On 3/1/13, Hard Rock Daddy made its debut with the intention of being a hybrid site that focused on fatherhood and hard rock music. Very quickly, the transition was made fully to music because of the audience that was built. Looking backwards, 1000 songs have been featured on the annual year-end lists of the top hard rock songs. Rather than share all 1000 songs, the decision was made on the 10-year anniversary of the site to break everything down into sections based on the featured songs and artists (582 artists have been featured).
MOST FEATURED ARTISTS
All of the artists listed on the alphabetical chart below, have had at least 5 songs featured on the year-end lists through the years. While you will find some of the biggest names in hard rock on the list, you will also find a significant number of developing artists.
Alter Bridge
Another Lost Year
Any Given Sin
Asking Alexandria
Black Veil Brides
Blacktop Mojo
Bobaflex
Buckcherry / Josh Todd
Crash Midnight
Disturbed
Eve To Adam
Five Finger Death Punch
Foo Fighters
From Ashes To New
Gemini Syndrome
Halestorm
Hellyeah
Jeff Scott Soto
Jorn
Nonpoint
Nothing More
Papa Roach
Pop Evil
Royal Bliss
Sevendust
Shallow Side
Shinedown
Slash f. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators
Starset
Stone Sour / Slipknot / Corey Taylor
The Dead Daisies
Three Days Grace
Trivium
Volbeat
Wayland
THE MVPs
Out of all of the talented artists that have been featured through the years, there are three who have risen to a stratosphere all their own. These prolific artists have not only had numerous songs featured, but the quality of the songs is exceptional.
MYLES KENNEDY
Is Myles Kennedy the hardest working musician in hard rock today? He may just be! Prolific is an understatement when it comes to Kennedy’s writing and performing. As the frontman and songwriter of two bands that release music on a regular basis, Kennedy never seems to take a break from music. Since Hard Rock Daddy’s debut in 2013, Kennedy has released four albums with Alter Bridge, four albums with Slash f. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, and two solo albums. From those albums, and a guest appearance on a Richards/Crane song, Kennedy songs have been featured 16 times on the year end charts! It would absolutely be more, but we limit each list to one song per artist (with a few rare exceptions) per year. Amazing singer, songwriter, and performer, Kennedy NEVER disappoints!
COREY TAYLOR
Between Stone Sour, Slipknot, and his solo work, Corey Taylor has released eight albums since the launch of Hard Rock Daddy. What makes Taylor so unique is that his work with each is vastly different. Stone Sour has an edge at times, but is mostly melodic hard rock. Slipknot has melodic moments, but has a lot more angst and rage than Stone Sour. And Taylor’s solo work is a no holds barred approach that flies in the face of genres. Lyrically, Taylor captivates you with intrigue while leaving you on your own to decipher the meanings behind the songs. From these albums, and two guest vocal appearances (one with Sixx:A.M. and one with Zakk Wylde), Taylor has been featured 14 times on the year end charts! He is the only artist to have two songs tied for a spot in the same year (because they were polar opposites of each other), and also to have two songs featured from his band (when Stone Sour released a double album).
LZZY HALE
If Hard Rock Music was a prom, then Lzzy Hale would undoubtedly be named prom queen. In addition to her brilliant work with Halestorm, Hale is the go-to female vocalist for numerous duets and guest vocals. Some of her outstanding guest vocals haven’t even been featured on the year end lists because they were discovered after the fact. On the year end lists, Hale has been featured alongside Apocalyptica, Dee Snider, and Mark Morton. That’s quite a range! She has done some amazing work on revamped songs from Shinedown and Tom Keifer, in addition to a brilliant cover with Stone Sour of “Gimme Shelter.” Her brilliance is not gender-specific, but it does help her stand out in a crowded field. Truth be told, Hale rocks harder than most male vocalists, and has an unapologetic sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll swagger about her. Not only does she do incredible original work with Halestorm, but they also have some of the most inspired covers in rock over the last decade. Between her work with Halestorm and her guest appearances, Hale has been featured 11 times over the years. There is no doubt that another incredible duet will be featured on the Top 100 Hard Rock Songs of 2023 (spoiler alert!).
RISING STARS
There are three bands whose careers basically span the history of Hard Rock Daddy. They have all been featured with regularity on the site and on the year end charts throughout their careers. All of them, in my humble opinion, are still vastly underrated…
ANY GIVEN SIN
These Maryland rockers have been featured on the year end charts five times with their songs “Dynamite,” “Another Life,” “Insidious,” “The Way I Say Goodbye,” and “Still Sinking.” If you’re a fan of bands like Shinedown, you should also be a fan of Any Given Sin. This is a band that gets some radio attention, but not nearly as much as you would think considering that many lesser bands get more spins. It just goes to show that radio is not the be all and end all when it comes to evaluating music.
