# Dark pop songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343 "2011-06-04T22:42:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/81 "2011-06-08T19:53:12Z")
[Something for the Weekend](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeWITeExEy4) by Divine Comedy is a lovely little bouncy pop song about getting bashed in the head and robbed by a lover. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/82 "2011-06-08T20:19:31Z")
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, a nice little tune about suburban despair and insanity. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KV-PTK0UZ4) Marianne Faithfull’s version. [Emma](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KV-PTK0UZ4) by Hot Chocolate, a nice little tune about how failing to achieve one’s dreams leads to suicide. There’s a cover out there by the Sisters Of Mercy if this isn’t dark enough for you. ---
**Author:** ![DivineComedienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c67d28/32.png) [@DivineComedienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DivineComedienne)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/83 "2011-06-08T20:29:46Z")
“Last Kiss”, which I remember from the 70’s but I think was redone by Pearl Jam. Young couple gets in a car accident and the girl dies in his arms. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/84 "2011-06-08T20:56:34Z")
> [@DivineComedienne](#): > > “Last Kiss”, which I remember from the 70’s but I think was redone by Pearl Jam. Young couple gets in a car accident and the girl dies in his arms. I don’t know if it’s so much “dark” as so excessively maudlin that it’s unintentionally funny. Maybe he’s too “country” for this thread topic but I’m surprised at the lack of Johnny Cash selections. Here are just a few: –[“Cocaine Blues”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq344ks1ieg) –[“25 Minutes to Go”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxvR7ZUjaJk&feature=related) –[“Delia’s Gone”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeOPhh_DgPA&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/85 "2011-06-08T20:58:29Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > “Born in the USA” is about wasted lives, Vietnam, and the death of the American Dream. I love how it’s played at 4th of July fireworks extravaganzas and other America: Fuck Yeah! type festivities. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/86 "2011-06-08T23:52:40Z")
_I Wish I Was a Girl_ by Counting Crows is about a woman dreaming of killing herself by jumping off of a building. > [@](#): > > The devil’s in the dreaming > You see yourself descending from the building to the ground Come to think of it, that theme pops up in a few of their songs: 1. _Round Here_ - “She looks up at the building/She says ‘I’m thinking of jumping’.” 2. _Chelsea_ - “Angels float down from all the buildings/there’s something about an angel that just kills me/I keep hoping something will” 3. _Insignificant_ - “Could you see me fall in the light/Of the spotlights and jackknife/Through night as black as a bedroom/And white as a lie?” Then again, as I’ve said before, Adam Duritz is the most depressing sonofabitch on the face of the earth. Johnny Cash would have told this man to cheer up. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/87 "2011-06-09T01:21:47Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > From about the same time: > > D.O.A. by Bloodrock. > Not sure if it’s really ‘Pop’, but was listed on Casey Kasem’s Top 40. > Ah for the days of Junior High. Yup. Recall it well. Speaking of Casey Kasem: _Shannon_ by Henry Gross. A sweet song - about a death of Carl Wilson’s (Beach Boys) much-loved Irish Setter. Not really dark, so much as sad - And many people missed the import of the lyrics at first. Casey famously [blew his cool](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDYK2H0ldbo) when he was asked to segue from a peppy up-beat song to _Shannon_. ---
**Author:** ![Edwardina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Edwardina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edwardina)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/88 "2011-06-09T02:33:56Z")
How about [Pumped Up Kicks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3ldsF65cLM&feature=related) by Foster The People? This could have also gone on the page about songs we enjoyed until we really listened to the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/89 "2011-06-09T02:36:39Z")
Mack the knife by bobby darin. I love how it is the swingingest, happiest little tune, and its all about a serial killer.\*\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343/90 "2011-06-09T03:02:41Z")
> [@Edwardina](#): > > How about [Pumped Up Kicks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3ldsF65cLM&feature=related) by Foster The People? > > This could have also gone on the page about songs we enjoyed until we really listened to the lyrics. Wow, I’ve listened to that song a million times and never listened to the lyrics. It doesn’t help that the cable music channel has the title listed as “Pumped Up Kids.” I thought it was about excited adolescents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-pop-songs/584343.md?page=4)