3 Rock Songs From the 2010s That Already Feel Like Classics

It can take a while for a classic to develop. It takes years (even decades, sometimes) for a song to age in just the right way. You need enough time to have passed to obscure anything time-stamped about a hit so it can sink into timelessness. However, there are exceptions to that rule. The three rock songs from the 2010s below already feel like classics from decades much further away.

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“Do I Wanna Know?” — Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys were one of the standouts of the 2010s. When you think of rock from that era, this English group is one of the first to come to mind. Their music pretty much soundtracked the whole of the mid-2010s, wowing audiences with its Tumblr-era sound. While listening to the Arctic Monkeys can take you back to a certain time and place, their music has become so widespread that it plays like a true classic.

Many of their songs could find a comfortable home on this list, but we’re going with “Do I Wanna Know?” This mid-tempo track is one of the band’s calling cards, bottling up everything that fans love about their sound. We can easily see this song being played decades from now, fully cemented as a classic rock piece.

“Pumped Up Kicks” — Foster The People

Despite this song’s macabre hidden meaning, “Pumped Up Kicks” is a certified 2010s classic. Few rock songs from that era are as widely known and beloved as this one. This Foster The People track basically established the rock sound of that era, encapsulating an epoch in hindsight.

Not only is the sound of this song evergreen, but the message is weighty enough to feel as stark today as it did in 2011. This song still has a massive impact, which is required of a song to be called “classic.”

“Ain’t It Fun” — Paramore

Paramore started in the early 2000s but kept their momentum going in the 2010s. They let their sound evolve with the times, eventually earning this rock classic in 2014. “Ain’t It Fun” is a song that feels familiar to everyone when it comes on. You don’t have to be a rock fan to know this song, proving its universality. If anything can be said of a true classic, it’s that it needs to have universal appeal.

“Ain’t It Fun” has earned that tenfold. Hayley Williams’ vocals are timeless, as is the musicality in this song. We can’t imagine this song would ever fall out of the rotation. It’s destined for “classic” status.

(Featured Image by WireImage/Samir Hussein)