Top 10 Songs that Have a Pre-Chorus

Pre-choruses are optional parts in a song and not all songs have pre-choruses. Songs with no pre-chorus are fine but some songwriters decide to put more efforts.

A pre-chorus is that bit of music immediately preceeding the chorus - it's between the verse and the chorus. It's a transitional section preparing the listener for the "hook" of the chorus.

Pre-chorus is usually considered as part of the verse - its last part. It's really a transitional section and you can feel that when you listen to a song with a pre-chorus for the first time. What happens is that when the pre-chorus starts, you may conclude that the chorus starts... until you hear the real chorus. This happened to me many times and it proves the pre-chorus has a "transitional" function.

Pre-choruses can be long or short and are used in many genres - pop, rock, metal, etc (hypothetically, they can be used in every genre).
The Top Ten
1 Master of Puppets - Metallica

Pre-chorus starts with "Taste me you will see..."
Chorus starts with "Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings..."

2 Enter Sandman - Metallica

It's one of the shortest pre-choruses ever! But it's cool too.

3 Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival

"Big wheel keep on turning, Proud Mary keep on burning."
It's short but very effective.

4 The Throne - Blind Guardian

Similarly to Master of Puppets by Metallica, this song is also long (similar length - about 8 minutes) and pre-choruses work very good.
Moreover, the verses to 'The Throne' aren't exactly the same - they have different structures and aren't typical verses, and adding a pre-chorus is a good idea.
There are the 3 pre-choruses before every chorus (lyrics are not absolutely the same but music is):
The pre-chorus starts with "I've come to tell you once more..."
The chorus starts with "We must serve the fire...".

5 Uprising - Muse

[Pre-Chorus 1]
Another promise, another seed
Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed
And all the green belts wrapped around our minds
And endless red tape to keep the truth confined
(So come on)

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Rise up and take the power back
It's time the fat cats had a heart attack
You know that their time's coming to an end
We have to unify and watch our flag ascend
(So come on)
[Chorus]
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
(So come on)

6 Ride the Sky - Helloween

Pre-chorus starts with: "Send me a sign,..." (play the sample to hear the entire pre-chorus)
Chorus starts with: " Ride the sky,..."

7 Stormbringer - Deep Purple
8 Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi

Pre-Chorus:
She says, we've got to hold on to what we've got
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot for love
We'll give it a shot

9 Ballroom Blitz - Sweet

Steve Priest:
"Oh, Oh, I see a man at the back as a matter of fact
His eyes are as red as the sun
And the girl in the corner let no one ignore her
Cause she thinks she's the passionate one"
Brian Connolly:
"Oh yeah! It was like lightning
Everybody was fighting
And the music was soothing
And they all started grooving"
(and then comes the chorus: "Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah, And the man in the back said everyone attack,...")

10 Imagine - John Lennon
The Contenders
11 Judas - Helloween
12 The Holy Grail - Blind Guardian
13 Love's Tragedy Asunder - Demons & Wizards
14 Emergent Evolution - Obscura
15 White Skies - Moonspell
16 Firework - Katy Perry

I can believe I put in one list Metallica, Blind Guardian and Katy Perry, but this isn't a metal list and I wanted to give an example from pop music and also to create variety:
Pre-chorus starts with: "You just gotta ignite the light,..."
Chorus starts with: " 'Cause baby, you're a firework,..."

17 Slide Away - Oasis

"Slide in baby, together we'll find. I've tried praying but I know just what you're saying to me."
Not the only example from Oasis. Don't Look Back In Anger, D'You Know What I Mean, Wonderwall, All Around the World, Going Nowhere, Rock 'N' Roll Star, and many others have prechoruses. That's part of what makes their music appealing.

18 I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett

"I think of you every night and day. You took my heart and you took my pride away..."

19 Let Me Put My Love Into You - AC/DC

"Don't you struggle. Don't you fight. Don't you worry cause it's your turn tonight." Another good example is "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution".

20 Nightcrawler - Judas Priest
21 Search and Destroy - Iggy & the Stooges

"Honey gotta strike me blind. Somebody gotta save my soul! Baby don't ya take my mind! "
Iggy once said that he put a Pre-chorus in there to stretch the composition a little, saying that it was the poppiest that the Stooges ever got.

22 Bitch - The Rolling Stones

"Yeah, when you call my name, I salivate like a Pavlov dog.
Yeah, when you lay me out, my heart beating louder than a big bass drum, all right! ".
The actual chorus only appears once in the song. They sing the pre-chorus one more time before going into the outro, which is basically a guitar solo.

23 Life on Mars? - David Bowie

"But the film is a saddening bore/ Cause she's lived it ten times or more/ She could spit in the eyes of fools/ as they ask her to focus on...". He changes the words in the second pre-chorus, but the function is still the same; it sets up the chorus.

24 Just So You Know - American Head Charge
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