10 classic rock songs inspired by real people
Not all rock classics are based in the world of fiction. As much as songsmiths like Bob Dylan like to drape their songs in mystery, there are often real faces behind the most celebrated classics of the time. Although most of their identities have been kept a mystery, acts like Oasis and The Beatles have clear muses behind their masterpieces.
From lovestruck ballads to breakup songs, most of the biggest inspirations behind songs involve affairs of the heart. Even if not every relationship in question stood the test of time, the songs either serve as a document of how great their love was while it lasted or a good indication of why it failed.
Rock music has never been known for being the most wholesome of genres, and songwriters have turned downright nasty when creating their tracks. Instead of a sweet love song to an old flame, artists will also tend to weaponise their songs, often spewing their vitriol in the direction of friends, lovers, or fellow band members, depending on what song they’re playing.
No matter how they felt when they first wrote the material, that feeling was captured in the grooves of these records, containing all of the venom, sentimental and ugly aspects of the biggest rock stars in the world. While it might be easy to separate the art from the artist on most occasions, remember that most of the subjects of these tunes have a name.
10 real people behind classic songs:
10. Cliff Burton – ‘To Live is To Die’ (Metallica)
There’s a certain strength that comes with having to leave a band member behind. When Metallica was on top of the world as one of the premiere thrash bands of their era, Cliff Burton’s tragic passing in a bus crash put their future as a band into question. Although they soldiered on with Jason Newsted behind the low end, the band still had their fallen friend on their mind when cutting their next instrumental.
Written as a celebration of Burton’s life, every aspect of ‘To Live is to Die’ commemorates Burton’s contributions to the band. Being one of the biggest classical fans out of the group, the instrumentation is far more epic in scope, with James Hetfield giving a rare performance on lead guitar.
In the breakdown section, the band practically paints a musical picture of what it was like to lose their bandmate, documenting the sudden tragic loss while coming to grips with all of the pent-up feelings of anguish they’ve had to struggle through. Ending with a paraphrased poem by Burton, Metallica bridged the gap between the metal students under Burton and the seasoned pros they had to become after he was gone.
9. Kurt Cobain – ‘Tearjerker’ (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
There is probably no music fan on Earth whose musical taste wasn’t shaped by Kurt Cobain in some form. Even for those who didn’t consider themselves fans of grunge, Cobain’s announcement of the changing of the guard in rock became a symbol of the next generation of rock stars finally taking over. While Red Hot Chili Peppers were slightly left-of-centre in the alternative movement, Anthony Kiedis was close enough to Cobain to be rocked by the news of his passing.
When Cobain passed away in 1994, the Peppers were already going through a shake-up themselves, having lost guitarist John Frusciante for a solo career and bringing in Dave Navarro. While the Jane’s Addiction guitarist added a fine layer of shred across most of One Hot Minute, ‘Tearjerker’ is Kiedis’s chance to reflect on the young kid who turned the music world on its head.
Having played a handful of shows with Cobain in the past, Kiedis paints a glowing portrait of what a tortured artist Cobain could be, knowing that he could paint pictures with the pain he felt. Although Kiedis has certainly known what hitting rock bottom felt like as a musician, his empathy towards Cobain is about as genuine as they come in rock and roll.
8. Pattie Boyd – ‘Layla’ (Eric Clapton)
The ending of The Beatles saw George Harrison’s life devolving into a mini soap opera. While making his first few solo albums, Harrison fell out of love with Pattie Boyd, only for her to be smitten with his best friend, Eric Clapton. While Harrison channelled all of his sorrow into the album Dark Horse, ‘Slowhand’ cried out in lust for Boyd on ‘Layla’.
Billed as Derek and the Dominoes, Clapton wrote ‘Layla’ surrounding his unrequited love for Boyd, featuring one of the best guitar licks of his career. Outside of Clapton, the inclusion of fellow guitar legend Duane Allman on the track is a match made in heaven, trading licks with Clapton on every bar to add just the right amount of flavour to the track.
To further emphasise the broken-hearted yearning, the massive piano outro may as well be a postscript for Clapton’s love, knowing that the love might not be reciprocated. Boyd may have ended up getting together with Clapton after the divorce proceedings died down, but this would be far from the first time she left her mark on rock history.
7. Jeremy Wade Delle – ‘Jeremy’ (Pearl Jam)
Out of all the bands to come out of the Seattle grunge scene, Pearl Jam was most equipped to talk about real people. While Soundgarden made abstract word paintings and Kurt Cobain lashed out in pain in Nirvana, Pearl Jam wasn’t above creating story songs like the tragic figure who leaves home in ‘Daughter’ or the sour relationship of ‘Better Man’. Though they had their flair for story-driven material, ‘Jeremy’ is closer to musical reporting than an actual song.
Inspired by a newspaper clipping that Eddie Vedder saw during the recording of Ten, the headline depicted teenager Jeremy Wade Delle who killed himself in front of his classmates at school. Although Vedder could have made an interesting story out of the tale, the decision to play an onlooker watching Jeremy’s life is a far more sobering perspective.
While it’s not clear if this character is a fellow student, what makes the song come alive is just how emotionally scarred he feels after hearing about what happened to Jeremy as he tries to justify such a tragedy in his mind. No matter how many times he might try to erase the memories, all he can think about is how he will never be able to clean the bloodstains on the blackboard.
6. Sara Dylan – ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ (Bob Dylan)
One of the biggest allures of Bob Dylan as a public figure is how enigmatic he is. No matter how often he might sit down for an interview, there was a slim chance that any reporter would get the full story when talking to Mr Zimmerman. Then again, things tend to change when the personal life comes above ground.
