Hi everyone, I was just in the car rocking out before and it occurred to me... there are some lead breaks which aren't metal, but have that 'metal effect' on me. Whether that is, doing the air guitar thing, raising the volume, even banging your head, however you deal with them... are there any songs which aren't metal where you appreciate the lead breaks to such an extent that they might as well be metal?

For me:
Pink Floyd - Fletcher Memorial Home - Love the long chords, the timing when it kicks in (same time as the drums, before that the track is pretty sedate)... has a good effect on me.
Van Halen - Dreams - Eddie cutting sick, particularly the second lead break before the end. Not metal but such a 'metal' moment.

Anyone have any others?

Speaking of Eddie, I will have to mention You Really Got Me fill-ins. I will also mention Diamond Dave's Yankee Rose with Steve Vai's crazy Donald Duck licks (although not a solo), ACDC's Back In Black, Mr. Big's Electric Drill Song and Addicted To That Rush, and I also like to add the good 'ol Black Betty of Ram Jam.

Good call on Yankee Rose... the talking guitar haha.

Hmm, when you based your thread's title and OP on "non-metal", I didn't expect you meant to include hard/heavy bands with (at the very least borderline) metal songs in their repertoire... I mean what's so surprising about that?

Truly non-metal stuff that compels me in the same way that metal does, and focusing on the solos specifically as per your request, I'd say the fast-paced part of Vivaldi's "Summer", the one commonly dubbed "Storm".

Some "techno" pieces (I use the term very broadly like the non-techno fan that I am, call it electronica or whatever else) also have parts that might as well be metal, except for the instrumentation. Can't remember any names off the top of my head, though.

this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOsVohtbgxc
the best part is when he throws his machete in the air and it comes back down as a guitar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g30nwCpyaA

1:32 = pure thrash in 1970.

Not so much a lead break, but in Triumph's 'Lay It On The Line' song (off Just A Game, 1979) it's the first I ever noticed what sounds like palm-muting and I was absolutely in love with it - it just seemed so unquestionably hard for the time/era of music. That tune from The Who (above) definitely is working on the same stuff - chunks sans distortion. Had to come from somewhere, right?

The Solo from Queen-Stone Cold Crazy

Sure, throughout their various jam sessions based on this old 50s jazz-blues tune, The Who stumbled upon the basic thrash riff; as well as the bass line for Sabbath's "N.I.B."; and the main riffs for Led Zep's "Black Dog" and Budgie's "Breadfan".

But again, I fear this topic is straying off-topic. What I mean is that if you're going to cite metal songs and/or metal moments of non-metal songs, then you are not citing "lead breaks which aren't metal". And yeah, (proto/borderline) metal tends to have that "metal effect" gabber mentioned in the OP, for some reason.

elf48687789's reggae-inspired 80s pop song with an out-of-place rock/metal/Santana solo was unexpected, at least.

That wasn't really a reggae song, Eddy Grant did have some reggae songs, and he also had stuff which was inspired by Latin American music, calypso/soca, African music and some rock, but that was his usual lead guitar style. I'm not sure how I'd classify that song, although I guess your description is not too bad, even if limiting because it was much more non-reggae.

Actually, a lot of Black Uhuru's albums feature metal leads, like this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl2B30cOpxU
I saw them in concert, I think 8 years ago or something, and I had a friend who likes reggae but not metal and he totally hated the concert.