3 Songs Where Classic Rock Bands Showed Their Softer Side

A lot of people think that listening to classic rock means big drums, guitar solos, and raunchy subject matter. Sometimes the genre definitely calls for those things, but that doesn’t mean rockstars don’t know how to sing a ballad a time or two. Here are three songs that showcase rock bands’ softer sides.

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“The Rain Song” by Led Zeppelin

This type of song might feel unique for Led Zeppelin, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the group’s wheelhouse. Apparently, Jimmy Page wrote this song after The Beatles’ George Harrison complained that Led Zeppelin didn’t do any ballads.

“George was talking to Bonzo one evening and said, ‘The problem with you guys is that you never do ballads,’ Page shares in Light And Shade. “I said, ‘I’ll give him a ballad,’ and I wrote ‘Rain Song’, which appears on Houses Of The Holy. In fact, you’ll notice I even quote ‘Something’ [The Beatles song] in the song’s first two chords.”

If you listen closely, you can hear Page’s reference to The Beatles’ track at the beginning of the song.

“Angie” by The Rolling Stones

Although this guitar ballad is quite a departure from some of the Stones’ other hits, “Angie” definitely stands on its own in a good way. I think every girl wants to be the muse for a song like this one. According to Keith Richards, however, this beautiful song actually wasn’t about any specific person at all. Richards came up with this one while he was recovering from his heroin addiction.

“I wrote ‘Angie’ in an afternoon, sitting in bed,” the Stones’ guitarist shared in his autobiography. “Because I could finally move my fingers and get them in the right place again…It was not about any particular person, it was a name, like ‘Ohhh, Diana.’”

“Wasted Time” by The Eagles

Inspired by a breakup that rocker Don Henley had gone through, “Wasted Time” as he described it, is a “very empathetic song.” The piano ballad sings about a relationship that both parties feared was, well, “wasted time.”

And I could have done so many things, baby
If I could only stop my mind
From wondering what I left behind
And from worrying ’bout this wasted time.

“We did a big Philly-type production with strings,” Glenn Frey said of the track’s production. “[The song was] definitely not country rock. You’re not going to find that track on a Crosby, Stills & Nash record or Beach Boys record. Don’s singing abilities stretched so many of our boundaries. He could sing the phone book. It didn’t matter.”

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