In some situations, good things take time, but that’s not always the case for our favorite rock songs. Here are some popular tunes from the 80s that you definitely know. But what you probably didn’t know is that they were written in under an hour.
“(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” by The Beastie Boys
This song was released as a single for the Beastie Boys‘ debut album, Licensed To III. Initially, it was meant to mock the “party” themed songs that were popular at the time. “Fight For Your Right” took under five minutes to complete.
Videos by American Songwriter
“It was summer 1986,” Mike D once explained of the song. “We wrote it in about five minutes. We were in the Palladium with Rick Rubin, drinking vodka and grapefruit juice, and ‘Fight For Your Right’ was written in the Michael Todd Room on napkins on top of those [expletive] lacy tables.”
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen
Released at the end of 1979, this Queen hit was written in about “5 to 10 minutes,” as Freddie Mercury told Melody Maker. Apparently, Mercury didn’t know many guitar chords, which was actually helpful in writing this one.
“I did that on the guitar, which I can’t play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords,” he explained. “It’s a good discipline because I simply had to write within a small framework. I couldn’t work through too many chords and because of that restriction I wrote a good song, I think.”
“Every Breath You Take” by The Police
For Sting, writing this No. 1 hit was pretty spontaneous. Apparently, as he told The Independent, he woke up in the middle of the night with the song’s title in mind, and the rest was history.
“I woke up in the middle of the night with that line in my head,” he explained. “Sat down at the piano and had written it in half an hour. The tune itself is generic, an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the words are interesting. It sounds like a comforting love song. I didn’t realize at the time how sinister it is…”
Photo by: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
More The List
-
LOS ANGELES – JANUARY 17: Country music group Lonestar (Michael Britt, Richie McDonald, Keech Rainwater and Dean Sams) attend the 27th Annual American Music Awards on January 17, 2000 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images) -
Wings' Paul McCartney. More than just another piece of music -
Left to right: Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, of British heavy rock group Led Zeppelin, performing at Earl's Court, London, May 1975. The band were initially booked to play three nights at the venue, from 23rd to 25th May, but due to public demand, two more concerts were later added, for 17th and 18th May. Total ticket sales were 85,000. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images) -
UNITED KINGDOM – 1st OCTOBER: The Beatles posed with bottles of beer and party snacks and balloons in October 1964. Left to right: Paul McCartney, John Lennon (1940-1980), Ringo Starr and George Harrison (1943-2001). The session was taken to promote the BBC World Service. (Photo by Mark Hayward Archive/Redferns) -
Dolly Parton -
UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 31: DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE 1995 – 12/31/94 – 1/1/95, Dick Clark will lead America into the New Year, Saturday, Dec. 31 (11:35 p.m.-1:05 a.m., ET) on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 1995", airing on the Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Television Network. Clark will count down to midnight from Times Square in New York City., Pictured: Melissa Etheridge, (Photo by Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) -
28th November 1968: Top American pop group The Beach Boys, November 1968, comprising of (from left to right) Carl Wilson (1946 – 1998), Bruce Johnston, Dennis Wilson (1944 – 1983), Al Jardine (front) and Mike Love. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) -
Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)