History YMMV / RodStewart

** And a notable case where he was the one Covered Up. He recorded the original version of "That's What Friends Are For" for the soundtrack of ''Film/NightShift'' (where it played over the closing credits). A few years later, it was a massive hit for Music/DionneWarwick (with special guests Music/EltonJohn, Music/StevieWonder and Music/GladysKnight).

* ValuesResonance: Explained above in FairForItsDay, "The Killing of Georgie" treats its protagonist very well for 1976, even with its downer ending. Georgie's sexuality is treated almost as a side-note to his personality for the narrator ("was gay I guess / nothing more or nothing less") if not for the reason he left home to go to New York, and the narrator even calls him a "victim" for his parents not being accepting of it. Unlike most other media, as well, Georgie isn't even killed for being gay but by random chance, though that does appear to be the reason the narrator keeps the memory alive by singing the song ("But I ask who really cares... Georgie was a friend of mine").

** ''Gasoline Alley'': The title track and "It's All Over Now"
** ''Every Picture Tells a Story'': The title track, "Maggie May", "Mandolin Wind", "(I Know) I'm Losing You", and "Reason to Believe"

* SignatureSong: "Maggie May”.

** His version of [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand The Rolling Stones]]' "Street Fighting Man" from his debut album amounts to a mashup before they even existed. It starts off with him singing the lyrics, but to a much different musical backing from the original. After a [[FakeOutFadeOut false cold ending]], he restarts the song, but does it much closer to the original. Then for the fade, then band jams on a sped-up version of the opening riff of a different Stones song, "We Love You".
* MisattributedSong: [[ZigzaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] a bit with "In a Broken Dream". Yes, that's Stewart singing it, but it's not actually by him, but by the Australian band Python Lee Jackson, who'd relocated to London and recorded it in 1969. The band's singer had trouble hitting the song's notes properly, so they decided to hire an outside vocalist. The band's manager was previously [[HonestJohnsDealership a salesman who'd sold Stewart a car]], so he brought in Stewart to sing it, but it ended up not getting released. Then in 1972 the label put the song out to capitalize on his newfound fame (becoming a #3 hit in the UK, and also making the charts in America), and many people just assumed it was by Stewart. However, Stewart ''did'' record his own version in 1992, backed by [[Music/LedZeppelin John Paul Jones]] and [[Music/PinkFloyd David Gilmour]]. But, history repeated itself and it wasn't released at the time either. It finally came out on a 2009 box set. But then in 2015 the original was sampled in Music/AsapRocky's "Everyday" and Stewart got a [[AndStarring "featuring"]] credit for it, and that same year the Python Lee Jackson version was included as a bonus track on Stewart's ''Another Country'' album, so it seems to be retroactively considered a Stewart song anyway.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Okay, you know that really cheesy theme song from ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', "Where My Heart Will Take Me?" Yeah? Well, that was originally sung by Rod Stewart - it was titled "Faith Of The Heart" and it was on the ''Film/PatchAdams'' soundtrack.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" sounds very close to Brazilian song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9jWJ5V014 "Taj Mahal"]], leading to a plagiarism lawsuit. Stewart would later admit the copying, as he heard the song while visiting Rio for Carnival, and tried to compensate by donating some royalties to UNICEF.

* HeterosexualLifePartners:
** With Music/EltonJohn. Well, Elton's sexuality aside, anyway...
** Also with [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Ronnie Wood]], dating all the way back to 1964, when they were both struggling to make a name for themselves in the London rock scene, and cemented during their time as bandmates in The Music/JeffBeck Group and Music/{{Faces}}, not to mention Wood being omnipresent on Stewart's early solo albums. Some of the older videos of the pair together even seem to cross into HoYay territory. Even after their careers went on separate paths they stayed close.

** Also with [[Music/TheRollingStones Ronnie Wood]], dating all the way back to 1964, when they were both struggling to make a name for themselves in the London rock scene, and cemented during their time as bandmates in The Music/JeffBeck Group and Music/{{Faces}}, not to mention Wood being omnipresent on Stewart's early solo albums. Some of the older videos of the pair together even seem to cross into HoYay territory. Even after their careers went on separate paths they stayed close.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Okay, you know that really [[TastesLikeDiabetes cheesy]] theme song from ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', "Where My Heart Will Take Me?" Yeah? Well, that was originally sung by Rod Stewart - it was titled "Faith Of The Heart" and it was on the ''Film/PatchAdams'' soundtrack.

