100 Best Songs About Outlaws and Rebels
Songs that Channel the Spirit of Rule Breakers and Runaways
There’s something in the outlaw mindset that doesn’t clean up well. You can’t romanticize it without lying a little. It’s raw-knuckled and half-lost and often louder than it should be. Think of the loners who bail on town with one bag and no plan, the crews that start fights they can’t finish, the people who never quite fit clean into their zip code. There’s tension in their freedom, a weight to the drifting. These are the characters soundtracked not by sweeping ballads but by the thrum of boots on pavement, the rattle of an engine that might not start tomorrow.
This isn’t the kind of rebellion that gets packaged up as cute or clever. It's the version that leaks out of sticky bar booths and cracked iPhone speakers, half-sung and overheard. Sometimes it's swagger and sometimes it’s wreckage, but there’s no pretending it's polished. Pop, rock, country, and R&B songs have all circled this same restlessness in different accents. Some of these voices sound like they’ve been on the run forever. Others sound like they’re revving up for it. They don’t explain their choices. They don’t apologize, either.
You hear it in the tension between the verses. That low growl of someone who’s been told “no too many times and finally let the fuse burn down. Not every song here comes from a literal outlaw. But they all hum with that defiance you can’t fake. The following tracks carry that streak of trouble that doesn’t ask permission and wouldn’t care if it did—here’s a playlist that runs with the rebels.
Top 10 Outlaw Songs
1. 'Folsom Prison Blues'—Johnny Cash
2. 'Mama Tried'—Merle Haggard
3. 'I Fought the Law'—The Clash
4. 'Rebel Rebel'—David Bowie
5. 'We're Not Gonna Take It'—Twisted Sister
6. 'Killing in the Name'—Rage Against the Machine
7. 'Fortunate Son'—Creedence Clearwater Revival
8. 'God Save the Queen'—Sex Pistols
9. 'Street Fighting Man'—The Rolling Stones
10. 'Born to Run'—Bruce Springsteen
Rebellious Spirit Music #11—30
11. 'I Want to Break Free'—Queen
12. 'Free Bird'—Lynyrd Skynyrd
13. 'Run the World (Girls)'—Beyoncé
14. 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2'—Pink Floyd
15. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'—Nirvana
16. 'Won't Get Fooled Again'—The Who
17. 'Highway to Hell'—AC/DC
18. 'Break On Through (To the Other Side)'—The Doors
19. 'Baba O'Riley'—The Who
20. 'Blowin' in the Wind'—Bob Dylan
21. 'Respect'—Aretha Franklin
22. 'The Times They Are a-Changin''—Bob Dylan
23. 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'—U2
24. 'What's Going On'—Marvin Gaye
25. 'For What It's Worth'—Buffalo Springfield
26. 'Ohio'—Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
27. 'War'—Edwin Starr
28. 'Redemption Song'—Bob Marley & The Wailers
29. 'Get Up, Stand Up'—Bob Marley & The Wailers
30. 'American Idiot'—Green Day
Songs About Defiance #31—50
31. 'I Won't Back Down'—Tom Petty
32. 'Rebel Girl'—Bikini Kill
33. 'Shotgun Willie'—Willie Nelson
34. 'Ladies Love Outlaws'—Waylon Jennings
35. 'The Highwayman'—The Highwaymen
36. 'Pancho and Lefty'—Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard
37. 'Whiskey River'—Willie Nelson
38. 'Cocaine Blues'—Johnny Cash
39. 'Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand'—Waylon Jennings
40. 'Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way'—Waylon Jennings
41. 'Long Haired Country Boy'—Charlie Daniels Band
42. 'I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)'—Johnny Paycheck
43. 'My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys'—Willie Nelson
44. 'Good Hearted Woman'—Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
45. 'I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink'—Merle Haggard
46. 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain'—Willie Nelson
47. 'Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)'—Waylon Jennings
48. 'Amanda'—Waylon Jennings
49. 'Guitars, Cadillacs'—Dwight Yoakam
50. 'Copperhead Road'—Steve Earle
Music for the Rebellious Soul #51—75
51. 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'—Gil Scott-Heron
52. 'Fight the Power'—Public Enemy
53. 'Alright'—Kendrick Lamar
54. 'Fuck tha Police'—N.W.A.
55. 'This Is America'—Childish Gambino
56. 'Miss Independent'—Kelly Clarkson
57. 'Born in the U.S.A.'—Bruce Springsteen
58. 'Rockin' in the Free World'—Neil Young
59. 'Wind of Change'—Scorpions
60. 'Free Fallin''—Tom Petty
61. 'Freedom! '90'—George Michael
62. 'A Change Is Gonna Come'—Sam Cooke
63. 'Imagine'—John Lennon
64. 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free'—Nina Simone
65. 'This Land Is Your Land'—Woody Guthrie
66. 'We Shall Overcome'—Pete Seeger
67. 'Chimes of Freedom'—Bob Dylan
68. 'The House of the Rising Sun'—The Animals
69. 'Sympathy for the Devil'—The Rolling Stones
70. 'Bad Moon Rising'—Creedence Clearwater Revival
71. 'Jolene'—Dolly Parton
72. 'Ring of Fire'—Johnny Cash
73. 'Big River'—Johnny Cash
74. 'Me and Bobby McGee'—Janis Joplin
75. 'Travelin' Man'—Ricky Nelson
Independent Spirit Music #76—100
76. 'Hit the Road Jack'—Ray Charles
77. 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin''—Nancy Sinatra
78. 'Walk This Way'—Run-DMC ft. Aerosmith
79. 'Vagabond'—Wolfmother
80. 'Running on Empty'—Jackson Browne
81. 'On the Road Again'—Willie Nelson
82. 'Ramblin' Man'—The Allman Brothers Band
83. 'The Wanderer'—Dion
84. 'Born to Be Wild'—Steppenwolf
85. 'Wild Thing'—The Troggs
86. 'Bad to the Bone'—George Thorogood & The Destroyers
87. 'Wanted Dead or Alive'—Bon Jovi
88. 'Living on a Prayer'—Bon Jovi
89. 'Sweet Home Alabama'—Lynyrd Skynyrd
90. 'Simple Man'—Lynyrd Skynyrd
91. 'Hotel California'—Eagles
92. 'Free Bird'—Lynyrd Skynyrd
93. 'Bohemian Rhapsody'—Queen
94. 'Stairway to Heaven'—Led Zeppelin
95. 'Hells Bells'—AC/DC
96. 'Highway Star'—Deep Purple
97. 'Ace of Spades'—Motörhead
98. 'Anarchy in the U.K.'—Sex Pistols
99. 'London Calling'—The Clash
100. 'Should I Stay or Should I Go'—The Clash
© 2025 Carson McQueen
