The Welsh rockers slow things down with this tension-filled ballad from their third studio album, 'Fever.' The song describes a difficult breakup about which frontman Matthew Tuck sings, "Take the ashes from the floor / Bury them to just make sure / That nothing more is left of me / Just bittersweet memories."
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These Toronto natives made a huge impact with their debut single, and with a name like 'Porn Star Dancing,' it's not hard to understand why. The salacious song peaked at No. 1 on the Top Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the U.S., and both Ludacris and Chad Kroeger, who discovered the band, appear in its music video.
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The first single from 10 Years' fifth studio album, 'Feeding the Wolves,' is about a man who says "fame has lost its attraction," and is willing to die to preserve his integrity. The Howard Benson-produced song hit the airwaves in July, and peaked at No. 6 on the Top Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
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The first official single from Escape the Fate's self-titled album made a fall debut, and is still holding strong on the charts. The Las Vegas natives are ever-so-oppressed in the song, singing, "These issues pin me to the floor / These issues are my overlord / I feel so dominated / These issues they choke me like a noose."
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Stone Sour's guitar-laden love song is the band's first single in three years, and eventually hit No. 1 on Billboard's Top Rock Songs chart. The major accomplishment has extra meaning for frontman Corey Taylor who said, "I put my heart into it because the lyrics are about my wife and how I feel about my wife." That's an immortalized valentine that no one can deny.
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'Far From Home' is the sixth single off Five Finger Death Punch's politically-driven 2009 album, 'War Is the Answer,' which was produced by Kevin Churko, the man behind Ozzy Osbourne's 'Black Rain.' The heartfelt song begins as an acoustic number, blossoming into an intense rock song, defined by an emotional electric guitar solo.
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In October, All That Remains released 'Hold On' as the first single from the Massachusetts rockers' fifth studio album. The band holed up at Zing Studios in their home state, and recorded the fed-up track with Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, who produced the entirety of 'For We Are Many.' In just two short months, the song has become our No. 3 rock song of 2010.
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Lead singer M. Shadows happily welcomes an evildoer to his new digs -- either hell or a mental home, hard to tell. He gives a full rundown of the pain that awaits on the churning verses, then uses the deceptively angelic, soaring choruses to remind the villain that their arrival is, well, their own fault.
The anti-pollution message of Disturbed's first single from their upcoming 2010 album 'Asylum' couldn't be more timely, in light of the Gulf of Mexico's recent environmental disaster. The song's tightly coiled, urgent musical delivery gives the message even more weight. Too bad heavy metal can't plug a leaky well.
Jacoby Shaddix makes no bones about wanting to see his cheating lover go up in flames for her wrongdoing. "I'll be ignited when I get to watch you burn, burn, burn," he sings, illustrating a concept so resonant that the single from the band's seventh album has become the No. 1 entry on our Top Rock Songs of 2010.
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Which Rock Songs Ruled 2010?
Let us know in the comments what 2010 rock songs you dug the most this year. You can also travel back in time a bit by checking out our list of the Top Rock Songs of 2009, or turn up the volume with our list of the Top Hard Rock Songs of all time.
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1. I have been seriously rocking out to the new CD "Infestation" by 80's rock legends RATT. It really recaptures their original sound but totally new and refreshing. The production is also flawless. It is all the original line-up except for the late Robin Crosby but Carlos Cavazo of Quiet Riot fame is a great replacement. I also think the CD has some of guitarist Warren DeMartini's best work ever.
Posted at 2:21PM on Aug 15th 2010 by Toy Gunn