BLACKTOP MOJO
Hailing from Texas, Blacktop Mojo is absolutely one of the most underrated bands in rock today. They have more range than most bands, and aren’t afraid to veer off in different directions. They have been featured on the year end charts six times (2 brilliant covers and 4 original songs). I was fortunate to get to see the band in an intimate environment. They killed it! Check out their covers of “Dream On” and “In Color,” and their featured originals “Where The Wind Blows,” “Can’t Sleep,” “It Won’t Last,” and “Wicked Woman.”
CRASH MIDNIGHT
There has been a noticeable trend in recent years for bands to try to recapture a classic rock sound. Some have done it with sincerity, others feel more like a parody. One thing for sure is that Crash Midnight falls into the sincerity camp. Unlike many bands who are heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin, Crash Midnight is a band that takes you back to the glory days of debauchery, with sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll swagger. Think Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Buckcherry, and the raw early days of Def Leppard. Hailing from Boston, Crash Midnight has appropriately found their home in Sin City. They have been featured on the year end chart 7 times, with their songs… “151,” “Roxy,” “Diamond Boulevard,” “Chinatown,” “Don’t Need Your Advice,” “Nothin’ To Lose,” and “Suicide Tattoo.”
REVISIONIST HISTORY
The top hard rock songs of the year lists are nothing more than a snapshot of a moment in time. A lot of work goes into rankings and reviews, but ultimately, they are fluid when you look backwards. The following songs (listed in alphabetical order by artist) ALL would have been ranked higher if the list was being done today. That includes some songs on the Top 100 Hard Rock Songs of 2022 (which came out in late January).
| ARTIST | SONG TITLE |
| 10 YEARS | The Shift |
| ALLEN/LANDE | Lady Of Winter |
| ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE | Late |
| ANOTHER LOST YEAR | War On The Inside |
| ANY GIVEN SIN | Dynamite |
| ART OF ANARCHY | The Madness |
| ATREYU f. M SHADOWS, AARON GILLESPIE | Super Hero |
| BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION | Wanderlust |
| BLACK VEIL BRIDES | Saviour II |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | In Color |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | Dream On |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | It Won’t Last |
| BUCKCHERRY | Say Fuck It |
| COHEED & CAMBRIA f. RICK SPRINGFIELD | Jessie’s Girl 2 |
| CRAZY LIXX | All Looks, No Hooks |
| DANGEROUS CURVES | Good And The Bad |
| DROPKICK MURPHYS | Blood |
| DROPKICK MURPHYS | Queen Of Suffolk County |
| ECHOBATS | Save Me From Loving You |
| ECLIPSE | Viva La Victoria |
| ECLIPSE | Saturday Night (Hallelujah) |
| EVE TO ADAM | No Easy Way Out |
| GRUMPYNATORS | Take The Last Dance With Me |
| HALESTORM | Get Lucky |
| HALESTORM | Dear Daughter |
| HALESTORM | Here’s To Us |
| HIGHLY SUSPECT | Lydia |
| HOOKERS & BLOW | Rocks Off |
| JIM PETERIK & WORLD STAGE | Prom Night In Pontiac |
| JOSH TODD & THECONFLICT | Story Of My Life |
| JUDAS PRIEST | Never Forget |
| KICKIN VALENTINA | Somebody New |
| MICHAEL MONROE | Last Train To Tokyo |
| MILLION DOLLAR RELOAD | Bullets In The Sky |
| N’ TRIBE | Staring Down The Barrel |
| NICKELBACK f. DAVE MARTONE | The Devil Went Down To Georgia |
| NOTHING MORE | Jenny |
