“Open Your Eyes” by Alter Bridge

"Open Your Eyes" was how Alter Bridge introduced themselves: the lead single from their 2004 debut, One Day Remains, and a song with something to prove. Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips had all come from Creed, and when Tremonti pushed "Down to My Last" as the opener, Wind-up turned it down for sounding too much like the old band. This one got the job instead.

Smart call. Tremonti's riff churns and climbs, Phillips hits like a pile driver, and Myles Kennedy, who wrote it with Tremonti, sings about regret over a chorus that reaches for peace. Ben Grosse produced and mixed it with a big, glossy post-grunge sheen. It became one of the band's biggest hits, and on stage they stretch the middle out so the crowd can sing it back to Kennedy, usually near the end of the night.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.