There are rock songs for every stage of a breakup. As cool, cosmopolitan, and, most importantly, kick ass girls who rock, weāve all gone through our share of heartbreaks and heartaches.
There are rock songs for every stage of a breakup. As cool, cosmopolitan, and, most importantly, kick ass girls who rock, weāve all gone through our share of heartbreaks and heartaches.
Whether it was that boy you thought you were gonna marry some day, that girl who ticked off every box for you, or even someone you had six passionate months with, when they break it off, no matter how strong we are, it sucks!
And even as strong, undeniably cool women, we all go through the same stages of dealing with a bad breakup: Denial, Anger, Wallowing, Rebounding, & Moving On.
We all need to get by with a little help from our friends, and sometimes those friends can be found in the form of some killer songs.
So here is a (totally incomplete but thoughtfully curated) list of some of the best rock songs for every stage of a breakup.
Denial:
Thereās just something about Alex Turnerās soulful crooning on about a recently lost love, seeing her face everywhere, and refusing to believe sheās gone for good.
He holds on to that hope āI let him go the long way round/I smelt your scent on the seatbeltā¦ Iām really not supposed to but yes/You can call me anything you wantā At this point, weāre not ready to let go of the idea of that "One That Got Away." This is one of my favorite rock songs for every stage of a breakup!
The first verse gets it right: āAll I want is everything/Everyone thatās coming for me/Nothing happens and everything is changed/All I want is everything to stay the same.ā Who hasnāt felt that distinctly?
Nothingās happened, because weāre willing it not to be so, but everythingās changed.
Anger:
The ultimate angry, flipping-the-bird send-off. Itās right there in the title: think you can do better? Well, kiss this, jerk! The chorus itself is enough to be emblazoned everywhere for the recently disheartened:
āI did all I could/So kiss this one more time ācause Iām good for good/You misunderstood/So kiss this one last time/And Iām gone for good.ā See ya!
An oldie and a goodie and it remains relevant for a reason. I know weāve all fantasized about that ex-boy being exposed for the slime he is and weāre just waiting with bated breath for karma to hit him up.
āWon't be feelin' sorry, sorry, sorry/On the judgment day/It wasnāt me who said/Thereāll be a price to pay/And I wonāt feel bad at all/When the hero takes a fall.ā Oh and bonus verse if you dealt with a cheater:
āYour mother told you stories/You substitute with girls who tell you more.ā Itās such a strong, girl-power, pop-rock anthem, you can't help but come out feeling vindicated.
Wallowing:
After the highs of our self-righteous anger, we all come crashing back to feeling those blues. With a voice and a story that is timeless, Amy Winehouse succinctly captures the need to be in our feelings for a while.
āWe only said goodbye with words/I died a hundred times/You go back to her/And I go back toā¦ Black.ā
James Mercer & crew are poets both lyrically and musically, and thereās something about their melodies and words that manage to pick at the loose threads in your heart. Do you want understanding of heartbreak?
āIf I still fight/Itās just that Iām afraid Iāll slide under that spell again/Taken for a fool/Yes I was because I was a fool/The way we used to carry on/Is stuck in my head like a terrible song.ā
Rebounding:
This upbeat gem kicks you right into the throes of a night out trying to forget the one who did you wrong. Itās a feel-good, get-back-out-there jam with no judgement.
āSomeone up the social scale/For when youāre going off the rails/Have post break-up sex/That helps you forget your ex.ā
Is there any night out that canāt be made better by Julain Casablancas? The Strokes effortlessly cool words and melodies are the perfect soundtrack for your night on the prowl.
āI wanna be forgotten/And I donāt wanna be reminded/You say āplease donāt make this harderā/No I wonāt, yet.ā This tune will pump you up and it has a pretty impressive understanding of putting yourself back out there.
Moving On:
The best song to literally walk away from the ashes of something failed. This band may be young but their songs hold the musical and narrative power of many a Led Zeppelin ballad.
āAnd the black smoke rises/From the fires, weāve been told/Itās the new age crisis/And we will stand up in the cold.ā If Josh Kiszkaās rousing vocals donāt inspire you to head out on the journey of your new life, then the soaring chords will surely propel you forward.
This song revels in moving forward and leaving something that was never meant to be in the past, with a surprisingly joyful composure.
āNothing to say, nothing at all/I donāt know you and I donāt want toā¦ Youāre the reason Iām leaving/And by leaving we donāt stop living.ā This number puts the power back in your hands, assures you that you have control of your future, and doesnāt encourage bad thoughts looking back.