10 Amazing Pop Songs By Rock Artists

Every band has that one moment where everything starts to change. Whether it's a certain song that you wrote or a gig that went incredibly well, nothing was going to be the same after that one moment turned a corner for you. While R.E.M. can claim to have a lot of those in their discography, the entire pop world seemed to stop the minute that Losing My Religion hit the airwaves.

Being inspired by the loneliness of something like Every Breath You Take, Michael Stipe wanted something much more stark than what had come before. Just listening to the backing track, this doesn't even sound like your traditional rock or pop song, with the leading instrument being a mandolin for the majority of the track while the rest of the song is carried on Michael's lyrics about a relationship breaking down.

As much as this may have seemed tame compared to the grunge bandwagon that was about to come storming in, this was the first sign that things were about to change for the pop stations. With the stench of the '80s going on for way too long, this was the clarion call that told every other pop rock act that they needed to write something that actually mattered. The hard rockers may have had Smells Like Teen Spirit as their wake up call, but those on the softer side of rock had Losing My Religion to deal with as well.