50 Best Rock Songs About Broken Promises

Great Rock Tracks That Capture the Pain of Broken Promises

There’s a strange ache that comes with realizing a promise has slipped through someone’s fingers. It’s not clean anger, not clean heartbreak either, but something messier that keeps looping in your head at three in the morning. Rock songs have a way of pulling that tangle into sound, guitars howling like slammed doors, vocals fraying at the edges. Some of these tracks spill straight-out betrayal, while others circle the feeling without naming it, the kind of thing that hits harder because it never quite says what went wrong.

The thing with this theme is that it stretches wider than you’d expect. A track might not literally spell out a broken vow, but it still carries that same sting, the sense of being left holding pieces of something you didn’t drop. A chorus can feel like a fight replayed over and over, a riff can land like a sigh you didn’t realize you’d been holding. That’s why these songs sit alongside pop, rock, country, and R&B songs on playlists even if the lyrics aren’t perfectly on the nose. It’s about the mood they capture, not the checklist they meet.

Some of these songs lean dramatic and raw, others smolder quietly until they finally burst. A few have been soundtracking messy breakups for decades, while newer ones are finding their place in late-night playlists and Instagram reels. These tracks tap into disappointment, defiance, and the blurry space between love and resentment. Here are the best rock songs that channel the feeling of broken promises.

1. 'Promises Broken' by Soul Asylum

2. 'Your Betrayal' by Bullet for My Valentine

3. 'I Don't Care Anymore' by Phil Collins

4. 'You Give Love a Bad Name' by Bon Jovi

5. 'Backstreets' by Bruce Springsteen

6. 'Go Your Own Way' by Fleetwood Mac

7. 'I'm Losing You' by Rod Stewart

8. 'Your Time Is Gonna Come' by Led Zeppelin

9. 'Found Out About You' by Gin Blossoms

10. 'Liar' by Queen

11. 'You Oughta Know' by Alanis Morissette

12. 'Operator' by Jim Croce

13. 'I Miss the Misery' by Halestorm

14. 'Betrayed' by Avenged Sevenfold

15. 'Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinéad O'Connor

16. 'The Boxer' by Simon & Garfunkel

17. 'You're So Vain' by Carly Simon

18. 'I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone' by The Monkees

19. 'Walk' by Pantera

20. 'Somebody That I Used to Know' by Gotye

21. 'Linger' by The Cranberries

22. 'Rolling in the Deep' by Adele

23. 'Lyin' Eyes' by Eagles

24. 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around' by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty

25. 'Cheater' by Judas Priest

26. 'Heartless' by Kanye West

27. 'Dirty Work' by Steely Dan

28. 'Torn To Pieces' by Pop Evil

29. 'I Will Always Love You' by Dolly Parton

30. 'The Thunder Rolls' by Garth Brooks

31. 'Promises' by The Buzzcocks

32. 'This Love' by Pantera

33. 'Don't Come Around Here No More' by Tom Petty

34. 'The Bleeding' by Five Finger Death Punch

35. 'Snuff' by Slipknot

36. 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' by Marvin Gaye

37. 'Cry Me a River' by Justin Timberlake

38. 'You're a Lie' by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy

39. 'Broken Promises' by Survivor

40. 'My Best Friend's Girl' by The Cars

41. 'It's Too Late' by Carole King

42. 'Adam's Song' by Blink-182

43. 'You Don't Know How It Feels' by Tom Petty

44. 'Soldier of Broken Promises' by The Mission

45. 'She's Gone' by Hall and Oates

46. 'Hey Hey What Can I Do' by Led Zeppelin

47. 'Everybody Finds Out' by Fleetwood Mac

48. 'The Circle is Small' by Gordon Lightfoot

49. 'Love Bites' by Def Leppard

50. 'I Don't Love You' by My Chemical Romance