Get ready for an emotional journey through rock's most heart-wrenching tunes. We're counting down the tracks that have moved listeners to tears with their poignant lyrics and melancholic melodies. From power ballads to grunge anthems, these songs capture the essence of sadness in rock music.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most emotionally resonant
00:11rock tracks with a sad or melancholic atmosphere.
00:21Number 10. Nothing Else Matters. Metallica.
00:25The word sad can mean a lot of things, as we'll see throughout this list.
00:37In the case of Metallica's Nothing Else Matters, sadness is evoked in a way best called
00:43contemplative. The song's open construction is of the barest bones variety, utilizing an
00:49open-string arpeggio that can basically be played by anyone.
01:01However, it's how the arrangement flourishes as the song goes on that allows Nothing Else Matters
01:08to connect with its audience. The orchestral accompaniment by composer Michael Kamen
01:13underscores this song's emotional core of yearning and desperation, while songwriter
01:19James Hetfield undertakes a rare outing on lead guitar.
01:30It's subtle, but wonderful stuff.
01:34Number 9. Only Women Bleed. Alice Cooper.
01:38The world of 1970s arena rock was largely one of bravado, and not of emotionally available
01:45storytelling.
01:46Man got his woman
01:48to take his seat
01:52He got the power, yeah
01:56She got the needs
02:00This is partly why Only Women Bleed from Alice Cooper
02:04was such an outlier in its day
02:06The shock rock legend tackles the difficult subject of marital strife
02:10in a manner that feels remarkably sensitive, particularly compared to Cooper's peers.
02:16She cries alone at night
02:19She walks in
02:20And I smoke and drink
02:25I don't come home at all
02:27Only Women Bleed never shies away from discussing just how sad and depressing a life lived under these
02:34terms can be for anyone
02:35The song feels simultaneously like a confession and a warning
02:40And Alice wouldn't stop there with regard to writing emotionally resonant ballads
02:46His 1991 song, Might As Well Be On Mars, also served as one of the early 90s finest lovelorn tunes, full stop.
03:10I might as well be on Mars
03:13You can't see me
03:17I might as well be the man on the moon
03:20You can't hear me
03:25Number 8
03:26Last Kiss
03:27Pearl Jam
03:28Where, oh, where can my baby be?
03:33The Lord took her away from me
03:37It had been a while since a fatalistic song like Last Kiss had hit the airwaves back in 1999 when Pearl Jam covered it
03:45We're out on the date of my daddy's car
03:48We had driven very far
03:51This 1961 tune from soul rocker Wayne Cochran was a crowning jewel from the teenage tragedy songs of its day
03:59A la leader of the pack
04:01As he drove away on a rainy night, I begged him to go slow
04:05And what we heard, I'll never know
04:08Look out! Look Out! Look Out! Look Out! Look Out!
04:11Earthways
04:11Pearl Jam's version
04:12Retains this raw desperation
04:14Of a car ride
04:16Gone horribly, horribly wrong
04:18Particularly within the vocal delivery of lead singer Eddie Vedder
04:22The lyrical material may be morbid and depressing
04:25But that is typical with this type of song
04:28And Pearl Jam nails the sincerity required to make their take on Last Kiss feel enduring
04:34and vital.
04:437.
04:46Everybody Hurts – R.E.M.
04:49It's a chorus that everyone knows, and to which all can relate.
05:02Everybody Hurts from R.E.M. was one of those songs from Alternative Rock's Halcyon era
05:08that felt like it was everywhere, and with good reason.
05:16The tune captures the 90s grunge and college rock crowd's desire for musical sincerity,
05:21particularly in the wake of the comparatively vapid, emotionally nebulous power ballads
05:27of the 1980s.
05:34Everybody Hurts just strikes a resonant chord within us, uniting listeners via its melodicism
05:40and poignant lyrics.
05:42It's arguably the best-known hit from R.E.M., and this definitely isn't a bad thing.
05:516.
05:56My Immortal – Evanescence
06:02It ultimately doesn't really matter if you're listening to the demo version of My Immortal
06:07by Evanescence that appeared on their debut album Fallen, or the re-recorded band version.
06:13Both tunes will make you cry.
06:14These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real.
06:22This is a foregone conclusion, and one that seemed to follow around My Immortal since it
06:26first hit airwaves back in 2003.
06:29It's the impassioned vocals of lead singer and songwriter Amy Lee that seemed to connect
06:34with audiences.
06:42This is a feat at which Lee always excelled, and My Immortal's rather stark arrangements
06:47allow the richness of her voice to shine through.
06:50Meanwhile, the band version rocks out near the end for a little emotional release.
