10 Best Songs With The Word 'Rock' In The Title

Feature Photo: Tony Norkus / Shutterstock.com

Putting together a list of great songs with the word “rock” in the title sounds easy until you start thinking about how many there are. Chuck Berry sang about rock and roll in the 1950s, and decades later bands such as KISS, AC/DC, Queen, Boston, the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, and Led Zeppelin still put the word front and center. Narrowing it down to ten choices wasn’t easy.

These are the songs that came to mind first when we started putting the list together. Some celebrate rock and roll, some poke fun at the business surrounding it, and others simply use the word as part of a great song title. We even had to start with a tie. As always, the ranking is ours, and we know everyone will have a few favorites they would put on the list instead.

# 10 – Tie – “Detroit Rock City” / “Rock and Roll All Nite” – KISS

We open with two KISS songs because choosing between them seemed pointless. “Rock and Roll All Nite,” written by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, first appeared on Dressed to Kill in 1975, while the live version from Alive! reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Detroit Rock City,” from Destroyer in 1976, takes the opposite approach, turning the excitement of heading to a concert into a darker story. One became the band’s signature party song, while the other remains one of the strongest album openers KISS ever recorded.

# 9 – “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” – Bad Company

Bad Company’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” opened the 1979 album Desolation Angels and reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Paul Rodgers wrote the song around the idea of everything he loved about making and performing rock music, and the guitar-synthesizer sound that opens the track gives it an immediately recognizable hook. Bad Company was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025, a long-overdue honor for a band whose catalog includes some of the defining rock records of the 1970s.

# 8 – “And the Cradle Will Rock…” – Van Halen

Van Halen released “And the Cradle Will Rock…” on Women and Children First in 1980. Credited to Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and David Lee Roth, the song reached No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. One of its great tricks is that the opening part sounds like a guitar but was actually played by Eddie on a Wurlitzer electric piano run through his Marshall amplifier, giving the track a sound that was different from anything Van Halen had recorded before.

# 7 – “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” – The Byrds

The Byrds released “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” in 1967 on Younger Than Yesterday. Written by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, the song took a sarcastic look at instant fame and the machinery of the music business, with the rapid rise of the Monkees helping inspire the idea. It reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of the Byrds’ sharpest songs because the words are funny, cynical, and still recognizable to anyone who has watched the music business manufacture a new star.

# 6 – “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” – AC/DC

“For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” opened AC/DC’s 1981 album of the same name, produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Brian Johnson, the song builds slowly before exploding into the cannon blasts that became part of AC/DC’s stage show. Those cannons made their stage debut during the band’s 1982 UK tour, and the song has remained one of the group’s most imposing concert closers.

# 5 – “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” – The Rolling Stones

“It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” was released by the Rolling Stones in 1974 and reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song began during a 1973 session at Ronnie Wood’s home, The Wick, before Wood officially joined the Stones, with Mick Jagger recording alongside musicians that included Wood, Willie Weeks, Kenney Jones, and David Bowie on backing vocals. Keith Richards later added his guitar work, and the finished record became the title track of the Stones’ 1974 album It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll.

# 4 – “Rock and Roll Band” – Boston

Tom Scholz wrote “Rock and Roll Band” for Boston’s 1976 self-titled debut album, but the story in the lyrics should not be mistaken for the band’s actual history. Scholz has acknowledged that the tale of a struggling bar band suddenly discovered by a record-company executive was fantasy; Boston had not even played live when he wrote it. That bit of self-mythology only makes the song more fun, especially on an album that climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and became one of rock’s biggest debut records.

# 3 – “Rock and Roll Music” – Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music” was released by Chess Records in 1957 and reached No. 8 on the Billboard pop chart. Berry wrote the song and recorded the released version in Chicago with Lafayette Leake on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Fred Below on drums. Few records state their purpose more directly: Berry wanted rock and roll, and nothing else would do. The Beatles and the Beach Boys later recorded famous versions, but Berry’s original remains the one everything else starts with.

Read More: Top 10 Chuck Berry Songs

# 2 – “We Will Rock You” – Queen

News Of The World [2011 Remastered Version] By Queen (2011-06-27)

Brian May wrote “We Will Rock You” for Queen’s 1977 album News of the World after thinking about how an audience could become part of a performance. The original studio recording is built around foot stomps, handclaps, Freddie Mercury’s vocal, and May’s guitar solo rather than a conventional drum track. That stripped-down idea gave Queen a song that crowds could perform with the band, which is a big reason the stomp-stomp-clap rhythm moved far beyond rock concerts and into sporting events around the world.

# 1 – “Rock and Roll” – Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” appeared on the band’s fourth album in 1971 and was credited to John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant. Bonham’s opening drum pattern announces the song before Page’s guitar and Jones’s bass come crashing in, and Plant sings it like a salute to the records that helped create rock and roll in the first place. It became a regular part of Led Zeppelin’s concerts and, for this list, there was no better song to put at No. 1.

Check out similar articles on ClassicRockHistory.com. You can also visit our Artists’ Interviews Directory At ClassicRockHistory.com and our Classic Rock Bands List And Directory.

Updated September 13, 2026.

Prev Article Next Article

One Response

Baybluesman November 1, 2024

A few more classic rock staples to consider:

“It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me” – Billy Joel
“R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. – John Mellencamp
“Rock’n’ Me” – Steve Miller Band
“Rock And Roll Music To The World” -Ten Years After
“God Gave Rock And Roll To You” – Argent

10 Best Songs With The Word ‘Rock’ In The Title