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Looking for more pop / rock songs with sick sax solos! Got any ideas?
I've been working on a playlist for a while of rock / pop songs with sax solos. The rules are:
- Must be from this millennium
- sax can't be a primary instrument
- pop or rock genres preferred
Here's what I've got so far: https://link.deezer.com/s/323YPvabsQgEuS8BOTCXj
If you're willing to stretch from rock to prog metal,
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edit: re-listened to Epica and realized there are a couple harsh vocals. Also wanted to note, while a few of these songs don't say in the title who the guest sax player is, it's often still Jørgen Munkeby - C Horse, Amorphis, and Periphery (also note Haunted Shores is a project of 2 Periphery members), and he's in the band Shining that's credited on the Epica song. Plini features John Waugh, Rivers of Nihil features Zach Strouse, and the saxophonist in SHREZZERS is Artem Subichev.
Since this is such a similar vibe to many of your callouts, I’ll add it here: “Of Reality - Calabi-Yau” by TesseracT. It’s a silly title because the whole album is presented like a couple large pieces comprised of multiple movements across shorter songs. The entire album, Altered State, is worth a listen and the sax comes back a few times throughout.
I'm always open to exploring! I will listen to all of these, thank you so much for the recommendations!
Posted a comment also recommending Rivers of Nihil before I saw this lol. A second strong recommendation for Where Owls Know My Name - the video is pretty fun and the sax part starts around 2:00.
Love Caligula's Horse!
Miasma by Ghost!
It’s an instrumental track, but great fun. The way they perform it live is superb.
Excellent choice, and it's already on the list!
Does Destination Calabria count? It's dance music and the saxophone is more of a continuously driving element than a solo...but everyone should listen to Destination Calabria.
GUNSHIP - Empress of the Damned (feat. Lights)
It doesn’t hit until after the bridge, but it DOES hit.
Love Gunship. Self titled album is one of my faves
Came here to say this. Unicorn is a dope album.
Sax was performed by Tim Cappello, best known from the Lost Boys Movie.
Take Me Dancing - Doja Cat ft SZA
Bilmuri has a lot of sax solos and tours with saxophonist Gabi Rose, so his live stuff tends to have even more sax. Here's a few examples:
BILMURI - 2016 CAVALIERS (Ohio) Ft. Knox
BILMURI - POSTALMONDCLARITY
He's actually just dropped a new album but I haven't had a chance to give it a good listen, so I don't know how sax heavy it is - he's been leaning more into a country fusion sound for the last couple of albums.
There's a decent amount of saxophone, but it's not as present as earlier albums.
Still a good listen
Oh also, I stumbled into it a few years ago and saved it because I thought it was funny - there's a sax solo in the middle of this tech-death song.
Burial in the Sky - An Orphaned City
I wouldn't really call it good, the whole section sticks out like a sore thumb and it's pretty fucking weird, but it definitely made me laugh...
You win the award for "wildest genre mashup" so far today. I... like it? I think?
Haha, yeah Bilmuri do be like that. His earlier stuff blends in a lot of modern pop production and electronic elements (plus the saxophone) with thickest metalcore riffs, and the country elements in the newer albums work well for some reason. His previous album American Motor Sports is genuinely one of my favorites of the last few years.
So, not sure if this is particularly pop. It's more techno/8-bit style (tags literally include Earthbound and snes), and it's Vocaloid (well, UTAU technically), so may be an acquired taste, but: Unemployed has a BIG saxophone solo.
That's a spectacular solo, thank you!!
Gnome's fucking incredible album Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome (2024) has a track on it with a sax - it's The Ogre! Sax shows up in the breakdown at the end.
It's mostly pre-2000, but if you like rock with sax then you have to listen to Morphine. Their albums Cure for Pain, Like Swimming, and their last album The Night (released in 2000 so makes your cutoff!) have been in constant rotation in my life since I discovered them around 2006. Morphine isn't like anything else really, it just might blow your mind.
Faded and Fleeting by doom band Rezn has a sax in it too, just came up on my shuffle.
Gnome is such a weird band that I absolutely love. And their music videos are really interesting (in a good way). And they are such a interesting find for people that hasn't found them yet.
💯%! Most of the time I have to listen to something a few times before I can make up my mind about it, but VoVV was love at first listen. Their other albums are pretty good too but this one is just on another level.
I just wish this fucking tariff situation would end so I could get their record and a shirt. So many musicians around the world have missed out on my money thanks to this bullshit. Not that this is the most important political issue of our day lol, but supporting artists is important, wherever they are.
Follow Me Like The Moon by Sammy Rae & The Friends (might not fit your genre requirement)
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) by Katy Perry. TIL Kenny G only appeared in the video and did not actually play the solo on the record.
My favorite sax solo in a rock song of all time is "Urgent" by Foreigner.
That's a fabulous song, but it doesn't fit the requirement of being released post 2000 :(
A lot of Billy Joel songs have good, rocking sax parts.
And I love them all! The sax was much more popular pre-2000, which is why I'm using that as the date cutoff :(
Napoleon Murphy Brock era Zappa is a saxfest, but fails the millennium test.
You want Ferdi. He’s in with Dabuell and that French nu-disco/funk scene and he’s great. In My Mind is a good sample.
Depending on your musical taste (I know you asked for pop) GRiZ plays sax in a lot of his music. It is divine at times and includes trumpet too (example above). He’s been known to do sax solos at live performances too.
Follow up: check out Leo as well. That baritone sax slaps!
...is ex eye too hard/prog/post-rock for your pop-rock criteria?..`cause colin stetson kind of owns the heavy sax crown so far this century, methinks...
Oooh yes, I've got the perfect one that you're missing.
You're looking for "The Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeWBS0JBNzQ
This song is the final recorded performance of Clarence Clemons, the sax player for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.
I'll just post this one, but The Midnight tours with a saxophonist dedicated to solos if you're looking for more.
We're seeing them play in Vancouver next month. Super pumped.
Surprised nobody’s mentioned Sleep Token’s Emergence yet (it’s at the end).
I was going to suggest the Incubus song Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) as well (solo at about 3:30), but that came out in 1997 so just outside your “this millennium” restriction. (Also Incubus’ early stuff really slapped and I think it would resonate hard with where pop music has drifted into today.) I think there was a Hoobastank song from before they got popular with a sax solo in it too but I can’t seem to remember what it was called. I think there was just a saxophonist hanging around the Calabassas nu-metal scene back then doing random collabs.
Pushing the boundaries of pop just a little bit, but I have to mention Mr. Saxobeat by Alexandra Stan. More of a fun club/dance song.
Edit: whoops, saw the "can't be a primary instrument" part too late. But leaving this for others.
The Collective Soul song "Better Now" has two versions, one of which ends with a sax solo that I like.
Starts at around 2:35.
Hounds by puma blue. No a solo but morphine might float your boat on rock sax Thursday