Top 30 Rebel Songs

For so long as it has existed, individuals have tried to outline rock ‘n’ roll.

“I don’t think anyone can really explain rock ‘n’ roll,'” says the character Jeff Bebe in Almost Famous. “Maybe Pete Townshend, but that’s okay. Rock ‘n’ roll is a lifestyle and a way of thinking and it’s not about money and popularity – although some money would be nice. But it’s a voice that says, ‘Here I am — and fuck you if you can’t understand me.'”

Townshend, because it occurs, can also’t actually clarify it. He tried to in 2019. “Rock ‘n’ roll was a celebration of congregation,” he informed The New York Times Magazine. “A celebration of irresponsibility.”

“Irresponsible” is one phrase to have been related to rock through the years. So is “rebel,” each a noun and a verb. Much of rock ‘n’ roll, as a style, has been based mostly across the thought of going towards the grain, standing out from the gang and simply plain doing issues a distinct method.

Sometimes, it leads to protest songs, written and sometimes carried out for the aim of taking a stand towards injustice or combating for the aspect of the oppressed. Other occasions, although, the sentiment is extra common. We’re having a look on the Top 30 Rebel Songs, written about rule-breaking and the general pleasure of dissidence.

30. Steve Miller Band, “Take the Money and Run”
From: Fly Like an Eagle (1976)

Steve Miller’s Bonnie and Clyde-style saga particulars the soiled deeds of Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue, two younger lovers who get fed up with watching TV and getting excessive all day and resolve to boost their lives with a little bit armed theft and capital homicide. Their exploits land them on the radar of Billy Mack, a woefully inept detective who swears he gained’t allow them to escape justice after which proceeds to do precisely that. With its iconic drum intro, infectious “hoo-hoo!” chants and one of many best rhymes in rock historical past (“facts is” / “taxes”), “Take the Money and Run” has all of the components of a road-trip staple. It would possibly have labored as a cautionary story in regards to the risks of getting an excessive amount of free time, if solely it didn’t make breaking dangerous sound so rattling enjoyable. (Bryan Rolli)

29. Judas Priest, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”
From: Screaming for Vengeance (1982)
Judas Priest has solely had one tune land on the Billboard Hot 100, and that is it. Regardless of chart standing, nonetheless, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” would have in all probability grow to be a set checklist staple – as a result of the tune echoes and amplifies a tenacious angle that the band shares with its followers, based on Rob Halford. “We’ve always had our personal way of dealing with issues that are sent to challenge us,” he informed Songfacts in 2020. “It’s also wrapped up in the heavy metal community culture of the way we support each other with our metal. It’s very much a song of hope and rising above the issues or difficulties that come your way. It’s a song of resilience, as well.” (Allison Rapp)

28. Green Day, “Minority”
From: Warning (2000)

Green Day dipped their toes into the waters of insurrection on “Minority,” the lead single from Warning, some 4 years earlier than they grew to become the patron saints of widescreen political punk with American Idiot. The Berkley pop-punk revivalists expanded their palette on this jangly folk-punk quantity, using acoustic guitars and harmonica that sound extra akin to Bob Dylan and the Kinks than Buzzcocks and Operation Ivy. Singer Billie Joe Armstrong bristles towards the “moral majority” and “pledge[s] allegiance to the underworld, one nation under dog,” proof that his creating social conscience didn’t preclude a juvenile humorousness. (Rolli)

27. Bikini Kill, “Rebel Girl”
From: Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (1993)

Bikini Kill had been rebels themselves, as pioneers of the riot grrrl motion within the ’90s. Their anthem again then was “Rebel Girl,” a rowdy ode to feminine liberation and unbridled ardour that turned heteronormative tropes the wrong way up. This was one of many first songs Bikini Kill wrote, and it is credited to all 4 members of the band — one for all, all for one. “The power of ‘Rebel Girl’ is that it’s about being a feminist pirate, being an adventurer,” singer Kathleen Hanna informed Uncut in 2022. “It’s not about standing at the back and not participating. It’s about loving and defending your friends and the confusion between friendship and sexuality.” (Rapp)

