What are some of the best instrumental songs you like the most?

Posted 30Jun2017.

The funny thing about this question is that it coincides with a conversation I was having with my 11–year old son the other day about the utter lack of “regular” music I have on my iPod.

In staying away from classical music only because the question referred to “instrumental songs” and not “classical arrangements, I will try to keep my response limited to 10:

Pretty much anything by Bear McCreary. In looking at the most played tracks on iTunes, “The Temple of Five” is #1 with 492 plays… followed by “Worthy of Survival.” I’ve been listening to this soundtrack ever since I picked up the first CD’s almost eleven years ago, and I hear something new almost every time (the best and only thing I can listen to while writing). There’s many more favorites, and I could go on about this soundtrack, but the reader would be more bored than they already are…
“Marooned” by Pink Floyd. I hated the Division Bell at first, but I grew to love it as it became one of my favorite albums/cassettes/CD’s I owned. Then, I watched this. My perspective of this song was forever changed by the imagery from the International Space Station contrasted with footage from Pripyat.
“A Beautiful Day” by The Orb. Again, this is a group I have been fascinated with for a long time, and I cannot find much fault in anything they have produced over the years. [Edit] In coming up with this list, I went back and started listening to each entry and realized this particular song actually fails to qualify as an instrumental. Oh well… much of their music contains either samples of cyclic ramblings with little formal structure in terms of lyrics, so I shall leave it.
This one is a tie – “The Game Has Changed” or “Rinsler” by Daft Punk. The TRON soundtrack is intriguing for the layers of traditional instruments and synthesized sound; these pieces are excellent examples – even if they bug the crap out of the “anti-synthesizer” wife.
“Fallout” by Hive. This may not exactly qualify due to the awesome quote in the intro: (“Some of the music we play is not geared for your bumping enjoyment. It’s geared for you to think. For those of you who don’t think too much, I’m telling you that shit before we drop it on you.”) However, this song’s mood matches the subject of post-nuclear emptiness perfectly – the addition of the vinyl “click” throughout the track is perfect in almost sounding like a scanning Geiger counter.
“Classical Thump” by Victor Wooten. This conveniently combines Victor’s solo project with the song that I first heard him in “The Sinister Minister” by Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, another fine instrumental close to my heart.
“Nitrus” by Dick Dale. One of the things I never do with my music is hit “shuffle,” and going from the previous two to this one is a good reason why. When I first heard this, there was a section that sounded distinctly like standing off the nose of a UH-60A trying to pick up a howitzer at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island (Hawaii) – screaming, howling, and painful.
“Sferic Waves” or “Engines of Difference” by Man or Astroman? The former because it was one of the first songs of theirs I was introduced to, and the latter because it was usually their opener for their live shows and somewhat funny to watch.
Along the lines of “anything by,” I would have to include the Mermen. “Pulpin’ Line” was my first exposure, and many of their songs were part of my “Dive” playlist for the underwater mp3 player I always had going.
Again with the Mermen, I saved the best for last: “More Wood Less Head.” I was listening to this song as I took my boat out the last day I was stationed on Oahu. The glimmering sun on the water, the rhythmic motion of the boat on the small chop as I brought it up on the step and opened the throttle… It took a couple of years before I could listen to that song without wanting that to relive that day.