Rock & Metal Songs Inspired by Insects

Rock and metal musicians get inspiration from all sorts of things to create their music. Songs like “Layla” could be inspired by romance and love. It could also be inspired by a generational message like “Born to be Wild”. What many of us, however, probably don’t realize is that some of the most popular rock songs today are inspired by insects. Here is a list of insect-inspired songs you may be familiar with.

Spiral of Ants

Performed by the Lemon Demon, this electronic rock song was released in 2016 and inspired by the phenomenon of ant mills. When ants get separated from the main foraging party, they lose their locational senses and start to track one another. Eventually, the lost ants move in a rotating circle. This phenomenon is also referred to as the death spiral and it is likely where the Lemon Demon got their inspiration from for this song.

Mosquito

This indie rock song was sung by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in 2013. It’s part of the “Mosquito” album, which received positive reviews from music critics. The media artist who created the artwork for the album, Beomsik Shimbe Shim, drew inspiration from science images of mosquitoes to help build a sensor of horror.

Fly on the Wall

This pop rock song by Miley Cyrus was inspired by the invasive nature of the paparazzi. Just like how ubiquitous flies can be at home, Cyrus wanted to convey a similar message of how ubiquitous the paparazzi can be in the life of a celebrity. The exact quote from Miley Cyrus was, “I wrote it for the media, always feeling like they need to be in my life. Sometimes they just wish that they could blend in and be there all the time. And that they might know me a little bit better if they were in my house, in my room and my different places. So, it’s like going to different spots and trying to get away from them and it’s not going away like little annoying flies” (source).