The Community
ROCK AND ROLL! => All Them Other Guys => Topic started by: Zzzptm on August 18, 2025, 10:19:34 AM
-
"I can see that got your attention..."
There are loads of songs that deal with war, but which ones do we think are the best? Time to list 'em out!
-
I open with a great banger that can get me excited, no matter what:
Iron Maiden - "Aces High"
Battle of Britain's the topic and Iron Maiden brings plenty of it! Flood the Cowling! YEAH!
-
War Ensemble by Slayer
One by Metallica
-
Okay you two stole two from me right away then...bugger.
Need to think about this one a bit.
But I'll kick things off with another SLAYER tune though...
This is about being forced to fight BEHIND THE CROOKED CROSS!
From my favourite SLAYER album...this one rocks hard and is somewhat of a forgotten gem!
-
South of Heaven is the greatest Slayer album and one of my favorite albums period
-
Already the opening shots are drawing blood! Love it!
-
I think I could do a list of 10 just from Iced Earth and Maiden songs. But I'll limit myself to one from each.
First pick, and I'll go with a less obvious pick from The Glorious Burden
Iced Earth - Waterloo
Another nice track from the album.
-
10: War by Edwin Starr
Obvious choice is obvious, but it is so good I can't help myself!
-
10: War by Edwin Starr
Ah, the song based on the unused Tolstoy title!
:smug:
-
For my second one I too will go to the Glorious Burden album.
And take a bit of an off choice as I think I've pretty much done most of the others already! ;D
This is about the meanest badasses in the military. The guys who go in when the shit has hit the fan. True heroes.
GREENFACE
-
I think my entries in the vehicular threads overlap here...
Saxon "English Man-o-War"
Motorhead "Bomber"
Blue Oyster Cult "ME 262"
So I mention those in passing. Review as time permits, they're all bangers.
For my second pick, I go with a track from Armored Saint's excellent Delerious Nomad album, "Conqueror"
Checked the lyrics, it's about conquering via warfare, so that's the "war" box ticked. :smug:
-
War Pigs - Black Sabbath
Disposable Heroes - Metallica
Ghosts of War - Slayer
Ted
-
For number 3 it's time to Thrash it up again.
This from my favourite EXODUS album...
And there's even a music video for this one.
It's called WAR Is My Shepherd!
-
Pick number 2
Judas Priest - All Guns Blazing
-
^^^
That one didn't even cross my mind...but I guess you can think of it as going to war...Killer tune!
-
To be fair, I was just going by the title rather than the relevance of the lyrics!
-
Megadeth : "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due"
-
For pick 3, I'm going to slightly cheat...
New Model Army - The Charge
It's a cheat because they are using the analogy of the Charge of the Light Brigade from the Crimean War to critique business practices in the 1980s (when the song was written!) but is still relevant today!
-
No. 9
Agent Orange by Sodom
No. 8
1916 by Motorhead
-
For number 3 it's time to Thrash it up again. This from my favourite EXODUS album... And there's even a music video for this one. It's called WAR Is My Shepherd!
An impeccable choice! A great song from one of the Originators of thrash metal.
Ted
-
It is indeed! One of my favourites from the album!
Okay time to move on to number 4!
I knew I was gonna do Iron Maiden here but I was bit unsure which track as there are few that I've already used up in other lists...So it pretty much then boiled down to either Fortunes Of War (which isn't really so much about war but things the soldier has to face after the war) or this one and I went with this one.
The Album version of the song is fine BUT the video version with Blaze on the vocals is SUBERB. Granted there weren't that many songs that Blaze did better than Bruce but this song most certainly is one that he completely owns!
AFRAID TO SHOOT STRANGERS this one!
-
oooh, good stuff, good stuff!
And yes, avoiding picks we've done for other lists is the tricky part. :)
Also avoiding videos with crappy sound is another tricky part... this one has no acting or live stuff, but it's got the best sound, so...
Saxon "Hammer of the Gods"
The whole Call to Arms album is great stuff, enjoy the opening track - and mind the Vikings crashing down on your lands!
-
Well HELLO!
Another Saxon tune I had never heard before!! And goddamn! That's a killer tune! GODDAMN!
I think I need to start searching for some more Saxon albums!
-
Fourth Pick - and we go to WW I
Chris de Burgh - This Song For You
Yes I know it's Mr De Burgh, but in my defence his early stuff is quite good... if you pick between the sappy, twee bits! From Spanish Train and Other Stories, a soldier writes home before going over the top.
-
Well how can I do a War song list without including MOTÖRHEAD?
Well I can't. So at Number 5:
There's quite a few to choose from now isn't there. But I'm trying to go with something that hasn't been posted on other top tens yet...
And I'm in luck...as this is one of my all time favourite Motörhead tunes from one of my all time favourite Motörhead albums.
This is about the greater picture of WAR from a soldier's point of view...it's called WHEN THE EAGLE SCREAMS...
Sadly this song was never played live so it's just an album version with no moving pictures.
-
Saxon rolls with Motorhead! They play rock and roll!
Saxon - "Wheels of Terror"
It's about tanks and blitzkrieg, innit
-
^^^
Probably inspired by Sven Hassel's book of the same name?
-
Oh Hottdamn! Another killer Saxon tune I've never heard! That's one AWESOME riff!
-
Fifth Pick... I seem to be concnetrating on the aftermath of war...
Rush - Red Sector A
Apparently Geddy's Grandmother was a survivor of a concentration camp. Off Grace Under Pressure, quite haunting.
-
Alright I'm gonna follow in suit.
This too is about the aftermath of war. From a single soldier's point of view. About how to deal with all of the baggage war can bring.
This is BENEDICTUM blasting away with SHELL SHOCK!
