#high votes

Erwin Beekveld - They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard 2005

"They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" is a video that was published on August 16th, 2005, by Dutch musician and photographer Erwin Beekveld, as a Flash-animation on the website Albino Blacksheep. In 2006, it was re-posted to Youtube, where it gained over 12.5 million views and 38,900 comments in the first seven years. The two-minute video composed of multiple fragments from the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings became an internet meme, and has obtained a cult status mostly among fans of this trilogy. It is built out of scenes from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In the video, actor Orlando Bloom is seen playing the elf Legolas, who repeats the line "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!" He is occasionally interrupted by Gollum (played by Andy Serkis), and also by Marton Csokas as Celeborn, who repeatedly inquires the whereabouts of Gandalf.

The dialogue is rhythmically set to a techno version of music originally composed by Howard Shore for the movies' soundtracks, and contains among others the leitmotif of the song "Concerning Hobbits". The song caught the attention of participants of a discussion forum sponsored by the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics, in which the dactylic quality of the song's prosody was discussed at length. (Read it here!)

In the book Fan Fiction and Copyright: Outsider Works and Intellectual Property Protection, "They’re Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" is mentioned as an example for the amendment on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an American law concerning the author's copyright on digital media. The amendment from 2010 made it legal, under certain conditions, to use fragments from movies and television shows in personal videos. Musicologist Michael L. Klein (Professor at the Temple University of Philadelphia) mentions "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" in his book Music and the Crises of the Modern Subject as an example of a meme and mash-up as the pinnacle of creativity in the postmodern age.

In 2013, after Orlando Bloom finished filming his final scenes on the set of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, director Peter Jackson published a video in which Bloom, dressed up as Legolas, sings along with "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard". In the next five days, the video received more than 6.9 million views and 7,200 comments. In an interview for Rude Tube in 2013, Beekveld says people love or hate him for making the video, due to its catchy tune, and that it made him very happy to see Bloom sing along with his remix eight years later, which he states is the ultimate recognition. On 30 March 2022, Beekveld died of lung cancer at the age of 52.

"They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" received a total of 82,5% yes votes!

Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out for a Hero 1984

"Holding Out for a Hero" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for the soundtrack to the 1984 film Footloose. It later featured on her sixth studio album, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire (1986). The track was produced by Jim Steinman, who co-wrote the song with Dean Pitchford, and was a top 40 hit in several European countries, as well as Canada and on the US Billboard Hot 100. Its 1985 re-release in the UK reached number two (remaining there for three weeks) on the UK singles chart and topped the singles chart in Ireland.

"Holding Out for a Hero" has featured in numerous commercials, film and television soundtracks, and the song has been covered by various artists. In 2004, Jennifer Saunders recorded a version of the song for Shrek 2 which she performs in character as the Fairy Godmother. Frou Frou also recorded a version for the credits sequence. Ella Mae Bowen recorded a cover of the song for the 2011 Footloose remake. The song has been used for multiple Superman adaptations. Tyler has released re-recordings of the song in 2004 and 2011. In 2013, she recorded a new version of the song for use in a Children in Need fundraising campaign.

On 6 May 2026, Tyler underwent emergency surgery in Faro, Portugal, where she lived, to treat a perforated intestine, and was placed in an induced coma in the intensive care unit. When doctors attempted to bring her out of the coma, she suffered a cardiac arrest and was resuscitated. On 15 June, Tyler woke up from the medically induced coma, although she remained "very unwell". She died from complications of the illness on 8 July 2026 at the age of 75.

"Holding Out for a Hero" received a total of 96,1% yes votes and is currently the second Most Liked Song on this blog! 🥳🎉 Previous Bonnie Tyler polls: #712 "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

Evanescence - Bring Me to Life 2003

"Bring Me to Life" is the debut single by American rockband Evanescence from their debut studio album, Fallen (2003). It was released as the album's lead single on January 13, 2003, following its inclusion in the soundtrack of the 2003 Marvel film Daredevil. Amy Lee wrote "Bring Me to Life" at age 19, after a then-acquaintance (who later became her husband) asked her if she was happy; Lee was in an abusive relationship and in turmoil, and was shocked the person saw through her facade as she felt she "was completely outwardly acting normal". "I felt like he could just see straight into my soul. That inspired the whole song", she explained. The song is about "open-mindedness" and "waking up to all the things you've been missing for so long". After the moment that inspired her to write it, she "realized that for months I'd been numb, just going through the motions of life." Guitarist Ben Moody and David Hodges share songwriting credits on the song, which includes guest vocals from Paul McCoy of the band 12 Stones.

