Credit: Far Out / American Talent International / Capitol Records / Public Domain
November 8th, 2026 · 7:00pm GMT
Bob Seger was never afraid to admit when different artists had had an influence on his work.
For instance, the hit song he wrote with the Eagles, ‘Heartache Tonight’, he has said on many occasions was influenced by Sam Cooke. The original melody, which weaves its way throughout the entire track, was very much the byproduct of Cooke, and Seger, along with his fellow co-writers, were jamming and playing around using his work as a template. You can very much hear the influence in the song’s leading groove, and that gave the band something to build on.
“So, we’re playing that groove, and Glenn’s singing the verses, and suddenly, out of the blue, the chorus came into my head,” said Seger. “‘There’s gonna be a heartache tonight, heartache tonight, I know.’ I started singing that, and Glenn goes: ‘Yeah!’ I took what he was singing about and jumped right into the chorus.”
It wasn’t just Cooke who inspired him either. His first release came in 1961 as part of the band The Decibels, so he started making music during one of the most inspirational periods for music there’s ever been. There were so many people that he could take inspiration from, as this was a time when the seeds had been sown for rock, and the genre was finally starting to flower.
While Seger would likely say that there were plenty of different musicians who helped him develop his style and tone of voice, he has previously admitted that there were three out-and-out artists on whom he based his entire sound.
“I wanted to be as rhythmic as James Brown,” he said. That’s one hell of a tall order, but you can understand why Seger was inspired by Brown, as he was one of the first ever musicians who was able to completely contextualise what it meant to be a backing band. Every instrumentalist, no matter what they played, was able to tap into a percussive element within their music. Rhythm took precedence over arrangements and melody, and it created a larger-than-life beat that Brown could do his thing to.
“As deep as Bob Dylan,” said Seger. Once again, a tall order but an understandable one. A lot of people look to lyrics as a necessity, as they think you need words in your song so that listeners have something they can latch onto, and as a result, the true meaning behind those words becomes anodyne. Bob Dylan didn’t think like that. He used his songs to peel back layers of society, and reveal to listeners things that they weren’t previously aware of.
Further reading: From The Vault
“And as fiery as Little Richard,” surmised the singer. One of the most definitive rockstars on the planet, it wasn’t just his sound that people were so drawn to, but the chaotic and animalistic approach with which he performed. He gave rock music the energy that we now take as standard.
Whether Bob Seger achieved this or not is up for debate, but it’s certainly a good bar to set for himself.
ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE 
The Far Out Classic Rock Newsletter
All the latest Classic Rock content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.