10 Perfect Prog Rock Songs That Are Ridiculously Long

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for bands flirting with progressive rock is the odd time signatures. Rock has always been about 4/4 most of the time, so it gets to be a little bit tricky when you can't necessarily tap your foot to the music that you're playing. You have to start learning to count, and Tool's third album is practically an extended math class taking place while playing your instrument.

Looking to expand their horizons as songwriters, Lateralus follows what's known as the Fibonacci sequence, which creates a spiral of rhythm that loops back in on itself. While this could have easily just been a gimmick, the song at the center is also fairly intense, as Danny Carey puts his drum kit through Hell as Maynard James Keenan goes on about the spiral philosophy in the lyrics. Beyond just the time signature, Maynard's lyrics also adhere to the Fibonacci sequence, starting with one syllable and having every line of the verse going up and back down the spiral of numbers.

There's actually a lot to get out of these lyrics though, as Maynard talks about the transcendental nature of thinking of life as a spiral, riding the spinning nature of life while still being able to hold onto your humanity. From the same band that made a song called Hooker With a Penis, this is the kind of thought provoking stuff that most of us had been waiting for for a long time.