Obscenely depressing albums

[UnforgettableLemon]

I should be working on my Political Science paper that's due in 6 hours. Instead I'm going to write about Plastic Ono Band. Anyone else find this to be one of the most depressing albums ever created? I mean, let's run through some ofWio the tracks:

Mother- "I want you, you didn't want me"
It's a song about losing your mother when you're young. And his father... basically a meditation about letting go of things that cause pain. While it was surely cathartic for John, and makes for good listening, it's really draining. It goes from "goodbye" to wails of "Mama don't go/Daddy come home" I could see this being worked into "Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own" live if Bono hadn't already included snippets countering that. (then again, feelings are mercurial)

Working Class Hero- "They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules"
This one's pretty self-explanatory, too. Life sucks for everyone. It's self-perpetuating hell. Oh, don't forget about this tercet:
"Keep you doped wit religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see"
Everything you think is an escape just keeps you trapped. They're exploiting everyone's needs and desires for freedom to keep us enslaved. Yay, John, way to be cheerful. (But again, what a brilliant song!)

And then there's
God- "God is a Concept by which
we measure our pain"
Dismissing God, celebrity, everything but himself and Yoko. While this is saddening, it actually has it's sort of existentialist resolution of happiness. While life is empty because (Lennon believed) there was no God, it is still worth living because of love and relationships. And it takes balls to admit that being one of the Beatles means nothing in the scheme of things.

Then there's "I Found Out," which dismisses, again, Christ, Krishna, et al. "Keep you occupied with pie in the sky, there ain't no guru that can see through your eyes"

Wow. So what albums make you sad and contemplative?

I realize this is not the most coherent post, but I think I've explained my takes on the songs reasonably well.

 

[Aardvark747]

Empyrium - Where At Night The Wood Grouse Plays
Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields
Mortiis - The Stargate

These 3 I tend to listen to, if I wake up in the middle of the night, and decide to go for an impromtu drive to Dartmoor! Pretty sad and depressing stuff but sometimes, it can be just the right thing I need!

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
Marilyn Manson - Holywood
Cradle Of Filth - The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh

 

[beli]

You beat me. I was just going to say Pink Floyd.

 

[Aardvark747]

I missed DSOTM...but I thought it was just to obvious!

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I don't find DSOTM to be depressing... rather relaxing, actually, Lyrically.. erm... yeah, mebbe so.

 

[beli]

Dark Side of The Moon was particularly depressing because my father made me sit in the precise centre of the room to listen to it in total silence, if you know what I mean.

 

[Aardvark747]

I find listening to it in darkness whilst in the bath is quite relaxing...

 

[Dutch Partygirl]

Anything by Heather Nova is depressing, but the album Oyster is the worst.

 

[Aardvark747]

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

 

[Saracene]

Yeah, Pink Floyd's The Wall is quite a downer.

I also find Is This Desire? by PJ Harvey a really depressing album. Every song on it is a sort of a character sketch, mostly featuring women, all of whom seem to live sad, depressing lives. My Beautiful Leah is probably the gloomiest, with lyrics like

Never leaves my mind
The last word she said
"If I don't find it this time,
Then I'm better off dead."

 

[pax]

Forever Blue, Chris Isaak

It's basically a breakup album, with lyrics like these:

if you come back here
I'll fix the place up
I really love you
Let's not give up
Pleeeeeeeease don't leave me on my own...
--"Please Don't Leave Me on My Own"

 

[bsp77]

I know this may sound strange at first, but Springsteen's Born in the USA. The title track is about a disillusioned Vietnam vet. Glory Days is about how life sucks now and all you can do is think about the past. Both Dancing in the Dark and I'm On Fire are all about sex, but he sounds incredibly desperate like it is all he has to live for. My Hometown is about as bittersweet as a song can get. Downbound Train is just a heartbreaking story (though The River is probably worse).

Strangely, a lot of the music sounds happy like he is trying to ignore how utterly horrible some of the stories are.

 

[IWasBored]

Strangely, a lot of the music sounds happy like he is trying to ignore how utterly horrible some of the stories are.

or turn his typical lyrical matter into ultra-accessible, sing-along, over-produced 80s radio hits.

 

[bsp77]

or turn his typical lyrical matter into ultra-accessible, sing-along, over-produced 80s radio hits.

Possible as well. I enjoy his 70's stuff more.

