In rock and roll lyrics, what happens when love isn't reciprocated? Do people calmly walk away after politely and rationally saying, "OK, it's all good, thanks for your time -- can I use you as a reference in the future?" Of course not! They only become more obsessed! Sometimes they drive themselves crazy trying to change -- to the point of humiliating themselves -- so they'll be loved in return. Sometimes they despise themselves, but can't change. Sometimes they grudgingly accept being someone's last-minute date or their drunken, 2 AM booty call -- or even talk themselves into believing they don't mind loving someone in exchange for being treated like septic tank residue. Here are a few songs with lyrics about unreturned love:

"I Hate Myself for Loving You" - Joan Jett
She has black hair. She wears leather. She looks tough. She sounds tough. But she sings these lyrics about loving someone who treats her like a fool: "I hate myself for loving you/Can't break free from the things that you do/I wanna walk, but I run back to you/That's why I hate myself for loving you." Actually, there's more to the story. Jett's original lyrics were, "I Hate Myself Because I Can't Get Laid." When her producer convinced her that those lyrics would kill the song's chances for airplay, Jett traded "laid" for "love." For her sacrifice, the song charted at #8 in the US.

"Can't Fight This Feeling" - REO Speedwagon
In this power ballad's impassioned lyrics, a guy has fallen in love with his female friend, and "just being friends" isn't good enough anymore (is it ever?). He finally musters up the courage to tell her, culminating in the cinematic lyrics, "I can't fight this feeling anymore/I've forgotten what I starting fighting for/And if I have to crawl upon the floor/Come crashing through your door/Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore." Singer Kevin Cronin had begun writing this song in 1974, and finally completed it in 1984. Luckily, he did -- it became a #1 hit.

"Room 21" and "Use Me" - Hinder
This hard-rocking quintet wrote not one, but two songs with lyrics about a man who is used by a woman for -- horror of horrors -- sex! It's even more amazing when you consider that all the bandmembers are in their 20s, and the "eldest" is married. Here's a sample of the lyrics from "Room 21," about a one-night stand that's left our hero feeling used and abandoned -- but ready to do it all over again: "I swear to God you'd feel the same/If you got used by what's-her-name/...Here we go again/I can't wait/I'm gonna get used by what's-her-f*cking-name." And some of the lyrics to "Use Me": "She wouldn't spit on me if I was on fire/She says she loves me, but I know she's a liar/...She's gonna use me but I like it." Sometimes a guy's just gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

"I Want You to Want Me" - Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick shamelessly bare their hearts by starting this song with the lyrics of the chorus, in which Robin Zander plaintively sings, "I want you to want me/I need you to need me/I'd love you to love me/I'm beggin' you to beg me." But nobody seemed to mind that the band 'fessed up in those lyrics -- the song reached #7 on the US charts. And to think the record company almost didn't release the album, because they were afraid it was going to tank!

"Bad Obsession" - Guns 'N' Roses
This song's lyrics deal with a variety of obsessions -- if you're going to be obsessed, you might as well go for broke, right? But there are some that deal with being addicted to another person: "It's a bad obsession/It's always messin' with my mind/But I can't stop thinkin' 'bout doin' it one more time/See, I already left you/And you're better off left behind." The song was left behind, too -- it was written in the band's infancy, but wasn't recorded until 1991's "Use Your Illusion I."

These songs and lyrics about obsession are so catchy, you might just become obsessed with THEM!