26. Grateful Dead, “Friend of the Devil”
From: American Beauty (1970)

Rebels love the street. Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil” describes the lifetime of an outlaw with no house in sight, wives in a number of locations and a sheriff scorching on his path. (The lyrics had been written by the Dead’s longtime collaborator, Robert Hunter.) When “Friend of the Devil” debuted on American Beauty in 1970, it was an prompt hit with followers and, like many Grateful Dead songs, took on varied types when performed stay – from an up-tempo, bluegrass quantity, to a slower, piano-centric requiem. In the top, we do not know if the outlaw in “Friend of the Devil” outruns his troubles, nevertheless it may not matter anyway: “A friend of the Devil is a friend of mine.” (Rapp)

25. T. Rex, “Children of the Revolution”
From: 1972 Single

Marc Bolan was the grasp of rebellious swagger, one thing which is current in ample quantities in T. Rex’s “Children of the Revolution.” Check the selection lyric, “I drive a Rolls-Royce, ’cause it’s good for my voice.” Five stars. Recorded through the periods for The Slider, “Children of the Revolution” clocks in at a decent and majestically glam-filled two-and-a-half minutes. But an extended rehearsal take stretches out nicely previous the 12-minute mark and exhibits the surplus T. Rex began with. Even although it was solely a one-off single, this tune discovered loads of followers who grew as much as make data. “Children of the Revolution” has been lined by a number of acts through the years, together with Violent Femmes and U2’s Bono – whose Moulin Rouge soundtrack model demonstrated how a lot love he had for Bolan. (Matt Wardlaw)

24. Ramones, “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”
From: 1979 Single

One of the good Ramones battle tales includes the final name at an area bar in Norfolk, Va. As Joey Ramone obtained the phrase from the cranky bartender that it was nearly lights out, he returned fireplace, ordering 40 Budweisers. So rebellious songs like “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” did not come out of skinny air. The Ramones lived it. Originally penned for the film of the identical identify, “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” shortly lays out how they felt in regards to the curriculum, expressing an instantaneous disdain for historical past. As for the workers? That’s a giant shrug too. “I hate the teachers and the principal / Don’t wanna be taught to be no fool.” Luckily for the Ramones, they didn’t need to depend on no matter it was they realized at school. Rock ‘n’ roll took care of the whole lot. (Wardlaw)

23. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Rebels”
From: Southern Accents (1985)

There is extra to Tom Petty’s “Rebels” than meets the attention. As emphasised within the 2005 e book Conversations With Tom Petty, he didn’t write this to function any form of anthem for the South and its checkered historical past. Instead, it was merely meant to introduce a personality whose roots are usually not doing him any favors in any respect. “It’s a story song, about a guy being arrested for being drunk and disorderly,” Petty defined, “and his frustration at basically what a screw-up he is – and he’s trying to blame it on his heritage. And it’s not really working.” Petty hung a Confederate flag on stage when he took “Rebels” on tour within the mid-’80s, however stated that was meant to signify the character within the tune – not his views. Petty quickly realized that it was main followers to carry Confederate-themed banners to exhibits. Petty took down the flag and requested followers to cease bringing their very own. “This is not who we are,” he informed Rolling Stone. (Rapp)

22. Skid Row, “Youth Gone Wild”
From: Skid Row (1989)

Toms River, N.J. has been ranked in a number of surveys as one of many most secure cities within the U.S., however that didn’t cease hometown heroes Skid Row from fronting like they had been outrunning the robust arm of the legislation. “Youth Gone Wild,” the lead single off their self-titled debut album, established Skid Row’s status as fairly dangerous boys with an ax to grind. The stakes are comparatively low — misfit youngsters, a burned-out city, a preachy boss with a “three-piece Wall Street smile” — however Skid Row milks them for all they’re value with monstrous riffs, squealing solos and stadium-ready gang vocals. With his hovering, multi-octave screams, Sebastian Bach sounds able to marshal troops into battle, even when he was in all probability extra involved with shoplifting from the native Sam Goody. (Rolli)

21. Ramones, “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”
From: Rocket to Russia (1977)

The Ramones scored their first hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” setting off a profession that few can rival when it comes to unbridled insurrection. “To me ‘Sheena’ was the first surf punk-rock teenage rebellion song,” the late Joey Ramone later argued. “I combined Sheena, Queen of the Jungle with the primalness of punk rock. Then Sheena is brought into the modern day. … It was funny because all the girls in New York seemed to change their name to Sheena after that. Everybody was a Sheena.” (Corey Irwin)

