- Photo:
Metal Songs With Legitimately Romantic Lyrics
Even Satan himself can fall in love. "N.I.B." came off of Black Sabbath's self-titled 1970 debut album. The band's bassist and main lyricist Terry "Geezer" Butler wrote the song about how even the devil can change in the face of falling in love.
"I wrote that, being quite humorous. I thought I was anyway - about Satan fallin' in love with somebody," explains Butler. "And his chat-up line is, you know, 'I can give you the sun, the moon and the stars...' And Satan probably could. It’s like a chat-up line that guys use, and people missed the whole point of it!"
Romantic Lyrics:
Some people say my love cannot be true
Please believe me, my love, and I'll show you
I will give you those things you thought unreal
The sun, the moon, the stars all bear my sealGerman hard rock band Scorpions slowed it down a bit in 1984 with their metal ballad, "Still Loving You." The Billboard Hot 100 hit came off of their ninth studio album Love at First Sting.
Scorpions songwriter and rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker explained how the song had a hand in the mid-1980s baby boom in France: "We created a baby boom in France. But we didn't believe it, either, you know? We were on a TV show in France between recordings, and the host, a very famous guy that interviews us each year, goes, 'Hey, guys, you know that you are responsible for the baby boom in '85.' We were laughing like crazy! And yes, it's been measured by the government."
Romantic Lyrics:
Try
Baby try
To trust in my love again
I will be there
I will be thereSkid Row's weepy breakup song "I Remember You" came off the band's 1989 self-titled debut album. The metal ballad, highlighted by lead singer Sebastian Bach's incredible vocal range, was Skid Row's biggest hit. If Skid Row band members Rachel Bolan and Dave Sabo had their way, however, the track never would have seen the light of day.
Bach says his bandmates thought the song was "wimpy." He recalled, "You know, we wanted to be tough guys, punks, metalheads!"
Thankfully, the group got a second opinion from band manager Doc McGhee, who laughed when he first heard "I Remember You." His laughter wasn't because the song was "wimpy" or bad - it was because he knew it was going to be a huge hit.
Romantic Lyrics:
I paint a picture of the days gone by
When love went blind and you would make me see
I'd stare a lifetime into your eyes
So that I knew that you were there for me
Time after time you there for meMetallica's fifth studio effort, The Black Album (also known as Metallica), is the band's best-selling album. It also contains Metallica's first love song, "Nothing Else Matters." The Black Album's somewhat softer style proved to be a crossover success and reached a wider audience.
Metallica lead singer James Hetfield wrote the song in 1990 while he was out on tour and missing his girlfriend. He said of the Billboard hit, "It’s absolutely crazy, that was the song that I thought was least Metallica, least likely to ever [be] played by us, the last song anyone would really want to hear. It was a song for myself in my room on tour when I was bumming out about being away from home."
Romantic Lyrics:
Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words, I don't just say
And nothing else matters"Snuff" hit the Billboard charts in 2009 following the song's release on Slipknot's fourth album, All Hope Is Gone. The song has proved to be a sentimental tune for Slipknot's lead vocalist Corey Taylor, who continues to sing it during solo shows in honor of Slipknot bassist Paul Gray, who suffered an OD in 2010.
Taylor was asked which of his songs had the most personal meaning to him during a 2018 interview with Metal Head Zone. "[Slipknot’s] 'Snuff' probably is one of the ones that means the most to me now just because of the correlation between it and Paul [Gray]," he said. "Really, if Paul hadn't championed that song, I don't think we would have recorded it. But he loved it and saw the potential with it and really wanted us to do it. So now when I play it during my solo shows, that's who that's for. I try to do it as well as I can."
Romantic Lyrics:
I still press your letters to my lips
And cherish them in parts of me that savor every kiss
I couldn't face a life without your lights
But all of that was ripped apart when you refused to fightGuns N' Roses' most romantic song is also their only No. 1 US single. The popular cut off of their 1988 debut album Appetite for Destruction started out as a joke. Guitarist Slash was messing around with a riff that piqued Axl Rose's interest. The lead singer was able to craft lyrics to the music from a poem he had written for his girlfriend, Erin Everly. Slash hated the song from the beginning. He recalls, "Writing and rehearsing it to make it a complete song was like pulling teeth. For me, at the time, it was a very sappy ballad."
When producer Mike Clink heard a demo of "Sweet Child O' Mine," he immediately knew that it would be a huge hit. Slash eventually made his peace with the metal ballad. "I hated it for years," he admits. "But it would cause such a reaction - just playing the first stupid notes used to evoke this hysteria - so I've finally gotten to appreciate it."
