10 Greatest Love Songs In Rock Music History
For That Special Rocker...
When rock and roll first came out, it wasn't necessarily thought of as the most heartfelt music in the world. As much as someone like Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis may have lit up the stage back in the day, you can't really say that the songs were exactly coming from a personal place or anything. After Elvis Presley came along singing songs like Love Me Tender though, there was a much bigger market for love songs than anyone realized.
Though some might call these power ballads, sometimes rock and rollers have a knack for writing some genuine love songs that can tug on your heartstrings if you're not careful. The most important thing behind these songs though isn't the amount of rock and roll...it's the context. From the way that these people describe the object of their affection, you can practically see the entire story taking place in your mind, where it leads to romance or the man pining for someone that he can never have.
This isn't exclusive to just rock either, and stripes of punk, metal, and everything in between have thrown their hat into the ring with songs that have their hearts on their sleeve. Rock and roll may be about reaching the top of the charts, but it's nice when you have that special someone to share it with.
10. Slide Away - Oasis
If you take your pick of any Oasis interview back in the day, the Gallagher Brothers were never known to be the most heartfelt of people. When they weren't punching down on bands like Blur for not being as good as them, they were already talking up how they were going to be the greatest band in the world. The Greatest Band in the World needs to have good songs though, and Noel Gallagher managed to lay a slice of emotion down on Slide Away.
Granted, Noel's songwriting isn't the real killing blow on this one. Compared to every single thing that Oasis have released, this remains one of the greatest vocal performances that Liam Gallagher has ever done, sounding his most youthful and showing a lot more emotion this time around. Since this is meant to be the yearning love song, you can feel him dialing things back a bit, making for a tune where he sounds hopeful about the future with this person.
Even when you get towards the end of the song, the outro is where everything kicks into high gear yet again, with everything coming to a crescendo with Noel singing "I don't know, I don't care, all I know is you can take me there." That's what love is though. It's one of the most powerful things in the world, and yet none of us can really nail down what makes it sound so transcendental.