This 1974 Deep Purple Song Named the Saddest Rock Song of All Time
This 1974 Deep Purple Song Named the Saddest Rock Song of All Time
Jacqueline Burt CoteSun, February 1, 2026 at 4:00 AM UTC
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(Photo by Jorgen Angel on Getty Images)
Hard rock isn't always about headbanging...sometimes it's about having a good cry.
Last year, Music Minds ranked the "Top Saddest Rock Songs Ever Written," and anyone searching for a tune to match a blue mood need look no further than this sob-worthy list.
Nearly every decade and sub-genre of rock was represented, from Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" (1991) at #16 to Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" (1975) at #9 to Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet" (1980) at #3, but a fan-favorite hard rock ballad from the '70s that never even hit the charts took the top spot.
Beating out Thin Lizzy's "Borderline" (1976) in second place was Deep Purple's "Soldier of Fortune," which appeared on the 1974 album Stormbringer.
Why did "Borderline" win sad crown? As the Music Minds article put it, this "bluesy outlier" in the Deep Purple song catalogue "captures that specific emptiness of life after purpose has left the building."
"David Coverdale’s voice — usually deployed for rock heroics — here becomes the vessel for muted devastation," the article continued. "The acoustic arrangement creates a late-night confessional atmosphere, as if the song exists in those quiet hours when defenses fall and truth rises."
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"Soldier of Fortune" was written by Deep Purple frontman David Coverdale and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who called the track one of his "favorite songs" in the biography Black Knight by Jerry Bloom, noting, "It's got a few of those medieval chords."
Coverdale is also clearly a big fan of the tune, as his band Whitesnake covered "Soldier of Fortune" regularly live and even recorded a studio version for their 2015 album The Purple Album, later releasing it as a single.
In an interview shared by Whitesnake TV, Coverdale recalled bringing the idea of covering "Soldier of Fortune" to guitarist Joel Hoekstra — and being subsequently blown away by what he did with the song.
"I played him 'Soldier of Fortune,' discussed the ideas that I had about it...I said, 'Look, go and do what you do,' and he came back with the most beautiful treatment, as you can hear on the record," Coverdale recalled.
For a song that was never considered a big hit, "Soldier of Fortune" still went on to become legendary in its own melancholy way.
Related: This 1975 Hit Voted 'Greatest Guitar Solo of All Time'
This story was originally published by Parade on Feb 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
