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Let me tell you this, there are a lot of rock songs about revenge. There are probably four times as many about revenge sung by female R&B and hip-hop artists. There are a lot of angry women out there. Still, there were plenty of rock ones to put this list together. Some were very iconic ones, but the subject matter of the songs made us hesitate to add them. Songs like Harry Chapin’s “Bummer” or Elton John’s “Ticking” looked at damaged souls who took their revenge on innocent people. We stayed away from them.
Plenty of broken hearts and cheaters are out there to fill up a list like this. We tried blending together a list of songs that didn’t always seem so obvious .. Songs like “These Boots Are Made For Walking” by Nancy Sinatra, ‘You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette “You Got Another Thing Coming” by Judas Priest or Blondie’s “One Way Or Another” were just too obvious. We will let all those other websites keep copying from each other. We like to come up with original stuff. So much of the web now is just total BS. No, we tried to dig a little deeper on this one.
# 10 – Seek And Destroy – Metallica
We open up our top 10 Rock Songs About Revenge list with a very angry one by Metallica. These guys always seem angry, no matter what they are singing about. It wasn’t easy for Metallica at the start of their career, and this song seemed to offer some good old revenge therapy for the band. Forget all the cliches about revenge; if you are really angry, put on some Metallica; it will make you feel so much better…I think.
# 9 – Laura – Billy Joel
Yes, we know Billy Joel has written many beautiful love songs about just the way she is and tasty Italian restaurants. However, he has also written some pretty angry stuff. We all are family with songs like “Angry Young Man,” but one of his most underrated songs stems from The Nylon Curtain, probably his most underrated album. The song “Laura” is all about being mistreated in a relationship. We have all been through it. What’s the one thing you can’t stop thinking about when someone treats you like a dog? Yeah, you know it, baby, revenge? When Billy sings, “Here I am feeling like a fu*king fool.” You know what he is thinking next.
# 8 – Do It Again – Steely Dan
There is no doubt about this one. The saga of revenge is stated literally in the song’s opening lyric when Donald Fagen sings, “In the morning, you go gunning for the man who stole your water.” Water could be a metaphor for many things, but the state of revenge is quite clear. It is also a song about just screwing up time and time again. These guys were so brilliant. “Do It Again” appeared on the first Steely Dan album titled Can’t Buy a Thrill. The album was released in 1972.
# 7 – Frank’s Wild Years – Tom Waits
Well, this is an interesting one. Good old Frank doesn’t seem too happy with his wife, and in the last stanza states, he wasn’t too thrilled about their dog either. In the end, Frank gets fed up with all of it and takes part in the ultimate form of revenge; he burns their house down. The song was released on Tom Waits’ Swordfishtrombones album in 1983.
# 6 – Silly Love Songs – Paul McCartney & Wings
Revenge songs don’t always have to be about broken or stolen hearts. In the 1970s, Paul McCartney got fed up with all the critics panning his lyrics to his solo work, calling them simple, basic, and just soppy love songs. With his guitar and pen, Paul McCartney enacted revenge on those critics by composing one of the most straightforward and simple lyrics he had ever written for the chorus of “Silly Love Songs.” He did precisely what the critics had been crucifying him for. In the end, Paul McCartney celebrated a number one single with the song. Ka-ching!
# 5 – Burn Down The Mission – Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Bernie Taupin wrote some of his best lyrics for Elton John’s underrated album Tumbleweed Connection. This was Americana before anyone came up with the term Americana. “Burn Down The Mission” is a potent tale of revenge. Like in “Franks Wild Years,” that form of revenge is taken as burning down a house. The difference between the two is who the intended targets were. With Waits, it was his mean wife and her annoying dog; with Taupin, it’s a class struggle between the poor man and the rich man or between the missionaries and others. Like any brilliant lyric, it is a bit open to interpretation.
# 4 – I’ve Been Away – The Who
This pulsating song is all about a man who spent time in prison for a crime he never committed. Upon release, he plots revenge against his brother Bill, who was responsible for putting him in prison. The song was released as the B-side to the single “Happy Jack,} a big hit in the U.S. when Who’s album A Quick One was released in 1966. The full band is not on the track. The song was performed in the studio by John Entwistle and Keith Moon.
# 3 – Get In The Ring – Guns N’ Roses
Well, this one is pretty much action-packed. With lyrics like “And when you stare, you don’t think I feel it, But I’m gonna deal it back to you in spades,” we know where this one is heading. That’s probably the sweetest lyrics in this furious song by Axl Rose and the rest of the gang.
# 2 – Vow – Garbage
I love this band. They stand as one of the most unique sounding bands of the past thirty years in the way they merged so many rock styles from the classic and modern eras. Shirley Manson is such a mesmerizing singer and performer. This is a song about revenge and vengeance from a woman who was in an abusive relationship. It was also the band’s debut single, released in 1995. Amazingly, it’s been almost three years since Garbage arrived on the music scene. They still seem like a new band to me.
# 1 – Your Time Is Gonna Come – Led Zeppelin
We close out our top 10 songs list with the poignant Led Zeppelin song “Your Time Is Gonna Come.” When putting together these topic-based song lists, if we ever get a chance to top one of them with a Led Zeppelin song, we will jump at the chance. The title of this one says it all. Led Zeppelin’s track “Your Time Is Gonna Come” was released on their debut album simply titled Led Zeppelin. The album was released in 1969. This was one of the highlights of the band’s debut album. John Paul Jones’ opening organ introduction cuts right through you as if you are feeling betrayed, which is what this song is all about. Jimmy Page breaks on in riding Bonham’s crash symbol as Plant starts telling the tale of betrayal and eventually the hope of revenge.
10 Rock Songs About Revenge article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2024
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