# Most depressingest album ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2003, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659 "2003-10-21T07:32:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/21 "2003-10-21T15:22:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Wah…? ‘Sheep’ kicks butt, man. It’s not depressing at all… I _like_ Animals, I just think it’s a dark album. (And the best song is Pigs!)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/22 "2003-10-21T15:24:15Z")
Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground If only for “Pale Blue Eyes” and “After Hours.” 2nd choice The Replacements- Tim “Left of the Dial”, “Bastards of Young”, “Here Comes a Regular.” ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/23 "2003-10-21T15:25:52Z")
I think Time slugs it out with Dogs -which starts out quite perky- and finishes with a sort of Rog’ Water’s list of life failures… fitted with collar and chain only a stranger at home found dead on the phone dragged down by the stone The subject of the song (a man not a dog) is also ‘all alone and dying of cancer’ whee hee! Album not to hand may have misquoted. And there’s always Nick Drake… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/24 "2003-10-21T15:28:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by A wizard song for thee \* > \*\*What others qualify? \*\* Anything featuring Gustav Mahler’s “Der Kindertotenlieder” (Songs on the Death of Children). ---
**Author:** ![moodtobestewed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@moodtobestewed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moodtobestewed)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/25 "2003-10-21T15:43:58Z")
I’d nominate folksinger Iris Dement’s _My Life_, an album that caused my mild mannered mother to demand, “Can’t this woman write any fucking happy songs?” ---
**Author:** ![DaPearl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@DaPearl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaPearl)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/26 "2003-10-21T16:46:36Z")
Alot of Floyd is depressing, but I have to agree that I don’t find DsotM that depressing. It just doesn’t have that feel. _Wish You were Here_ though, I find to be extremely depressing. The Who’s _The Who by Numbers_ is a very dark album, dealing with Pete Townshend’s demons. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/27 "2003-10-21T17:09:32Z")
I’ll also throw out: **The Cure** Disintegration (can’t believe this isn’t mentioned yet) **Anything Box** Worth **Gracious Shades** Aberkash ---
**Author:** ![Baby\_Fish\_Mouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@Baby\_Fish\_Mouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baby_Fish_Mouth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/28 "2003-10-21T17:35:09Z")
Another vote for **The Cure’s Disintegration**. Also, **Jeff Buckley’s Sketches for Sweetheart the Drunk** , the album that went unfinished because of his death. **Tom Waits’ Heart of Saturday Night** strikes a drunken, melancholy chord, as do most of his early albums. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/29 "2003-10-21T17:53:12Z")
The closest I’ve ever felt to suicidal was after one of my friends made us listen to an entire James Taylor cd on a road trip. I just wanted to steer us into an oncoming 18-wheeler. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/30 "2003-10-21T18:01:58Z")
With a funereal nod at Joy Division’s _Closer_, I nominate Nick Drake’s **Pink Moon**. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/31 "2003-10-21T18:21:34Z")
Lady in Satin, by Billie Holiday. You can hear the life just evaporating out of her. She’d be dead the following year, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/32 "2003-10-21T18:37:18Z")
**Nebraska** by Bruce Springsteen is worth a mention. ---
**Author:** ![electric\_sheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@electric\_sheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/electric_sheep)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/33 "2003-10-21T18:44:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by interface2x \* > \*\*I’ll also throw out: > > **The Cure** Disintegration (can’t believe this isn’t mentioned yet)\*\* Neither can I. We’re getting warmer (or colder, if you will :p)… ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/34 "2003-10-21T18:50:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*Anything featuring Gustav Mahler’s “Der Kindertotenlieder” (Songs on the Death of Children). \*\* I’d like to see “Kindertotenlieder” packaged with Mussorgsky’s “Songs and Dances of Death” and Strauss’ “Death and Transfiguration.” Picture it: “The Most Depressing Classical Album. . . Ever!” ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/35 "2003-10-21T18:51:33Z")
I’ve heard that Evoken’s _Quietus_ is quite depressing. ---
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/36 "2003-10-21T19:16:47Z")
Yeah, I thought of _Disintegration_, but it has, well, at least one upbeat song that I can think of off the toppa. “Lovesong” is, while not entirely positive in its outlook on life, at least not as bad as, say, “Lady Day” off of _Berlin_. Yeah, _Closer_ is a good suggestion, but I prefer _Unknown Pleasures_, just because I love the song “New Dawn Fades.” Of course, for most depressingest song of all time, I’d recommend “Atmosphere” by Joy Division. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/37 "2003-10-21T19:34:50Z")
Tull’s _A Passion Play_. Mainly I was just depressed that I bought it. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/38 "2003-10-21T20:56:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ianzin \* > \*\ ***Nebraska** by Bruce Springsteen is worth a mention. \*\* I agree entirely, which is why I mentioned it before… > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SirRay \* > For ‘Best Selling’ depressing albums, I’d vote for Springsteen’s Nebraska - very dreary music (well, at least to me…) Sorry, just had to be a wiseass on this one… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/39 "2003-10-21T21:01:23Z")
The Cure - Pornography Joy Division - Closer Tori Amos - Boys for Pele The Smiths - Meat is Murder ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659/40 "2003-10-21T22:45:32Z")
**Through the Trees** - _The Handsome Family_ **Damaged** - _Black Flag_ **Nick Cave** - _Kicking Against the Pricks_ and further nods to the aforementioned Joy Division - Closer Tom Waits - Heart of Saturday Night And although I really like the _Velvet Underground_ and _Replacements_ albums mentioned… I don’t actually find them _ **depressing** _. Sure, some of the songs are pretty melancholy, but the entire albums all that dismal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressingest-album-ever/208659.md?page=3)