20. Billy Idol, “Rebel Yell”
From: Rebel Yell (1983)

An entire generation of rock fans will gleefully chant “more, more, more,” using Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” as their battle cry. Lyrically, the song has more to do with sex than rebellion. So where’d the name come from? “I was hanging out with Ronnie Wood of the [Rolling] Stones, and he had a party,” Idol said on Storytellers “It was Mick Jagger’s birthday, and he had a party for Mick Jagger. Keith Richards was there, and they were standing in a line just in front of me. They were drinking this bottle of something, and as they were drinking it, I was trying to follow it up to see what it was called.” The brand of whiskey the Stones were swigging was called Rebel Yell, and the phrase stuck with Idol. (Irwin)

19. Bob Dylan, “Maggie’s Farm”
From: Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

For most of his career, Bob Dylan has not played by the rules, consistently reshaping his sound and hardly ever bending to the wishes of his fans, record label or any others. “I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s Farm no extra,” he defiantly declares at the top of this song. It wasn’t an unreasonable statement, given that he’s being made to scrub the floor and has cigars being put out in his face. “I strive my greatest to be identical to I’m,” he laments, “however all people desires you to be identical to them.” Dylan recorded “Maggie’s Farm” in one take, then included it on his half-electrified Bringing It All Back Home album. Along the way, he offers a litany of absurdities, but the main message is entirely clear: Think for yourself. (Rapp)

18. Guns N’ Roses, “Out ta Get Me”
From: Appetite for Destruction (1987)

Before they became the biggest band in the world, Guns N’ Roses were a gang of five against the world, and their debut album crackled with anti-authoritarian rage. Nowhere is that rage more evident than in “Out ta Get Me,” which is full of firecracker riffs and Axl Rose’s scathing disavowals of the people who tried to keep him down. His introduction to the song at the group’s legendary 1988 Ritz gig is notable for both its bluster and its paranoia. “We wanna dedicate this tune to the those who attempt to maintain you again, the those who let you know the right way to stay, those who let you know the right way to gown, those who let you know the right way to discuss, those who let you know what you may say and what you may’t say,” Rose seethed. “I don’t want that shit in my life. Those are the sort of individuals which have been getting me down. They make me really feel like anyone out there’s out ta get me!” (Rolli)

17. Bruce Springsteen, “Growin’ Up”
From: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)

The narrator of Bruce Springsteen’s “Growin’ Up” is sort of a bratty little one who antagonizes simply to see how far he can push somebody: “When they said sit down, I stood up,” “when they said come down, I threw up,” “when they said pull down, I pulled up.” This is not insurrection; that is simply being a dick. Springsteen has typically framed the tune in live performance with a prolonged narrative about his teen years in New Jersey and the way his music desires had been typically a supply of battle between himself and his dad. “Growin’ Up” is a key early tune in Springsteen’s improvement as a author, although he’d quickly commerce empty insurrection for greater targets. (Michael Gallucci)

16. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Almost Cut My Hair”
From: Deja Vu (1970)

David Crosby was not essentially the primary particular person to speak about letting his freak flag fly. (Jimi Hendrix did so, for instance, in his 1967 tune “If 6 Was 9.”) Still, Crosby’s “Almost Cut My Hair” represented a way of independence and non-conformity {that a} broad inhabitants of younger Americans recognized within the late ’60s and early ’70s. From the second the Beatles debuted their mop tops to the world at first of the ’60s, having lengthy hair was an prompt image of resistance to the institution for males of a sure age. “It was the most juvenile set of lyrics I’ve ever written,” Crosby would later admit, “but it has a certain emotional impact, there’s no question about that.” (Rapp)

15. John Mellencamp, “Authority Song”
From: Uh-Huh (1983)

John Mellencamp’s relationship with authority and the powers that be is lengthy and sophisticated. “Authority Song” appeared on the primary LP credited to his actual surname as an alternative of merely “John Cougar,” the moniker that had been thrust upon him. “I did what I had to do. I did what people told me,” Mellencamp defined to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2010. “There was no way those folk songs were ever going to get anywhere unless I had hit records.” In time, he grew courageous sufficient to comply with the message discovered inside this contemporary replace of “I Fought the Law”: There is a would possibly in standing up for oneself, even for those who do not at all times succeed. (Rapp)

14. Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
From: Stay Hungry (1984)

