TV TUESDAY S02E07: SUPERNATURAL's Top 40 Musical Moments (The Top 10)

#	song	artist	season	episode*
40	Supermassive Black Hole	Muse	2	10
39	Fell On Black Days	Soundgarden	2	5
38	Walk Away	James Gang	1	13
37	Hocus Pocus	Focus	3	13
36	Lonely Is The Night	Billy Squier	4	2
35	Ramblin' Man	Allman Brothers	1	1
34	Round And Round	Ratt	1	3
33	Turn Into Earth	Yardbirds	7	17
32	Back In the Saddle	Aerosmith	6	12
31	Metal Health (Bang Your Head)	Quiet Riot	1	7
30	Knockin' On Heaven's Door	Bob Dylan	2	13
29	White Rabbit	Jefferson Airplane	2	10
28	Silent Lucidity	Queensryche	2	17
27	Stranglehold	Ted Nugent	2	1
26	House Of The Rising Sun	The Animals	2	16
25	Fight The Good Fight	Triumph	1	22
24	Foreplay/Long Time	Boston	2	21
23	Flirting With Disaster	Molly Hatchet	6	8
22	Turn To Stone	Joe Walsh	1	22
21	Locomotive Breath	Jethro Tull	8	1
20	Burnin' For You	Blue Oyster Cult	1	17
19	Hey Man Nice Shot	Filter	1	6
18	Time Has Come Today	Chambers Brothers	2	2
17	Smoke On The Water	Deep Purple	6	2
16	Hair Of The Dog	Nazareth	2	8
15	Rock Of Ages	Def Leppard	1	5
14	Bad Moon Rising	Creedence Clearwater Revival	1	22
13	Green Onions	Booker T & the MGs	2	19
12	Slow Ride	Foghat	7	1
11	Bad Company	Bad Company	1	11
*if a song appears in more than once, only the first episode is listed

10
"Back On The Road Again" - REO Speedwagon

   season 2, episode 14

fan video

HERC did not get into REO Speedwagon until the rest of the world did, with 1980's Hi Infidelity, the band's ninth studio album.  From there he worked his way backwards, starting with the double disc anothology of their first ten yeras together, fittingly titled A Decade Of Rock And Roll 1970-1980.  The last two tracks on that album are taken from their 1979 album Nine Lives, the immediate predecessor to Hi Infidelity.  That very last song does not feature Kevin Cronin's voice up front and center.  Rather, the bassist and the song's writer, Bruce Hall, handles the lead vocals about life on the road which is something our boys Sam and Dean know all too well.  From the pounding bass intro, to Gary Richrath's shredding solos on the gee-tar and Neal Doughty's rocking organ playing, the song was an immediate HERC favorite.


09

"Paranoid" - Black Sabbath

   season 1, episode 4
Sabbath and Supernatural go hand in hand like peanut butter and honey or Mulder and Scully. Or Sam and Dean.  HERC's most vivid memory of this song has nothing to do the show.  While attending an Ozzy show in the Eighties, he took a break from the pit and walked up to the grass at the top of the amphitheater, where the porta-potties were located.  While he was walking back, the band launched into "Paranoid" and this guy comes running out of the crowd up onto the grass where there was hardly anyone around and just starts convulsing.  HERC is fairly sure the guy thought he was dancing but it looked more like a possession.  Imagine Elaine's dancing from Seinfeld sped up to double-time and you have a mental image as to what HERC is talking about.

08

"No One Like You" - Scorpions

   season 1, episode 8

This was in an episode of Supernatural?  HERC is going to have to go back and rewatch it. Hands down, this one is HERC's favoritest Scorpions song ever.  It rocks hard and high but at it's heart it is a love ballad all wrapped in wailing harmonic guitars and the Teutonic tenor of Klaus's voice.    

07

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - Blue Oyster Cult

   season 1, episode 12

actual scene featuring song

For a lot of fans, THIS is the song that sums up Supernatural and it is a haunting tune indeed. It fits the scene above perfectly like it was written for it.  Most people don't remember the song being played in the 1978 film Halloween, though.  (Watch a fan-made video HERE.) Or that it was given the acoustic treatment by Gus in the 1996 film Scream.

06

"Long, Long Way From Home" - Foreigner

   season 4, episode 13

   season 5, episode 2

Such a good song with so much going on in the mix including spacey synths and wailing saxophone.  The synth part always reminds HERC of the beginning of Sweet's "Fox On The Run" and the band would again use a sax memorably on their later song "Urgent".  See how the song was incorporated into the show here and here.    

05

"Renegade" - Styx

   season 2, episode 12

This is another one of those songs where the scene it was used in is etched in HERC's mind. (Bank robbery? Hostage situation? Maybe it wasn't so etched after all.)  If he's not mistaken, a special edit of the song was used to better fit the onscreen action to great effect.  

04

"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" - Iron Butterfly

   season 1, episode 6

The entire scene featuring this song plays like a tribute to a very similar scene in the 1986 film Manhunter which also featured this song as that scene's soundtrack. (Watch that scene in trippy super slow motion here.) This was one of HERC SR.'s favorite eight-track tapes back in the day; the song is so long that it starts on Program C and continues on Program D.  As with any eight-track listening experience the song was interrupted by a big KER-CHUK! Most recently, the song was put to great use in the surprisingly good premiere episode of American Horror Story: Coven. HERC says "surprisingly" because he won't be watching any future episodes as they are too dark for his tastes - for the most part, Supernatural keeps him within his comfort zone, nothing too scary or too sick and gross.

03

"Back In Black" - AC/DC

   season 1, episode 1

   season 2, episode 3
HERC's three favorite things about the first episode of Supernatural:
  1)  the inclusion of not one but two AC/DC songs: "Back In Black" and "Highway To Hell";
  2)  the scene where Sam is going through Dean's box of cassettes;
  3)  the fatally attractive Sarah Shahi.
Eagle-eared fans of the show often point out the box of cassettes scene as a blooper:  Sam picks up the tapes, one by one, reading the names of the bands off aloud and when he gets to Metallica, Dean grabs the tape and shoves it in the player.  AC/DC's "Back In Black" is the song that plays.

02

"Rooster" - Alice In Chains

   season 2, episode 19
If there is a more moody and atmospheric song than this, HERC hasn't heard it.  Sets the mood right off the bat and keeps it going throughout. Hell, it's even haunted when performed unplugged - Layne Staley's croaky delivery of the lyrics is a high point.  Read about HERC's encounter with Staley here.  The only thing keeping this song from topping HERC's countdown is the next song.

01

"Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas

   season 1, episode 21

   season 2, episode 22

   season 3, episode 16

   season 4, episode 22

   season 5, episode 22

   season 6, episode 22

   season 7, episode 23
   season 8, episode 23

Used to stellar effect as the recurring soundtrack to "The Road So Far" season review of each season's final episode, the first eight of which are featured in the video above.  The song's many musical motifs allow the show's editors to move the action along at a brisk pace.  The song is indelibly linked to the show in HERC's mind.

a fan's favorite musical moments from the showanother fan's countdown (part one)
another fan's countdown (part two)
one last fan made video