Good call! - that’s some good country misery right there.
Cowboy Junkys’ first- “Trinity Sessions” (before the curse of Gap rendered them shit). Can’t beat songs about lung-disease
TIME OUT OF MIND by Dylan
I was going to suggest anything by Gustav Mahler, but Jeff Olsen beat me to it.
The Trinity Session isn’t all sad, though. “Sweet Jane” isn’t a melancholy song, though Margot Timmins sings it like it should be, or something. Not sure about Time Out of Mind because any Dylan past Blood on the Tracks doesn’t exist in my world (la la la la laaaa). I like the Nick Cave suggestion, though Kicking Against the Pricks isn’t, IMHO, his best, and his best albums, like Let Love In have some upbeat, if frightening, songs (see “Janglin’ Jack”). I was wondering how long it would take before someone mentioned The Smiths, but I didn’t think it would be for Meat is Murder, the sorriest album in their (too short) career. The Queen is Dead, though, man, that’s genius.
Anyway, while I’ll agree that most of these albums mentioned have some incredibly sad and/or depressing songs on them, I still don’t think any (that I’ve heard. I’ll admit to not being a Springsteen fan, so Nebraska isn’t in my iPod) beat Berlin for sheer, uninterrupted darkness. Does anyone agree with me, or do you all think that Berlin is a gay romp?
Oh, and sorry for the double post, but I forgot to say that Lady in Satin is my least favorite album by Lady Day because, by the time she gets around to recording it, her voice is practically gone. I suppose it’s sad if you know that she’s soon for death, but the songs themselves just aren’t as powerful as something from earlier, like something from All or Nothing at All.
Neil Young’s “Tonight’s the Night,” deserves a mention here. Though I actually find it kind of uplifting, in the sense that he gathered the strength to publicly obsess on a problem no one else was even mentioning.
I’ve got nothing new to add, but my votes go to Nebraska and The Final Cut. The Final Cut is just depressing in a Floydian sort of way, but I couldn’t even get through all of side 1 of Nebraska (yes, it was an LP).
How about ‘Fumbling Towards Ecstasy’ by Sarah Mclachlan?
And nearly any Cure album
Morphine’s Cure For Pain never fails to bring me down, but in a good, cathartic way. Musically more so than lyrically, but still. Just an incredibly beautiful, sad album, in a sitting-in-a-smokey-room-all-alone kind of way.
About half the songs on Neko Case “Furnace Room Lullabye” are more depressing than anything I’ve heard by anyone else. The lowest of them even approach my condition. I find it uplifting as well.
Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds * Murder Ballads*
Sinead O’Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
RadioHead’s The Bends
Finally, someone mentions good doom metal! In that vein, I suggest any Katatonia album (e.g., “Brave Murder Day”?), and My Dying Bride’s “Turn Loose the Swans” or “Like Gods of the Sun.”
“Pele” seems more angry & dark to me. As far as depressing goes “From the Choirgirl Hotel” takes the cake. I believe this one was written after the miscarriage, if I remember my Tori trivia correctly. To me, this album just exudes sorrow & sometimes hopelessness. But that may be just me.
Murder Ballads isn’t depressing, don’t ask! Come on, that’s the album with “The Curse of Milhaven” and “Death is not the End.” Murder was never so much fun!
Yeah, From the Choirgirl Hotel is worlds more depressing than Boys for Pele, but, I don’t know, I just can’t get that depressed over Tori. Maybe it’s because she reminds me too much of Delerium, from The Sandman…
Richard and Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
A man is like his father
Wishes he never was born.
He longs for the time when the clock will chime
And he’s dead forevermore.
-
We Sing Hallelujah
Silver moon sail up and silver moon shine
On the waters so wide, waters so wide
Steal from the bed of some good friend of mine
My dreams are withered and died -
Withered and Died
Your mother works so hard to make you happy
But take a look outside the nursery door
There’s nothing at the end of the rainbow.
There’s nothing to grow up for anymore -
The End of the Rainbow
Very beautiful album. I love it. But its the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard.
Are we allowed to nominate collections? I have Various Failures by The Swans on right now:
cheery songs like Failure, Goddamn The Sun, cheery stuff
Harleen Quinzel wrote:
You’re trivia is correct (though it’s not really trivia since she does write about it on the album), but I don’t think the entire thing is so depressing. Playboy Mommy might be the saddest one, and I think that’s the one that deals most directly with the miscarriage.
I don’t know if I have any nominations, since I don’t seek out music that depresses me. Tori’s stuff usually brings me down, Radiohead’s often does (but not as much lately), but I guess Pink Floyd takes the cake. Pick an album.
Well, my first choices have all been mentioned. So I’ll just add another vote for any album by Joy Division and The Cure’s Pornography and Disintegration are both very sad.
Another Cure album with only depressing songs is Faith. Even the cover pic is all in grey.
A wizard song for thee is right about Murder Ballads. That is not a sad album it is quite humorous. I find No more shall we part far sadder.
What about **Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing” ** ? I mean, he isn’t saying much about love and such, but all the songs are slow, and all the themes are really dark.
And Cure’s “Bloodflowers”?