“Roll On” by The Living End

"Roll On" is the title track of the Living End's second album, and when the Australian punk trio put it out as a single in 2001 it carried a real-world grudge: the title nods to the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute. Chris Cheney, who wrote it on his own, pitched it as a stomper for the underdog, a song of hope about beating your obstacles and living to tell about it.

Cheney sings lead and drives the electric guitar, Scott Owen holds down the double bass and Travis Demsey batters the kit, while a crowd of backing voices piles in behind. Nick Launay produced and recorded it and Andy Wallace mixed it. PopMatters heard it as the anthem that would finally shake the band free of its rockabilly habits, and back home it climbed to 2 on the ARIA Alternative chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.