History YMMV / RodStewart

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Music/EltonJohn. Well, Elton's sexuality aside, anyway...
* HoYay: A bit of this between him and Ronnie Wood. Watch [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtq6NEGXu24 this]] performance and see if there isn't *something* between those two.

** "Handbags and Gladrags" was written by Music/ManfredMann's Mike d'Abo and first recorded by British singer Chris Farlowe in 1967, but Rod's take from a few years later is the most famous. Even when Stereophonics did their hit cover in 2001, which inspired the version used as the theme of ''Series/TheOfficeUK'', it was clearly meant as a nod to Stewart.

** Stewart released "Forever Young" in 1988. Fourteen years earlier, Music/BobDylan had released his song [[Music/PlanetWaves "Forever Young"]]. Stewart is obviously a big fan of Dylan, having done several [[CoverVersion Cover Versions]] of his songs. While the two songs are different, besides sharing a title and concept, Stewart's song has several lyric lines that seem like rewrites of Dylan's lyrics.[[note]]Dylan: "May you grow up to be true"[=/=]Stewart: "May you grow to be proud, dignified and true"...Dylan: "May you always do for others and let others do for you"[=/=]Stewart: "And do unto others as you'd have done to you"...Dylan: "Build a ladder to the stars"[=/=]Stewart: "Build a stairway to heaven"[[/note]] At some point before his song was released Stewart reached out to Dylan. Dylan didn't object to the song's release or demand co-writing credit, but he was still given a share of the song's royalties.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" sounds very close to Brazilian song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaBkFpYYeGU "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.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Stewart released "Forever Young" in 1988. Fourteen years earlier, Music/BobDylan had released his song [[Music/PlanetWaves "Forever Young"]]. Stewart is obviously a big fan of Dylan, having done several [[CoverVersion Cover Versions]] of his songs. While the two songs are different, besides sharing a title and concept, Stewart's song has several lyric lines that seem like rewrites of Dylan's lyrics.[[note]]Dylan: "May you grow up to be true"[=/=]Stewart: "May you grow to be proud, dignified and true"...Dylan: "May you always do for others and let others do for you"[=/=]Stewart: "And do unto others as you'd have done to you"...Dylan: "Build a ladder to the stars"[=/=]Stewart: "Build a stairway to heaven"[[/note]] At some point before his song was released Stewart reached out to Dylan. Dylan didn't object to the song's release or demand co-writing credit, but he was still given a share of the song's royalties.

** There's also "Sailing" and "I Don't Want To Talk About It" from the previous decade.

* FairForItsDay: "The Killing of Georgie", from 1976, is about a young gay man (based on an actual friend of Stewart) who lives openly after coming out to his family, only to get randomly murdered on the street. Notably, Georgie is 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''.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Stewart released "Forever Young" in 1988. Fourteen years earlier, Music/BobDylan had released his song [[Music/PlanetWaves "Forever Young"]]. Stewart is obviously a big fan of Dylan, having done several [[CoverVersion Cover Versions]] of his songs. While the two songs are different, besides sharing a title and concept, Stewart's song has several lyric lines that seem like rewrites of Dylan's lyrics.[[note]]Dylan: "May you grow up to be true"[=/=]Stewart: "May you grow to be proud, dignified and true"...Dylan: "May you always do for others and let others do for you"[=/=]Stewart: "And do unto others as you'd have done to you"...Dylan: "Build a ladder to the stars"[=/=]Stewart: "Build a stairway to heaven"[[/note]] At some point before his song was released Stewart reached out to Dylan. Dylan didn't object to the song's release or demand co-writing credit, but he was given a share of the song's royalties.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Stewart released "Forever Young" in 1988. Fourteen years earlier, Music/BobDylan had released his song [[Music/PlanetWaves "Forever Young"]]. While the two songs are different, besides sharing a title and concept, Stewart's song has several lyric lines that seem like rewrites of Dylan's lyrics.[[note]]Dylan: "May you grow up to be true"[=/=]Stewart: "May you grow to be proud, dignified and true"...Dylan: "May you always do for others and let others do for you"[=/=]Stewart: "And do unto others as you'd have done to you"...Dylan: "Build a ladder to the stars"[=/=]Stewart: "Build a stairway to heaven"[[/note]] At some point before his song was released Stewart reached out to Dylan. Dylan didn't object to the song's release or demand co-writing credit, but he was given a share of the song's royalties.

* SignatureSong: "Maggie May”.

** "Handbags and Gladrags" was written by Music/ManfredMann's Mike d'Abo and first recorded by British singer Chris Farlowe in 1967, but Rod's take from a few years later is the most famous. Even when Stereophonics did their hit cover in 2001, which inspired the version used as the theme of ''Series/TheOfficeUK'', it was clearly modeled on the Stewart rendition.

* SignatureSong: "Maggie May"
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: After decades of rock/pop albums, Rod went down memory lane with ''The Great American Songbook'', five albums of standards from the 30s and 40s.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: After decades of rock/pop albums, Rod went down memory lane with ''The Great American Songbook'', five albums of standards from the 30s and 40s.
* TakeThatScrappy: The video for "The Motown Song" features an animated NoCelebritiesWereHarmed CaptainErsatz for Music/VanillaIce, who is jumping around on the street when an ice truck opens up and dumps a bunch of ice cubes onto him.

* [[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)."

* CoveredUp: His version of "Reason to Believe" is much better known than Tim Hardin's original version. Likewise his version of "Downtown Train" by Music/TomWaits was a top three Billboard hit unlike the original.

* AwesomeMusic: His first four albums, at the bare minimum, are classic rock & roll all the way through. ''Every Picture Tells a Story'' is generally considered the crown jewel of his solo discography. He's also been on several classic albums as a member of other groups, including Music/JeffBeck's ''Truth'' and most of Music/{{Faces}}' output.

* TakeThatScrappy: The video for "The Motown Song" features an animated NoCelebritiesWereHarmed CaptainErsatz for Music/VanillaIce, who is jumping around on the street when an ice truck opens up and dumps a bunch of ice cubes onto him.

* CoveredUp: His version of "Reason to Believe" is much better known than Tim Hardin's original version.

* {{Ho Yay}}: A bit of this between him and Ronnie Wood. Watch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtq6NEGXu24 this]] performance and see if there isn't *something* between those two.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With EltonJohn. Well, Elton's sexuality aside, anyway...

* SignatureSong: Maggie May

* SignatureSong: Maggie May