Pop Culture | Music | 00s

10 Rock Ballads From The Early 2000s That You Still Know The Words To Even Though You Forgot They Existed Until Just Now

Rock music started losing a lot of its momentum in the early 2000s as gangsta rap became the genre of choice on the charts. Plenty of bands had to do whatever they could to stay on the charts and make money, and so began a rush of generic rock ballads that stayed on rock radio for nearly a decade, with these 10 songs being some of the biggest offenders.

Fuel - "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)"

I genuinely can't even remember if Fuel ever recorded anything that wasn't this song, but man is that chorus ever burned into my memory forever.

Staind - "It's Been Awhile"

Possibly one of the most generic ballads ever released, for some reason rock radio absolutely ate this up.

Creed - "With Arms Wide Open"

Possibly one of the most-hated bands in rock music who aren't called Nickelback, Creed's music, and especially Scott Stapp's voice, haven't stood the test of time.

3 Doors Down - "Kryptonite"

You definitely heard this at one point in 2000, because it was freaking everywhere.

These next few songs are a real trip down memory lane that I didn't even know I remembered...

Audioslave - "Be Yourself"

A collaboration between Chris Cornell and the instrumental members of Rage Against The Machine yielded a pretty solid first album, but leading their second with this kinda weak ballad didn't do their sales any favors.

Puddle of Mudd - "Blurry"

This was in every freaking movie trailer in the early 2000s, and yet for the longest time I had no idea what band was even responsible for it.

Chad Kroeger & Josey Scott - "Hero"

Written for the soundtrack of the first Spider-Man movie, the Nickelback and Saliva singers collaborated on a hit that got bigger than just about anything either band released.

Finger Eleven - "One Thing"

To this day I can't even hear the opening chords of this song without starting to fall asleep from how boring the whole thing is.

Seether - "Broken"

Appearing both on their debut album and again on The Punisher soundtrack, the song ultimately did more to promote singer Shaun Morgan's girlfriend, Evanescence singer Amy Lee. So much so, the band no longer plays it live.

Hinder - "Lips Of An Angel"

Okay, real talk for a second here; this band and this song are freaking awful.

Do you remember hearing any of these on the radio all the time?