Stephen H. Provost is the author of Pop Goes the Metal: Hard Rock, Hairspray, Hooks & Hits, chronicling the evolution of pop metal from its roots in the 1960s through its heyday as “hair metal” in the 1980s and beyond. It’s available on Amazon.
There aren’t many things more subjective than a “best of” music list. And, since I like music — and being subjective, I thought I’d put together my own. My first subject of choice? The rock anthem.
Even the definition of a rock anthem is subjective. A site called DigitalDreamDoor, which compiled its own list, described it as: “a powerful, celebratory rock song with arena-rock sound often with lyrics celebrating rock music itself and simple sing-a-long choruses, chants, or hooks.” I like that definition, so I figured I’d use it as a starting point here.
But be warned: You won’t agree with everything on this list. You won’t find most of the obvious choices here, even if they’re among my favorites. (Examples: “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Born to Run” and “Rock and Roll All Nite.” And no, streetlight people, you won’t find “Don’t Stop Believin’” here, either.)
What you’ll find below are my selections of underappreciated anthems from the 1970s through the new millennium. They’re not necessarily the most popular or most played. In fact, I went out of my way to pick some surprising tracks that probably won’t appear on many lists.
So here goes:
25. The Final Countdown – Europe, 1986
Yeah, it’s a synth riff, but it’s still a killer riff. An almost one-hit-wonder (this Swedish band also charted with “Carrie” from the ’80s), this song was all over MTV in the hair-metal days. But it seldom appears on any list of anthems, so I wanted it on mine.