20 iconic rock songs written on the spot

Debi Doss/Hulton Archive // Getty Images It turns out that you can rush perfection. At least that was the case for the rock masterminds behind the Rolling Stones, the Police, and the Beatles, who all wrote some of their biggest hits on the spot. Some musical prodigies literally wrote hits in their sleep, like Keith Richards, Sting, and Paul McCartney. Other bangers emerged during practice sessions that turned fingerpicking riffs into songs that have endured throughout the decades like Kansas’ 1977 soft rock hit “Dust in the Wind.” Rock music, with its array of genres and ability to channel authentic emotions, is especially prime for spontaneous inspiration. Likewise, the most effective songwriting strategies vary widely: Guns N’ Roses completed “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in under a day, while “November Rain” reportedly took Axl Rose eight years to finish. Of course, each moment of musical inspiration is preceded by countless hours of practice and discipline. But in briefly trusting a creative impulse–and following where it leads–these artists topped Billboard charts, won Grammys, and earned their footholds in the annals of rock history. Consulting historical records, music charts, and magazine interviews, Stacker looked at 20 iconic rock songs written on the spot. ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ by the Rolling Stones Bettmann // Getty Images On May 7, 1965, Keith Richards laid the foundation for the Rolling Stones staple “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in what would be one of the most lucrative naps of his life. The riff apparently came to Richards in his sleep, and he awoke to record it and the primary lyric (“can’t get no satisfaction”) into a cassette player, according to InsideHook. “I wrote ‘Satisfaction’ in my sleep. I had no idea I’d written it,” Richards wrote in his 2010 autobiography, “Life.” Mick Jagger later filled in the gaps to complete the song that became the band’s first #1 hit, which spent four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and 14 weeks total on the charts. The song has since been covered by various artists, from Otis Redding to Dolly Parton and Aretha Franklin. The song was added to the National Recording Registry in 2006. ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles Les Lee/Express // Getty Images In one of the most covered songs ever, with over 1,600 recorded versions, Paul McCartney laments the loss of a relationship, yearning for the day before he caused its demise. According to his 1997 biography, “Many Years From Now,” the pop-rock song’s melody came to him in a dream while sleeping in his attic room. “I woke up with a lovely tune in my head,” he wrote. “I thought, ‘That’s great, I wonder what that is? There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of the bed by the window.” McCartney quickly worked out the tune on the keyboard and used the placeholder words “scrambled eggs” to solidify it in his memory. The finalized version spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and an additional seven weeks in lower positions on the chart. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1997 and was ranked #3 on the BMI’s “Top 100 Songs of the Century” in 1999. ‘My Generation’ by the Who