There’s something really special about sudden moments of intense inspiration, it’s crazy to think that for many artists magic happens when written swiftly in a drunken stupor or a half-awake daze.
From The Rolling Stones scribbling down a song from an inspired dream to Adele knocking out some lung-busting ballads in half-an-hour, take a tour of the fast and furious muso edition: the best and most iconic songs of all time written in 30 minutes or less.
Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’
‘Paranoid’. Not only the title to what is arguably regarded as Black Sabbath’s finest achievements as a record, but also one of metal’s highest regarded tracks to exist.
Bassist Geezer Butler stated the title track was intended to be a “three minute filler for the album” with Tommy Iommi formulating the menacing riff that resulted in one of not only metal, but music in general’s adored masterpieces
Blink-182 – ‘Dammit’
Setting the path for their third album Enema Of The State, ‘Dammit’ was punk band Blink-182’s first song to grace the charts, debuting at #11 on the US Modern Rock Tracks and #34 on the ARIA Charts.
Based on the thoughts of bassist Mark Hoppus breaking up with his girlfriend, ‘Dammit’ is characterised by its strong, repetitive punk riff. It’s no surprise that this was written in five minutes – it’s a very basic song. But in this case, basic is best, with the results being one hell of a punk rock anthem.
Guns N’ Roses – ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’
Axl Rose was upstairs and had overheard his fellow members of Guns N’ Roses jamming below. He took this opportunity to write lyrics, unbeknownst to the fact it was a jam for entertainment. It was at that moment, as a joke, that Slash improvised the world-famous riff that almost anyone can recognise. In a mere five minutes, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ was born.
Not much has to be said about the aftermath of the track’s release. It was the third single released from their 1987 debut Appetite For Destruction, which went on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide – providing Guns N’ Roses with the platform that would see them becoming one of the world’s best-selling bands.
Led Zeppelin – ‘Rock And Roll’
Whilst recording Led Zeppelin IV, the album that featured the epic ‘Stairway To Heaven’, rock gods Led Zeppelin struggled to complete the track ‘Four Sticks’.
According to singer Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham “did the [Little Richard’s ‘Keep A Knocking’] drum intro and we just followed on. I started doing pretty much that half of that riff you hear on ‘Rock And Roll’ and it was just that exciting so we thought, ‘Let’s work on this’.” In 15 minutes the entire song was completed and became the second track on the album.
Ray Charles – ‘What’d I Say’
A defining moment in the history of music: the day Ray Charles gave birth to soul. This groundbreaking track was no calculated move. ‘What’d I Say’ was a mere improvisation to fill some time at the end of a set that sparked a crowd reaction too hard for Charles to ignore.
The tune earned Ray his first gold record and heralded as one of the most influential tracks written today. All from a 1am time-filling improvisation housed in a smokey bar in 1958.
R.E.M. – ‘Losing My Religion’
If you only know one R.E.M. song, it’s probably this one. This Grammy award-winning tune was apparently written in ten minutes (TEN!) by guitarist Peter Buck while he was watching television. Having just bought a Mandolin, Buck had been recording himself practice. He states “there was a bunch of stuff that was really just me learning how to play mandolin, and then there’s what became ‘Losing My Religion’, and then a whole bunch more of me learning to play the mandolin”. Yep. Happens to us all the time.
Buck leaves us with some more inspiring words for any aspiring songwriters out there: “If a song takes more than 20 minutes to write, it probably wasn’t worth writing.” Ah well.
Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule – ‘I’m Real’
None can doubt the genius of Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule in this four minutes of pure glory. But the track itself took no more than triple the songs actual length to write! According to Ja Rule, the record was written in ‘literally 10, 15 minutes. Done deal.’
However, here we learn a lesson to take care when writing quickly – the use of the ‘n-word’ in the song sparked backlash amongst the African American community (due to Lopez’s Latino background). On the matter J-Lo had the following to say “The use of the word in the song – it was actually written by Ja Rule – it was not meant to be hurtful to anybody.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCkB4BcnzFE
The Rolling Stones – ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
Keith Richards has stated this quintessential Stones riff gained its origin in two minutes of Richard’s fooling about on an acoustic guitar before passing out in a hotel room in Florida, USA.