It is stylistically a nu metal and rap rock song. In order to market it, the label forced them to add the male rapping vocal, which Lee did not want, or the song and album would not be released. The male vocal was a compromise after the label originally demanded they include a rap on eight of the songs on the album. During an interview, Lee stated: "It was presented to me as, 'You're a girl singing in a rockband, there's nothing else like that out there, nobody's going to listen to you. You need a guy to come in and sing back-up for it to be successful.'"

"Bring Me to Life" peaked within the top 10 of more than 15 countries, and within the top 20 of several other countries, making it the band's most successful single to date. It was certified triple-platinum in 2019 for selling more than three million copies in the US. It won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance and was also nominated for Best Rock Song. At the 14th annual Billboard Music Awards, it won the award for Soundtrack Single of the Year. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 43 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list. The song was re-worked and re-recorded on Evanescence's orchestral-electronic fourth studio album, Synthesis (2017).

"Bring Me to Life" received a total of 92,8% yes votes! Previous Evanescence polls: #44 "Imaginary", #513 "Whisper".

Paramore - Misery Business 2007

"Misery Business" is a song by the American rockband Paramore, released as the lead single from their second studio album, Riot! (2007) and is considered the band's breakthrough hit. It peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 26 and at number three on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also was a commercial success in many countries including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.

In 2020, lead singer Hayley Williams finally revealed that it was about bandmate Josh Farro. She told Vulture, "When I was 13 or 14 and I had a crush on Josh, he didn't like me back. He would go hang out with his girlfriend, who I wrote "Misery Business" about because I was a dick." Williams no longer sings the line where she refers to the girl as a whore in the second verse of this song because of both the controversy it had produced and Williams since evolving in her views. Speaking on the controversial line, she said, "What I couldn't have known at the time was that I was feeding into a lie that I'd bought into, just like so many other teenagers — and many adults — before me."

"Misery Business" is a playable track in the games Guitar Hero World Tour, in which Hayley Williams is also a playable character, as well as Saints Row 2, Rock Band 3, and Metal: Hellsinger.

"Misery Business" received a total of 89,6% yes votes!

Sixpence None the Richer - Kiss Me 1998

"Kiss Me" is a song by American Christian alternative rockband Sixpence None the Richer from their self-titled third album (1997). The ballad was issued in the US in August 1998 and in international territories the next year. It was nominated for a Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 42nd Grammy Awards. "Kiss Me" peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the country's sixth-best-selling single of 1999. Worldwide, the song reached number one on the Australian and Canadian charts as well as number four on the UK Singles Chart, entering the top 10 in 16 countries altogether.

In January 1999, Miramax used "Kiss Me" as the theme song of its teen romantic comedy film She's All That, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook. The film's box office success helped "Kiss Me" gain widespread mainstream attention and chart success. In Italy, the film was retitled Kiss Me. The song was also included on Dawson's Creek's first soundtrack in April 1999. The original music video pays tribute to François Truffaut's film Jules and Jim, made in black and white and recreating many of the classic scenes from the film. A second music video was released later, that feature the band sitting on a park bench, performing and watching footage of themselves on a portable television or projected on an outdoor screen. Two alternate versions of this video were made with them watching scenes from either She's All That or Dawson's Creek instead.

"Kiss Me" received a total of 85,3% yes votes!

Boney M. - Rasputin 1978

"Rasputin" is a song by Germany-based Afro Caribbean pop and Eurodisco group Boney M. It was released as the second single from their third studio album Nightflight to Venus. The core of the song tells of Grigori Rasputin's rise to prominence in the court of Tsar Nicholas II during the early 1900s, referencing the hope held by Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna that Rasputin would heal her hemophiliac son, Tsarevich Alexei of Russia, and as such his appointment as Alexei's personal healer.

