10 Most Heartbreaking Rock Songs

Feature Photo AngryApathy, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Heartbreak has always been one of rock and roll’s best subjects. A broken relationship can turn into anger, regret, self-pity, or the kind of sadness that stays around for years. The ten songs on this list come from hard rock, soul, pop, blues, and singer-songwriter records, but every one of them gets at that same basic pain. Some shout about it, some barely hold together, and a few sound like the singer is still trying to figure out what went wrong.

# 10 – Heartbreaker – Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar released “Heartbreaker” on her 1979 debut album In the Heat of the Night, and it became the record that broke her through in the United States. Geoff Gill and Cliff Wade wrote the song, which had first been recorded by British singer Jenny Darren. Benatar adjusted a few of the original British phrases, but the song’s attitude stayed intact. Mike Chapman and Peter Coleman produced her version, with Neil Giraldo helping give it the hard guitar sound that became central to Benatar’s early records. “Heartbreaker” reached number twenty-three on the Billboard Hot 100. It is less a sad ballad than a warning shot from someone who knows exactly who hurt her.

Read More: Top 10 Pat Benatar Songs

# 9 – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart – Bee Gees

The Bee Gees released “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” in 1971 as the lead single from Trafalgar. Barry and Robin Gibb wrote it after a difficult period in which the brothers had been apart, so the song came out of real tension inside the group. The recording is slow and spare, leaving plenty of room for Barry Gibb’s lead vocal and the brothers’ harmonies. It became the Bee Gees’ first number-one single in the United States and stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. The title asks a question the song never really answers. That is part of why it still works: sometimes heartbreak does not come with a solution.

Read More: Top 10 Bee Gees 1970s Songs

# 8 – Bringin’ On The Heartbreak – Def Leppard

“Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” comes from Def Leppard’s 1981 album High ‘n’ Dry. Steve Clark, Pete Willis, and Joe Elliott wrote the song, while Robert John “Mutt” Lange produced the album. The verses are quieter than much of the band’s early material, but the chorus opens up into the kind of huge melodic hard rock that would soon become Def Leppard’s specialty. MTV gave the song heavy exposure in the United States, helping bring new attention to High ‘n’ Dry. The lyric is about a woman who keeps taking the best of the singer while giving very little back. Long before the power-ballad boom of the late 1980s, Def Leppard had already figured out how to make heartbreak sound enormous.

Read More: Top 10 Def Leppard Songs

# 7 – It’s A Heartache – Bonnie Tyler

Bonnie Tyler released “It’s a Heartache” in late 1977, and the song became her first worldwide smash. Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe wrote it, with David Mackay joining them in the production. Tyler’s rough voice was perfect for a lyric about depending on someone who finally lets you down. The single reached number three in the United States and number four in the United Kingdom while topping charts in several other countries. There is nothing complicated about the writing, and that is exactly the point. “It’s a Heartache” says what heartbreak feels like in plain language and lets Tyler’s voice do the rest.

Read More: Top 10 Bonnie Tyler Songs

# 6 – Never Be You – Maria McKee

Maria McKee recorded “Never Be You” for the 1984 Streets of Fire soundtrack. Tom Petty and Benmont Tench wrote the song, and Jimmy Iovine and Petty produced McKee’s recording. Petty and Mike Campbell play guitar on the track, with Tench on piano and Stan Lynch on drums, giving it a strong Heartbreakers connection. McKee sings it with the kind of open, wounded force that would later define so much of her work with Lone Justice and as a solo artist. Rosanne Cash later recorded the song and took her version to number one on the country chart. McKee’s earlier performance is rougher and less polished, which makes the song’s disappointment hit even harder.

# 5 – Pain In My Heart – Otis Redding

“Pain in My Heart” became the title track of Otis Redding’s 1964 debut album. The song is credited to Naomi Neville, the pen name used by Allen Toussaint, and is based on his earlier composition “Ruler of My Heart.” Redding recorded it at Stax with musicians including Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Al Jackson Jr., and the other players who helped define Memphis soul. The lyric is simple: his baby is gone, he cannot sleep, and the pain will not leave him alone. Redding does not sing it quietly or politely; he sounds like the loss is happening while the tape is rolling. That urgency is what made his early ballads so powerful.

# 4 – Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell) – Tom Waits

Tom Waits recorded “Bad Liver and a Broken Heart (In Lowell)” for his 1976 album Small Change. Waits wrote the song, and Bones Howe produced the album during sessions at Wally Heider Studios in Hollywood. The narrator is drinking his way through a breakup while making jokes that only barely cover how miserable he is. Jim Hughart’s bass, Shelly Manne’s drums, and the small jazz setting leave Waits plenty of room to sound like a man telling the story from the last bar stool in the room. The song is funny in places, but the humor never hides the fact that the relationship has wrecked him. Few heartbreak songs manage to be this sad and this entertaining at the same time.

# 3 – Hurt So Bad – Linda Ronstadt

Mad Love (180 Gram Audiophile Pink Vinyl/Limited Anniversary Edition)

Linda Ronstadt recorded “Hurt So Bad” for her 1980 album Mad Love, produced by Peter Asher. Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Weinstein, and Bobby Hart wrote the song, which had already been a hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1965. Ronstadt turns it into a bigger rock ballad without losing the desperation at the center of the lyric. Danny Kortchmar’s guitar gives the arrangement a harder edge, but the record belongs to Ronstadt’s vocal. Her version reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and became her final solo top-ten hit on that chart. She sounds less like someone remembering an old breakup than someone standing directly in front of the person who caused it.

# 2 – Heartbreaker – Grand Funk Railroad

Grand Funk Railroad put “Heartbreaker” on their 1969 debut album On Time. Mark Farner wrote the song before Grand Funk was formed and later called it his first real attempt at songwriting. The track begins as a slow, heavy breakup song before opening into the kind of guitar-driven attack that made the early band so powerful live. Farner sings about a woman who is gone but still shows up every time his memories come back. Mel Schacher’s bass and Don Brewer’s drums give the song a weight that keeps it from becoming a conventional ballad. It is heartbreak played by a power trio that has no interest in sounding delicate.

# 1 – Heartbreaker – Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” opens the second side of Led Zeppelin II, released in 1969. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham share the writing credit, with Page also producing the recording. The main band performance was recorded at A&R Studios in New York, while Page cut the famous unaccompanied guitar break separately to give it a completely different sound. The riff is so dominant that it is easy to overlook Plant’s lyric about betrayal and a woman who has left the singer behind. Zeppelin turns that heartbreak into anger rather than self-pity, with Bonham and Jones hitting almost as hard as Page. For a list like this, it is difficult to finish anywhere else.