An awesome example of Hendrix's use of metaphor, in many ways a poet and philosopher as much a rock star, a look into Hendrix' gentle soul.

Hendrix was a wanderer, and many of his songs were inspired by real things that happened to him. Many believe this is an autobographical account of his life in poverty. One of my favorites.

Classic Hendrix, this song is a perfect example of his mastery of the electric sound. In many ways, songs like this were the basis for the entire heavy sound that now dominates the field.

Like Highway Chile, this is an autobiographical song. Perhaps the most comercial of Hendrix's music, it is not one of my favorites, but just listening to him play guitar is a treat.

This is one of Hendrix' best. A blues and rock master peice that shows Hendrix beautiful voice and writing skill in all it's glory

Shows Hendrix as the blues man he was, his skill with the guitar is demonstrated here as he uses the very-difficult acoustic 12-string instead of his usual electric. A joy to listen to and one of my favorites. Compare to "Love in Vain" (Robert Johnson Section) see any similarities?

Probably Hendrix' best. A blues sound, autobiographical subject matter, shows his skill with the guitar, and his excellent mastery of metaphor. A masterpiece.

Shows Hendrix' ability to remake music. In my view this version surpasses Dylan's by far.

Originally recorded and performed by Ozzy's premiere band, Black Sabbath, this is a classic Ozzy hard rock song. Ozzy was in many ways the father of modern hard rock, inspired by the wild guitar sounds of Jimmy Hendrix and others. This version is one of the best I have ever heard, performed by Ozzy going solo.

Metallica was the perfection of the hard and heavy sound, and reigned supereme in the field for 10 years. This is a perfect example of their versitility at the beggining of their career, the original band. I also chose this song because it has a religous subject, sort of pre-creed religous hard rock. Too bad the band's totally sold out now.

Pantera is the ultimate in Heavy Metal as it was orginally produced (ie, pre-industrial rock) this song has everything they're famous for, in-your-face subject matter, with mind blowing guitar riffs.

This was Rob Zombie with his former band, once known as White Zombie. I chose this song because it shows how Zombie was pushing the envelope back in the 90s. Since then, Zombie has added more blues-like sounds into the hard rock, and I like the new sound better. But this was his most successful song.

This is rage at it's best, this began the move in hard rock to add rap and R&B sounds into the hard rock sound. This began a revolution in that area that continues to this day. A truly great song.

Korn has recently taken center stage in the rap/heavy marriage that is dominated the field. Freak on a Leash is a perfect representation of their current advances in the Hard Rock field.

Kid Rock is one of Korn's contemporaries, and has added even more of a rap sound to hard music. This song is indicictive to his style of music.

This song show's Creeds ability to mix some elements of Hard Rock and Alternative, with extremely spiritual and religous subject matter. One of their best.

This song is the one that started it all. It launched the fame of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, this song was in many ways the beginnning of the grunge and alternative movements. The heavy influences mixed with classic rock sounds created the alternative sound that would make Cobain famous. It is not indicitive of most of Cobain's music, which usually includes strong blues influences also.

Now this is classic Cobain. Classic rock, mixed with punk influences and rhythms and blues sounds and subject matter. An excellent song and perfection in grunge.

First performed on MTV UNPLUGGED and later on the NIRVANA UNPLUGGED album made from the show, this song shows Cobain's abilities with the acoustic guitar, his blues influences are also very evident in this song.

This is an example of Cobain pulling on hard rock influences and combining it with more classic rock sound and new wave subject matter, one of his most popular songs.

Another of his 'Unplugged' songs, this was a true work of art, and really let's you know how much Cobain respected classic guitarists. This rendition of Leadbelly's classic seems to take his original folk/swing sound and amplify the blues influences to create a classic rock/blues song second to none.

Alice in Chains was one of Nirvana's most successfull contemporaries, and no excuses is on of their most classic rock sounding songs. Some of their song really favors a harder sound, but you can really hear the 60s sounding classic rock influences in this one. Unfortunately, Drugs tore this band apart.

Another very successful Nirvana contemporary, STP has put out a very impressive body of good music. I chose this song primarily because only an idiot couldn't notice the blues influences in a song like this. It seemed STP was going to fall to the wayside as well, however they have recently banded together again and they sound as good as ever.

Three Doors Down is a great example of more modern Alternative bands, all the elements evident: punk, classic rock, blues, new wave, and harder stuff is here. Again, I chose this song for it's blues influences and it's similarity to 'Creep'.

In many ways the pioneers of the industrial rock sound, NIN blended the emerging alternative rock sound with heavier sounds and unique subject matter, and added in sounds that could have come straight from a factory to create this new sound, only TOOL had produced any thing like it, and they spotlight was not yet on them.

This is an example of 'borderline' songs, music that has a more alternative sound than hard rock. Perhaps one of the most popular songs in the field for that reason.

This song began a tradition of remaking 80s 'pop' songs in an industrial rock style. This song is the one that made Manson into a mega-star. Very cool.

This may be one of the many versatile directions that the industrial sound takes in the next century, bringing in more techno-like sounds into the mix. The two froups' unique styles meld incredibly well in this powerful song.

Rammstein was very successful in making a highly popular industrial rock song written totally in German. This is indicitive of industrial rock, which relies often more on beats and rhythm than words and content.

A continuation of Manson's use of 80s pop content and industrial rock sounds. A very good rendition of this song, I didn't realize how good this song could sound.

I chose this song because it shows how ahead of it's time TOOL really was. Opiate is a blending of what would evolve into the alternative and later industrial sounds. It has elements of punk, new wave, classic rock, and heavy sounds, with a unique content and structure.

Moving into even more uncharted territory, Tool release Aenima, it's third album, 4 years after it's second Undertow, and nearly 8 years after Opiate, it's first. This song speaks for it's self, there is truly nothing like it. It represents the future of idustrial and hard rock.