Black is the color of grief, danger and cool all at once, and rock has always loved it. This list runs from a stomping AC/DC riff to a hushed Pearl Jam ballad, with the color meaning something different in each.
Updated 2026
Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones 1966
Grief so total the narrator wants the whole world dimmed.
Black by Pearl Jam 1991
A quiet, devastating song about a love that did not last.
Black Velvet by Alannah Myles 1989
A bluesy tribute draped in slow Southern heat.
Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden 1994
A warped, dreamlike vision of the sky going dark.
Read the meaning behind the songBlack or White by Michael Jackson 1991
A pop-rock plea that the color of skin should not divide.
Black Dog by Led Zeppelin 1971
A lurching, stop-start riff named after a stray at the studio.
Black Betty by Ram Jam 1977
A pounding rework of a very old work song.
Read the meaning behind the songBlack Water by The Doobie Brothers 1974
A rolling river song that drifts into a front-porch singalong.
Long Black Veil by Lefty Frizzell 1959
A ghost story told by the dead man himself.
Black Cat by Janet Jackson 1990
Janet going full rock to warn a reckless lover.