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3 Pop Songs From the 1990s That Borrowed More From Classic Rock Than Anyone Realized
An American Songwriter feature highlights three 1990s pop hits whose sound owes a significant, often unnoticed, debt to classic rock. The piece argues that beneath their radio-friendly production, these songs share the melodic and instrumental DNA of rock music from earlier decades, making the case that pop and rock boundaries in the era were blurrier than fans typically assume.
The three songs cited are Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn," actually a cover of a track by rock band Ednaswap, whose simple guitars evoke 1970s rock beneath its pop polish; New Radicals' "You Get What You Give," a "power pop" hit the article argues is rooted more in classic rock songwriting than pop convention; and Smash Mouth's "All Star," whose garage-rock attitude and riffs are compared to 1960s British Invasion acts. In each case, the author suggests that with different production choices, the tracks could easily pass as rock rather than pop.
In short
- Article says three 1990s pop hits secretly draw on classic rock.
- Imbruglia's "Torn" is a cover of a rock band's original song.
- New Radicals' and Smash Mouth's hits echo classic and 1960s rock styles.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
These songs genuinely reveal something important about musical categorisation: their actual songwriting and structural DNA stem from classic rock, yet marketing and production shaped them as pop. Recognising this rock lineage illuminates how genre identity can be constructed and demonstrates that 1990s rock-pop boundaries were considerably more porous than typically acknowledged.
The case against
Pop music has always synthesised rock influences as part of its fundamental character, and this is neither concealed nor surprising. Identifying rock elements in pop songs exemplifies rather than undermines their categorisation; pop succeeds precisely through such eclecticism, and reframing this as a hidden rock identity risks reinforcing unhelpful hierarchies where rock is deemed 'authentic' and pop merely derivative.
Explained simply
An American Songwriter feature highlights three 1990s pop hits that actually drew heavily from classic rock, despite being understood primarily as pop. The piece argues that beneath their radio-friendly production, these songs share the melodic and instrumental DNA of rock music from earlier decades, suggesting that pop and rock boundaries during the era were blurrier than fans typically realised.
The three songs featured are Natalie Imbruglia's 'Torn' (a cover of a rock track by Ednaswap whose simple guitars evoke 1970s rock), New Radicals' 'You Get What You Give' (a power pop hit the article contends is rooted more in classic rock songwriting), and Smash Mouth's 'All Star' (whose garage-rock attitude is compared to 1960s British Invasion bands). In each case, classic rock elements were masked by contemporary pop production.
The feature argues that with different production choices, these songs could have easily passed as rock rather than pop. This observation highlights how the distinction between genres was less defined in the 1990s than is typically recognised.