While most radio songs are barely over three minutes long, true music lovers know the value of a lengthy epic that hits a sonic sweet spot as it takes you on a journey without any concern for traditional pop structures. Granted, it takes a special kind of band to pull off such musical feats without boring their audience to tears, but a number of acts have conquered the challenge. Below are 10 Rock Epics Over 10 Minutes Long.
Pink Floyd – Shine on You Crazy Diamond (parts I- IX)
Pink Floyd’s psychedelic and beautifully fitting tribute to founding/former member Syd Barrett has a poignant and haunting backstory: During the recording of “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” Barrett reportedly showed up at Abbey Road Studios, on June 5, 1974, He looked nothing like himself, bloated and with a shaved head and eyebrows. When they eventually recognized him, Roger Waters was reduced to tears and had to leave the room.
Jane’s Addiction – Three Days
This slow-burning narcotic haze was inspired by Xiola Blue, a girl who traveled to Los Angeles for her father’s funeral and spent three sex-and-drug fueled days with frontman Perry Farrell and his girlfriend. Xiola died of a heroin overdose in 1987, while the song was released in 1990, and the poem at the beginning pays tribute. The epically rising sound, the churning guitars, the “all now with wings!” declaration at the end… it’s a perfect encapsulation of the darkly-laced hedonistic escapism of Venice Beach in the late ‘80s.
Tool – Third Eye
Prefaced by a legendary Bill Hicks line about the war on drugs being a war on personal freedom, Tool takes us into a pummeling-percussive vortex of maniacally intense psychedelia centered on the idea of “prying open my third eye” – a line repeated at the song’s rigid, shouting chorus. It’s an incredible listen, and a favorite among Tool fans.
Temple of the Dog – Reach Down
This monster of a track can be found on the collaborative album between Pearl Jam and Soundgarden called Temple of the Dog, a tribute record to fallen friend & Mother Love Bone bandmate Andrew Wood. With its infectiously good low-end guitar riff and waiting vocal lead by Chris Cornell (backed by Eddie Vedder, then a newcomer on the scene), the track is a magnificent encapsulation of the sludgy magic and passion of the early ‘90s Pacific Northwest rock movement, which would become the grunge scene.
Kyuss 100 Degrees/Space Cadet/Demon Cleaner
A highlight bonus track on Kyuss’ remarkable Sky Valley album, this three-pronged desert-rock pitchfork is most prominently known for its final installment – the six-plus minute “Demon Cleaner”. With Queens of The Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme on guitar, the track is an ominously hypnotic jam that’s been beloved by fans for decades, and even covered by Tool.
Queens of the Stone Age – I Think I Lost My Headache
After leaving Kyuss, Josh Homme began Queens of the Stone Age, and the rock world was never the same again. The band released their second album Rated R in 1999, and Homme has stated that his favorite song from the album is “I Think I Lost My Headache”. He describes the track as being about “Paranoia… when you think something strange is going on, and everyone around you is so adamant about telling you it’s fine… but then you start thinking ‘Wouldn’t that be exactly what you’d say if you didn’t want me to know, and there is something going on?’ And so it’s kind of about that paranoid mentality which maybe I have sometimes.” That paranoia is reflected in the broken-robot tempo shifts of the repeated riff throughout the song.
Guns n’ Roses – Coma
This epically dark track on Use Your Illusion I is the longest GNR song of all time, and one of its darkest. “I started writing about when I OD’ed 4 years ago,” frontman Axl Rose recalls. “The reason I OD’d was because of stress. I couldn’t take it. And I just grabbed the bottle of pills in an argument and just gulped them down and I ended up in the hospital. But I liked that I wasn’t in the fight anymore and I was fully conscious that I was leaving. I liked that. But then I go, all of a sudden, my first real thoughts were that “okay, you haven’t toured enough. The record’s not going to last; it’s going to be forgotten. This and that, you have work to do. Get out of this.” And I went “No!” and I woke up, you know, and pulled myself out of it. But in the describing of that, some people could take it wrong and think this means “go put yourself into a coma,” you know. And so it’s really tricky, and I’m still playing with the words to figure out how to, like, show some hope in there.”
The Mars Volta – L’Via L’Viaquez
With an explosive, galloping percussive intro and spastic Latin hyperfunk mathrock framework, this Spanish-vocal explosion is but one installment in Frances The Mute’s full-album storyline, which follows Vismund Cygnus – a twenty-five year old, HIV positive, IV drug-addicted prostitute. It’s not a pretty picture, and one of the most haunting lyrical designs on the entire album occurs within this song. But that’s not to say it isn’t a captivating and ultimately awesome listen, a favorite among fans.
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird
Of course, “Free Bird” needs its place. It’s called out at every rock show, and has been used in movies, at graduation ceremonies, as an anthem to breakups and even at funerals. The 1973 recording is a legendary classic rock gem, perhaps the most iconic and requested rock song of all time. The scene from Forrest Gump when Jenny’s gold platform slips from the ledge and that guitar solo rips and then fades… it’s just one more moment of perfect gravity brought by a time-capsule song everybody loves.
Yes – Close To The Edge
The title track to prog-rock heroes Yes’s fifth album is reportedly based on and inspired by Herman Hesse’s book “Siddhartha.” According to vocalist Jon Anderson: “…You always come back down to the river. You know, all the rivers come to the same ocean. That was the basic idea. And so we made a really beautiful album….”
