The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights Is A Rock Song, Here Is The Proof

There have always been some songs that rock fans stumble upon and although they sound pop or seem to belong to another genre, there’s a rock undertone. One of these songs belongs to the iconic musician The Weeknd. The song, which he released back in 2019, can be characterized as synth-pop and although it’s contemporary, it has that ’80s vibe that we all love.

The song has a few qualities hidden in its details that reflect its rock essence. For instance, the way that the synthesizer is used reminded us of various rock bands such as the ’80s legends Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk. However, it seems like we’re not the only ones that spotted the rock potential of the song as some bands have covered it in such a way that proves our point.

How Is The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights A Rock Song?

Rock music is often characterized by the sound of an amplified electric guitar, which was inspired by electric blues guitarists, the electric bass guitar, and of course the powerful sound of drums. However, aside from these three instruments, rock bands or musicians also use others such as the piano or the synthesizer.

In ‘Blinding Lights’ the listener can clearly hear the use of the synthesizer, in a similar way it was used in the ’80s, which probably why it has such a retro vibe. However, what makes it, even more, rock is also the low guitar distortion sound during the chorus.

The fact that the distortion sound is low prevents the song from reaching its rock potential and fulfilling two of the main criteria to create a rock sound, which brings us to the question of how it would sound if there was a loud guitar distortion instead.

Rock And Metal Covers Of The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights

The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ was released in November 2019 and it’s safe to say that it’s one of the most commercially successful songs of all time. Just a month ago, it broke the record for most weeks spent in the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it came to be known as Spotify’s 2nd most-streamed song of all time.

Following its mainstream popularity, some rock and metal bands decided to do a cover of the hit song. For instance, the well-known cover band Halocene did an amazing cover in which they kept the synthesizer and increased the distortion guitar and drum sounds which immediately turned a synth-pop song into a powerful rock one.

Another rock band, Fame On Fire, lowered the synthesizer sound in the beginning and then took it out completely, increased the distortion and electric guitar sounds, and added a powerful drum sound. On the other hand, Leo Moracchioli created an amazing metal cover of the song by slightly increasing the tempo of the song at points, and completely eliminating the synthesizer.

You can listen to all the covers we mentioned below.