Twisted Sister’s timeless anthem about combating again towards authority was obscure concerning who the antagonist is, however that was a purposeful transfer by Dee Snider to make “We’re Not Gonna Take It” all-encompassing. “Whether I was singing about my parents, my teachers, my bosses, my peers, people around me, I felt it was important not to define it by actually naming names and singing, ‘Dad, you’re so trite and jaded, I hate my teachers, too,'” Snider later informed Songfacts. “And thus, the song has had a life in sporting events, at political rallies, at protests, pretty much anybody who’s not taking something from somebody else, they’re going to break into ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ all over the world.” (Irwin)

13. Elton John, “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”
From: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” certainly makes a great soundtrack for those heading out to raise a bit of a ruckus. Lyrically, the track was an ode to collaborator Bernie Taupin’s earlier days at the pub, and it crackles with that weekend energy. The music was reportedly laid down in a single take, which John’s guitarist Davey Johnstone said was hardly unusual. “I’ve seen him write songs in the time that it’s taken me to make a chicken sandwich,” Johnstone once marveled, adding that John and the band could easily complete the resulting track in another 15 minutes. That goes a long way toward explaining how realistic the rowdy vibes of “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” sound in its completed kind. (Wardlaw)

12. The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
From: Who’s Next (1971)

There’s a lot of depth within “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” though that’s hardly surprising with a Pete Townshend composition. In its simplest form, he once said the song was inspired by “the power of music and congregation.” Townshend spent countless hours putting together the first demo, which found him digging deep into a new-found curiosity regarding synthesizers, which were still quite new at the time. “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was then slated to become part of Townshend’s scuttled Lifehouse rock opera, which followed the central character Bobby as he faced off against an oppressive government using music as its weapon. “Won’t Get Fooled Again” instead eventually emerged as the closing track on Who’s Next and one can argue that Bobby’s rebellious spirit was ultimately preserved – captured perfectly in the sound of Roger Daltrey’s closing scream. (Wardlaw)

11. David Bowie, “Changes”
From: Hunky Dory (1971)

David Bowie set a career course with another flop single, and the first verse of “Changes” made it clear that he was starting to feel beat up in the process. Then he bravely charged into a second verse that revels in youthful individuality. He wasn’t giving up, and he wasn’t giving in. It just took time for the world to catch up. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars hit a few months later, and “Changes” was eventually given proper due, peaking just outside the Top 40 in 1975 – then becoming a deeply representative radio staple. Just weeks after that, Young Americans found Bowie digging into R&B before introducing an entirely new persona, the Thin White Duke. Changes, indeed. (Nick DeRiso)

10. Joan Jett, “Bad Reputation”
From: Joan Jett (1980)

Some rebel songs offer quiet disobedience, while others kick down the door, spit in your face and throw up two middle fingers. Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” is the latter. The tune was inspired by the former Runaways star’s wild past, which initially made it difficult to land a record deal when she decided to go solo. “I at all times wore it as a badge of honor,” Jett told Rolling Stone in 2022, “as a result of what individuals had been saying to me was I had a foul status as a result of I performed an electrical guitar and I had black hair and a leather-based jacket, and possibly I swore. … So I turned across the that means of it, and I’m pleased with my dangerous status.” (Irwin)

9. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Band on the Run”
From: Band on the Run (1973)

George Harrison muttered something that stuck with Paul McCartney during one of the Beatles’ interminable late-period business meetings: “If we ever get out of right here.” McCartney returned to the quip when trying to piece his successor band Wings back together after its lineup imploded. After all this time, he was still grasping for solo success. So the phrase fit perfectly as McCartney weaved a desire to break free of the Beatles into an outsider mythology. This sense of destiny unfulfilled pushed McCartney to new creative places – and he took advantage of every tool in his pop-music shed, skillfully combining three song fragments into a mini-symphony about searching and possibility. (DeRiso)

8. Judas Priest, “Breaking the Law”
From: British Steel (1980)

Judas Priest had spent nearly a decade paying their dues before shooting to global stardom with British Steel, and they were still in touch enough with their roots to channel the working-class disenfranchisement of their native England on “Breaking the Law.” “I tried to put myself in the mind of a jobless young bloke at his wits’ end,” Rob Halford wrote in his 2020 memoir Confess. It’s a tale as old as time, set to the tune of wrecking-ball riffs and an urgent, punk-metal beat. When Halford wails, “You don’t know what it’s liiiiike!” he’s drawing a line in the sand, separating the privileged and the clueless from the listeners who know his anguish all too well. (Rolli)