The song claims that Rasputin was Alexandra's paramour, a widespread rumour in Rasputin's time, with which his political enemies intended to discredit him. It accurately states that the conspirators asked him "Come to visit us", and then recounts a widely popular account of the assassination in Yusupov's estate: that Rasputin's assassins fatally shot him after he survived the poisoning of his wine.

"Rasputin" rose to the top of the charts in Germany, Austria, Belgium and Australia, and went to No. 2 in the UK, Argentina, Finland, Spain and Switzerland. It enjoyed great popularity in the Soviet Union, however it was omitted from the Soviet pressing of the album and Boney M. were barred from performing the song during their ten performances in Moscow.

It's pretty safe to say this song put a impressive and unbeatable record in the amounts of votes and reblogs! 💖 This is currently the most liked song on this poll blog with a whooping 94,8% total yes votes.

Metallica - Master of Puppets 1986

"Master of Puppets" is a thrash metal song by American metal band Metallica, released on July 2, 1986, as the sole single from the album Master of Puppets. The song was recorded during October–December 1985, at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark, in a lower tempo and tuning and later sped up by producer Flemming Rasmussen running the tapes faster which brought the tuning up to standard 440 Hz. This allowed the instruments to be as tight as possible at a higher tempo. The song, as lead singer James Hetfield explained, "deals pretty much with drugs. How things get switched around, instead of you controlling what you're taking and doing, it's drugs controlling you." A riff from David Bowie's song "Andy Warhol" is quoted in the song. It is a homage made by Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett to whom Bowie was a huge influence. Master of Puppets is the band's final album to feature bassist Cliff Burton. While touring in support of the album, he died on September 27, 1986, after the band's tour bus was involved in an accident in Dörarp, Sweden. In 2015, Master of Puppets became the first metal recording to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

"Master of Puppets" is played in a scene of the 2003 film Old School and is heard as actors Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell are busy kidnapping people off the street to join their new fraternity. It was played in the opening credits for the film Zombieland: Double Tap. The song is featured in the fourth season finale of the Netflix series Stranger Things, where the character Eddie Munson is seen playing the track in the Upside Down to attract the Demobats. The band said they were blown away by the scene. As happened with Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" (poll #713), which was also featured in the season, the song regained popularity and started charting again following the release of the finale, notably entering the US and UK charts for the first time since the song's original 1986 release. It then peaked at number four in the Netherlands.

"Master of Puppets" received a total of 76,8% yes votes! Previous Metallica polls: #77 "Wherever I May Roam", #200 "Enter Sandman", #371 "The Memory Remains", 571 "Nothing Else Matters".

Bad Lip Reading - Seagulls! (Stop It Now) 2016

Bad Lip Reading is a YouTube channel created and run by an anonymous producer from Texas who intentionally lip-reads video clips poorly for comedic effect. Some of the channel's original songs are available on Spotify and Apple Music.

In December 2015, Bad Lip Reading simultaneously released three new videos, one for each of the three films in the original Star Wars trilogy. These videos used guest voices for the first time, featuring Jack Black as Darth Vader, Maya Rudolph as Princess Leia, and Bill Hader in multiple roles. The Empire Strikes Back BLR video featured a scene of Yoda singing to Luke Skywalker about the dangers posed by vicious seagulls if one dares to go to the beach. BLR later expanded this scene into a full-length stand-alone song called "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)", which was released in November 2016, and eventually hitting #1 on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart.

Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, publicly praised "Seagulls!" (and Bad Lip Reading in general) while speaking at Star Wars Celebration in 2017: "I love them, and I showed Carrie [Fisher] the Yoda one… we were dying. She loved it. I retweeted it… and [BLR] contacted me and said ‘Do you want to do Bad Lip Reading?’ And I said, ‘I'd love to…’”. Hamill and Bad Lip Reading collaborated on Bad Lip Reading's version of The Force Awakens, with Hamill providing the voice of Han Solo. The Star Wars Trilogy Bad Lip Reading videos led to a second musical number, "Bushes of Love", which hit #2 on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart.

May the 4th be with 71,6% of you!