50 Best Rock Songs About Police
Best Rock Tracks on Police and Authority
There’s a strange tension that comes with songs circling police themes. Sometimes the music leans heavy with frustration, other times it feels half-sarcastic, or it runs hot with raw defiance. The riffs grind, the drums rattle, and you can hear that clash between control and resistance in the sound itself. Not every track lines up word for word with sirens or uniforms, but the energy still hits the same nerve. It’s the way pop, rock, country, and R&B songs can all collide in this space where authority is being questioned or mocked, and rock tends to strip away the gloss until it’s sharp enough to sting.
The thing is, no two songs land the same. One artist turns police into a symbol of power gone off the rails. Another plays it like theater, turning the image into something cartoonish and ridiculous. Then you get tracks that feel like they’re caught in the middle, unsure if they’re laughing, raging, or both. The rawness sticks around because these songs aren’t trying to smooth over the mess. They pull out the volume and sit in the noise, and that’s where the real bite comes through.
It’s not always direct commentary either. Some tracks wander into storytelling, where the police show up as part of a bigger backdrop of chaos or rebellion. Others throw the idea into a hook and ride the groove without caring how literal it sounds. That’s what makes this playlist work, because it thrives on that mix of direct anger, sideways jokes, and accidental anthems that somehow catch the mood. Here are the best rock songs on police that lock into that feeling.
Top 10 Police Rock Songs
1. 'I Fought the Law' by The Clash
2. 'Killing in the Name' by Rage Against the Machine
3. 'Police on My Back' by The Clash
4. 'Cop Killer' by Body Count
5. 'Police Truck' by Dead Kennedys
6. 'The Guns of Brixton' by The Clash
7. 'Anarchy in the U.K.' by Sex Pistols
8. 'White Riot' by The Clash
9. 'Street Fighting Man' by The Rolling Stones
10. 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones
Rock Music on Law and Order #11 to 20
11. 'Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2' by Pink Floyd
12. 'My Generation' by The Who
13. 'For What It's Worth' by Buffalo Springfield
14. 'Ohio' by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
15. 'Another One Bites the Dust' by Queen
16. 'Jailbreak' by Thin Lizzy
17. 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden
18. 'Prisoner of Society' by The Living End
19. 'Janie's Got a Gun' by Aerosmith
20. 'Break on Through (To the Other Side)' by The Doors
Songs About Police and Crime #21 to 30
21. 'Rebel Yell' by Billy Idol
22. 'Breaking the Law' by Judas Priest
23. 'I Shot the Sheriff' by Bob Marley and the Wailers
24. 'Bullet the Blue Sky' by U2
25. 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' by U2
26. 'Cops and Robbers' by The Pop Group
27. 'Johnny Hit and Run Paulene' by X
28. 'A Punk' by Vampire Weekend
29. 'Caught by the Fuzz' by Supergrass
30. 'Pressure Drop' by Toots and the Maytals
Musical Pieces on Rebellion #31 to 40
31. 'Revolution' by The Beatles
32. 'The Regulator' by Bad Brains
33. 'We're Not Gonna Take It' by Twisted Sister
34. 'Bad to the Bone' by George Thorogood & The Destroyers
35. 'God Save the Queen' by Sex Pistols
36. 'Sound of da Police' by KRS-One
37. 'Institutionalized' by Suicidal Tendencies
38. 'The Badge' by Poison Idea
39. 'Johnny Law' by Dropkick Murphys
40. 'Let's Kill All the Cops' by MDC
Anthems on Confronting the System #41 to 50
41. 'Fascist Cops' by The Kids
42. 'Police Story' by Black Flag
43. 'The Authority Song' by John Mellencamp
44. 'Pigs Will Pay' by Propagandhi
45. 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' by Bob Dylan
46. 'Rebel, Rebel' by David Bowie
47. 'Fight the Power' by Public Enemy
48. 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' by Gil Scott-Heron
49. 'Walk' by Pantera
50. 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police
© 2025 Carson McQueen