7. Alice Cooper, “School’s Out”
From: School’s Out (1972)

Alice Cooper’s 1972 summertime anthem comes with little of the baggage of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick within the Wall Part 2,” another song about how much school sucks. The latter hit points to the education system as having a scarring effect on The Wall‘s protagonist, leading to a lifetime of social and personal problems. Cooper’s Top 10 hit “School’s Out,” on the other hand, is more about celebrating the start of three months without pencils, books and glaring teachers. Sure, the school gets “blown to items” at one point, but it’s all in good fun (and probably metaphorical). And is there a more casually rebellious line in all of rock ‘n’ roll than “We cannot even consider a phrase that rhymes“? (Gallucci)

6. The Bobby Fuller Four, “I Fought the Law”
From: 1964 Single

It’s not clear what the narrator of “I Fought the Law” specifically did to receive the back-spraining punishment of “breakin’ rocks within the scorching solar,” but it probably had something to do with “robbin’ individuals with a six-gun.” Someone was presumably hurt, if those drum hits doubling as bullet shots are any indication. Either way, “I Fought the Law” – penned by Sonny Curtis, an original member of Buddy Holly’s Crickets, and made famous by Bobby Fuller, who died under mysterious circumstances not long after his band’s biggest hit – is a classic tale of a law-breaking rebel doing time for his crime. More than a dozen years later, the Clash resurrected the song as a punk anthem. (Gallucci)

5. Pink Floyd, “Another Brick within the Wall, Part 2”
From: The Wall (1979)

“Another Brick within the Wall, Part 2,” one of three cornerstone songs sharing that title on Pink Floyd’s epic 1979 concept LP, comes at a pivotal point in the young protagonist’s life. He’d later be chewed up and spit out by duplicitous record companies, misunderstanding fans and smothering loved ones, but it’s here where many childhood traumas shaped his troubled adult life. “We do not want no training,” school kids chime in unison before zeroing in on their real point: “We do not want no thought management.” Somehow this slice of anti-authoritarian rebellion resulted in Pink Floyd’s only No. 1 single. (Gallucci)

4. The Rolling Stones, “Street Fighting Man”
From: Beggars Banquet (1968)

“Street Fighting Man” was always going to have an aggressive tone, even if its subject matter changed with the times. Any song titled “Did Everyone Pay Their Dues” isn’t set up as a romantic ballad. They’d already constructed the music when Mick Jagger became engrossed in the turbulent protests erupting worldwide in 1968, including a march on the American embassy in London and student rioters in Paris. A harder-edged rewrite brought in images of revolution, uprising and palace coups. Jagger ends up shrugging it all off – “what can a poor boy do, besides to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band?” – but U.S. radio stations banned it anyway. “Street Fighting Man” would become the Stones’ lowest-charting single since their debut. (DeRiso)

3. Sex Pistols, “Anarchy within the U.Ok.”
From: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)

The released version ended up suturing take three with take five, as “Anarchy within the U.Ok.” was overseen by a trio of producers. Sex Pistols’ soundman Dave Goodman kept telling them to play faster and faster and faster until everything began to break apart. Bill Price did some work, then Chris Thomas ultimately saved the song – by, yes, slowing it down. All three ultimately got the credit. Now they had to find Johnny Rotten to do the vocals. “You cannot play. You’ve been in there for weeks,” co-writer Glen Matlock later remembered Rotten saying. “And we stated, ‘No, we have completed it!'” It really was anarchy. (DeRiso)

2. David Bowie, “Rebel Rebel”
From: Diamond Dogs (1974)

Given his refusal to abide by society’s cultural norms, there’s no doubt David Bowie would be considered a rebel. It’s an ingredient he tapped into for this 1974 glam rock classic. With its distinctive vocals and unmistakable guitar riff, “Rebel Rebel” was a commercial and critical success, reaching No. 5 in the U.K. It somehow stalled at No. 64 in America. No matter. In the decades that followed, “Rebel Rebel” has been regularly ranked among the greatest songs of Bowie’s career. (Irwin)

1. The Who, “My Generation(*30*)My Generation”? “People attempt to put us down,” Roger Daltrey stutters at the onset, before spitting out the song’s eternally quotable line with barely disguised scorn: “I hope I die earlier than I get previous.” It’s rebellion from a young person’s perspective, with no specific purpose in mind. Writer Pete Townshend, getting older but still alive, has changed his position on the issue over the years, but “My Generation” remains a foundational rock ‘n’ roll anthem – proto-punk and youth-defining in its directness – generations after it was released. (Gallucci)