Romantic Lyrics:
She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me byThe early 1990s may have been rich in metal ballads, but few were stripped down in the style of Extreme's 1990 No. 1 Billboard hit "More Than Words." The song off of their album Pornograffitti is about asking someone to show their love, rather than just saying the words, "I love you."
The recording consists of two mellifluous vocal harmonies between lead singer Gary Cherone and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. The only instrument on the track is Bettencourt's acoustic guitar. The equally austere black and white video of Cherone and Bettencourt just singing helped make the video one of the most played on MTV during that era.
Most people recognize Exreme from this mega-hit single, but the group is actually a hardcore funk metal band. "More Than Words" is the outlier that Extreme loved for launching them into worldwide success, though ultimately it reformed their image to appear as more of a pop ensemble.
Romantic Lyrics:
What would you do if my heart was torn in two
More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real
What would you say if I took those words away
Then you couldn't make things new
Just by saying I love youThe Prince of Darkness shows a softer side on his only solo Top 40 hit, "Mama, I'm Coming Home." The track is off the metal singer's 1991 album No More Tears. Ozzy's wife Sharon has claimed in the past that the song was written about her.
Ozzy wrote in the liner notes in his 1997 compilation album The Ozzman Cometh, "I had been walking around with the melody in my head for a couple of years, but never got a chance to finish it until I was working with Zakk [Wylde] on the album. At that time, Zakk and I were doing a lot of writing on the piano. 'Mama, I'm Coming Home' was always something I'd say on the phone to my wife near the end of a tour."
Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister co-wrote the lyrics, which also reflect on Ozzy's life-changing choice to stop using alcohol and other substances.
Romantic Lyrics:
You made me cry, you told me lies
But, I can't stand to say goodbye
Mama, I'm coming home
I could be right, I could be wrong
It hurts so bad, it's been so long
Mama, I'm coming home"Love, Hate, Love" came off of Alice in Chains' 1990 debut album Facelift. The band's guitarist Jerry Cantrell called the track "the masterpiece of that record," despite the song not being one of the four tunes released as a single. Facelift peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard charts and ultimately went certified double-platinum. "Love, Hate, Love" recalls just how easy it is to hate someone you're also in love with, and how the emotions often blend into each other. Layne Staley described it as "a song about pain."
Most people know "Man in the Box" as the premiere Alice in Chains song, but "Love, Hate, Love" was able to show off lead singer Layne Staley's dark and impressive vocal range. Cantrell described Staley's vocals: "It sounded like it came out of a 350-pound biker rather than skinny little Layne. I considered his voice to be my voice."
Romantic Lyrics:
Lost inside my sick head
I live for you but I'm not alive
Take my hand before I kill
I still love you, but, I still burnHair metal was at its peak in the 1980s, and perhaps no band defined the genre quite like Ratt. "Round and Round" came off of their 1984 debut album Out of the Cellar. The track reached No. 12 on the Billboard 100 and widely introduced the world to Ratt.
"Round and Round" is the band's biggest hit.
Romantic Lyrics:
I knew right from the beginning
That you would end up winnin'
I knew right from the start
You'd put an arrow through my heart"Walk With Me in Hell" is from Lamb of God's fifth studio album Sacrament, released in 2006. The album debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard charts. Upon a quick listen, one would certainly not think of "Walk With Me in Hell" as a sweet love song. Frontman Randy Blythe delivers the song in a heavy, raspy, speed metal voice that screams anything but romance.
Upon further examination, "Walk With Me in Hell" is a song with heart. The tune was written by the band's guitarist Mark Morton as a dedication to his wife. The lyrics speak of Morton willing to go through the ups and downs in life and through any turmoil by his wife's side.
Romantic Lyrics:
Take hold of my hand
For you are no longer alone
Walk with me in hellIron Maiden's best metal love ballad came off their 1992 ninth studio album Fear of the Dark. Singer Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Janick Gers teamed up to write this tune about a down and out man who laments missing his opportunity for love.
The protagonist is suffering from lonliness, and like many senstive metal songs, "Wasting Love," was not popular with some of Maiden's fans.
Romantic Lyrics:
Spend your days full of emptiness
Spend your years full of loneliness
Wasting love, in a desperate caress
Rolling shadows of nights"Love Me Like a Reptile" came off Motorhead's 1980 chart-topping album Ace of Spades, which is widely considered one of the greatest metal albums ever made. Lead singer Lemmy Kilmister had a knack for penning a sweet love song here and there.
"Love Me Like a Reptile" could be considered a song more about pure animal lust rather than love, but there is something romantic about the metaphoric pining depicted in Kilmister's lyrics.
Romantic Lyrics:
Thunder lizard, stony eye, you got me hypnotized,
Hot tongue breaks in and out and I can't believe my eyes,
And your soft white belly, next to mine
