"Like a Rock"
Single by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
from the album Like a Rock
B-side
  • "Livin' Inside My Heart"
  • "Katmandu" (live version)
ReleasedMay 1986
Recorded1985
GenreHeartland rock, country rock
Length4:36 (DJ 45 version)
5:56 (single and album version)
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Bob Seger
Producer(s)Punch Andrews, David N. Cole, Bob Seger
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band singles chronology
"American Storm"
(1986)		 "Like a Rock"
(1986)		 "It's You"
(1986)
Music video
"Like a Rock" on YouTube

"Like a Rock" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger. The single peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks.[1]

Background and writing

Seger told the New York Times that the song "was inspired partly by the end of a relationship that had lasted for 11 years. You wonder where all that time went. But beyond that, it expresses my feeling that the best years of your life are in your late teens when you have no special commitments and no career. It's your last blast of fun before heading into the cruel world."[2]

Reception

Cash Box called it an "emotional ballad of perseverence and commitment."[3] Billboard called it a "slow-paced, rough-edged ballad [that] mourns the certainties of youth."[4]

Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts rated it as Seger's 10th best song.[5]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Like a Rock.[6]

The Silver Bullet Band

Additional musicians

Chart performance

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top Singles[7] 33
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks[8] 5
US Billboard Hot 100[1] 12
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[1] 21
US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[1] 1

In media

This song's greatest exposure was in Chevrolet truck television advertisements from 1991 until 2004,[9] for their massively successful "Like a Rock" campaign.[5] Chevrolet originally wanted to use Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." for the ad campaign but when Springsteen declined "Like a Rock" was chosen.[5]

The song and aforementioned advertisement campaign was parodied as "Tastes Like Liberty" for Krusty Burger's Ribwich in The Simpsons episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can".

The song was also featured in the 2005 film The Weather Man, starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine.

"Livin' Inside My Heart"

The b-side of some versions of the "Like a Rock" single was "Livin' Inside My Heart". Seger said of "Livin' Inside My Heart":

I wanted so bad to put "Living Inside My Heart" on my Greatest Hits, Volume 2 record and I fought and fought and fought. My manager said: “No, that’s a movie song.” I said: “No, I want it on there.” It’s beautiful. I was so bummed when they wouldn’t let me put it on there. I was actually working on my new album and let that one slide, and I wished I had worked harder on that Greatest Hits, Volume 2 package because there were other songs that I really wanted on there.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Bob Seger > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  2. ↑ The Pop Life – Bob Seger's view of life and loving
  3. ↑ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. May 17, 1986. p. 13. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Reviews". Billboard. May 24, 1986. p. 77. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Roberts, Janey. "Top 20 Bob Seger songs". Classic Rock History. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  6. ↑ Like a Rock (CD). Bob Seger. Capitol Records. 1986. CDP 7 446195 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Singles - August 2, 1986" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "RPM Top 30 AC Singles - August 9, 1986" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Chevrolet "Like A Rock" From The Mid-90s
  10. ↑ Sharp, Ken (September 10, 2018). "How Bob Seger changed the face of American Music". Classic Rock. Louder Sound. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
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