Rock and ROLL Your Eyes at These Lyrics
Let’s be honest: rock and roll has given us some of the greatest poetry ever put to music… and also some lines so cheesy they could qualify as a dairy product. These lyrics are iconic, ridiculous, beloved, mockable—and sometimes all of those things at the same time. Grab your air guitar and your finest cheddar—we’re diving in.
And please, let us know if we missed any good ones also...
Pour Some Sugar on Me (Def Leppard)
Joe Elliott turning flirtation into dessert instructions—Pour some sugar on me in the name of love—is a level of 80s literalism only hair-metal could achieve. Somehow the silliness makes it even more iconic. No one questions it—they just scream the chorus louder.
AngryApathy, Wikimedia Commons
I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) (Meat Loaf)
Jim Steinman loved operatic melodrama, but this one is peak cheese. I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that launched decades of debates—and not one solid answer. Gloriously theatrical nonsense? Absolutely.
Ronden Talent Management, Wikimedia Commons
We Built This City (Starship)
The infamous Marconi plays the mamba remains one of rock’s greatest mysteries. Even critics shrug. But that’s the charm: it’s 80s pop-rock at its most unhinged, proof that meaning is optional as long as the synths and key changes go hard.
David Cackowski, Wikimedia Commons
Lady in Red (Chris de Burgh)
There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me is sentimental, sweeping, and so soft-rock sincere it became a slow-dance staple for anyone who’s ever owned a bottle of cologne shaped like a saxophone.
Laurent Tomassini, Wikimedia Commons
Rock You Like a Hurricane (Scorpions)
With lines like The night is calling, I have to go, Scorpions turn romance into meteorology. It’s dramatic, loud, and not remotely subtle—exactly what you expect from a band that treated power chords like a competitive sport.
Carlos Delgado, Wikimedia Commons
Bicycle Race (Queen)
Freddie Mercury singing I want to ride my bicycle with full operatic force is whimsical, theatrical, and delivered with the kind of confidence only he possessed. Somehow it becomes iconic instead of absurd.
Christopher Hopper; distributed by Elektra Records, Wikimedia Commons
Beth (KISS)
Beth, I hear you calling opens like a sweet apology… until he explains he can’t come home because me and the boys will be playing all night. It’s heartfelt but unintentionally sitcom-ish.
Nashville69, Wikimedia Commons
Can’t Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon)
I can’t fight this feeling anymore became the anthem of 80s crushes everywhere. Emotional, dramatic, and sentimental—the kind of song that plays when someone stares out a rainy window thinking about their soulmate.
Epic Records, Wikimedia Commons
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles)
Paul McCartney’s bright life goes on, bra! is famously divisive. Lennon called it granny music, yet its goofy charm made it an earworm that refuses to leave humanity alone.
United Press International, photographer unknown, Wikimedia Commons
Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Poison)
Bret Michaels sings every rose has its thorn like he’s revealing ancient wisdom, even though it sounds straight out of a sparkly teenage diary. That melodrama is exactly why it endured.
Marsha Traeger, Los Angeles Times, Wikimedia Commons
I Just Called to Say I Love You (Stevie Wonder)
I just called to say I love you is almost aggressively simple, but the simplicity is what made it universal—warm, easy to sing, sentimental without shame.
Los Angeles Times, Wikimedia Commons
Love Shack (The B-52’s)
Tin roof… rusted! remains one of music’s most confusing shouted lines. It means everything and nothing—and that chaotic joy is exactly why the song still rules parties.
livepict.com, Wikimedia Commons
You’re the Inspiration (Chicago)
You’re the meaning in my life, you’re the inspiration is peak 80s sincerity. Designed for emotional confessions, it remains timeless because it commits fully to its earnestness.
Columbia Records, Wikimedia Commons
Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
Risin’ up, back on the street feels like a motivational poster set to music—but that adrenaline jolt is why it still makes even non-athletes feel invincible.
Staffan Vilcans, Wikimedia Commons
Whenever, Wherever (Shakira)
Shakira delivered the boldest line in pop: Lucky that my breasts are small and humble, so you don’t confuse them with mountains. No one else on earth could make that iconic.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/msdi/, Wikimedia Commons
More Than Words (Extreme)
The soft-strummed plea More than words is all you have to do to make it real became a 90s serenade classic—sweet, emotional, and so earnest you can almost smell the school cafeteria acoustic guitar.
Rubén G. Herrera, Wikimedia Commons
Jessie’s Girl (Rick Springfield)
Rick Springfield shouting I wish that I had Jessie’s girl! is one of rock’s greatest expressions of frustrated longing—relatable, dramatic, catchy.
Michaelcohnphoto, Wikimedia Commons
Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners)
The frantic chant Come on, Eileen! feels like emotional sprinting. The lyrics make no sense, but the chaotic joy steamrolls any confusion when the fiddle kicks in.
Escape (The Piña Colada Song) (Rupert Holmes)
If you like piña coladas… sets up a rom-com twist about two lovers accidentally answering each other’s personal ads. Cheesy, charming, surprisingly clever.
Infinity Records, Wikimedia Commons
Heaven Is a Place on Earth (Belinda Carlisle)
Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth? is pure 80s optimism—roller skates, neon lights, and falling in love in slow motion.
Andrew Hurley from Wallasey, England, United Kingdom, Wikimedia Commons
Take My Breath Away (Berlin)
Watching every motion in my foolish lover’s game is lush, cinematic, and permanently tied to foggy slow-motion romantic drama.
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You (Bryan Adams)
I’d fight for you, I’d lie for you… walk the wire for you is pure 90s romantic intensity—made for dramatic movie moments and emotional declarations.
Derek Hatfield from Peterborough, Canada, Wikimedia Commons
You Light Up My Life (Debby Boone)
You light up my life, you give me hope to carry on became one of the most sentimental pop hits ever—warm, glowing, and embraced more intensely than Boone expected.
John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com, Wikimedia Commons
I Want to Know What Love Is (Foreigner)
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me backed by a gospel choir is emotional excess at its most cathartic—perfect for belting in the shower.
Andreas Lawen, Fotandi, Wikimedia Commons
Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler)
Turn around, bright eyes has become shorthand for dramatic longing. Steinman called his style rock-and-roll tragic opera, and this proves he meant it.
Stefan Brending (2eight), Wikimedia Commons
Making Love Out of Nothing at All (Air Supply)
I can make every tackle at the sound of the whistle blends romance and sports in a way only Air Supply could pull off—odd, earnest, unforgettable.
Sarah Stierch, Wikimedia Commons
The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
Some people call me the space cowboy… ’cause I speak of the pompitous of love includes a word that doesn’t exist, which is why critics roasted it. Denver Westword ranked it among the “worst rock/pop lyrics” ever.
Silly Love Songs (Paul McCartney & Wings)
You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs was written because critics accused McCartney of fluff. He doubled down and made it the entire point.
Jim Summaria, Wikimedia Commons
Hot Love (T. Rex)
You’re built like a car, you’ve got a hubcap diamond star halo is glam-rock oddity at its best. Critic Robert Christgau once said some lyrics are “a bad poem but a good song”—exactly this.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
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