50 Best Rock Songs About Having a Crush

Rock Songs That Capture the Feeling of a Crush

There’s that strange pulse that hits when someone starts living rent-free in your head. It’s not exactly romantic, not exactly logical, just a jittery kind of spark that makes even the worst song on shuffle sound like a sign. You start catching yourself replaying lines, staring out car windows, trying to look like you’re not overthinking every text. The right rock track catches that buzz—half thrill, half chaos. It’s not smooth or cinematic. It’s the static before something maybe happens, the noise that fills the air before the words actually come out.

Some songs lean into the high of it all, loud and wide-eyed, like everything’s brighter for three minutes. Others lean the other way, scraping at the nerves that come with wanting something you can’t name out loud yet. A few of them weren’t even written with crushes in mind, but they hit that nerve anyway. It’s in the tone, the pause between verses, the slip in the voice when the lyrics stop trying to sound cool. That’s where the feeling hides.

These tracks land somewhere between adrenaline and embarrassment, where everything feels too big and too small at the same time. They sit in that half-smile space, where your chest feels tight for no good reason and you scroll back through someone’s Story again like that’ll explain anything. Some pull from pop, rock, country, and R&B songs that carry that same spark in different shapes, stitched together by the way they hum under your skin. Not every one is literally tied to the idea of a crush, but they still fit the mess of it. Here are the best rock songs for that dizzy, can’t-focus kind of feeling.

1. 'I Want You to Want Me' by Cheap Trick

2. 'Creep' by Radiohead

3. 'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus

4. 'Falling for You' by Weezer

5. 'I Want You Around' by The Ramones

6. 'Just a Girl' by No Doubt

7. 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police

8. 'To Be with You' by Mr. Big

9. 'Do I Wanna Know?' by Arctic Monkeys

10. 'Looking for a Love' by J. Geils Band

11. 'Black' by Pearl Jam

12. 'Waiting for a Girl Like You' by Foreigner

13. 'I Want the One I Can't Have' by The Smiths

14. 'Fade Away' by Bruce Springsteen

15. 'Heartbeat' by The Runaways

16. 'Let My Love Open the Door' by Pete Townshend

17. 'You Really Got Me' by The Kinks

18. 'I'll Follow You' by Shinedown

19. 'Something' by The Beatles

20. 'I Hate Myself for Loving You' by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

21. 'She Don't Know Me' by Bon Jovi

22. 'Doll Parts' by Hole

23. 'Head Over Heels' by Tears for Fears

24. 'Why Bother?' by Weezer

25. 'Pictures of You' by The Cure

26. 'Only the Lonely' by The Motels

27. 'Everyday' by Buddy Holly

28. 'True Love Is Hard to Find' by Bonnie Raitt

29. 'I Can't Own Her' by XTC

30. 'Love Fool' by The Cardigans

31. 'Girl Afraid' by The Smiths

32. 'El Scorcho' by Weezer

33. 'You' by Candlebox

34. 'Layla' by Derek and the Dominos

35. 'The Captain of Her Heart' by Double

36. 'Hey Jealousy' by Gin Blossoms

37. 'Searching' by Lynyrd Skynyrd

38. 'Looking for Love' by Whitesnake

39. 'She's Only 18' by Red Hot Chili Peppers

40. 'I May Not Be Your Kind' by Garland Jeffreys

41. 'Miss World' by Hole

42. 'Hello, It's Me' by Todd Rundgren

43. 'Kiss Me' by Sixpence None The Richer

44. 'If You Want Me to Stay' by Sly and the Family Stone

45. 'All the Young Dudes' by Mott the Hoople

46. 'Just My Imagination' by The Temptations

47. 'Crazy' by Nine Days

48. 'Just Like Heaven' by The Cure

49. 'Love Will Keep Us Together' by Captain & Tennille

50. 'I Can't Make You Love Me' by Bonnie Raitt