20 Iconic Rock Songs and How Many Takes It Took to Record Them

As fans, we get to hear the artist’s final product after all their hard work in the studio.

Just how long it took for a song to be finished depends on a myriad of factors and, like any labor of love, there are lots of things that can go wrong or make the task more difficult. Making and recording music is, after all, as much a logistical process as it is a creative one.

In the below list, we’ve gathered up 20 Iconic Rock Songs and How Many Takes It Took to Record Them. Some, you’ll notice, took far less time than others.

We should clarify for those unfamiliar with the recording process: a song is often broken up into parts to be recorded separately. As studio technology evolved through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, artists found themselves able to be more precise with their takes so as to achieve the desired result. For example, while a lead vocal part might be finished in one take, the guitar solo might require more than that, with everything being spliced together in the end to make a complete recording that’s ready to be enjoyed by us, the fans.

1. “Refugee,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

From: Damn the Torpedos (1979)

Number of Takes: Approximately 100

Tom Petty did not struggle to write lyrics over the four-track tape that guitarist Mike Campbell gave him one day, which ultimately became “Refugee.” The hard part was getting it right in the studio. “We must have recorded that 100 times,” Campbell recalled to Songfacts in 2003. “I remember being so frustrated with it one day that — I think this is the only time I ever did this — I just left the studio and went out of town for two days. I just couldn’t take the pressure anymore, but then I came back and when we regrouped we were actually able to get it down on tape.”

2. “Atlantic City,” Bruce Springsteen

From: Nebraska (1982)

Number of Takes: 3-5

It’s not clear exactly how many takes of “Atlantic City” Bruce Springsteen recorded before choosing one for 1982’s Nebraska. It’s at least three, possibly up to five. Springsteen recorded two takes under the title “Fistful of Dollars,” and then a third one with the “Atlantic City” name. The tape that he gave his manager had three takes of the song on it, each with slightly different lyrics.

3. “Like a Rolling Stone,” Bob Dylan

From: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Number of Takes: 20

On June 16, 1965, Bob Dylan recorded 15 takes of “Like a Rolling Stone.” Producer Tom Wilson reportedly felt that they’d nailed it after the fourth take, but Dylan insisted on trying another 11 times. Another five takes were done before it was finally decided that the fourth take would be the master. A whole 50 years later, all 20 takes were made available on The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966.

4. “Help!,” The Beatles

From: Help! (1965)

Number of Takes: 12

Back in 1965 when the Beatles were making Help!, a lot of music was recorded using a four-track machine. In total, the band did 12 takes of this title track, with nine of those focusing on just the instrumental aspects of the song. George Harrison‘s descending lead guitar part was overdubbed after the fact.

5. “Creep,” Radiohead

From: Pablo Honey (1993)

Number of Takes: 1

Radiohead’s “Creep” was essentially one big accident — it wasn’t even meant to be put to tape on the day it was recorded in the studio in a single take. “It was recorded while we were actually in the studio to record two other songs,” Jonny Greenwood explained to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in October of 1993. “We were asked to play some things to check the levels of the tape, and we just did one that we liked best from rehearsing it the day before. We’d only written it the week before and we were just kind of very keen to play it for each other, and they happened to record it.”

6. “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nirvana

From: Nevermind (1991)

Number of Takes: 3

Kurt Cobain wasn’t the sort to do take after take in the studio, which is something producer Butch Vig learned the hard way. “I found out right away that Kurt didn’t like to sing a lot,” he told Mojo in 1998. “I would record him warming up and if I was lucky I would get three more takes out of him. He likes to slur the words and sometimes it took me several passes to figure out what he was singing. But that’s part of what made his singing special. He gave those words some magic, in that you don’t always know what he was saying. I would then pick one as the best and then take certain bits from the other tracks. That was it. He was that good.” Nirvana’s most famous song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” came to fruition this way, with just three takes recorded.

7. “Champagne Supernova,” Oasis

From: (Whats the Story) Morning Glory? (1996)

Number of Takes: At Least 6

At first, Oasis and their producer/engineer Owen Morris tried recording the vocal to “Champagne Supernova” as one whole song. “We did half a dozen takes,” Morris explained to Sound on Sound in 2012, “but what happened was that the high note of the song — at the end of the line ‘The world’s still spinning around, we don’t know why‘ — was kind of burning [Liam Gallagher‘s] voice out. So he was getting croakier on each take, and by the time he got to the end he was sounding very Rod Stewart-y.” The solution to this was to revisit the vocal, but this time recording it in sections, again with approximately half a dozen takes of each — verse, first chorus, second verse, etc. on up to the ending high note.

8. “‘Heroes,'” David Bowie

From: “Heroes” (1977)

Number of Takes: 3

“‘Heroes'” was very much the brain child of three highly-talented individuals: David Bowie, Brian Eno and Tony Visconti. “We did three takes of that,” Visconti recalled to Sound on Sound in 2004, “and although one take would sound very patchy, three takes had all of these filter changes and feedback blending into that very smooth, haunting, overlaying melody which you hear. … Very few people can write the lyrics on the spot in the studio and then perform a great vocal in just a few takes. Bowie’s one of the few people on this planet who can actually pull that off.”

9. “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” Procol Harum

From: 1967 Single

Number of Takes: 2

Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” has been covered by hundreds and hundreds of artists, but the original version was knocked out in just two takes. Procol Harum never had a regular drummer, so shout out to session musician Bill Eyden who clearly nailed the part.

10. “Start Me Up,” The Rolling Stones

From: Tattoo You (1981)

Number of Takes: 38

For a long time, Keith Richards thought he had “Start Me Up” figured out. “The story here is the miracle that we ever found that track,” he told Guitar Player in 1981 (via MusicRadar). “I was convinced, and I think Mick [Jagger] was, that it was definitely a reggae song.” The band did 38 takes of the song — which obviously led them to realize that it worked better, perfectly even, with a different arrangement.

