10 Greatest Hard Rock Songs Of The 1980s

Many people forget the amount of genres that were killed once the '80s got underway. Although there were a handful of bands that couldn't make the transition over to MTV, the sounds of disco and glam rock would either be folded into completely different genres or be known as the most uncool music of all time. Especially if you were a prog rock band, you didn't have a prayer of crossing over...unless you had the right idea.

After refining their chops and cutting down their song lengths at the start of the decade, Rush really hit on gold with Moving Pictures, with Tom Sawyer announcing itself as the definitive Rush song from the moment you heard it. From a pure musical standpoint, these guys are on another level, from Neil Peart's mid song drum solo to Geddy Lee sounding like he's assaulting his bass guitar every time he plays.

Musicianship alone isn't going to get you the greatest song award, and Tom Sawyer has more hooks than you can think of, from the iconic opening bass note to Alex Lifeson turning in one of his classic guitar solos, fitting somewhere between the abandon of Jimmy Page and the preciseness of a band like Pink Floyd or Yes. While prog rock may have been called the genre for nerds, you can't argue when they end up making something this unstoppable.