50 Best Rock Songs About Fear
Best Rock Tracks on the Feeling of Fear
There’s a certain electricity that hits when fear creeps into music. It doesn’t have to be screaming horror movie fear either. Sometimes it’s the way a guitar riff scratches at your nerves or a singer strains like they’re hanging on for dear life. The kind of tracks that make your pulse pick up without you even noticing. That’s the strange magic of rock tapping into a feeling most people try to shake off but end up carrying around anyway. Some of these songs might not literally spell out fear in their lyrics, but the energy is unmistakable.
Think of how those moments actually land. A shadow in a hallway, headlights flooding the wrong part of the road, your phone buzzing at midnight when you didn’t want to hear from anyone. Rock captures that raw, jittery space with messy drums, uneven vocals, riffs that climb and never settle. It isn’t neat and it doesn’t wrap itself up for comfort. These tracks lean into the unease instead of smoothing it over. The mood might shift from whispered quiet to all-out chaos, but the thread running through is the same tension that makes you grip your chest without knowing why.
That’s what makes these songs linger. They echo that uneasy rush you try to ignore and crank it until you can’t. The same way pop, rock, country, and R&B songs take universal feelings and spin them in different directions, these tracks grab fear and turn it into something loud, strange, and unforgettable. Here are the best rock songs that channel fear.
Top 10 Rock Songs
1. 'Fear of the Dark' by Iron Maiden
2. 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica
3. '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' by Blue Öyster Cult
4. 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath
5. 'Numb' by Linkin Park
6. 'Run to the Hills' by Iron Maiden
7. 'I'm So Afraid' by Fleetwood Mac
8. 'Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)' by David Bowie
9. 'Fear of the Unknown' by Siouxsie and the Banshees
10. 'Drive' by Incubus
Rock and Alternative Fear Songs #11 to 20
11. 'Waves of Fear' by Lou Reed
12. 'Somebody's Watching Me' by Rockwell
13. 'Running Scared' by Roy Orbison
14. 'Paranoid Android' by Radiohead
15. 'Who Scared You' by The Doors
16. 'The Fear' by The Score
17. 'Stressed Out' by Twenty One Pilots
18. 'Lithium' by Nirvana
19. 'Broken' by Seether
20. 'The Sound of Silence' by Disturbed
Rock Music About Being Afraid #21 to 30
21. 'Fear Inoculum' by Tool
22. 'Guts Over Fear' by Eminem
23. 'The Fear' by Ben Howard
24. 'Afraid of Everyone' by The National
25. 'Manic Depression' by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
26. 'The Backseat' by The Gaslight Anthem
27. 'Welcome to My Nightmare' by Alice Cooper
28. 'Waving Through a Window' by Ben Platt
29. 'I Scare Myself' by Thomas Dolby
30. 'Living Dead Girl' by Rob Zombie
Rock Songs Addressing Fear and Anxiety #31 to 40
31. 'I Won't Back Down' by Tom Petty
32. 'Psychosocial' by Slipknot
33. 'Where Is My Mind?' by Pixies
34. 'Painkiller' by Judas Priest
35. 'Psychotic Reaction' by Count Five
36. 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police
37. 'Panic Attack' by Dream Theater
38. 'Cradle to the Grave' by The Rolling Stones
39. 'Creeping Death' by Metallica
40. 'Basket Case' by Green Day
Songs Exploring Themes of Fear #41 to 50
41. 'Frail Limb Nursery' by Slipknot
42. 'Adam's Song' by Blink-182
43. 'Keep Breathing' by Ingrid Michaelson
44. 'Burn the Witch' by Queens of the Stone Age
45. 'I Don't Care' by Apocalyptica featuring Adam Gontier
46. 'The Number of the Beast' by Iron Maiden
47. 'Scared' by Paul McCartney
48. 'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads
49. 'My Greatest Fear' by Benson Boone
50. 'I'm Afraid of Americans' by David Bowie
© 2025 Carson McQueen
