When you first listen to Pearl Jam’s hit 1991 song “Alive,” it sounds like an anthem of inspiration and perseverance against all odds. The band’s legendary lead singer, Eddie Vedder, shouts out, “Yeah, yeah I, oh, I’m still alive,” with his unique voice and a heartfelt passion that just makes you want to keep on playing the song on repeat. But when digging a little deeper, we learn that the song has a backstory behind it that very few know about.
As it turns out, the song was written by Vedder after he discovered, as a teenager, that the man he had believed to be his father all those years wasn’t his biological father – who had actually passed away years ago. As Vedder explained to Rolling Stone magazine in an interview, when talking about the guy in the song (himself), “He’s still dealing with love, he’s still dealing with the death of his father. All he knows is ‘I’m still alive”.
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day
In 2004, Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" became a huge hit. However, many people completely misunderstood the song's meaning. Since the song was the eleventh track on Green Day's American Idiot album, which was greatly influenced by and made reference to 9/11, people believed the song had a strong political meaning.
What's more, the song's video theme was a War. Nonetheless, "Wake Me Up When September Ends" had nothing to do with politics and was actually a tribute to lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong's father, who died when he was seven years old.
"Closing Time" by Semisonic
"Closing Time" is another one of those songs that basically became a trademark for bars that wanted to "politely" kick people out when it was time to close. And while it does make sense that this Semisonic song became synonymous with a 'last call' anthem, since it is about people leaving a bar at 'closing time,' it has another, entirely different meaning.
The band's drummer, Jacob Slichter, once said that "Closing Time," written by lead singer Dan Wilson, was about Wilson's "anticipation of fatherhood." Apparently, his girlfriend was pregnant at the time, and he meant for the song to be about "being sent forth from the womb as if by a bouncer clearing out a bar." However, the band quickly realized and understood that audiences would logically think the song was about a bar at closing time.
"Just Like Heaven" by The Cure
The 80s wouldn't have been the same without The Cure, and it's no surprise that "Just Like Heaven," released in 1987, became one of their most popular songs. Although it sounds like your typical love song, the band's lead singer, Robert Smith, said there was something more complex behind the tune.
Smith explained that "the song is about hyperventilating—kissing and fainting to the floor,” and that some lyrics were actually based on his childhood memories of trying to learn and master magic tricks when he was young. Furthermore, Smith has said that “on another level, it’s about a seduction trick, from much later in my life.”
"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams
Contrary to what many people might think, "Summer of '69" is not a nostalgic love tribute to the magical summer of 1969. The famous "Summer of '69" song, which was actually released in 1984, was not based on its writers, Canadian singer Bryan Adams and friend Jim Vallance's experiences as teenagers in '69, which should've been quite obvious to most listeners, since Adams was barely 9 years old in 1969.
Although the song does make some references to the musicians' personal lives, Adams explained that the '69 actually referred to the 69' position.