Also, you should recognize that if you need to just wake up without having a song related to mornings, take any track off of a death metal album, and set your volume to max. With this list, we’re going for a little bit more style than just sheer terror!

So in no particular order, here are the ten greatest wake-up songs:

10 – Rage Against The Machine – Wake Up – 6:05
It is always better to start a day with a bang. Rage Against The Machine’s call to arms for people to listen to what is going on beneath what the media tells you is the perfect alarm bell. The growling call to ‘Wake up!’ at the end of the song is better than a hot cup of coffee or cold water on the face.

9 – Extreme – Rise ‘n Shine – 6:24
Now that you have been shocked out of your evening’s torpor with Rage, we move onto something a little more relaxed. From the underappreciated classic ‘III Sides Of Every Story’ comes ‘Rise ‘n Shine’ which is actually part of a three song round. All of the interesting musical history of the song aside, this is an ideal song to start up your day with a gorgeous full ensemble of strings and woodwinds mixed with Nuno Bettencourt’s rock guitar.

8 – Maroon Five – Wake Up Call – 3:40
Moving from the rock into something a little more soulful and funky, Maroon Five gives us a little ditty about the singer finding his girl in bed with another man. It may not be your first choice for what you hear when you are trying to shake the dreams, but it is most definitely going to have your toes tapping, which might be all you need to not fall back asleep.

7 – The Beatles – Dear Prudence – 3:59
‘Here Comes The Sun’ or ‘A Day In The Life’ were both in contention, but I decided that one Beatles song is enough for this list. Dear Prudence is the perfect inspirational way to wake up and feel that there is a whole world out there for you to enjoy. With a beat that grows in intensity as you start to focus your eyes, this is arguably one of the most inspirational songs the Fab Four ever did.

6 – Wham! – Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go) – 3:51
There is something to be said about being annoyed into awakening. Paying attention to the song is guaranteed to get it deeply stuck into your head for the rest of the day. Then again, if this is your favorite period of music, then you might think this is an ideal choice. So whether this song is going to make you run out of your room with your fingers plugged in your ears, or dancing with your ‘Choose Life’ shirt, you are awake. Congratulations.

5 – The Proclaimers – I Will Walk (500 Miles) – 3:50
From the eighties earworms to the nineties, this song is another one of those classic songs that crawls into your head and won’t leave. The only difference between this and Wham! is that if you start singing the chorus aloud, five other people will immediately join in.

4 – Bob Marley and The Wailers – Wake Up and Live – 5:20
There has been a lot of rock and pop on this list, but not mentioning Bob Marley’s call out for people to rise up would be a crime against music. Reggae is surprisingly fantastic wake up music, with its strong brass and percussion, you just want to get up and move to the rhythm while you get your day started.

3 – Alabama 3 – Woke Up This Morning – 4:06
At first you might look at this title and have no idea what it is, but unless you have lived under a rock for the last decade, you have heard this song. It is the opening credits to the hit show ‘The Sopranos’. Featuring that deep bass voice, and the mix of blues, techno, and rock, this song has a lot going on to keep you occupied while you are trying to find the outside of your eyelids.

2 – System Of A Down – Chop Suey – 3:55
A metal anthem in a similar style to the Beatles ‘Day In The Life’, not only does this song feature amazingly strong vocals yelling at you to ‘Wake up, grab your brush and put on a little make up’ – it is loud, heavy, and if at the end of this song you aren’t out of bed, you are legally dead in three states.

1 – Sonny & Cher – I Got You Babe – 2:50
This song made the list, not because of its substance, but because of its place in the history of waking up. A little movie called ‘Groundhog Day’ featured Bill Murray waking up to this song every morning for, what we can assume, years. Every time you heard this song it was a sign that Bill was waking up for another fantastic morning in Gobbler’s Knob.

This was a guest post by John for Russell Hobbs – browse our range of coffee machines if you need a little something extra to wake you up in the morning!

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