Top 15 Songs Over 10 Minutes In Length
In popular music a song over 5 minutes in length has traditionally been discouraged by record companies and a song over 10 minutes can be seen as pure insanity.
The conventional thinking is that mainstream music fans do not have an attention span capable of stretching to the 10 minute mark. When radio and MTV were actually relevant, programers would never give 10 minutes of airtime to one song. A lengthy single was a death nail for music promoters whose sole job was to get a song heard.
I'm afraid that the attention span of the masses has shrunk even further with seemingly unlimited amounts music available at the click of a mouse. Not to mention the sly new tactic of promoting music through :15 second clips in prime time television shows and in advertising.
Luckily, popular music has its fair share of quality 10 minute+ songs. Many of them follow in the tradition of jazz, where the music is used to transport the listener for an extended period of time through the use of epic dynamics and technical complexity. But there are also lengthy songs that take a more pop-centric road. This playlist examines the very best of the extra-long track in popular music regardless of approach.
Outside of each pick having to be an original studio recording over 10 minutes in length, this playlist is purely subjective. But I can promise you that I considered each selection carefully, and since I limited myself to just 15 songs I had to make some painful cuts (sorry Yes fans).
Please let me know which selections you agree with, which ones you don't, and what you would add. And please, listen to these songs in their entirety!
Top 15 Songs Over 10 Minutes In Length
1. The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys - Traffic
3. Sister Ray - The Velvet Underground
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part One) - Pink Floyd
5. Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin
6. Babe, I'm On Fire - Nick Cave
9. Voodoo Chile - Jimi Hendrix
11. Svefn-g-Englar - Sigur Ros
12. Tarkus - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
13. Cowgirl In The Sand - Neil Young
15. 2112 - Rush
all nightmare long
one
master of puppets
enter sandman
to name a few
Master of Puppets is 8:38.
One is 7:24.
Enter Sandman is only 5:29.
1. The World is A Ghetto (for inclusion on this list)
Other great tunes which are close to qualifying:
City, Country, City
Gypsy Man
BTW the music player seems kinda hosed, altho the cover of Achilles Last Stand is cool in a tribute band kinda way..
TOOL - Rosetta Stoned
TOOL - Reflection
THE MARS VOLTA - L'Via L'Viaquez
Type O Negative - "Black No. 1" and "These Three Things"
Chiamira - "Implements of Destruction" and "Six"
Cradle of Filth - "Tearing the Veil from Grace" and "Funeral in Carpathia"