Bikers

‘Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out!’ - Leader of the Pack, The Shangri-Las

The ‘motorcycle death song’ is a sub-genre of popular music that has stood the test of time.

The romanticism of motorbikes and biking is deeply tied to freedom, rebellion, adventure, and individuality. Since the early 20th century, motorcycles have symbolised an untamed spirit, a rejection of conformity, and a longing for the open road.

Unlike cars, which enclose the driver, motorcycles expose the rider to the elements, making the experience more visceral and immersive.

Motorbikes have long been associated with outlaws, rebels, and nonconformists. Biker gangs, rockers, and even café racers embody a certain defiance against society’s norms.

The iconic, over-the-top world of motorbike death songs combines tragic love, roaring engines, and some deeply questionable decision-making. It’s musically ridiculous, melodramatic, and oddly entertaining.

Indeed, the genre also gives guitarists a solo chance to make their instrument sound like a roaring bike to dramatic effect. Morrissey’s Speedway is a great example of this musicianship.

A quick, grand tour.

‘Bat Out of Hell’ – Meat Loaf

The king of motorbike death anthems. This 10-minute rock opera doesn’t just feature a motorcycle crash—it turns it into Shakespearean tragedy.  Meat Loaf’s leather-clad hero is speeding ‘faster than any boy has ever gone’ when he… doesn’t quite make the turn. But don’t worry, his ghost watches his heart explode out of his body, ‘still beating’, like a bat out of hell.

‘Leader of the Pack’ – The Shangri-Las

A high-school romance so doomed it makes Romeo and Juliet look like a Hallmark card special. A girl falls for the bad boy on a motorbike, but her dad says no. The rebellious teen does what any rational person would do—drives off into the rain to prove a point and dies in a crash. The sound of screeching tires and a crash at the end is pure ’60s melodrama.

‘Tell Laura I Love Her’ – Ray Peterson

Poor Tommy just wants to win a stock car race so he can buy his girlfriend Laura a wedding ring. Naturally, he dies in a fiery crash instead, but at least he has time for a dying whisper: ‘Tell Laura I love her.’

‘Eddie’s Teddy’ – The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Not your typical motorbike death song, but a fun one, nonetheless. Eddie is a rebellious greaser who crashes into this musical for one rockabilly number before meeting his untimely demise.  Motorcycles are dangerous, but not as dangerous as cannibalistic alien scientists.

Lifestyle

These songs celebrate the thrill, freedom, and rebellion often associated with motorbikes and biker lifestyles

Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to be Wild’ is closely associated with the biker lifestyle, and this song was famously featured in the 1960s movie Easy Rider.

‘Ezy Ryder’, by Jimi Hendrix was inspired by the biker counterculture, this song captures a sense of freedom and rebellion.

And ‘Highway Star’, by Deep Purple is pure speed and adrenaline, with only a subtle undercurrent of imminent disaster.

As Bruce Springsteen put it, ‘just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims / And strap your hands ‘cross my engines’.  Who could resist?

The general recipe from Motorbike Death Songs seems to be:-

1) Speed kills: but at least it gives you time for a dramatic last line. 

2) Motorbikes + Young Love = Guaranteed tragedy.

3) Always check the curve ahead. Dead Man’s or otherwise.

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