| PHIL CAMPBELL & THE BASTARD SONS | Spiders |
| PROPHETS OF RAGE | Unfuck The World |
| RANCID | Say Goodbye To Our Heroes |
| RISE AGAINST | Broken Dreams, Inc. |
| RIVAL SONS | Shooting Stars |
| SCORPIONS | We Built This House |
| SIXX: A.M. | Talk To Me |
| SIXX: A.M. f. COREY TAYLOR, JOE ELLIOTT… | Maybe It’s Time |
| SLASH f. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS | Bent To Fly |
| SLIPKNOT | The Devil In I |
| SLIPKNOT | Unsainted |
| STEVE CONTE | Gimme Gimme Rockaway |
| SWEET CYANIDE | Better At Goodbyes |
| TESLA | Taste Like |
| THE AGONIST | Take Me To Church |
| THE AMORETTES | Everything I Learned I Learned From Rock N’ Roll |
| THE DEFIANTS | Hollywood In Headlights |
| THE EAST SIDE GAMBLERS | The Getaway |
| THE LAZYS | Half Mast Blues |
| THE NEAL MORSE BAND | So Far Gone |
| THE USED | Paradise Lost, A Poem By John Milton |
| TOM KEIFER | Solid Ground |
| UGLY MELON | 60 Days |
| WAYWARD SONS | Alive |
CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS
There are countless classic rock bands who have long since stopped making new music, and subsist exclusively on touring off of the hits. Some may judge them for that, but I don’t. Once upon a time, these bands made money off of recording. These days, music has basically become a disposable commodity. Touring is where the money is made. Truth be told, many fans only want to hear the hits from these bands anyway, so it isn’t usually worth the trouble. However, there are still some bands who continue to record quality new music decades later. “Classic Rock” is a term that gets thrown around loosely these days, but the original classic rock bands were the ones whose career started in the 1970s (or 60s). To qualify for this list, artists must have released their first album no later than 1979, and must have at least 10 albums under their belt. File these songs under “it doesn’t have to be old to be classic”…
| ARTIST | SONG TITLE |
| AC/DC | Rock Or Bust |
| AC/DC | Rock The Blues Away |
| AC/DC | Shot In The Dark |
| BLACK SABBATH | God Is Dead? |
| BLUE OYSTER CULT | Tainted Blood |
| CHEAP TRICK | Long Time Coming |
| DEEP PURPLE | Johnny's Band |
| FREDDIE MERCURY | Time Waits For No One |
| IRON MAIDEN | Tears Of A Clown |
| IRON MAIDEN | The Writing On The Wall |
| JUDAS PRIEST | Redemmer Of Souls |
| JUDAS PRIEST | Never Forget |
| JUDAS PRIEST | Lightning Strike |
| MOTORHEAD | Heroes |
| MOTORHEAD | Sympathy For The Devil |
| OZZY OSBOURNE | Under The Graveyard |
| OZZY OSBOURNE f. ELTON JOHN | Ordinary Man |
| QUEEN | Face It Alone |
| SCORPIONS | We Built This House |
| STYX | Gone Gone Gone |
| STYX | Save Us From Ourselves |
| URIAH HEEP | One Minute |
| URIAH HEEP | Take Away My Soul |
| URIAH HEEP | Save Me Tonight |
| WHITESNAKE | Burn |
| WHITESNAKE | Shut Up & Kiss Me |
COVER ME
One of the ways that bands have found a way to rise above the din is by doing songs that are already familiar to others. Cover songs can be tricky. If you stick too close to the vest, oftentimes it just becomes a poor man’s version of the original. If you change it up too much, you can lose the integrity of the original appeal of the song. It’s all about threading the needle…staying true to the original while making it your own. Since the launch of Hard Rock Daddy, numerous cover songs have been featured on the year end lists. Here are the most notable ones (listed in alphabetical order by artist).
