There are a lot of reasons to put on a classic rock record. Sometimes you want to put on music to celebrate, sometimes you want something nice in the background while you cook dinner, and sometimes you want something to help wake you up in the morning. But other times you need a song to focus you, to make you hear how you feel inside. Sometimes you need a sad song!
Indeed, sad music can help you get through a tough time. It can be cathartic. Sad music, while not always fun to talk about, is essential. And that’s what we wanted to highlight below. Three classic rock artists from the 70s who knew the power of emotion and even sadness in a song. These are three 70s classic rock frontmen who could bring you to tears.
Leonard Cohen
Some might say that Leonard Cohen writes songs. Some say it writes poetry. But it’s probably best to say that his music reads more like scripture than any sort of traditional lyrics. His words seem etched in stone—or a cave wall. They are permanent. Historical. And when he sings them, Cohen resembles a wizard crooning, speaking the kind of magic into your ear that can summon a tear or even a full-on ugly cry. That’s power.
Robert Plant
When you think of Robert Plant and his seminal classic rock band Led Zeppelin, you might think of one thing in particular: loud noise. But to only paint Plant with that kind of brush is too limiting. He and his group knew how to break it down, to bring a hush over the crowd. They weren’t some stable of one-trick ponies. No, they could do it all, including summoning an intimate moment in which you get nostalgic, reflective, and even weepy.
James Taylor
Strumming an acoustic guitar and singing about love and loss, James Taylor might be our most sensitive songwriter. With each tune, it’s like he’s penning love letters onto autumn leaves and then tossing them into the river with a sigh of unrequited affection. He cares about language, and he cares about the depth of personhood. That’s why it’s easy to get emotional while listening to Taylor sing his delicate, precise, well-crafted elegies.
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