3 of the Best Classic Rock Secret Tracks of All Time

Kids these days. Of course, there’s a lot the modern generation doesn’t know about music that came out decades ago and that’s just part of life. But one thing they might want to dive into is the existence of secret tracks. Today, nothing is a secret. If something cool comes out, it’s gabbed about on X in moments with nothing but a “spoiler alert” hashtag.

But back in the day, there were songs put on the ends of albums that you had to listen to straight through to discover. Here below, we wanted to explore three such tunes. A trio of tracks that weren’t highlighted on the back of the records—instead, they had to be found.

[RELATED: Catching Up with Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic: “Well, Let’s Just Do Whatever We Want to Do at This Point”]

“All By Myself” by Green Day from Dookie (1994)

Written and sung by the band’s drummer Tré Cool, this song appeared at the end of Green Day’s 1994 LP Dookie, which was one of the most popular albums of the 1990s and featured an iconic, visually stimulating album cover. As for the secret track itself, it’s a short tune about, ahem, personal time. The singer is alone, all by himself and he’s thinking of a special someone and enjoys his, ahem, personal time. And on the joking song, he sings,

I was alone, I was all by myself
No one was looking, I was thinking of you
Oh yeah, did I mention I was all by myself
All by myself
All by myself
All by myself

I went to your house, but no one was there
I went in your room
I was all by myself
You and me had
Such wonderful times
When I’m all by myself
All by myself
All by myself
All by myself

“Endless, Nameless” by Nirvana from Nevermind (1991)

The last track on Nirvana’s iconic 1991 grunge record Nevermind. As angry as it is impressive, the song came on after about 10 minutes of silence after the record was otherwise over. Even lead vocalist Kurt Cobain doesn’t know quite exactly he’s singing on the song, which features distorted, buzzy guitars and heavy rhythms. But some of the words he says he believes he was singing include, I think I can, I know I can. Other lyrics attributed to the song include,

Silence
Here I am
Here I am
Silent

Bright and clear
It’s what I am
I have
Died

Mother
Mother
Mother
Mother

“Her Majesty” by The Beatles from Abbey Road (1969)

This 26-second song from The Beatles’ 1969 LP Abbey Road appears 14 seconds after the LP’s final track “The End,” though it is a hidden song and was not originally listed on the record’s track list. It’s a silly song about the Queen of England, presumably. Or perhaps it’s about a coin with her face on it. On the acoustic-driven tune, however, lead vocalist Paul McCartney croons,

Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl
But she doesn’t have a lot to say
Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl
But she changes from day to day

I wanna tell her that I love her a lot
But I gotta get a belly full of wine
Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl
Someday I’m gonna make her mine, oh yeah
Someday I’m gonna make her mine

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