50 Best Rock Songs About Fallen Soldiers

There’s a heaviness that hangs around songs tied to fallen soldiers. It’s not pride alone, not pure grief either, but some jagged middle ground that cracks open when the right track plays. You hear the strain in the vocals, the stomp of a drum that sounds closer to a march than a beat, and suddenly the weight of absence pulls closer. Some of these tracks were written straight from loss, while others circle the same territory without spelling it out, yet the emotion lands in the same place.

Plenty of artists in pop, rock, country, and R&B songs have taken their own way into that space. Sometimes it’s through plainspoken storytelling, sometimes it’s a wall of guitar distortion that feels like rage without direction. There are even songs that never mention war or soldiers at all, yet the mood locks in perfectly with the ache of memory, the kind that flickers in old photos and folded letters. These tracks hold the silence between words when no one knows what to say.

You won’t find clean closure in this kind of music. What you find are voices that stumble, riffs that push back, and lyrics that cling to ghosts long after the world has moved on. It’s messy, imperfect, but it mirrors the way loss really sits with people. Here are the best rock songs for fallen soldiers.

1. 'One' by Metallica

2. 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath

3. 'Fortunate Son' by Creedence Clearwater Revival

4. 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden

5. 'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits

6. 'Zombie' by The Cranberries

7. 'Rooster' by Alice in Chains

8. 'The Unknown Soldier' by The Doors

9. 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones

10. 'The General' by Dispatch

11. 'Disposable Heroes' by Metallica

12. 'Run to the Hills' by Iron Maiden

13. 'I'm Not Gonna Miss You' by Glen Campbell

14. 'In Loving Memory' by Alter Bridge

15. 'Tears in Heaven' by Eric Clapton

16. 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas

17. 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' by Bob Dylan

18. 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd

19. 'Comfortably Numb' by Pink Floyd

20. 'The Day That Never Comes' by Metallica

21. 'Back in Black' by AC/DC

22. 'Hero of the Day' by Metallica

23. 'Holiday' by Green Day

24. 'Born in the U.S.A.' by Bruce Springsteen

25. 'Unbroken' by Bon Jovi

26. 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' by Iron Maiden

27. 'Aces High' by Iron Maiden

28. 'A Tout Le Monde' by Megadeth

29. 'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due' by Megadeth

30. 'Soldier Side' by System of a Down

31. 'War Ensemble' by Slayer

32. 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica

33. 'Cemetery Gates' by Pantera

34. 'The Unforgiven' by Metallica

35. 'Heaven Was Needing a Hero' by Jo Dee Messina

36. 'The Frayed Ends of Sanity' by Metallica

37. 'A Soldier's Poem' by Pearl Jam

38. 'The Call of Ktulu' by Metallica

39. 'Fade to Black' by Metallica

40. 'Hangar 18' by Megadeth

41. 'Fade to Black' by Dire Straits

42. 'The Price' by Twisted Sister

43. 'Simple Man' by Lynyrd Skynyrd

44. 'Soldier of Fortune' by Deep Purple

45. 'The Thin Line Between Love and Hate' by The Pretenders

46. 'Mama I'm Coming Home' by Ozzy Osbourne

47. 'In The End' by Linkin Park

48. 'Sound of Silence' by Simon & Garfunkel

49. 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place' by The Animals

50. 'Always With Me, Always With You' by Joe Satriani