Top 10 Rock Songs With Tragic Backstories

WatchMojo

Behind every heart-wrenching melody lies a story that cuts even deeper... Join us as we explore the devastating true stories behind some of rock's most powerful songs. Our countdown includes tracks from Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, U2, Nirvana, and more! Which of these emotional anthems moves you the most? Let us know in the comments below!

Transcript

00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most heartbreaking songs

00:12by rockers that are even more devastating when you know the true stories behind them.

00:30When the band's lead vocalist Rob Thomas was on the brink of entering his teenage years,

00:36his mother was diagnosed with cancer.

00:37He spent those young years caring for her, oscillating between devotion and resentment.

00:42That's where the song 3AM comes from.

00:50The lyrics tap into Thomas' own inner conflict,

00:53while also making space to address his mother's grief and how she processed her illness.

01:00He's given listeners the freedom to interpret and apply the song to their lives however they'd like,

01:10but Rob continues to look back on it to understand himself.

01:20Number 9. Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor. Eels.

01:30Mark Oliver Everett faced tremendous loss in his life, much of which he alchemized into music.

01:38The Eels' album Electroshock Blues deals with his family's death and his will to live.

01:42The titular Elizabeth in the song Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor is Everett's sister,

01:47who took her own life in 1996.

01:49She had reportedly been seeking help at a mental health facility

01:59and receiving electroconvulsive therapy before she passed away.

02:02The lyrics seem to borrow from a journal entry she wrote before her death,

02:06and the song is sung from her perspective too.

02:08I'm going to a place where I am always high.

02:13In the rest of the album, Eels sings about losing his father at an early age

02:19and his mother's cancer diagnosis,

02:21tugging at our heartstrings and making them come undone.

02:24My name's Elizabeth.

02:30Number 8. Skylines and Turnstiles. My Chemical Romance.

02:34Get out in this zone. Let me break this awkward silence.

02:40This is reportedly the first song MCR frontman Gerard Way ever wrote.

02:45In other words, Skylines and Turnstiles is essentially where My Chemical Romance began.

02:51As monumental as that is for music history,

02:53the track was a response to the catastrophic September 11th attacks.

03:02Way witnessed 9-11 and became determined to make music as a way to create a change in the world.

03:08Like the lyrics suggest, he wanted to break the awkward silence in the wake of the tragedy.

03:20So the tone of the song is both existential and hopeful.

03:24Moreover, it carried the DNA of what would become the band's signature sound,

03:28establishing MCR as an act to look out for.

03:31Me, we go farther.

03:38Number 7. Love Will Tear Us Apart. Joy Division.

03:50The title of this song is engraved on the band's late frontman Ian Curtis' memorial stone.

03:55Love Will Tear Us Apart was released shortly after his death

03:58and tackled the complexity of his relationship with his wife, Deborah Woodruff.

04:01The lyrics are said to revolve around the breakdown of their marriage

04:13owing to his feelings for another woman, Annick Honoré, with whom he allegedly had an affair.

04:19There are also perceived references to Ian's epilepsy

04:21as well as his deteriorating mental health in the lines.

04:24This is especially heartbreaking because the singer took his own life

04:34mere months after recording the track.

04:36Today, it is one of the greatest Joy Division songs of all time.

04:40Number 6. Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones

04:51Not only was this song inspired by a tragedy,

05:01but it is said to have potentially caused one too.

05:04Keith Richards, who wrote Gimme Shelter alongside Mick Jagger,

05:07initially took inspiration from the way a sudden London rainstorm

05:10had people frantically seeking cover.

05:19As the two worked on it, it evolved into a broader commentary on war,

05:23particularly the horrors of the Vietnam War.

05:26The song was a massive success,

05:28even more so because of Mary Clayton's powerful guest vocals.

05:31Oh, drink my hand

05:34However, Clayton, who was pregnant when she was invited to sing by the Rolling Stones,

05:42reportedly had a miscarriage after completing her recording.

