{"id":662360,"date":"2026-05-24T13:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T13:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662360\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T13:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T13:48:09","slug":"3-classic-rock-songs-that-wouldnt-be-the-same-without-the-background-vocals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662360\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Classic Rock Songs That Wouldn\u2019t Be the Same Without the Background Vocals"},"content":{"rendered":"

From The Everly Brothers, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys<\/a> to Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Pixies, background vocals have defined many classic rock songs. And if you\u2019ve never tried, singing harmonies isn\u2019t as easy as these legends make it look. You must stay in your lane of intervals without being pulled into the lead singer\u2019s notes. The backing singer blends into a supportive role to sweeten, lift, or add weight to a melody and, routinely, the hook.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, the background singer steps into the spotlight, not so much as a lead vocalist, but by adding a vital element to a classic song that wouldn\u2019t be the same without them. Here are three tunes where the BGVs get to be the star.<\/p>\n

\u201cWanted Dead Or Alive\u201d by Bon Jovi<\/p>\n

Bon Jovi\u2019s country rock hit uses an outlaw metaphor to describe the lifestyle of a hard-touring rock band. Though the band is named after lead singer Jon Bon Jovi, the guitarist Richie Sambora was crucial to their colossal success in the 1980s. Sambora is an accomplished shredder, but he also co-wrote many of Bon Jovi\u2019s biggest hits, including this one. And this song wouldn\u2019t be the same without Sambora\u2019s echoing \u201cWanted\u201d each time Bon Jovi shouts the stadium-sized chorus.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunnin\u2019 With The Devil\u201d by Van Halen<\/p>\n

There are many things to discuss about early Van Halen. One typically begins with Eddie Van Halen and how he utterly transformed the electric guitar. Then there are the primal howls and cartoonish lyrics of frontman David Lee Roth. And Eddie\u2019s brother, Alex, who powered the band on songs like \u201cHot For Teacher\u201d and \u201cAin\u2019t Talkin\u2019 \u2019Bout Love\u201d. But the bassist, Michael Anthony, was responsible for another signature part of Van Halen\u2019s sound. While Roth bellowed and grunted, Anthony sang high, sweet-voiced harmonies, which gave Van Halen\u2019s hard rock a summery Beach Boys vibe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould?\u201d by Alice In Chains<\/p>\n

Alice In Chains separated themselves from the other Seattle bands with the dark vocal harmonies of singer Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Often, their voices would blend into something singular, forming gloomy chords to match the band\u2019s grungy anthems. \u201cWould\u201d first appeared in Cameron Crowe\u2019s 1992 grunge rom-com, Singles. Written for Andrew Wood, the late Mother Love Bone singer, whose young death shaped the future of rock music in both its tragedy and the band that formed in its aftermath, Pearl Jam.<\/p>\n

Photo by Birmingham Post and Mail Archive\/Mirrorpix\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From The Everly Brothers, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys to Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Pixies, background vocals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2617,88,216,2156],"class_list":["post-662360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662360","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=662360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}