>Of course you did. In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida.

>From Wiki:
>"The song is significant in rock history because, together with Blue Cheer
>and Steppenwolf, it marks the point when psychedelic music produced heavy
>metal. Later 1970s heavy metal and progressive rock acts like Deep Purple
>and Led Zeppelin owe much of their sound, and even more of their live acts,
>to this recording."
>
>It is a quote from an Internet website, so it must be true. LZ owes IB,
>especially for the name. Of course, I am using your benchmark for evidence.
>
>I love your title - "Top 10 most revolutionary MAINSTREAM epic songs of all
>time". Please consider that taking a word that means radical change and
>forcing it to mate with a word that means the prevailing and/or accepted way
>or thought is a sure way to show you have a complete understanding of how
>language and communication works. Or not.
>
>Please start a list with this title - The Top 10 Greatest Boisterous
>Tranquil Songs That Were Average (The Top 3 Songs Must Be By Led Zeppelin,
>Pink Floyd, and Yes)
>
>Wes
>
>P.S. I thought you weren't coming back.
>
>
>yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:1157160126.197089.266520@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

>> There might have been other great epics. But I am listing only those
>> who became well recognized or very popular.
>>
>> 01. Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd)
>> -Interstellar Overdrive was one of the very first psychedelic
>> instrumental improvisations recorded by a rock band. The opening hook
>> of the piece is a distorted, descending guitar riff played in unison by
>> the band. This riff eventually segues into improvisation, including
>> modal noodlings, percussive flourishes on the Farfisa organ, and quiet
>> interludes. The song gradually becomes almost structureless and
>> tempo-less, punctuated only by strange guitar noises. Eventually,
>> however, the entire band restates the main theme, which is repeated
>> with decreasing tempo and more deliberate intensity until it finally
>> concludes.
>>
>> 02. Close to the Edge (Yes)
>> - Probably the greatest epic composition in rock music. The song is
>> inspired by Hermann Hesse's book Siddhartha, an explanation which can
>> cast the cryptic and mysterious lyrics in a new light, tracking the
>> awakening of Hesse's character "close to the edge" of a river (and,
>> symbolically, of the serial lifetimes of his soul) where he experiences
>> a spiritual awakening.
>>
>> 03. The Plague of Lighthouse Keepers (Van Der Graaf Generator)
>> - The Plague of Lighthouse Keepers seems to be the tale of a lonely
>> lighthouse keeper going mad from the isolation and confronting his own
>> inner demons. Musically, the band pulls out all the stops with one
>> twist and turn after another. Beginning with a stark echoed electric
>> piano, Hammill parts the curtain for our frightening tale which slowly
>> builds momentum as he goes from thoughtful musing to manic screams.
>> David Jackson has a field day doing his own unique take on foghorns and
>> seagulls, as Guy Evans handles the chugging passing boats and Hugh
>> Banton provides the mysterious moonlit and fog-shrouded scenery. From
>> there, the tension mounts as Hammill takes us on a wild ride through
>> the mouth of madness and finally ends with either the protaganist
>> having lost it completely or finding hope, not sure which to be honest.
>> A harrowing but very thrilling musical ride if ever there was one.
>>
>> 04. Heroin (Velvet Underground)
>> - Heroin starts off innocent enough: two chords repeated over tom-toms
>> and a viola. But after a while, the song randomly begins speeding up
>> and slowing down with the drums emulating a heartbeat, much like a
>> person using heroin actually would do. The song gradually gets more
>> intense, until around the 5-minute mark, where the viola goes insane
>> and just starts screeching and howling it's metallic howl, and ripping
>> itself apart for the next 90 seconds.
>>
>> 05. Autobahn (Kraftwerk)
>> - Autobahn beautifully gives the listener the feel of a high speed
>> drive on Germany's autobahn. At about 22 minutes, it gives Kraftwerk
>> time to develop the whole concept. There is a beautiful break featuring
>> the Autobahn melody performed on flute along with the electronics.
>> Another break feautures the debut of what would become Kraftwerk's
>> trademark; pulsating and layered percussion that has been imitated (but
>> not very well) by countless groups.
>>
>> 06. Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin)
>> - Dazed and Confused cops its ominous bass line from a song by an
>> obscure folk artist named Jake Holmes who wrote it about a bad acid
>> trip. Page re-worked the lyrics in the style of evil woman blues. This
>> was a springboard for live experimentation throughout the first half of
>> Led Zeppelin's career, sometimes stretching out to 40 minutes.In the
>> studio, the group uses the chiaroscuro technique to build tension, they
>> release in a frenetic bombing run of energy, punctuated by Page's
>> lightning fingers, Jones' thumping bass and Bonham's double-time fills.
>>
>>
>> 07. Child in Time (Deep Purple)
>> - The song is an epic, as it lasts for full 10 minutes and 17 seconds.
>> It is a fairly simple composition, featuring an organ intro, one power
>> chord, and a 2 minute long solo. Lyrically, it is quite deep and
>> dark.Ian Gillan goes from quiet singing to screaming. Ritchie Blackmore
>> comes in with a slow solo, which builds to a fast-pace and then ends
>> abruptly, with the whole song cycle starting over again.
>>
>> 08. Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
>> - The lyrics, written by Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at
>> Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised. Plant's own
>> explanation of the lyrics was that it concerned "a woman getting
>> everything she wanted without giving anything back". The lyrical
>> inspiration came to Plant by his search for spiritual perfection and a
>> key influence was the book Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by Lewis
>> Spence, which Plant had recently read; it contained references to May
>> Queens, pipers, and "bustling hedgerows." The song is a multi-movement
>> suite. A quiet introduction featuring acoustic guitar and a recorder
>> gradually moves into to a slow electric middle section, before the
>> faster hard rock final section. .
>>
>> 09. Gates of Delerium (Yes)
>> - "The Gates of Delirium" is a dense, 20-minute piece that was inspired
>> by Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. It features lengthy improvisations by
>> each member of the band, sometimes clashing intentionally with one
>> another. Featuring lyrics about the futility of war, it remains one of
>> the most musically aggressive songs ever produced by the band. The
>> final section, in which the aggression of the previous 16 minutes is
>> suddenly replaced by a gentle melody and a lyrical prayer for peace,
>> was released as a US single under the title "Soon" in early 1975.
>>
>> 10. Echoes (Pink Floyd)
>> - Echoing, nautical sounds open the album with a suspicious feel and
>> slowly the music begins to gather texture and style. Some of the lyrics
>> are the band's best during this song, each time followed by a classic
>> descending guitar line from Gilmour. The middle part of the song is
>> especially great; a long section of wailing guitar exchanges with
>> clever keyboard fills gets suddenly fazed out and then there is a tense
>> section of more echoes.
>>
>>
>> Did I miss a great epic song which should have been part of this list?
>>

>