 

[IWasBored]

if you think about it, sinners & saints album is depressing. the music rocks, rolls, and just generally kicks ass. and anyone reading this, most likely, is not going to have any idea who these guys are.

the music itself is not overtly sad, but the lyrics are what you'd come to expect from a project by hardcore/street punk/rock n roll's lind bros from charleston, MA.

track 1 - "dead so soon"
the lead off track is typical rob lind. not exactly the happiest guy in the world or anything. if you listen to blood for blood or ramallah (his hardcore bands), that's incredibly obvious (especially with b4b).
chorus: "and don't you worry honey, i'll be dead so soon, why don't you give me just what i need cos i got nothing to lose"

track 2 - "nothing at all"
written by mark lind of ducky boys fame.

track 3 - "the sky is falling (prophecy realized)"
one of my favorite songs ever, but that's beside the point.

i been walking at the midnight hour
in the darkness i can feel its power
the city streets are a mystery, i said a mystery
but they're the world to me

and in the darkness, yeah, i'm all alone
but it's the darkness that's gonna save my soul tonight
and their society's a myster, i said a mystery
and one i'll never see

and though it all y'know the world keeps turning
on the streets y'know the tears keep burning
i got no place aqnd i gotta get away

take me, take me away
i gotta get outta this place tonight
take me, take me away
the sky is falling and i just can't bear the sight

i want my innocence back
can you make my soul intact tonight
y'know they tried to take it all away
they tried to hurt me and i still can feel the pain

and through it all y'know the world keeps turning
on the streets y'know the tears keep turning
i got no faith and i gotta get away

take me, take me away
the sky is falling and i just can't bear the sight

i just can't bear the sight

track 4 - "like a suicide"
how much commentary is needed?

track 5 - "never too young to die"
"and if i could i'd marry this bottle in my hand, spend the rest of my days screwing round in my rock n roll band, you're never too young to die but to dark inside to be a man. i found out years ago, there ain't no promised land"
musically it sounds remniscent of 'baba o'riley' in the beginning.



and so on, and so forth..."marquee lights" is some girl who leaves to become a star and her name ain't written in the lights and the narrator doubts it will ever be... "it's all coming down tonight (prophecy unfulfilled)" and nothing is alright, nothing's alright tonight.

 

[IWasBored]

Possible as well. I enjoy his 70's stuff more.

don't get me wrong, i do like born in the USA very much.

 

[HelloAngel]

I love depressing music.. so let's see. Currently, I think of:

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral
Cure - Wish, Distinigration (sp?)
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Leonard Cohen - his best of releases are very heavy
Hole - Live Through This
Coldplay - Parachutes, AROBTTH
Radiohead - OK Computer
Damien Rice - O
Garden State Soundtrack
U2 - Achtung Baby (so much so that I can't even listen to it.)

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[elevatedmole]

Beck - Sea Change. I yearn for the day when I can listen to this album and appreciate its sublime qualities without becoming horribly depressed about my own life.

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. It probably didn't help that this was the album being constantly played by my friends during the worst year of my life (so far). But even when I listened to it by myself, by choice, it still depressed me greatly. I still think it's one of the best albums I own, though.

 

[whackjester]

Beck - Sea Change.

There you have it.....A great, but utterly depressing album of nothing but break up music.

 

[BluRmGrl]

ANYTHING by Leonard Cohen makes me want to slit my wrists with dull, rusty razors.

 

[Aardvark747]

ANYTHING by Leonard Cohen makes me want to slit my wrists with dull, rusty razors.

I do not like his new one, Dear Heather I think it is.

 

[LPU2]

I love depressing music. I can't believe no one's mentioned the Smiths. Anyway...the Jay Farrar side of Uncle Tupelo is also beautifully depressing.

A couple of songs come to mind as well. Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees is gorgeously hard-hitting. And Tom Waits' Kentucky Avenue makes me cry delicious tears into my bourbon every time.

 

[Aardvark747]

Tom Waits' - Martha...

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I love depressing music. I can't believe no one's mentioned the Smiths. Anyway...the Jay Farrar side of Uncle Tupelo is also beautifully depressing.

A couple of songs come to mind as well. Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees is gorgeously hard-hitting. And Tom Waits' Kentucky Avenue makes me cry delicious tears into my bourbon every time.

Yes, the Smiths are frighteningly despressing (it doesn't help that they had some of their most depressing songs sounded happy musically), as is Morrissey.

And Tom Waits... God, Rain Dogs is pretty intense if you really listen. "Time" goes without saying

 

[pax]

Sea Change is a really sad album, yes.

 

[jkayet]

Nick Drake...but I love it. Still, I find many songs of his depressing, especially black eyed dog.

I find the smiths amusing most of the time...in a good way, that is.

 

[If you shout...]

Bob Dylan--Blood On The Tracks
Beck--Sea Change
Beck--Mutations
Bruce Springsteen--Nebraska
The Streets--A Grand Don't Come For Free
The Cure--Disintegration...well, most of their other albums, too!
Weezer--Weezer (the blue one)
Wilco--Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Boston--Boston (seriously!)
The Velvet Underground--The Velvet Underground

...Well, those're a few, I guess. There are TONS more, but those spring to mind; that must mean that they're at least a bit sadder than some others. Beck, for the record, has recorded a WIDE array of crippling songs; I'd say that he's only really got two (maybe three, if you count One Foot In The Grave, which I didn't list) sad albums, but man...he's got doozies sprinkled all over his catalogue.

 

[Bono's shades]

Radiohead - OK Computer. "Exit Music" has got to be the ultimate song to commit suicide to.

 

[Zoomerang96]

There you have it.....A great, but utterly depressing album of nothing but break up music.

that's a great way to sum it up.

 

[DaveC]

come on now, you people know it's my pet peeve when folks say The Wall is depressing.