| ARTIST | SONG TITLE |
| ALPHAMEGA | Have You Ever Seen The Rain |
| BAD WOLVES | Zombie |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | In Color |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | Dream On |
| BUCKCHERRY | Say Fuck It |
| CAVO f. SHANNON ROC | Come Undone |
| CHRIS DAUGHTRY/LAJON WITHERSPOON | Hunger Strike |
| COREY TAYLOR | On The Dark Side |
| DISTURBED | The Sound Of Silence |
| ELECTRIC RADIO KINGS | Back To Black |
| EVE TO ADAM | No Easy Way Out |
| HELL IN THE CLUB | Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue) |
| HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES | Heroes |
| I PREVAIL | Blank Space |
| LESLIE WEST | You Are My Sunshine |
| MARK MORTON & LZZY HALE | She Talks To Angels |
| MOTORHEAD | Sympathy For The Devil |
| NICKELBACK f. DAVE MARTONE | The Devil Went Down To Georgia |
| SAHAJ TICOTIN | The Mission |
| SEVENDUST | The Day I Tried To Live |
| STEEL PANTHER f. ROBIN ZANDER | She's Tight |
| STORM FORCE | Uninvited |
| THE AGONIST | Take Me To Church |
| THE LONELY ONES | Flash |
| UGLY KID JOE | Lola |
| UGLY MELON | The Rose |
HEAVY ROTATION
Last, but certainly not least, are the songs from the past decade that are still in heavy rotation on my personal playlists. To be fair, some of them have been intentionally added, while others are slipped in by Spotify to my daily playlists. Although I really do enjoy listening to all of these, they are not even necessarily my favorite songs by a given artist. Music is a constant process of discovery. It makes you feel and takes you to places that nothing else in life can. To go back and list all of the songs that did not make the year end lists would be a fool’s errand. There are simply too many to list. I will start featuring some on the newly created Hard Rock Monthly column as we progress. For now, these 75 songs are the ones that I listen to most out of the 1000 songs that have been featured…
| ARTIST | SONG TITLE |
| ALTER BRIDGE | Addicted To Pain |
| ALTER BRIDGE | My Champion |
| ALTER BRIDGE | Wouldn't You Rather |
| ALTER BRIDGE | Godspeed |
| ALTER BRIDGE | Pawns & Kings |
| ANOTHER LOST YEAR | War On The Inside |
| ANTHRAX | Breathing Lightning |
| ANY GIVEN SIN | Dynamite |
| ANY GIVEN SIN | Still Sinking |
| ARANDA | Satisfied |
| ART OF ANARCHY | The Madness |
| ASKING ALEXANDRIA | Moving On |
| BLACK LABEL SOCIETY | Angel Of Mercy |
| BLACK VEIL BRIDES | Saviour II |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | In Color |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | Can't Sleep |
| BLACKTOP MOJO | It Won't Last |
| BUCKCHERRY | Say Fuck It |
| BUCKCHERRY | The Madness |
| BUCKCHERRY | Bent |
| COREY TAYLOR | Black Eyes Blue |
| COREY TAYLOR | Samantha’s Gone |
| COREY TAYLOR | On The Dark Side |
| DANGEROUS CURVES | Good And The Bad |
| DROPKICK MURPHYS | Blood |
| DROPKICK MURPHYS | Queen Of Suffolk County |
| ECLIPSE | Viva La Victoria |
| ECLIPSE | Saturday Night (Hallelujah) |
| GODSMACK | Something Different |
| GODSMACK | Under Your Scars |
| GRUMPYNATORS | Take The Last Dance With Me |
| HALESTORM | Dear Daughter |
| HALESTORM | Back From The Dead |
| HALESTORM | Here's To Us |
| IRON MAIDEN | The Writing On The Wall |
| JOSH TODD & THECONFLICT | Story Of My Life |
| JUDAS PRIEST | Never Forget |
| KICKIN VALENTINA | Somebody New |
| MILLION DOLLAR RELOAD | Bullets In The Sky |
| MR. BIG | 1992 |
| NICKELBACK | Those Days |
| NOTHING MORE | Jenny |
| PHIL CAMPBELL & THE BASTARD SONS | Spiders |
| POP EVIL | Purple |
| PROPHETS OF RAGE | Unfuck The World |
| RISE AGAINST | Nowhere Generation |
| RIVAL SONS | Shooting Stars |
| RONNIE ATKINS | Make It Count |
| SCORPIONS | We Built This House |
| SHINEDOWN | I'll Follow You |
| SHINEDOWN | Get Up |
| SHINEDOWN | Attention Attention |
| SHINEDOWN | Atlas Falls |
| SIXX: A.M. | Stars |
| SIXX: A.M. | We Will Not Go Quietly |
| SIXX: A.M. | Talk To Me |
| SIXX: A.M. f. COREY TAYLOR, JOE ELLIOTT… | Maybe It's Time |
| SLASH f. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS | World On Fire |
| SLASH f. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS | Bent To Fly |
| SLASH f. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS | Driving Rain |
| SLASH f. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS | April Fool |
| SLASH f. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS | Anastasia |
| SLIPKNOT | Unsainted |
| STONE SOUR | Tired |
| STONE SOUR | Do Me A Favor |
| STONE SOUR | Song #3 |
| STONE SOUR | Rose Red, Violent Blue (This Song Is Dumb And So Am I) |
| THE DEFIANTS | Hollywood In Headlights |
| THE LAZYS | Half Mast Blues |
| TOM KEIFER | Solid Ground |
| TRIVIUM | Villainy Thrives |
| UGLY MELON | 60 Days |
| UGLY MELON | The Rose |
| VOLBEAT | Lola Montez |
| WAYWARD SONS | Alive |
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