5 Rock Songs About Love That Aged Terribly

Love songs are the ultimate declarations of the heart. They're meant to cut through life's noise and bluster to unleash true emotion. Even though rockers come across as wild and carefree, they adore a touching tribute and beautiful ballad as much as the next person. As a matter of fact, there's an argument to be made that the genre boasts the greatest love songs of all time. Seriously — just attend any wedding and see what plays over the first dance.

Now, before someone starts to make a mixtape for their significant other, let's hold the horses for a second and consider what songs are going into this compilation. Not every rock song about love has aged well — some of these numbers are pretty creepy and unsettling in retrospect. Look, times have changed and evolved, and not everything that was said or done in the '70s, '80s, or even the '90s is seen as okay nowadays. It's the same with TV shows and movies, as many of them contain themes and scenes that would be avoided in the modern era. So, yeah, maybe just take a pause and ponder before dedicating one of these five songs to that someone special in your life.

Mötley Crüe deals in controversy, but the rock band also knows how to pen songs that break through the bad-boy bravado and speak to the heart. Case in point: "Glitter," which is off the 1997 album, "Generation Swine." The track proved to be a departure from the group's traditional hard rock sound, utilizing synthesizers and electronic influences to carry the melancholic mood.

There's a belief that the song is about falling in love with an exotic dancer ("Glitter"). Whether that's true or not, the lyrics are poignant in the sense that vocalist Vince Neil sings about wanting to be with a person forever. It's a plea about giving the situationship a chance to work beyond merely the physical. That's something anyone can relate to, especially if there's uncertainty about where the relationship is going.

There's nothing too weird in "Glitter" until about halfway into the track when Neil sings, "This is fine for now, but maybe / Let's make a baby inside of you." Um, sorry, what now? According to the Crüe's logic, the solution to making a casual relationship last is by having a child together. Yeah, the red flags should be going up right now. It's a bizarre lyric that destroys an otherwise good love song.

KISS liked to sing songs about love, guns, and licking it up. But the band also tapped into its more emotional side with songs about what happens when a man loves a woman. For instance, "Forever" and "Beth" stand out as cherished and celebrated ballads that have brought together many couples. There's also another well-known song in the KISS discography that's supposed to be about matters of the heart, but it's aged about as well as a loaf of bread in the Sahara Desert.

"Christine Sixteen" is a single from the 1977 KISS album, "Love Gun." The title pretty much gives it away: It's a track about falling for a 16-year-old girl named Christine. Keep in mind that Gene Simmons, who wrote this track, released it when he was already in his late 20s.

The messed-up reality of this KISS song is that the lyrics grow more sinister as the track progresses. There's the line "I don't usually say things like this to girls your age," which expresses awareness that the age gap is a problem here. Then comes the creepy "she's young and clean" that only sends shudders down the spine about the singer's intentions with poor Christine. Gross.

One song that gets everyone footloose is the Knack's 1979 bopper "My Sharona," off the album "Get the Knack." It rocketed to the top of the charts, establishing itself as the Knack's most definitive track. Even to this day, it's the type of party starter to get everyone on the dance floor because of its bumping bassline and start-stop hooks. Remarkably, it's also a legendary song that took only minutes to write.

While it's clearly dedicated to someone named Sharona who stirred up all kinds of sensations, the undertone might be missed due to the upbeat nature of the composition. Especially the part where Doug Fieger makes inappropriate comments about the "younger kind." How young, you may ask?

"Sharona was 17," Fieger told The Washington Post. "I was 25 when I wrote the song. But the song was written from the perspective of a 14-year-old boy. It's just an honest song about a 14-year-old boy." Even though Fieger defended that the song was written from a boy's perspective, it doesn't wash away the ick of thinking that the origin of "My Sharona" is a grown man writing about what he wanted to do with a teenager.

What the heck was it with these rock bands and singing about young girls?! Another culprit was Winger with the single "Seventeen," which was off the glam group's eponymous 1988 debut album. Again, you don't have to dig too deep to know what the lyrics are about here: The pursuit of a 17-year-old girl, described as "love at first sight."

"When I wrote that song, I didn't even know that 17 was underage," singer Kip Winger told Metal Sludge. "I was just taking my cue from that Beatles line, 'She was just 17 and you know what I mean.' I was completely oblivious!" Despite the vocalist's defense of the song and the fact that the legal age of consent in Colorado (where Winger is from) is 17, remember that the lyrics also acknowledge "she's too young," but age isn't an issue. Let that sink in for a moment. While Winger officially retired from touring in 2025, imagine how weird it must have been to hear a 60-something-year-old man belting out a song about chasing after a teenage girl. It doesn't sit right.

Elvis Presley tapped into full rockabilly mode for the 1961 song "Little Sister." The track sees the King of Rock 'n' Roll croon about an ex's younger sister as they play a "will they, won't they" game about their relationship. Now, while the age of the little sister is never revealed in the lyrics, the musician sings about knowing her as a child and how he used to play with her pigtails, indicating there's a bit of an age disparity here.

Where "Little Sister" becomes particularly eerie is when you consider that Elvis met his future wife, Priscilla, when he was 24 years old and she was just 14. As per People, Priscilla confirmed that the pair kissed and dated around this time before marrying later on. This wasn't the only instance of Elvis chasing after someone younger, though, as it's become known that he liked to date young girls.

There's an argument to be made that times were different back then. Indeed, underage relationships were far more common and deemed socially acceptable. However, this doesn't take away from the fact that a track like "Little Sister," knowing what we do about Elvis nowadays, just feels off in the modern era.