who had immigrated to Canada from parts of Asia, Middle-East, and India, so they had no Europe/North American cultural backgrounds. One day, I had an idea I wanted to try with a class of 1st-graders (5 or 6 I think). I told them I was going to sing the first few notes of a song and asked them to continue singing the notes that came next. I then sang the opening notes to Beethoven's 5th: "Da da da daaaa...".

Almost the entire classroom immediately answered with: "Da da da dummm".

I was amazed and asked where they'd heard this. Their parents? The radio? They didn't know where they heard it or who wrote it. They just somehow knew the melody.

I don't teach music anymore, but I've tried the same test with a few kids over the years. Every one knows it. The opening notes in Beethoven's 5th Symphony may be the single most iconic musical phrase in human history.

 

[Perennial]

A shout-out to this last item on your list. However, the right answer is Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

About 20 years ago I taught music in a primary school to kids between 4 and 11 years old. Almost all these children were from families who had immigrated to Canada from parts of Asia, Middle-East, and India, so they had no Europe/North American cultural backgrounds. One day, I had an idea I wanted to try with a class of 1st-graders (5 or 6 I think). I told them I was going to sing the first few notes of a song and asked them to continue singing the notes that came next. I then sang the opening notes to Beethoven's 5th: "Da da da daaaa...".

Almost the entire classroom immediately answered with: "Da da da dummm".

I was amazed and asked where they'd heard this. Their parents? The radio? They didn't know where they heard it or who wrote it. They just somehow knew the melody.

I don't teach music anymore, but I've tried the same test with a few kids over the years. Every one knows it. The opening notes in Beethoven's 5th Symphony may be the single most iconic musical phrase in human history.

I've always assumed it was this...

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Maybe others can chime in with their thoughts, but I feel like you missed some obvious ones...

The Cars - Drive
Elvis - Can't Help Falling In Love
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper

I’d agree with those.
I’d probably also have Rebel Yell for Billy Idol, Light My Fire for the Doors and The Joker for Steve Miller.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face
Steve Miller - Abracadabra

Hrmmm
White wedding

Take the money and run.
Just mho

 

[GiveAFlyingPuck]

Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do
ZZ Top - La Grange
Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou
INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

 

[peate]

Her favorite: Party in the USA
Mine: Midnight sky

 

[Perennial]

Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do
ZZ Top - La Grange
Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou
INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

What about Need You Tonight for INXS?

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Surprised I never noticed this thread.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 9 in D minor

A shout-out to this last item on your list. However, the right answer is Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

About 20 years ago I taught music in a primary school to kids between 4 and 11 years old. Almost all these children were from families who had immigrated to Canada from parts of Asia, Middle-East, and India, so they had no Europe/North American cultural backgrounds. One day, I had an idea I wanted to try with a class of 1st-graders (5 or 6 I think). I told them I was going to sing the first few notes of a song and asked them to continue singing the notes that came next. I then sang the opening notes to Beethoven's 5th: "Da da da daaaa...".

Almost the entire classroom immediately answered with: "Da da da dummm".

I was amazed and asked where they'd heard this. Their parents? The radio? They didn't know where they heard it or who wrote it. They just somehow knew the melody.

I don't teach music anymore, but I've tried the same test with a few kids over the years. Every one knows it. The opening notes in Beethoven's 5th Symphony may be the single most iconic musical phrase in human history.

As far as Beethoven's contemporaries were concerned...
The Septet and the Andante favori were the iconic calling cards. Andante favori - Wikipedia
Whatever iconic Billboard No. 1 hit that rocked the world(Like Stayin Alive, the various Beatles, numerous others like Mariah Carey)....that was the Septet for Beethoven. A never ending moneymaker....and probably too well-regarded for him later in his life...much like Baby One More Time is what people think of Britney Spears and none of her later work. The tune of the Septet is pop but the creativity is in the instrumentation.

The 5th is recognizable for its opening. The 9th for its excerpt of Ode to Joy. I would say it is a draw.

I bought one "Complete" set of Beethoven from Brilliant Classics, so there are obscure works that only the most serious of fanatics have even heard. It is kind of sad that WoO gets buried precisely because they have no recognition aside for Fur Elise. "Ich Denke Dein" is a fine love song and the variations are so evident of Beethoven's ability to vary a tune.

 

[AlanHUK]

curious how much views on this will be influenced by where people live/have lived

2Pac - California Love
Allman Brothers Band - Jessica
The Beatles - Hey Jude
The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary
The Doors - Light my fire
Electric 6 - Gay Bar
Faith No More - Epic
Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the jungle
Hole - Celebrity Skin
Iron Maiden - Run to the hills
Joan Jett - I Love Rock N Roll
Kinks - You Really Got Me
Living Colour - Cult of personality
Mother Love Bone - Crown of thorns
Neil Young - Rockin in the free world
Oasis - Wonderwall
Pearl Jam - Alive
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Rage Against The Machine - Killing in the name
Skunk Anansie - Hedonism (Just because you feel good)
The Troggs - Wild thing
U2 - Beautiful Day
The Verve - Bitter sweet symphony
Weezer - Buddy Holly
Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Maps
ZZ Top - La Grange

 

[Jack Straw]

Have to add one more, now iconic, classical piece- Schubert's String Quartet #13. Here is why:

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Brahms immortalized his Lullaby so well I'll bet many people don't even know he wrote it.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Belinda Carlisle(solo career) - Heaven is a Place On Earth
Mozart during his life - Probably The Magic Flute
Mozart posthumously - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Liszt(posthumously due to Looney Tunes) - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Rick Astley (at the moment of release and afterwards) - Together Forever
Rick Astley(after the internet) - Never Gonna Give You Up
Tchaikovsky - quite a few arguable ones depending on the context.
Rachmaninoff - Probably Piano Concerto No. 2
Johann Strauss - many waltzes, maybe the Blue Danube?

Mariah Carey - Arguable. Vision of Love perhaps for young girls who heard her at the time, such as Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson. Fantasy certainly had more exposure due to Rush Hour...but maybe many never made the connection(I didn't for years). Always Be My Baby is something else, but then Emotions is about the closest to Mozartian singing you'll get in the modern age.

Tiffany - her cover of I Think We're Alone Now.

Schubert - I might think that Ave Maria is the one people are most likely to even hear.

Don Mclean - American Pie

 

[Jack Straw]

Another classical piece, the Largo from Dvorak's 9th symphony which most people probably know as the song, "Going Home". Although the full history is probably a bit more complicated.



And also Haydn's "Emperor Quartet" which most people probably know as the German national anthem.

 

[NyQuil]

Brahms immortalized his Lullaby so well I'll bet many people don't even know he wrote it.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

And also Haydn's "Emperor Quartet" which most people probably know as the German national anthem.

Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The original tune was made earlier.

 

[therealkoho]

Wide Mouth Mason - Midnight Rain
Pink Floyd - Time
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
Weezer - Hash Pipe
REM - Losing My Religion
Aerosmith - Walk this Way
Snoop Dog - Gin and Juice
Pearl Jam - Evenflow
ZZ Top - LaGrange

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Handel - Hallelujah from The Messiah or Water Music Suite No. 2, "Alla Hornpipe"
Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Mendelssohn - Wedding March from a Midsummer Night's Dream.

Britney Spears - Three-way tie between Baby One More Time, Crazy, and Oops, I Did It Again. Crazy is the single everyone heard regardless of whether you bought it or not due to that movie using it and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

 

[12ozPapa]

For Oasis, it’s gotta’ be Wonderwall as mentioned but DLBIA has gotta’ be right there