4 Rock Songs That Will Remind You of Your First Real Love (Or Heartbreak)

The lessons we learn about love and heartbreak can feel intense and visceral when we’re young and ill-equipped to handle such big emotions responsibly. And in those passionate and extreme moments, sometimes music is the only thing that can separate us from our emotions enough to view them objectively. Even once we gain the benefits of age and hindsight, music serves to untangle our complex feelings into something manageable.

These five rock songs capture those naive, hopeful, and acute emotions surrounding the first real love—and, unless you’re exceptionally lucky, the first real heartache—we experienced in our younger years.

“Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac had no shortage of wistful, yearning rock songs about love and relationships. Among Stevie Nicks’ contributions to the category, “Gypsy” is one of the best. Nicks wrote the song while reflecting on her younger years with bandmate and former partner, Lindsey Buckingham. The nostalgia is palpable and inevitably bleeds over into our own lives, conjuring images and memories specific to us.

“So, I’m back to the velvet underground / back to the floor that I love / To a room with some lace and paper flowers / back to the gypsy that I was.”

“More Than A Feeling” by Boston

Part of what made relationships in our youth so intense is that, by and large, life hadn’t given us chips on our shoulders yet. Things still felt hopeful, like you could accomplish anything. Moreover, it was easy to believe that everything we were feeling at any given moment was absolutely correct and would last forever. Can you imagine if you had the life you thought you would have when you were fifteen? 

“So many people have come and gone / Their faces fade as the years go by / Yet, I still recall as I wander on / As clear as the sun in the summer sky.”

“Thirteen” by Big Star

A softer offering from the Memphis rock ‘n’ rollers Big Star that inevitably conjures images of young love is “Thirteen”. The song is simple and straightforward, allowing the relatable lyrics to shine. Most of us can think back to a relationship that was rooted almost exclusively in mutual favorite things and hand-holding. It was innocent and sweet and never meant to be anything but just that.

“Won’t you let me walk you home from school? / Won’t you let me meet you at the pool? / Maybe Friday I can get tickets for the dance, and I’ll take you.”

“The Boys Of Summer” by Don Henley

It doesn’t get much more nostalgic than Don Henley’s lost-love anthem, “The Boys Of Summer”. Young summer romances are a cliché in pop culture for a reason. When you’re a kid, meeting someone outside the realm of your normal life is a thrill. The fact that you know your time together will end so soon makes it all the more imperative that you spend as much time together as possible.

“I thought I knew what love was, what did I know? / Those days are gone forever, I should just let ‘em go / But I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun.”

Photo by Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images