What a stroke of fateful genius those two minutes turned out to be. The track was the first Stones single to be released in the States, reaching number 1, and was their fourth single to chart number 1 in the UK. Too easy, Keef!
The Beastie Boys – ‘(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)’
In 1986, Beastie Boys sent a message out into the world – a message encouraging every person to fight for their right to party. From their debut album Licensed To Ill, this message – having taken form as a rap/rock delight – climbed to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It’s the song that many people associate with the band today… and it’s hard to fathom that the song was written in only five minutes on napkins.
Kanye West – ‘All Falls Down’
The College Dropout was the landmark debut record from Kanye West. Production of the record was said to stretch painfully over four years, yet Yeezy has quoted that the second single from the record ‘All Falls Down’ took him all of 15 minutes to throw down.
Beyoncé – ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’
The song with that dance was written in 20 minutes, according to hip-hop producer The-Dream. “When Bey came in, she had that smirk that I see when I know a record is happening,” Dream said. Taking that into consideration, Beyoncé probably knew that she’d be walking away with an armful of Grammy Awards, over 580 million views on YouTube and a track that would become one of the best of all time.
Still, we can’t go past that that time she lost to Taylor Swift at the MTV Awards, which resulted in a very interesting gate crash from Kanye West.
The Guess Who – ‘American Woman’
One of Canada’s greatest triumphs, The Guess Who, created ‘American Woman’ from a simple transition jam to vibe up the crowd between tracks. This instrumental intermission gained momentum to which Burton Cummings began improvising lyrics to fit the beat.
Legend goes that “a kid” was making a bootleg cassette-tape recording of the gig that the band demanded, and the rest is history. Almost no changes made to the original track, and a number 1 hit was born for the Winnipeg winners.
Adele – ‘Skyfall’
What hasn’t Adele achieved in her short career? The 29 year old has shattered just about every record necessary with just three albums. So it’s only natural that she drafted the opening theme track to one of the worlds greatest and most lucrative film franchises: James Bond in a scant 10 minutes. Yep, you read that correctly.
According to co-writer and producer Paul Epworth, the golden girl from Tottenham recovering from serious vocal chord crises, managed to put down the majority of ‘Skyfall’’s lyrics “within 10 minutes”. These mere 10 minutes earned Adele just a casual Golden Globe for Best Original Song… oh, and an Academy Award in the same field. She must have an awful full poolroom.
The Jam – ‘That’s Entertainment’
It’s interesting to hear that one of a band’s most popular tracks was written in 10 minutes. It’s even more interesting when you hear that same track was written when drunk. That’s what guitarist and vocalist Paul Weller is said to have done, writing ‘That’s Entertainment’ when coming home drunk after a night out at the pub. The song went on to be The Jam’s most recognised track, and was listed by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest songs of all-time.
Taylor Swift – ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’
Let’s face it; Taylor Swift is a hit-making machine. Swift’s fourth record Red was yet another annexation of charts across the globe, championed by leading single release ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’.
Swift’s inspiration was from seeing a friend of her ex-boyfriend who asked if she was getting back together with former flame. Well, Taylor certainly acted Swift upon hearing this. Guitar in hand, and 25 minutes later, Rolling Stone ‘s 2nd best song of 2012 was written.
U2 – ‘”40″’
Having overrun their time in the studio, U2 were on the verge of being thrown out by the studio manager. According to Bono, in the little time they had, the band wrote the track ‘”40″’ in 10 minutes – a song based on specific Psalms found in The Bible.
Featuring as the last track on their 1983 album War, ‘”40″’ is regarded highly for its reception whenever it is played live. The song has apparently been played over 400 times – a regular appearance as the closing song of U2 concerts worldwide.
