Top 10 Best Hard Rock Anthems

   What is an anthem to you?  Is it a song the defines your existence?  Is it what makes you headbang the hardest?  Is it the song that you crank when you hear it on Pandora?

   For me, an anthem is a song that I would blare at 2:00 in the morning with my windows rolled down in fifteen degree weather.  It's a middle finger.  It's a call to action.

   Loudwire already compiled a list of the top hard rock songs of this century.  They makes some good points, but not all of them are anthems.  Since I don't completely agree with their list, I compiled my own list of the top 10 anthems of this century.

10. Shinedown's Devour:  Devour is best known for being on the Madden Football 09 soundtrack.  The opening drum march prepares the listener for a hard, fast paced song.  Shinedown has so many excellent tracks,  but Devour is their closest anthem.

9. 30 Seconds to Mars's The Kill:  Has anyone seen this music video?  It's bizarre and creepy as hell.  Regardless, the song is artistic and unique, not to mention that it's still huge.  Can you believe this song is ten years old?

8. Tie - Drowning Pool's Bodies and Disturbed's Down with the Sickness:  My sister hates that I included these too songs because of how overplayed they are, so I listed these two driving hits together.  Both songs lead in with a whisper and have unforgettable hooks.  Who doesn't want to bang their heads when David commands you to "get up, come on get down with the sickness?"  On the other hand, Bodies is almost metal in its brutality.  While David tells you to get up, Dave Williams from Drowning Pool commands you to "let the bodies hit the floor."  And who can forget the growl/scream he unleashes towards the end?  Both songs kick ass.

7.  Rise Against's The Good Left Undone:  Rise Against never spares a poetic middle finger towards conservatism.  The Good Left Undone is fast paced and the lyrics state "All because of you/ I haven't slept in so long/ when I do I dream/ of drowning in the ocean/ longing for the shore/ where I can lay my head/ I'll follow your voice/ all you have to do is shout it."  Still with me?  There's a lot going on in this song, but it's fast, it's heavy and it's full of angst.

6. Atreyu's Falling Down:  Atreyu diehards will chastise me for featuring a song off of their 2007 album Lead Sails and Paper Anchors (post "sell-out.")  However, Falling Down has all the makings of an anthem, with its driving beat and catchy chorus.  If this was a "best heavy metal anthems" list, I would pick a different Atreyu song.

5. Andrew W.K.'s Party Hard:  I doubt everyone knows this song by name alone, but this song's refrain is unmistakable and the song is yet another Madden Football hit.  Party Hard is enough to make the Amish want to party.  And Andrew W.K. is serious about partying.  Just look at the cover art for I Get Wet.

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

4. Avenged Sevenfold's Bat Country:  From Sounding the Seventh Trumpet to Nightmare, it's almost impossible to pinpoint Avenged Sevenfold's best "anthem."  Inevitably, most will agree their best anthem is Bat Country.  The song, written about Las Vegas, is best known for its dueling guitar solo, which spans 58 seconds.  November Rain anyone?  Guitarist Synyster Gates even does a Youtube demo.

3. Evanescence's Bring Me to Life:  Singer Amy Lee managed to beat out all but two artists on this list:  Not bad for a girl singing hard rock.  This song is driving, heavy and emotional, like Adele in an Aston Martin.  If I'm not mistaken, I believe this was also one of the first songs to feature a rapper in a non-rap song, a precedent preceded by Linkin Park.  Not only does the guy rap, he sings and he growls.  Point for Gryffindor.

2. System of a Down's Chop Suey!  Chop Suey! is closing in on 150 million YouTube views on the official video alone.  It's featured on Rock Band and it still receives heavy rotation on hard rock stations, despite being twelve years old.

1. Three Days Grace's Riot:  My number one may come as a bit of a surprise, considering this song isn't even on loudwire's list.  You have to see this song played live.  It incites such a reaction, some venues used to ask Adam and Three Days Grace not to play it.  I've never seen a crowd mosh harder to a non-metal song then they did to Riot at Uproar two years ago.  Check it out.

   Deciding on only ten (technically eleven) great songs was a tall task.  My sister made a case for a few other songs as well, so I also compiled an honorary mention list:

Nine Inch Nails' The Hand that Feeds

Papa Roach's Last Resort/Lifeline

Disturbed's Ten Thousand Fists

Hollywood Undead's Undead

Rise Against's Prayer of the Refugee

Avenged Sevenfold's Almost Easy

Breaking Benjamin's Breath/just about anything else

Three Days Graces' Animal I have Become

Skillet's Awake and Alive

Bodyjar's Not the Same

Seether's Tonight/Rise above This