50 Best Rock Songs About Memorial Day
Best Rock Tracks to Play on Memorial Day
There’s a strange quiet that hits before a long Memorial Day weekend. The cookouts and parades get all the noise, but in between the fireworks and chatter, there’s a pause that sits heavy in the air. Someone turns up the radio, and the right song cuts through that silence. The kind that makes you stare out the window for a second too long before snapping back. These tracks don’t force nostalgia. They let it roll slow, like a summer afternoon that can’t decide if it’s happy or haunted.
Some of these tracks were never written for the holiday at all, but they still fit the space it leaves behind. The ache in a Springsteen riff. The way Pearl Jam or Foo Fighters can sound wide open and bruised at the same time. There’s a certain kind of rock that doesn’t tell you what to feel—it gives you the room to figure it out yourself. The guitars hit loud, but something in the lyrics hangs back, watching. Even songs from pop, rock, country, and R&B playlists end up here, caught in that mix of gratitude, loss, and the weird kind of peace that follows.
These songs trace the edges of memory instead of filling them in. You can feel the weight of time in the choruses, the kind that makes people close their eyes without realizing. Some tracks crackle like bonfire smoke, others drift like the last light of the day. Not every song will name the moment, but they all carry its pulse. Here are the best rock songs for Memorial Day.
Top 10 Memorial Day Rock Songs
1. 'Fortunate Son' by Creedence Clearwater Revival
2. 'Born in the U.S.A.' by Bruce Springsteen
3. 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden
4. 'One' by Metallica
5. 'A Warrior's Call' by Volbeat
6. 'Run Through the Jungle' by Creedence Clearwater Revival
7. 'Peace of Mind' by Boston
8. 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)' by Green Day
9. 'Invisible Sun' by The Police
10. 'American Soldier' by Toby Keith
Best Rock Songs About War and Remembrance #11 to 20
11. 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' by Iron Maiden
12. 'Cemetery Gates' by Pantera
13. 'Zombie' by The Cranberries
14. 'Red' by Sammy Hagar
15. 'Simple Man' by Lynyrd Skynyrd
16. 'Where Have All the Good Times Gone?' by The Kinks
17. 'Wake Up' by Arcade Fire
18. 'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits
19. 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath
20. 'The Sound of Silence' by Simon & Garfunkel
Classic Rock Songs for Reflecting on Service #21 to 30
21. 'A Change Is Gonna Come' by Sam Cooke
22. 'Blowin' in the Wind' by Bob Dylan
23. 'The Last Goodbye' by The Kills
24. 'Comfortably Numb' by Pink Floyd
25. 'Hotel California' by Eagles
26. 'In the Air Tonight' by Phil Collins
27. 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd
28. 'Paint It Black' by The Rolling Stones
29. 'For What It's Worth' by Buffalo Springfield
30. 'The River' by Bruce Springsteen
Hard Rock Songs Honoring Veterans and Patriotism #31 to 40
31. 'Baba O'Riley' by The Who
32. 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones
33. 'Where the Streets Have No Name' by U2
34. 'All Along the Watchtower' by Jimi Hendrix
35. 'The Times They Are a-Changin'' by Bob Dylan
36. 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC
37. 'Fire and Rain' by James Taylor
38. 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC
39. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen
40. 'My Generation' by The Who
Popular Rock Songs About Sacrifice and Loss #41 to 50
41. 'Stairway to Heaven' by Led Zeppelin
42. 'Dream On' by Aerosmith
43. 'Don't Stop Believin'' by Journey
44. 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd
45. 'Hotel Illness' by The Black Crowes
46. 'Layla' by Derek and the Dominos
47. 'With or Without You' by U2
48. 'Sweet Child o' Mine' by Guns N' Roses
49. 'Kryptonite' by 3 Doors Down
50. 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas
© 2025 Carson McQueen