-
Pick 6 - let's visit D-Day
Iron Maiden - The Longest Day
I really like this one from A Matter of Life and Death, I presume it was inspired by the film of the same name.
-
Old School Saxon gonna fire the MACHINE GUN!
-
Ugh Matter Of Life And Death has been mentioned! Instantly brings a bad taste in my mouth! :D
ZZZ clearly did NOT adhere to the 1 song per band rule! :lol:
I on the other hand will.
This will be my 3rd Thrash metal song on the list...Thrash bands sure like their war songs don't they...
I knew Holy Wars would be chosen so I did not even consider it, but I thought the opening track of the ENDGAME album would be fitting. It's about getting ready to fight the enemy.
It's called THIS DAY WE FIGHT!
-
ooops, yeah, I just posted my third Saxon tune... :redcard:
-
Had some songs about the outcome/aftermath of war. This one, "Back to the World" by Curtis Mayfield is about soldiers coming home from Vietnam to face mental health issues, unemployment, and prejudices. That's the theme of the whole album, of which this is the title track. It's a strong album, with some potent lyrics and moments in it.
-
My second replacement for my gratuitous Saxon posting, this one is The Dictators doing a ripper of a cover of the Stooges' "Search and Destroy". While I like Iggy Pop, Handsome Dick Manitoba delivers the goods on this version.
-
Having done my makeup work for extra Saxonification of my list, this is my post for today...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj5x6pbJMyU (embedded playback not allowed)
Fela Kuti - "Zombie"
This is about how the Nigerian government called out soldiers against its own people to prop itself up in defiance of the law. Fela compares the soldiers to zombies because of the way they blindly followed orders without thinking about what they were doing, exactly. The song infuriated the government, which ordered over 1000 soldiers to attack Fela's family compound. They burned it to the ground, raped the women there, and threw Fela's mother from a second-story window. She died later on as a consequence of the injuries received. Fela recorded a tribute to his mother's murder in "Unknown Soldier".
When a leader orders troops against his own people, O! Na joro, jara, joro! That is a war nobody wins, everyone only loses.
-
Seventh Pick, and the eternal question...
Hawkwind - Who's Gonna Win The War
Haven't listened to this in ages, but it was one of the first songs I thought about when the topic came up.
-
Yeah, that's a great one from Hawkwind.
I just thought of another Megadeth - "Set the World Afire". But one artist per list, so I am leaving that one on the table, if anyone wishes to claim it.
Time for Deep Purple's monster entry in this category: "Child in Time"
Cold Wars between the superpowers meant hot wars at the fringes and psychosis for people waiting for the other shoe to drop... it never did, but the threat never went away, either. This is a song that ages well, especially the live version.
-
^^^
Anyone who says that live version ain't pure HEAVY METAL has some stuff in his ears. FAN-fuckn-TASTIC!
My Number 8 comes from my favourite BLACK LABEL SOCIETY album that is pretty much all about war. But the one that I'm gonna choose is about soldiers on the battlefield.
It's called GRAVEYARD DISCIPLES!
And hey I found a killer live version too!
-
Rats, forgot to post yesterday... so my 8th pick is
The Stranglers - A Soldiers Diary
Off of theur 2006 album Suite XVI quite possibly their best album since 1979!
-
Wow, I'm already on my 9th/12th pick, depending on how one counts...
Well, I got a Gospel song, "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" and Elvis' version is really fun with the Jordannaires backing him up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RKxSgKhb9U
But that ain't the hard stuff, so I'll make that my /13th pick. :smug:
For my 9th pick, I'd like to have Saxon's oh wait nope already did enough Saxon... ummm...
Hey, there was another band that hung out a lot with Motorhead in the late 70s / early 80s! Girlschool!
Here's Girlschool doing "Bomber", and I quite like this take on the Motorhead classic:
-
Well for my 9th pick I'm gonna use my one time SAXON pick!
This from the AMAZING Hell Fire And Damnation album and this is about the Battle of Hastings...and those events took place in 1066!!
-
Pick 9... so let's bring a little more up to date
Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon
I'm not the biggest Billy Joel fan, but for every lacklustre pop song there's something special like this one covering the Vietnam war fiasco.
-
For my final / 14th pick, I'll go with Saxon's English Man o War oh wait hold on already done Saxon here and I used it in another thread...
BUT IT IS SOOOOOOOOO GOOD! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63uwERG_fws so that's my 14th pick.
Now for my final / 15th pick :smug: I will choose...
Tang Dynasty - "Dream of Doomsday" (唐朝 - 世纪末之梦)
Chinese heavy metal track about the Final War. Kinda has Ragnarok, Zombie Apocalypse, and nuclear destruction all rolled in together, from what I understand from the lyrics. Excellent guitar work, solo is some great stuff to enjoy. :guitar:
-
I haven't posted my 10th yet because I thought a really good choice the other day... but can't for the life of me remember what it was!! I'm hoping to remember what it was otherwise I'll post something else!
-
My final pick will come from SAVATAGE.
Their Dead Winter Dead album is a concept album about the Yugoslavian war...or about two individuals who are deeply in love but find themselves on the opposite sides of the war.
The album is a masterpiece.
I was thinking about which song to choose and went with the other one of the two songs Jon sings.
The vocal delivery on this rockin' tune is just out of this world.
This is from a point of view of an arms dealer fueling the fire...and to him it really doesn't matter anyway which side of the war you're in...he'll sell to you anyways!
So this tune is called DOESN'T MATTER ANYWAY!
-
It's going to bug me that I can't remember the song I thought of the other day! So I'll go with the one I was going to post and should the other one spring to mind later I can post it as an addendum!
Pick 10... after all is over
Jeff Wayne's War of the World's - Dead London
Ok, so no singing just Richard Burton's impeccable narration, so haunting.