3 Famous Classic Rock Songs That Their Makers Didn’t Want the Public To Hear

From classic rock operas to legendary hits to secret deep cuts, plenty of memorable songs from rock’s past were made by musicians who didn’t even want the public to hear them. We’re glad they got released anyway, and the following three songs, in particular, are absolutely incredible.

“Amsterdam” by Van Halen from ‘Balance’ (1995)

A later-career hit at No. 9 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, plenty of Van Halen fans remember this little gem. Unfortunately, Eddie Van Halen once said that he really didn’t like “Amsterdam”, saying that it was “stupid.” In fact, both he and his brother Alex didn’t like Sammy Hagar’s lyrics. The lyrics disparaged their homeland in the Netherlands, after all. Eddie even blamed the fact that he allowed it on his struggles with alcoholism at the time.

“Well, I wasn’t sober before, and I wasn’t even listening to the lyrics!” said Van Halen in a Guitar World interview from 1996. “It’s not like I suddenly wanted Sammy to be my puppet or anything, but once in a while I would take issue with a specific lyric or line. For example, I always hated the words ‘wham, bam, Amsterdam,’ from ‘Balance’, because they were all about smoking pot – they were just stupid.”

“Pinball Wizard” by The Who from ‘Tommy’ (1969)

This is pretty crazy, considering “Pinball Wizard” is one of the most well-known (and plot-important) songs from The Who’s legendary concept record Tommy. It’s an incredible piece of an incredible rock opera. However, shockingly, Pete Townshend admitted in the liner notes of the remastered version of the track that the song was “the most clumsy piece of writing [I’d] ever done.” He even said that he was “embarrassed” by it. It was a commercial success, of course, but Townshend didn’t seem to have much pride in it.

“Tear This Castle Down” by Attila/Billy Joel from ‘Attila’ (1970)

Billy Joel has always been the type to reflect on his works honestly. He’s gone as far as to disparage a few tracks here and there. One such song is “Tear This Castle Down”, a very early song from his time in the psychedelic rock band Attila. If that name sounds familiar, it might be because that early hard rock band has been ripped to shreds over the years for being “the worst.” Joel, interestingly, seems to agree. “Tear This Castle Down” makes it to our list of classic rock songs whose makers didn’t want to be made public because Joel said the project as a whole was a “colossal failure.” This particular jam is really good, though, I’d say.

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