5 Old-School Songs About Life On The Road

by Shawn Loeffler

Being away from home for extended periods of time is tough. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Service Member, in the Peace Corps, a candidate on the presidential trail, a kid off at college, or a band on tour performing night after night, it’s tough.

Being a band on tour, according to the plethora of songs that emerged during the era, was especially arduous during the 1980s. Right? Doing what you love to do in front of thousands of adoring fans for months at a time, girls throwing themselves at you, all the drugs and booze you could ask for, all the free swag coming your way, endorsement contracts and signature series…

The ‘80s, as legend has it, was the golden era for a successful band on tour. At the time, labels poured tons of money into a revenue-generating tour machine, and sometimes even would keep a lead singer out of jail for manslaughter charges (that’s you Vince Neil). On the other side of the coin, while labels provided a lifestyle that would make Bob Guccione Jr. envious, labels pushed bands hard to produce hit singles, to look a certain way, and to make money. It was a vicious cycle that often stripped bands of their “artistic freedoms” and forced them to write some female-friendly material, no matter how much we loved the end product as fans.

It’s only natural that our heart-heavy, road-weary rock idols would bear their souls to us about their hardships on the road. Cheesy or kickass, the following five songs epitomize a rock star’s life on the road.

No.5 “Hellraiser” – Ozzy Osbourne

“Hellraiser” appeared on Ozzy’s 1991 album, No More Tears, and was written by Ozzy, Zakk Wylde, and Lemmy Kilmister. In fact, Motörhead also record the track for their 1992 album, March ör Die, and was used for the movie Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.

At the end of the day though, Ozzy isn’t complaining about being on the road and away from loved ones, he instead embraces it.

No.4 “Beth” – KISS

If KISS’ 1975 live album, Alive! was the band’s launching pad, it was “Beth” from 1976’s Destroyer that catapulted the them into the stratosphere. The album’s Peter Criss, Stan Penridge, and Bob Ezrin-written track, “Beth,” did this by broadening the fan base to include girls.