10 Best Experimental Rock Songs Of All Time

10. The Beatles - Rain

Towards the midpoint of their career, The Beatles embraced experimentalism wholeheartedly. While the results didn’t always lead to the most sonically pleasing music - “Revolution 9” springs to mind - they undeniably pushed things forward with their willingness to use the studio beyond what the majority of their peers were imagining.

“Rain”, the B-side to 1966’s “Paperback Writer” single, was one of their earliest leaps forward in this regard. The song is built around drones, with the guitars sounding like sitars behind McCartney’s prominent bassline and Lennon’s detached, nasal (even for him) vocals. It’s an upbeat and poppy tune, but with a sinister air to it through virtue of its stop-start nature and how loud everything is played.

More directly influential is the activity in the studio. The instrumental track is recorded at a faster speed then played back slower for the master, giving it a stretched and unusual quality. The coda takes a snatch of the song and plays it backwards, seamlessly fitting across the melody but capping the tune off on an otherworldly note.