** And a notable case where he was the one Covered Up. He recorded the original version of "That's What Friends Are For" for the soundtrack of ''Film/NightShift'' (where it played over the closing credits). A few years later, it was a massive hit for Dionne Warwick (with special guests Music/EltonJohn, Music/StevieWonder and Music/GladysKnight).
* FairForItsDay: "The Killing of Georgie", from 1976, is about a young gay man (based on an actual friend of Stewart) who moves to New York and lives openly after coming out to his family, only to get [[BuryYourGays randomly murdered on the street]]. But Georgie is notably portrayed positively and sympathetically. While it was a huge hit in the UK, a lot of American radio stations were skittish about a gay-themed song (along with its EpicRocking length and grim ending), so it only got to #30 in ''Billboard''.

* ValuesDissonance: "Every Picture Tells a Story" is a cheerful song in which a callow young man talks about traveling the world and, after a series of mishaps, falling in love with a Chinese woman. But the use of ethnically loaded terms like "slit-eyed lady" and "Shanghai Lil" sound very jarring today.

** His version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" is also arguably the most iconic, to the point that most people aren't aware it was originally written by Cat Stevens.

* MisattributedSong: [[ZigzaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] a bit with "In a Broken Dream". Yes, that's Stewart singing it, but it's not actually by him, but by the Australian band Python Lee Jackson, who'd relocated to London and recorded it in 1969. The band's singer had trouble hitting the song's notes properly, so they decided to hire an outside vocalist. The band's manager was previously [[HonestJohnsDealership a salesman who'd sold Stewart a car]], so he brought in Stewart to sing it, but it ended up not getting released. Then in 1972 the label put the song out to capitalize on his newfound fame (becoming a #3 hit in the UK, and also making the charts in America), and many people just assumed it was by Stewart. However, Stewart ''did'' record his own version in 1992, backed by [[Music/LedZeppelin John Paul Jones]] and [[Music/PinkFloyd David Gilmour]]. But, history repeated itself and it wasn't released at the time either. It finally came out on a 2009 box set.

* ValuesDissonance: "Every Picture Tells a Story" was written as a cheerful song about a young man traveling the world who, after a series of mishaps, falls in love with a Chinese woman. But Stewart's use of ethnically loaded terms like "slit-eyed lady" and "Shanghai Lil" sound very jarring today.

* ArchivePanic: He has over 30 studio albums spread out over five decades. In particular, he was insanely prolific in the 1968-1974 period. During that five year span he released ''12'' albums as a featured vocalist (two with The Music/JeffBeck Group, five solo albums, four Music/{{Faces}} studio albums, and one live album credited jointly to him and Faces).

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is the main character of "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" a perverted creep trying to force an unwilling virgin to have sex with him, or is he a nice boyfriend who's trying to convince the girl (who truly loves him and wants it as much as he does, but is a little nervous) that everything's gonna be fine?

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Americans love Rod Stewart's "Forever Young". The song did OK but not great in his native UK (it peaked at #57 there), but made the top 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the States. To quote ''Mojo'' magazine's 1995 interview of Stewart:
-->'''Rod Stewart''': "I love 'Forever Young', because that was a real heartfelt song about my kids. I suddenly realized I'd missed a good five years of Sean and Kimberly's life because I was so busy touring all the time. With these kids now I don't make that mistake- I take them on tour with me, so I can watch them grow up. So that's another favorite. Unfortunately, it wasn't a big hit in England, but it's like a national anthem here (America)."

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: It's a rare type of Rod fan who's on board with every direction he took musically. The first jump-off for many older fans was "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" in 1978, and even some of his most devoted fans found the ''Great American Songbook'' series in the 2000s extremely challenging of a departure, especially with five total volumes including four in a row.

** Also with [[Music/TheRollingStones Ronnie Wood]], particularly in the Music/JeffBeck[=/=]Music/{{Faces}} days and Wood being omnipresent on Stewart's early solo albums, plus some latter day reunions. Some of the older videos of the pair together even seem to cross into HoYay territory.