06:55But both versions of My Immortal contain plenty of pathos.
07:025.
07:05Rainbow Eyes – Rainbow
07:08The voice of Ronnie James Dio is much missed by the heavy metal community.
07:18This is thanks largely to his ability to alternate easily between power, passion, and tenderness.
07:24Rainbow Eyes is perhaps Dio's most poignantly fragile vocal performance, and a highlight
07:31from his career with 70's rock legends, Rainbow.
07:35The song possesses great guitar work from Richie Blackmore and some wonderful orchestration,
07:44but who are we kidding?
07:46This is The Dio Show, full stop.
07:51The man's tender singing lends some emotional heft to Rainbow Eyes, and makes it stand out
08:00from so many other classic rock songs of the day.
08:03We just can't make it through this one without some waterworks happening, and we're okay with that.
08:104.
08:13Landslide – Fleetwood Mac
08:18This song just grabs and holds on to the listener right from Lindsey Buckingham's opening guitar work.
08:24Fleetwood Mac's Landslide is one of those songs where the guitar playing is just magically melancholic,
08:33a folky rootsiness that feels at one with the earth, as well as our deepest emotions.
08:39And I saw my reflection in snow-covered hills
08:46The live version from 1995's The Dance is honestly even better, perhaps because of emotional
08:52hindsight and age, but also due to the talent of both Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
08:57Well I've been afraid of changing
09:02The latter's lyrical poignancy is palpable, while the song's rhythmless arrangements never take away
09:09from just how powerful Landslide still feels so many years later.
09:143. Hurt – Nine Inch Nails
09:24There's no denying that Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt from 2002 was a transformative, powerful version of this song.
09:31From Nine Inch Nails
09:34I hurt myself today
09:37Yet, there's a darkness at play within Trent Reznor's original that remains unique.
09:42I focus on the paper
09:49Reznor managed to make the industrial music genre sound commercially viable, which is no mean feat.
09:55He did so through songs like Hurt, a grand and evocative ballad that sounds practically
10:00cinematic in scope. Reznor sounds intentionally vulnerable, while the creepy piano accompaniment
10:07lends Hurt a vibe all its own.
10:10There's nothing fake about this one, and Hurt hits those raw notes within us all.
10:192. The Show Must Go On – Queen
10:32Queen demonstrated their emotional mettle with grand movie score ballads like Who Wants To Live Forever, and The Show Must Go On feels the most confessional.
10:41This was a song written and recorded near the end of Freddie Mercury's life, and the band seems very aware of this fact. As a result, the show must go on feels simultaneously celebratory, reflective, and tragic.
11:023. Mercury's vocal in particular sounds ragged in the best possible way, a powerful performance from a dying man still very much in charge of his talents.
11:17It's virtually impossible to not get choked up listening to The Show Must Go On, especially knowing the struggles through which Mercury was going during its recording.
11:324. The Show Must Go On
11:37Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
11:415. Love Hurts, Nazareth, a 1970s power ballad and prom staple.
11:476. Do you love more?
11:536. Space Divest, Dream Theater, a haunting, progressive powerhouse.
11:586. Romeo and Juliet, dire straits, a weird video for a sad song.
12:127. All I do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme.
12:177. Juliet, I do the stars with you, anytime.
12:217.
12:228.
12:239.
12:247.
12:251.
12:264.
12:275.
12:286.
12:296.
12:306.
12:317.
12:325.
12:336.
12:347.
12:357.
12:368.
12:376.
12:387.
12:398.
12:407.
12:418.
12:429.
12:4310.
12:4410.
12:4510.
12:4610.
12:476.
12:49And the songs that I have sung, I'm going out in this time.
13:121. Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley
13:16The bloom wasn't yet off the rose for the seemingly endless covers of Leonard Cohen's
13:22Hallelujah back in 1994 when Jeff Buckley released his definitive version.
13:30The song's remarkable melancholy hadn't yet been discovered by the masses at this point,
13:36and this makes Buckley's performance feel, pardon the pun, like a secret.
13:41Baby, I've been here before, I've seen this room and I've walked this floor.
13:47Of course, the real tragedy of Buckley dying young makes his Hallelujah feel even more fatalistic,
13:54but we honestly wouldn't still be talking about Jeff Buckley if he wasn't great.
13:58It's not a cry that you hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light.
14:05Comparisons have been made between Buckley and another lost young talent, Nick Drake,
14:10and they're easy to understand.
14:12That said, Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah stands on its own two creative feet with strength,
14:18power, and yes, sadness.
14:20What sad song devastates you like no other?
14:30Let us know if you feel comfortable doing so in those comments below.
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