Song · Winger
“Headed for a Heartbreak” by Winger
From the album Winger (1988)
“Headed for a Heartbreak” by Winger appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1990 and 2022. It was first released in 1988 on the album Winger. Its best result is #166 on the Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,435 classic rock song of all time.
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"Headed for a Heartbreak" is the big power ballad from Winger's self-titled 1988 debut on Atlantic, and it went out as a single in May 1989 with "State of Emergency" on the B-side. Kip Winger wrote it alone, and the riff arrived by accident: fooling with a keyboard at the end of a studio day, he stumbled onto a figure in D Lydian mode, then moved the bass line around the notes his right hand held in common.
Beau Hill produced and engineered, Reb Beach and Paul Taylor handle guitars, Rod Morgenstein plays drums, and a small string section of two violins, viola and cello swells behind Kip's lead vocal. The single climbed to 19 on the Hot 100 while making the top 10 of the Mainstream Rock chart, and the Diplomats later sampled the riff for "Ground Zero".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Classic Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 166 | Z-Rock | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) | 1000 |
| 2022 | 413 | 99.1 PLR | 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2022) | 500 |
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