4 Rock Songs That Were Produced on the Cusp of Death

Sometimes, a brush with death or one’s own impending mortality can be enough to inspire some incredibly beautiful music. That was the case for these four musicians who wrote or contributed to some amazing rock songs ahead of their brush with death. Let’s take a look!

1. “On The Mend” by Foo Fighters

In Your Honor is a fascinating album that boasts one disc full of powerful rock tracks and another disc of acoustic slow burns. “On The Mend” is on the slow burn side, and it’s one of the most beautiful songs on that album. 

According to Dave Grohl, the song was written about the time that Taylor Hawkins overdosed on tour. Specifically, it’s about how helpless Grohl felt as his friend was potentially about to die. Sadly, Hawkins eventually did pass away over a decade later in 2022.

2. “Red Mosquito” by Pearl Jam

This song was written after a particularly harrowing bout of food poisoning that Eddie Vedder had to suffer through in the mid-1990s. During a performance, Vedder trucked through a handful of songs before calling it quits to go backstage and do what people do when they have food poisoning.

“Red Mosquito” is a collaborative effort that involved the whole band. However, Vedder’s illness-induced uneasiness and brain fog produced the bulk of this iconic tune.

3. “Swingin’” by Tom Petty

Rock songs will often explore the experience of death, and some will feature the final musical stylings of a musician before they pass on. Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein struggled with addiction for years, and the disease reared its ugly head while Tom Petty and the band were working on Echo. 

“Swingin’” would be one of the very last songs Epstein would contribute to the album, as he died from an overdose just a few years after Echo was released. You can hear his higher-pitched vocals on that track, and it’s quite haunting once you learn of Epstein’s fate.

4. “Lazarus” by David Bowie

David Bowie produced the album Blackstar shortly before his death. In fact, the record was released just a few days before he passed away from liver cancer. “Lazarus” was more or less one of the last songs he penned before his death. At the very least, it’s the most brutal and existential song on this list. 

Bowie knew (more or less) that he was dying and wrote a song about coming to terms with the fact that the fame would be over, and he would be free at the end.

Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images

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