In our celebration of music week here at the Winchester Family Business, what better to showcase some of the greater moments of Classic Rock and Supernatural than a Top Ten list!  Except it's top 15, because when dealing with 195 episodes of material, there's no way to widdle it down.  

In order to keep this list to fifteen, as I've done with other lists, a set of parameters was required. The song has to play a significant role in a particular scene, like it’s a major character, and the scene isn't memorable without it.  There's no opening "The Road So Far" montages included here (which is why "Carry On, Wayward Son" is notably absent).  You will notice there's a definite skew toward older seasons than newer ones since music in the budget became a real issue around season three. 

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, here's my list of Top Fifteen Scenes in Supernatural Classic Rock, in order of awesomeness (least to best).  


15.   Goodbye Stranger – “Goodbye Stranger”  



This is really only here because I felt obligated to pick something from seasons 7 or 8.  Since Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” never left my record player back in 1979 (aging myself!), it wins by default.




14.   Famous Final Scene, “Road Trip”




I wanted this more obscure but totally poignant Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band song on the show for years, as did several other followers here at the WFB.  We finally got our wish!  I laughed, I cried, I squealed in absolute glee, so it’s on this list (I’ll totally admit author bias on this one). It was used in the most perfect scene, Dean grieving over the death of Kevin.




13.   Miracles – “Mommy Dearest”




There’s no rule that says the classic rock has to be good!  In this case, Eric Kripke plants a joke about coming up with a name for a new monster race into this Adam Glass script because he clearly hates the travesty the Jefferson Starship made of classic rock, especially when the more awesome predecessor the Jefferson Airplane existed (you’ll see that entry on the list later).  Still, it’s here because the ending with Castiel and Crowley in the diner, with this song playing on the jukebox as a very cruel but appropriate joke, is priceless.  




12.   Spirit in the Sky – “Good God Y’all”



This song was actually on my “must be on Supernatural” list for a couple of years before it was finally used early in season five.  It’s perfect!  Sam and Dean arriving to see the carnage of the town, guns drawn, all while this bouncy number plays in the background.  The ideal song for those times when you’re battling the looming apocalypse.  




11.   Space Oddity, “Clap Your Hands if You Believe”



Ben Edlund, you freaking genius.  This is one of my personal favorite episodes in general, and it’s scenes like this that explain why.  Dean is obviously a target for these alien encounters, except this scene is the big reveal that it’s not quite aliens coming after him.  So, we do indeed have a “Space Oddity.”  Thanks to some brilliant fight choreography compatible with the sounds of David Bowie breaking into the spacey chorus of this classic tune, mixed in with Jensen’s ideal portrayal of Dean getting the crap kicked out of him by a fairy before microwaving it, you have a scene that will never, ever happen anywhere else.  It’s better than any ballet I’ve ever seen.  God I love this show!




10.   Hey Man Nice Shot, “Skin” 



I hear you purists.  What about “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida?”  The music played a massive role in the eerie tone of this episode, but I think Filter's “Hey Man Nice Shot” brought far more to the table.  It was angsty, raw, suspenseful, and so freaking gross!  He’s taking off his skin!  The song makes us remember vividly the shapeshifter lore, and that’s stuck since season one.  That says a lot for a show going into it’s tenth season.




9.       Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, “Dark Side of the Moon”



I’m a sucker for the sentimental ones.  By season five, the brotherly bond that we grew to love was definitely strained.  This was a sweet, simple scene of Dean getting to relive a joyous time in his life, setting off fireworks with his little brother Sammy.  Coupled with this Bob Dylan classic of lament, it just hit me right in the center.  Yes, it was in “Houses of the Holy” too, but I didn’t cry when it was played in that one.




8.       White Rabbit, “Hunted”  



I’m not a huge fan of the Jefferson Airplane but you’ve got to admit, the song turned the whole creep factor of the scene up to eleven, didn’t it?  This is after all a horror show, and the crazy kid haunted by voices of a yellow-eyed demon story could have been told straight up, but through this song was way better.  It actually made us remember him as opposed to the numerous throwaway deaths this show has done through the years for no good reason.




7.       Laugh, I Nearly Died, “Bloody Mary” 



























This probably skirts the rules of classic rock since it was a new Rolling Stones song at the time, but I guess the fact it’s from a classic rock band is good enough.  Besides, it’s ICONIC.  The slow drive by of the impala during a very fitting part of this song, right when Sam sees Jess in white on the street corner, signaling to us that something is very wrong with Sam, still gives me chills.  Chills!




6.       Smoke on the Water, “Two and a Half Men” 






























This song should have been in season one!  And two, and three, and four…  It’s the Dean Winchester anthem.   It was a travesty that we actually had to wait until season six, although they did save it for the best possible moment.  Dean has been in domestic exile for a year, and so has his baby.  There’s no better way to kick off the uncovering of the Impala and the return of the greatest hunter of the planet (quoting “The End” here), than to Deep Purple.  Sing along with me folks!  

Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky…




5.       Eye of the Tiger, “Yellow Fever” 



I know, you’re probably asking, which part?  Dean jamming to it in the Impala early in the episode or the “surprise” ending of Jensen doing his own makeshift video.  Duh, it’s the latter.  I mean come on, Jensen was air guitaring with his leg!  I can’t listen to Survivor the same way again.




4.       Silent Lucidity, “Heart” 































What can you say, the show went for full blown, all out “emotional sucker punch.”  Might as well have the right song playing when Sammy bawls his eyes out of having to shoot his werewolf lover.  Enter a 1990 metal ballad from Queensryche. Dean’s single perfect man tear was the proverbial icing on the cake. 




3.       Don’t Fear the Reaper, “Faith”  


I honestly think Sera Gamble and Raelle Tucker picked the song first and then wrote the script for this, don’t you think?  The reaper taking the other soul right when Reverend Roy saves another to the loud guitar solo of this song is one of the most perfect montages I’ve seen in television.  “Don’t Fear The Reaper” my ass!  You should be freaking terrified.




2.       Heat of the Moment, “Mystery Spot”


I’ll tell you why this is so high on the list.  Because, to this day, I cannot hear “Heat of the Moment” in a supermarket or on the car radio and not bust out laughing.  This very bland, forgettable 80’s tune has been turned into something extraordinarily memorable thanks to “Supernatural.”  Of course it helps that “Mystery Spot” is my all time favorite episode.  Poor Sammy!  Hearing that song over a hundred times immediately after watching his brother die didn’t bode well for the nervous system, did it?




1.       Renegade, “Nightshifter” 

EPIC!  The slow opening of this better than average tune from the often ridiculed band Styx sets the stage.  Sam and Dean are cornered as Hendricksen and his team swarm the bank.  They find two of their men unclothed and unconsicious, and then two swat team members moving through a parking garage.  They go right for the Impala. 



Oh, Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Law man has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home
Oh, Mama I can hear you a-cryin', you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is comin' down from the gallows and I don't have very long

It's Sam and Dean!



Beat, beat, beat...



"We are so screwed."

Suddenly Tommy Shaw's infamous yell in the song kicks in and we're rocking and Sam and Dean make their getaway.  Hell Yeah!!!!! 




What do you think?  Is there anything on your list I'm missing?  What's your favorite Classic Rock moment of Supernatural?