Amid his classic period in the 1970s, Dylan separated from his wife, Sara. Working on Blood on the Tracks around the same time, the album practically serves as a document of their separation, with ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ as the thesis statement. Rather than the traditional songwriting structure, Dylan tells a short odyssey about their time together, culminating in them promising to meet again someday.
As the story goes along, though, Dylan takes the listener through the back pages of his life that may or may not be accurate, like shacking up in a bohemian town in the middle of America before realising that he has to leave everyone behind and try to chase after her once more. The marriage might not have lasted, but Dylan’s words are still just as powerful for anyone dealing with separation.
5. Syd Barrett – ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ (Pink Floyd)
No matter how many times bands make tribute songs, there’s no way to tell the whole story. In just a few short minutes, a band only scratches the surface of their experience with a person, merely detailing the glowing times they may have shared with their friend. In the case of Pink Floyd, the loss of one of their own required more than a mere tribute song.
Across the entire album Wish You Were Here, the band are channelling the spirit of Syd Barrett, who had to be let go from the band due to mental health struggles. While the band give their fans cautionary warnings about the music industry across the album, ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ is the climactic centrepiece, detailing every single piece of what Barrett meant to them.
With the main words spelling out an anagram for SYD, both versions of the tune serve as a history of the group’s interactions with their musical soulmate, from the nostalgic memories to the amount of pain it took to have to let him go. Barrett may not have cared for the song when he visited the group during the sessions, but when David Gilmour’s guitar tone comes into the mix, you’re practically hearing the spirit of Barrett come through the speakers.
4. Melissa Lim – ‘Talk Tonight’ (Oasis)
Noel Gallagher has never been one to talk about the inner meanings of his songs. Granted, no self-respecting lyricist would want to explain how someone can simultaneously slowly walk down a hall while also being faster than a cannonball in ‘Champagne Supernova’. Not every Oasis lyric is meant to be gibberish, though, and Noel’s vocal features are normally when he lets out genuine emotions.
After coming off the band’s disastrous show at the Whiskey a Go Go in America, Noel was hurt by his bandmates and decided to cool out in San Francisco. Reconnecting with an old flame, Melissa Lim, ‘Talk Tonight’ was written about their time together away from the band as Noel pondered whether he would rejoin the group or not.
Since the band became a sensation shortly after those few weeks, ‘Talk Tonight’ is practically a thank-you to the woman who helped save him and reminded him never to turn his back on a life of rock and roll. Noel would have probably never stopped writing songs, but if Lim wasn’t there for him, the course of ‘90s rock might have looked very different.
3. Kurt Cobain – ‘Friend of a Friend’ (Foo Fighters)
From the moment Foo Fighters started, Dave Grohl made a conscious effort to downplay his role in Nirvana. Even though he may have been known as the quiet drummer in the back of the grunge heavyweights, the loss of Kurt Cobain was too fresh for him to comment on in interviews. Although many have speculated that half of Foo Fighters‘ output is about the loss of Cobain, Grohl wasn’t completely comfortable tackling the subject of Cobain until a decade later.
Wanting to switch up the usual formula, In Your Honor was created by Grohl as an experiment, putting the band’s traditional arena rock sound alongside the most mellow material they had ever recorded. Between delicate compositions like ‘On the Mend’, Grohl penned ‘Friend of a Friend’ about the memory of Cobain. With only a handful of chords, Grohl talks about how he sees Cobain’s old friend these days, remembering the old guitar he used to play and how he says he might drink too much.
Grohl doesn’t sidestep the iconic status of Cobain, remarking that no one spoke whenever he played the guitar. Although most of the rock world sees Cobain as a musical messianic figure at times, ‘Friend of a Friend’ is just about Grohl’s friend named Kurt, balancing the joyous memories he has of him and how much pain came with losing him.
2. Lindsey Buckingham – ‘Dreams’ (Fleetwood Mac)
Songs about real people in classic songs could easily be half of the track listing of Rumours. Throughout the writing process, both relationships within the band were on the rocks, and every songwriter channelled that anger and sadness into their material. While Christine McVie may have had tenderness and Lindsey Buckingham had raw anger, Stevie Nicks was reaching for the sound of inner peace on ‘Dreams’.
Though the song is transparently about the dissolution between Nicks and Buckingham, Nicks’s words aren’t meant to cut like a knife by any means. Coming from a more spiritual angle, Nicks is looking at all the emotions mangled during their relationship and trying to drive a way forward.
Although there is emotional thunder in this song, Nicks knows that the rain will one day wash away Buckingham’s animosity towards her and perhaps even leave the door open for them to be friends later. Rumours might be the document of multiple broken hearts, but Nicks is there to remind everyone that just because the love is gone doesn’t mean the heart is beyond repair.
1. Patti Boyd – ‘Something’ (The Beatles)
For as long as The Beatles were together, George Harrison was always playing second fiddle to John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Despite being one of the best guitar players of his generation, Harrison could never get a word in amongst the songwriting duo, having to fend for himself half the time when writing classic songs. Once the band reconvened for Abbey Road, Harrison came through with one of the greatest love songs of the 1960s.
Though The Beatles have written more than their fair share of love songs over the years, ‘Something’ remains their most genuine song of affection, as Harrison talks about being smitten by Patti Boyd. From a compositional standpoint, Harrison’s melody perfectly encapsulates what love feels like, building to the massive breakdown section where it sounds like his heart is bursting out of his chest.
Capping things off with a brilliant guitar solo, ‘Something’ is the epitome of the afterglow that comes with love, both the sudden rush of feelings and the long-lasting memories that one can build with their partner. Although ‘Here Comes the Sun’ may be the more celebrated Harrison contribution from the album, ‘Something’ is the purest form of The Beatles’ thesis statement: love is all you need.
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