Top 5 ‘Black’ Songs
exemplary artwork by sarca @ caughtmegaming
A fine colour choice for albums, an equally excellent shade for songs!
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5. The Darkness, Black Shuck
What an opener, couldn’t think of a better way to open this list!
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4. Manic Street Preachers, Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier
One of the top bridges in recent memory, “it’s so ____ funny, don’t you know?”
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3. Great Big Sea, The Old Black Rum
Best experienced live of course.
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2. Radiohead, Black Star
One of my favourite tunes to play when trying out a new guitar.
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1.Metallica, Fade to Black
One of my favourite tunes to play, period!
1001albumsin10years 
Black Hole Sun! Always have always will dig that tune!
Also BlackOuuuuuuuuut by Ze Scorpions!
I think guitar pedal sales soared in ’94 when we all heard the first Black Hole Sun verse, what a guitar tone!
Excellent list, Geoff! Here are five more for consideration:
That Old Black Magic, by Sammy Davis Jr.
Blackout, by Linkin Park
Welcome to the Black Parade, by My Chemical Romance
Black on Black, by Dalbello
Black Dog, by Led Zeppelin
Much appreciated Danica – I can only place the LZ at first glance. But that’s half the fun, now I’ve got lots of good music from reliable sources to investigate!
Oh there’s tons!
AC/DC! Back In Black! Black Ice!
Or how about Black by Pearl Jam, Dio, and Gilby Clarke?
Or how about Black & Blue by Louis Armstrong, Lyle Lovett, Whitesnake, Haywire, and Van Halen?
Black Flag – Black Coffee!, Black Love
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath!
Rolling Stones – Sweet Black Angel, Black Limousine
Led Zeppelin – Black Dog, Black Country Woman, Black Mountainside
Tom Waits – Big Black Mariah, Black Box Theme, Black Market Baby
Pavement – Baptist Blacktick
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Black Book
KISS – Black Diamond
Negative Trend – Black And Red
Henry Rollins / Rollins Band – Black And White
Cult – Black Angel
Sex Pistols – Black Arabs
Velvet Underground – Black Angel’s Death Song
Volbeat – Black Bart
Iron Maiden – Black Bart’s Blues
Charles Mingus – Black Bats And Poles
Jelly Roll Morton – Black Bottom Stomp
Paul MacLeod – Black Boys On Mopeds (Sinead O’Connor cover)
Tragically Hip – Black Day In July (Gord Lightfoot cover)
Nick Drake – Black Eyed Dog
Trews – Black Halo
Violent Femmes – Black Girls
Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
Blind Lemon Jefferson – Black Horse Blues
K-OS – Black Ice (Hymn 4 Disco)
Nina Simone – Black Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair
Frank Black & The Catholics – Black Letter Day
White Stripes – Black Math
Black Crowes – Black Moon Creeping (band and song!)
Calexico – The Black Light
Massive Attack – Black Milk
And on
and on
and on
and on and on…
I haven’t heard Gordie baby covering Gordie baby! I’ve been enjoying one of those Tom Waits tracks this week 😀
Alannah Myles – Black Velvet!
Rainbow – Black Masquerade
Holly Golightly – Black Night
Deep Purple – Black Night
Pavement – Black Out
Peter Gabriel – Black Paintings
Ozzy Osbourne – Black Rain
Slayer – Black Serenade
Wu-Tang Clan – Black Shampoo
Thom Yorke – Black Swan
OFF! – Black Thoughts
Mastodon – Black Tongue
Motley Crue – Black Widow
Pearl Jam – Black, Red, Yellow
Black Crowes – Blackberry
Beatles – Blackbird
Gordon Downie – Blackflies
Beck – Blackhole
Neko Case – Blacklisted
Sloan – Blackout
Baroness – Blackpowder Orchard
Opeth – Blackwater Park
Soundgarden – Fell On Black Days
And on
and on
and on
and on
and on…
Fell on Black Days was my #5 until yesterday – at the last second, I remembered The Darkness, bumping it to the honourable mention position. Blackbird & Blackflies would certainly be on my top 5 black acoustic tunes!
Rolling Stones – Paint It, Black
Metallica – Blackened
Neil Young – Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)
Black Sabbath – Naivete In Black
Ray Charles – Blackjack
Pack A.D. – Blackout
Led Zeppelin – The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Hair
Led Zeppelin – White Summer/Black Mountainside
or how about Long Black Veil by Chieftains, Johnny Cash, Corn Sisters, The Band… a zillion others
Foo Fighters – The Depest Blues Are Black
Public Enemy – Fear Of A Black Planet
Black Flag – Now She’s Black
Elvis Presley – Long Black Limousine
Iron Maiden – The Red And The Black
OFF! – Red White & Black, Jet Black Girls
James Brown – Say It Loud (I’m Black And I’m Proud)
Pearl Jam – Spin The Black Circle
Quiet Riot – Slick Black Cadillac
Wu-Tang Clan – Soul Power (Black Jungle)
Sting – We Work The Black Seam Together
Slayer – Spirit In Black
Ryan Adams – Sweet Black Magic
Jack White – That Black Bat Licorice
Bob Dylan – Man In The Long Black Coat
And on
and on
and on
and on…
Had enough yet? 🙂
Dang- forgot Spin the Black Circle, great frantic track!
Haha forgot a few! 😉 Man, it’s hard to pick from all of thse. I would still rate Paint It, Black and Black Coffee in my 5!
Nothing wrong with those – having too many great songs is as nice a problem as I’ve encountered!
Great post Geoff! Nice to see Metallica take the ol’ top spot. As you can tell, I’ve listed a few others for your consideration. I’m sure I’ve missed a ton but that’s all I’m gonna type up tonight! Enjoy!
Many thanks Aaron, I always appreciate your contributions, consider them considered!
How considerate!
One glaring omission in my eyes is Catherine Wheel’s “Black metallic”. Epic, beautiful track.
I can’t place it – I’ll check it out at lunch today!
Most definitely
And it’s now Placed – nice choice JP!
I’m going to pick Manowar’s ‘Black Arrows’ for its immortal statement – “Let each note I now play be a black arrow of DEATH sent straight to the heart of all those who play false metal… Bblleeeuurrghhhh”
Bblleeeuurrghhhh- Now that is a closing statement!
Luckily that’s the only words in the song. I’m not sure if anything rhymes with bblleeeuurrghhhh.
Nice list 🙂
My thanks!
I sure didn’t expect to see Black Shuck on this list (that dog don’t give a fuck).
My fave: KISS – Black Diamond.
Much like the 1001 list itself, Expect the unexpected!
Just realized with all these suggestions here, there’s no King’s X!
Well that is fixed now!
Crisis averted! Thanks!
They have more black songs (and a black album) but I’ll save those 🙂
I have a feeling I’ll be reading about them soon enough!
… I think Aaron covered my 5! 😉
Black Shuck was a brilliant choice, but you missed my fave one:
I’ve had Apocalypse ’91 on this week!
One of the best opening tracks ever! Just makes me go ‘Grrr!’
Although not technically an opener, brothers gonna work it out is still near the top of my list – I’m still twisting to Chuck D’s words, long after his prediction of doing so in 1995!
I totally missed this post. It seems all of the black songs have been adequately covered in the comments 🙂 Love the Radiohead song, and sorry that Fell on Black Days fell off the list.
Fortunately it didn’t fall very far, 6th is still very much top 10 material!