{"id":661074,"date":"2026-05-23T20:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661074\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T20:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:33:10","slug":"3-rock-songs-from-the-1980s-you-didnt-know-were-written-about-real-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661074\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Rock Songs From the 1980s You Didn\u2019t Know Were Written About Real People"},"content":{"rendered":"

People are infatuated with people. We can\u2019t help it. We stare, we imagine, we fantasize, we love, and we argue. In the end, we are social creatures. And we watch others closely because, in the end, that\u2019s a way we can learn more about ourselves. Here below, we wanted to highlight three classic rock tracks from back in the day that are obsessed with the human race. Indeed, these are three rock songs from the 1980s<\/a> you didn\u2019t know were written about real people.<\/p>\n

\u201cPride (In the Name of Love)\u201d by U2 from \u2018The Unforgettable Fire\u2019 (1984)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to have heroes\u2014people you look up to. And sometimes artists like to write songs about those heroes as odes or tributes. That\u2019s just what U2 lead vocalist Bono did on this tune from the band\u2019s 1984 LP, The Unforgettable Fire. Indeed, this 1980s rock track is about civil rights activist and American hero Martin Luther King Jr. Leave it to Bono to sing boldly about one of the country\u2019s most important figures. Maybe someone is writing a song about the Irish rocker right now to continue the trend!<\/p>\n

\u201cSweet Child O\u2019 Mine\u201d by Guns N\u2019 Roses from \u2018Appetite For Destruction\u2019 (1987)<\/p>\n

While his Guns N\u2019 Roses bandmates were composing the music for this song in the room below, lead vocalist Axl Rose could hear the chords and rhythms come together, and he was inspired to pen some lyrics. But what would he write about? Well, Rose landed on his love interest\u2014his then-girlfriend Erin Everly (daughter of Don Everly of The Everly Brothers). The result is one of the sweetest songs from a band known for being over-the-top bold. Fun fact: Erin is in the music video for the track, along with other band girlfriends.<\/p>\n

\u201cEdge of Seventeen\u201d by Stevie Nicks from \u2018Bella Donna\u2019 (1981)<\/p>\n

While so many famous songs are inspired by those delightful amorous feelings we can have for others, this track from Stevie Nicks was brought about by tragedy. Indeed, Nicks has said that she was moved to compose this tune after the tragic deaths of her uncle Jonathan (from cancer) and friend John Lennon (who was murdered) during the same December week in 1980. Art is a way to process the heaviest of emotions\u2014and Nicks proved that again here with this propellant tune. <\/p>\n

Photo by Jeffrey Mayer\/WireImage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People are infatuated with people. We can\u2019t help it. We stare, we imagine, we fantasize, we love, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,88,216,2156],"class_list":["post-661074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1980s","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}