Our new range for The Merry Wives of Windsor was inspired by classic heavy metal band t-shirts of the 1990s, but how has the Bard influenced rock and metal bands over the last few decades?
From Iron Maiden to Linkin Park, Shakespeare’s words have found their way into songs performed by a wide range of rock and metal bands - and he has even found his way into a song by the new queen of pop, Taylor Swift. Let us take you on a short (and by no means exhaustive) tour of how Shakespeare seriously rocks!
Iconic British rock band the Beatles released ‘I Am the Walrus’ as the B-side to the single ‘Hello, Goodbye’ in 1967. The voices at the end of this song come from a BBC broadcast of Shakespearean tragedy, King Lear. John Lennon heard the radio broadcast and decided to mix parts of it into the song. The BBC banned the song shortly after its release.
The first of our rock references to Shakespeare’s tragic tale of star-crossed love, Romeo & Juliet comes from British rock band, Dire Straits. "Romeo and Juliet" appeared on the 1980 album Making Movies and was released as a single in 1981. The lyrics of the song describe the experience of two young lovers in a down-at-heel neighbourhood, and hint at a situation that saw "Juliet" abandon her "Romeo" after finding fame and moving up in the world.
“A lovestruck Romeo sang the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made”
Canadian progressive rock band Rush released ‘Limelight’ in 1981 as the lead single from their album, Moving Pictures. The song paraphrases the opening lines of the "The Seven Ages of Man" monologue from Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It.
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players…”
British metal band, Iron Maiden, have released two tracks with Shakespearean influences. ‘The Ides of March’ is an instrumental track that appeared on the band’s second album Killers (released in 1981). It is arguably a reference to the line "Beware the Ides of March", a warning given to Caesar by a soothsayer, who foresees his death on that day, and which appears in Act 1 of Shakespeare’s history play, Julius Caesar. Iron Maiden again reference Julius Caesar with their seventeenth single, ‘The Evil That Men Do’, which appears on the album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (released in 1988). The title of the song is taken from Marcus Antonius's speech while addressing the crowd of Romans after Caesar's murder in Act 3 of the play:
"The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones."
Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson would sometimes repeat these lines before playing the song in live performances, but with the order of the clauses reversed.
American rock band, Bon Jovi had a huge hit in 1994 with their soft-rock ballad, ‘Always’, which appeared on the band’s first official greatest hits compilation, Crossroads. The song draws on Romeo & Juliet for lyrical inspiration.
“This Romeo is bleedin', but you can't see his blood”
American metal gods, Metallica, released their single ‘King Nothing’ in 1997. The track featured on the band’s sixth studio album Load. The track references two Shakespearean tragedies, King Lear and Macbeth.
Where’s your crown,
King Nothing?
Where’s your crown?
British rock band Arctic Monkeys released ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ in 2005 as the debut single from their debut studio album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. Although the song doesn’t mention Romeo or Juliet by name it takes inspiration from the star-crossed lover’s families, with the Montagues and Capulets getting a dancefloor mention in the bridge.
“Oh, there ain't no love, no Montagues or Capulets
Just banging tunes and DJ sets and
Dirty dance floors and dreams of naughtiness”
British folk rock band Mumford & Sons released their debut album Sigh no More in 2009. The title track on the album takes its name from Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, and many of the lines in the song reference dialogue between the main protagonists in the play, Beatrice and Benedick.
“Sigh no more, no more
One foot in sea, one on shore”
American nu-metal band, Linkin Park recently made a comeback with ‘Heavy is the Crown’, the second single from their 2024 album, From Zero. The title of the song is a misquote of the line "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown", from Shakespeare's history play Henry IV, Part 2.
Here at the Globe, we’ve always known that Shakespeare rocks and it’s good to see some giants of the music world agree! Oh, and one for the Swifties out there - Taylor Swift hit, ‘Love Story’, the lead single from her second studio album, Fearless (released in 2008).
“You were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles,
and my daddy said, ‘Stay away from Juliet'”
An obvious reference to Shakespeare’s doomed lovers, but in Taylor’s version, we get a happy ending!
Written by Meghan (Head of Retail)
