Rise Against's mastery of anthemic punk rock is second only to their mastery of being pissed off. On the Chicago band's sixth album, Tim McIlrath is an "orphan of the American dream," heraldically ranting about environmental collapse, economic inequality, teen suicide and other unanswerable evils atop the mix of Bad Religion hardcore, metal-guitar action and modern-rock balladry that's evolved into a platinum-plated formula (Endgame is the third R.A. disc produced by Bill Stevenson of pop-punk legends the Descendents). If success hasn't done much to brighten McIlrath's worldview, songs like the rousing Katrina-themed scorcher "Help Is on the Way" manage to fist-pump in the face of doom.

Listen to "Help Is On The Way":

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“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."