10 More Songs That Are Huge Outliers On Rock Albums

10. Tears - Rush (2112)

You might think it would be impossible to have an outlier on an album with only six songs on it, but in 1976, prog rock legends Rush found a way. 

The band’s fourth album, 2112, is under 40 minutes long, but over half of that is taken up by the gigantic title track, which is split up into several different movements as if it were a classical suite. 

Of the other five numbers, four of them are upbeat, fast-paced hard rockers, with a bit of sci-fi trickery thrown in for good measure.

And then there’s Tears.

A romantic ballad written by Geddy Lee to give the album some more depth, Tears is completely different to everything else on 2112, slowing its rapid pace down to a crawl. It’s hard to believe that a band as high concept as Rush would write something so simplistic and mushy, and the song is still a topic of furious debate within the fandom. 

Some people like it - Alice in Chains released a cover version in 2016 - but regardless of how you feel about the song itself, there’s no denying that it sticks out.