3 Beloved Rock Songs That Nearly Never Made It to Their Albums

Some of the greatest rock songs of any generation came very close to never making it to their albums. It’s crazy to think about a world where the following three songs never got a proper release. Let’s take a look, shall we? You might be shocked as well.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Silver Springs” by Fleetwood Mac

“Silver Springs” is one of Stevie Nicks’ most beloved compositions for Fleetwood Mac. And, very surprisingly, while it was considered for inclusion on the band’s legendary album Rumours in 1977, it was inevitably left out of the final cut. “Silver Springs” was reserved as a measly B-side to “Go Your Own Way”. It’s still insane to me that this remarkable folk rock song wasn’t included in the album’s original release. Thankfully, though, the song made it onto the band’s 1992 box set, 25 Years – The Chain, and a live version was released several years later. That version scored a Grammy nomination.

“The Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy

It’s a hard rock classic and possibly the most famous classic rock song to come from Ireland. But shockingly, “The Boys Are Back In Town” almost never made it to the band’s legendary album Jailbreak at all, according to guitarist Scott Gorham.

“To tell you the truth, we weren’t initially going to put ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ on the ‘Jailbreak’ album at all,” said Gorham back in 2015. “Back then you picked 10 songs and went with those because of the time restrictions of vinyl. We recorded 15 songs, and of the 10 we picked, that wasn’t one of them. But then the management heard it and said, ‘No, there’s something really good about this song.’ Although back then, it didn’t yet have the twin guitar parts on it. […] Obviously ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ is the one song that really changed things for us, and I’m very thankful that it did.”

“Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica

“Nothing Else Matters” makes it to our list of rock songs that almost never made it to famous albums because of its origins. “Nothing Else Matters” started out as a song James Hetfield wrote to deal with being away from home while on tour and missing his girlfriend. It’s a notably softer song in Metallica’s discography, after all. It’s also one that Hetfield didn’t intend to release with the band. Admittedly, it diverged from their metal sound quite a bit. But when Lars Ulrich heard him playing it, he convinced Hetfield to record it for their 1991 self-titled album. “Nothing Else Matters” ended up being a huge hit.

(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)