11. “Eruption,” Van Halen

From: Van Halen (1978)

Number of Takes: 2, Possibly 3

Eddie Van Halen was literally just noodling around in the studio when one thing led to another and he recorded “Eruption,” the famous instrumental from Van Halen’s self-titled 1978 debut album. “Our producer, Ted Templeman, happened to walk by and he asked, ‘What’s that? Let’s put it on tape!'” Van Halen recalled to Guitar World in 1996. “I played it two or three times for the record, and we kept the one that seemed to flow. Ted and Donn [Landee, engineer] liked it, and everyone else agreed that we should throw it on. I didn’t even play it right. There’s a mistake at the top end of it. Whenever I hear it, I always think, Man, I could have played that better.”

12. “Run to You,” Bryan Adams

From: Reckless (1984)

Number of Takes: 1 or Approximately 6, Depending on Who You Ask

Sometimes, people remember things differently. If you speak with Bryan Adams himself, he’ll tell you that “Run to You” was a one-take performance — “The first take of the song is the track you hear on the album,” he told Classic Rock in 2024. “No edits, nothing. And then of course I overdubbed my guitar and my vocal afterwards.” However, producer Bob Clearmountain has said that it was done in roughly half a dozen takes, with two or three of the best ones being selected for splicing together.

13. “All Along the Watchtower,” The Jimi Hendrix Experience

From: Electric Ladyland (1968)

Number of Takes: 27

Bob Dylan, the original writer of “All Along the Watchtower,” did five takes of the song in late 1967. The following year, the Jimi Hendrix Experience did a lot more than that. “It actually took about 27 takes to get the track going because [guitarist] Dave Mason couldn’t get it together,” engineer Eddie Kramer told Sound on Sound in 2005, “but eventually he did and that was all that mattered. Jimi was driving the train. He always drove the train, whatever he was doing, and he had a magical ability, bar none, to take other people’s material and make it his own.”

14. “La Grange,” ZZ Top

From: Tres Hombres (1973)

Number of Takes: 3

ZZ Top finished recording “La Grange” in the time it took for a lunch break. “We did three takes of the solo, and I just went off into the ozone,” Billy Gibbons recalled to Guitar Player in 2021. “I had a great time overdubbing and experimenting with twin guitars. We had the whole thing buttoned up in an hour, and when the manager returned from the barbecue joint, he said, ‘I told you, fellas. I knew you had it!’ It was one of those enriching moments in the rather antiseptic surrounds of a recording studio.”

15. “Living After Midnight,” Judas Priest

From: British Steel (`1980)

Number of Takes: 2 or 3

Who needs preparation? Not Judas Priest when it came to recording “Living After Midnight” for 1980’s British Steel. “We didn’t demo it at all,” Glenn Tipton recalled to Guitar Player in 2023. “We just went into the studio and nailed the whole thing in either two or three takes. I played the solo on it, although I can’t remember now, after 40 years, how that decision came about.”

16. “Riders on the Storm,” The Doors

From: L.A. Woman (1971)

Number of Takes: 2 or 3

You might think that the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” with its cinematic soundscape was complicated to put together. Not so. “‘Riders on the Storm, like everything else on L.A. Woman, took only two or three takes,” producer Bruce Botnick recalled in 2013 (via Dig!). “We all thought of the idea for the sound effects and Jim [Morrison] was the one who fist said it out loud: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to add rain and thunder?’ I used the Elektra sound-effects recordings and, as we were mixing, I just pressed the button. Serendipity worked so all that thunder came in at all the right places. It took you somewhere. It was like a mini movie in our heads.”

17. “Every Breath You Take,” The Police

From: Synchronicity (1983)

Number of Takes: 1

To be clear: a whole lot of overdubbing happened with the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” But Andy Summers‘ guitar part needed only one shot. “Sting and Stewart [Copeland] could not agree on how the bass and drums were going to go,” Summers explained to Guitar World in 2022. “We were in the middle of Synchronicity and Sting says, ‘Well, go on then, go in there and make it your own.’ And I did it in one take. They all stood up and clapped. And, of course, the f—ing thing went right round the world, straight to No. 1 in America. And the riff has become a kind of immortal guitar part that all guitar players have to learn.”

18. “Not Guilty,” George Harrison

From: George Harrison (1979)

Number of Takes: 102

If at first you don’t succeed, try again another 101 times. The Beatles tried in vain to get the George Harrison-penned “Not Guilty” recorded properly and just could not do it. It amounted to a whopping 102 takes. Harrison later included the track on his own 1979 self-titled solo album.

19. “Working Class Hero,” John Lennon

From: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)

Number of Takes: 120-130

Here’s another example of a solo Beatles song taking a very, very, very long time to get right: John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero.” According to tape operator Andy Stephens, Lennon did “an endless number of takes.” In his approximation, around 120-130 takes were recorded. “If the mix in his headphones wasn’t exactly what he wanted, he would take them off and slam them into the wall,” Stephens explained to Uncut in 2010 (via Far Out). “He wouldn’t say, ‘Can I have a bit more guitar?’ He would literally rip the cans off his head and smash them into the wall, then walk out of the studio.”

20. “Tangled Up in Blue,” Bob Dylan

From: Blood on the Tracks (1975)

Number of Takes: At Least 8

Dylan once said something along the lines of his song “Tangled Up in Blue” as having taken 10 years to live and two to write. And then there was the recording process. Dylan recorded 8 takes of the song in New York City, but there were more takes recorded in a studio in Minneapolis, several of which appeared on 2018’s The Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks.