Top 10 Rock Songs With Tragic Backstories

#10: “3AM” (1997)

Matchbox Twenty

When the band’s lead vocalist, Rob Thomas, was on the brink of entering his teenage years, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. He spent those young years caring for her, oscillating between devotion and resentment. That’s where the song “3AM” comes from. The lyrics tap into Thomas’s own inner conflict, while also making space to address his mother’s grief and how she processed her illness. He has given listeners the freedom to interpret and apply the song to their lives however they’d like, but Rob continues to look back on it to understand himself.

#9: “Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor” (1998)

Eels

Mark Oliver Everett faced tremendous loss in his life, much of which he alchemized into music. The Eels album “Electro-Shock Blues” deals with his family’s death and his will to live. The titular Elizabeth in the song “Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor” is Everett’s sister, who took her own life in 1996. She had reportedly been seeking help at a mental health institution and receiving electroconvulsive therapy before she passed away. The lyrics seem to borrow from a journal entry she wrote before her death, and the song is sung from her perspective, too. In the rest of the album, E sings about losing his father at an early age and his mother’s cancer diagnosis, tugging at our heartstrings and making them come undone.

#8: “Skylines and Turnstiles” (2002)

My Chemical Romance

This is reportedly the first song MCR frontman Gerard Way ever wrote. In other words, “Skylines and Turnstiles” is essentially where My Chemical Romance began. As monumental as that is for music history, the track was a response to the catastrophic September 11 attacks. Way witnessed 9/11 and became determined to make music as a way to create a change in the world. Like the lyrics suggest, he wanted to ‘break’ the ‘awkward silence’ in the wake of the tragedy. So, the tone of the song is both existential and hopeful. Moreover, it carried the DNA of what would become the band’s signature sound, establishing MCR as an act to look out for.

#7: “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (1980)

Joy Division

The title of this song is engraved on the band’s late frontman Ian Curtis’s memorial stone. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” was released shortly after his death and tackled the complexity of his relationship with his wife, Deborah Woodruff. The lyrics are said to revolve around the breakdown of their marriage owing to his feelings for another woman, Annik Honoré, with whom he allegedly had an affair. There are also perceived references to Ian’s epilepsy as well as his deteriorating mental health in the lines. This is especially heartbreaking because the singer took his own life mere months after recording the track. Today, it is one of the greatest Joy Division songs of all time.

#6: “Gimme Shelter” (1969)

The Rolling Stones

Not only was this song inspired by a tragedy, but it is said to have potentially caused one, too. Keith Richards, who wrote “Gimme Shelter” alongside Mick Jagger, initially took inspiration from the way a sudden London rainstorm had people frantically seeking cover. As the two worked on it, it evolved into a broader commentary on war, particularly the horrors of the Vietnam War. The song was a massive success, even more so because of Merry Clayton’s powerful guest vocals. However, Clayton, who was pregnant when she was invited to sing by The Rolling Stones, reportedly had a miscarriage after completing her recording. Some claim that the songstress had pushed herself too hard, but regardless of why it happened, it was a deeply unfortunate loss.

#5: “Ohio” (1970)

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

When it comes to protest songs, few can rival the seething urgency and bold resistance of this one. Neil Young wrote “Ohio” as a response to the 1970 Kent State shootings. In the massacre, four unarmed college students lost their lives at the hands of the Ohio National Guard while protesting against the Vietnam War. Young reportedly penned the lyrics soon after seeing the harrowing images from the tragedy. The song laments the loss of the student protestors while condemning the then-president Richard Nixon and holding him accountable. “Ohio” was immediately adopted as an anti-establishment anthem, but received restricted airplay.

#4: “Polly” (1991)

Nirvana

This track from the album “Nevermind” is widely considered one of the most disturbing rock songs of all time. Kurt Cobain reportedly wrote “Polly” after reading about the abduction and sexual assault of a young girl by Gerald Friend in Tacoma, Washington. Shockingly, he sings from the perspective of the perpetrator of the heinous crime, which is why it is so unsettling. However, many critics have praised the song as representative of Cobain’s supposed feminist values. In contrast, Courtney Love admitted that a song like this would probably be met with major backlash in today’s cultural climate.

#3: “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1983)

U2

This legendary rock anthem gets its name from the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre that happened in Derry during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The incident, where British soldiers caused the deaths of fourteen unarmed civilians by opening fire during a protest, was the immediate political context that informed the lyrics. However, the band has clarified that it is not a rebel song. Instead, it is an unflinching cry against war at large and a plea for peace. The verses paint a bleak image of the brutality of political violence, while the refrain calls for an end to the same. Decades have passed, and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” remains one of the most potent anti-war songs of all time.

#2: “Jeremy” (1992)

Pearl Jam

The haunting lyrics of this song raise awareness about subjects like school violence and its devastating consequences. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder was reportedly shaken by a newspaper article he read about the death of Jeremy Wade Delle, a high schooler who fatally shot himself in front of his classmates. The urge to call attention to this tragedy inspired him to write “Jeremy”. Vedder later revealed that he also based the song on an incident from his junior high school years, where a boy he knew allegedly committed gun violence on campus. As for his message to those contemplating self-harm due to mistreatment from others, Vedder said, quote, ‘the best revenge is to live on and prove yourself.’

#1: “Tears in Heaven” (1992)

Eric Clapton

Written for the soundtrack of the 1991 movie “Rush”, this song topped several charts around the world. The poignant lyrics, which Clapton wrote with Will Jennings, came from a place of grief. Months before recording the song, the rocker lost his four-year-old son, Conor, to a fatal fall from the 53rd floor of a building. He sought healing through music, but hesitated to put the song out into the world. It was only when “Rush” director Lili Fini Zanuck pointed out that it could soothe someone else’s pain that Clapton decided to release it. Years later, he wrote the song “Circus” as a tribute to an evening he spent with Conor at the circus, which would go on to be their last night together.

Has a song ever broken your heart? Share your stories in the comments below!