05:46Some claimed that the songstress had pushed herself too hard,

05:49but regardless of why it happened, it was a deeply unfortunate loss.

05:53Drink my shelter, yeah

05:55Yeah

05:57Drink my shelter, yeah

06:00Number 5. Ohio

06:02Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

06:04When it comes to protest songs,

06:12few can rival the seething urgency and bold resistance of this one.

06:16Neil Young wrote Ohio as a response to the 1970 Kent State shootings.

06:20Down to it

06:22Soldiers are cutting us down

06:25Should have been done long ago

06:28In the massacre,

06:30four unarmed college students lost their lives at the hands of the Ohio National Guard

06:34while protesting against the Vietnam War.

06:36Young reportedly penned the lyrics soon after seeing the harrowing images from the tragedy.

06:40This summer I hear the drumming

06:43The song laments the loss of the student protesters while condemning the then-president Richard Nixon

06:54and holding him accountable.

06:55Ohio was immediately adopted as an anti-establishment anthem,

06:59but received restricted airplay.

07:01La la la la la la la la la la

07:04La la la la la la la la

07:06La la la la la la la la la

07:09Number 4. Polly, Nirvana

07:11Polly wants a cracker

07:13Think I should get off the first

07:18This track from the album Nevermind is widely considered one of the most disturbing rock songs of all time.

07:24Kurt Cobain reportedly wrote Polly after reading about the abduction and sexual assault of a young girl by Gerald Friend in Tacoma, Washington.

07:39Shockingly, he sings from the perspective of the perpetrator of the heinous crime,

07:43which is why it is so unsettling.

07:45However, many critics have praised the song as representative of Cobain's supposed feminist values.

07:50In contrast, Courtney Love admitted that a song like this would probably be met with major backlash in today's cultural climate.

08:05Number 3. Sunday, Bloody Sunday

08:07U2

08:08This song is not a rebel song.

08:11This song is Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

08:13This legendary rock anthem gets its name from the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre that happened in Derry during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

08:22The incident, where British soldiers caused the deaths of 14 unarmed civilians by opening fire during a protest,

08:28was the immediate political context that informed the lyrics.

08:31I can't believe the news today

08:34I can't close my eyes and make it go away

08:40However, the band has clarified that it is not a rebel song.

08:44Instead, it is an unflinching cry against war at large and a plea for peace.

08:56The verses paint a bleak image of the brutality of political violence,

09:00while the refrain calls for an end to the same.

09:03Decades have passed, and Sunday, Bloody Sunday remains one of the most potent anti-war songs of all time.

09:09At home, drawing pictures

09:21Of mountain tops

09:23With him on top

09:26The haunting lyrics of this song raise awareness about subjects like school violence and its devastating consequences.

09:33Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder was reportedly shaken by a newspaper article he read about the death of Jeremy Wade Dell,

09:38A high schooler who fatally shot himself in front of his classmates.

09:51The urge to call attention to this tragedy inspired him to write Jeremy.

09:55Vedder later revealed that he also based the song on an incident from his junior high school years,

09:59Where a boy he knew allegedly committed gun violence on campus.

10:02As for his message to those contemplating self-harm due to mistreatment from others,

10:15Vedder said quote,

10:16The best revenge is to live on and prove yourself.

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10:33Written for the soundtrack of the 1991 movie Rush, this song topped several charts around the world.

10:53The poignant lyrics, which Clapton wrote with Will Jennings, came from a place of grief.

10:57Months before recording the song, the rocker lost his four-year-old son Connor to a fatal fall from the 53rd floor of a building.

11:14He sought healing through music, but hesitated to put the song out into the world.

11:18It was only when Rush director Lily Finney Zanuck pointed out that it could soothe someone else's pain that Clapton decided to release it.

11:33Years later, he wrote the song Circus as a tribute to an evening he spent with Connor at the circus,

11:38which would go on to be their last night together.

11:40Has a song ever broken your heart? Share your stories in the comments below.

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