No one has mentioned the Moody Blues…they’re not called “moody” for nothing. I used to have a double album of “This is the Moody Blues”…If I listened to the whole thing, in one sitting I’d be pretty depressed afterward.
Also, Evanescence’s (sp?) Fallen is a real downer. My nine year old daughter heard Amy Lee singing the words “Save me from the nothing I’ve become” and she said, “I hope she doesn’t really feel that way.”
Polyphonic Spree’s The Beginning Stages Of…
OK…maybe not.
I’ll have to second Springsteen’s Nebraska and the Cure’s Faith.
…and (not to hijack the thread) add a resounding no to Nick Drake. If you ask me, the only way Drake is really depressing is in the context of his psychiatric problems and how he died.
His actual music is usually so bittersweet and melancholic (yeah, even on Pink Moon) … when I listen to him I usually find myself smiling like an idiot, not in “OH EM GEE, MUST SLIT WRISTS” mode. I dunno, it just feels like you’re missing out if all you hear is depression and bleakness.
Dryga_Yes, I stick to my previous opinion regarding Pink Moon, but I see what you mean. I didn’t put Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs on the list because most of the sad angle comes from the back story.
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here is one of my favorite albums, yet very depressing. Especially the Wish You Were Here song in particular.
Jackson Browne’s I’m Alive
It’s full of songs about love dumped & love obsessed. From the title song:
While I was dreaming of you
With my heart in your hands
And I was following though
With my beautiful plans
Through “My Problem is You”:
To love and get away before the walls have arisen
You’ve got to be free
But to go on attempting to break into the prison
You’d have to be me
And “Everywhere I Go”
I hear your heart beating everywhere
When we’re apart I can hear you there
I hear your heart beating everywhere
Everywhere I go
Through “Two of Me, Two of You”
There are two of me
And two of you
Two who have betrayed love
And two who have been true
And together we went crashing through
Every bond and vow and faith we knew
Me and the fool I’ve been
And the two of you
And the classic “Sky Blue and Black”
You’re the hidden cost and the thing that’s lost
In everything I do
Yeah and I’ll never stop looking for you
And on to the end with “All Good Things”
All good things got to come to an end
The thrills have to fade
Before they come 'round again
The bills will be paid
And the pleasure will mend
All good things got to come to an end
This album just does it for me.
I LOVE that album! But depressing it surely is. “The Blower’s Daughter” is the song to commit suicide by, but I love it.
Jacques Brel was pretty goddamn depressing when he wanted to be.
I have the album “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” the soundtrack to a 1960’s Broadway production of his music, translated into English. Selected verses and songs:
We find love, you and I
It’s a new game to play
Then we tell our first lie
And see love go away
And we find…we’re alone
We rush on, you and I
We don’t need love at all
We need thrills, we need speed
Then we stumble and fall
And we find…we’re alone
We’re loyal, you and I
To flowers that are dead
We forget how to cry
We save photos instead
And we find…we’re alone
– “Alone”
Sons of the thief, sons of the saint
Who is the child with no complaint
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own
The same sweet smiles, the same sad tears
The cries at night, the nightmare fears
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own…
So long ago: long, long, ago…
– “Sons Of…”
The old folks dream no more
The books have gone to sleep, the piano’s out of tune
The little cat is dead and no more do they sing
On a Sunday afternoon
The old folks move no more, their world’s become too small
Their bodies feel like lead
They might look out the window or else sit in a chair
Or else they stay in bed
And if they still go out, arm in arm, arm in arm
In the morning’s chill
It’s to have a good cry, to say their last good-bye
To one who’s older still
And then they go home to the old silver clock
When day is through
It tick-tocks oh so slow, it says, “Yes,” it says, “No”
It says, “I’ll wait for you.”
– “Old Folks”
There are some upbeat songs, sure, but all in all it’s depressing.
I don’t think depression is limited to “wrist slitting.” At times, depressing music can be a good thing. For example, when things are going too fast, and I’m getting confused and scared, a depressing but beautiful album can calm me down and make me feel better.
Joni Mitchell’s “Blue”. I love it , when I’m feeling sorry for myself or bummed it’s either this album or anything by Leonard Cohen.
That’s my vote. We’ve got one murder of an innocent, one mass murder/suicide, several depressing love songs. The most up-tempo song is about an invasion and no doubt slaughter. I still remember listening to this at 3 AM in college - what a downer.
John Prine by John Prine. Donald and Lydia, Sam Stone, Angel From Montgomery, Far From Me, Six O’clock News, and Hello in There, one of the saddest songs ever written.
While I haven’t heard Damien Rice’s O (though I fully intend to soon), my vote for most depressing album released this year would go to Death Cab for Cutie’s Transatlanticism. Especially “Tiny Vessels” and the title track.
I think I need to add some Joy Division to my music collection.
Joy Divison - Closer
The Cure - Disintegration
Leonard Cohen’s usually pretty depressing…
But the winner is…
Bright Eyes - Fevers & Mirrors. There’s not an uplifting song, and they are all brutally honest and depressing. It’s nirvana.
**Hell Among The Yearlings - Gillian Welch. ** Not a happy song on the thing, these are the songs:
Caleb Meyer - about a woman who’s husband goes to Bowling Green, and his friend comes over, and as she’s being raped, she reaches up, grabs a bottle, breaks it and runs it across his neck. It ends with her feeling the warm blood trickle over her.
Good Til Now - About a woman who is dying.
Devil had a Hold of Me - About a little girl who the Devil had a hold of.
My Morphine - About a woman who is hooked on morphine.
One Morning - A woman’s son is returning to her, riding a horse and bleeding from a gunshot wound.
Miner’s refrain - Gotta have a miner song here. About how it’s hell waiting for the mine to cave in.
Honey Now - I think it’s about a woman who wants a man. She then talks about how sore she is.
I’m not afraid to die - A woman who laments how she is not afraid to die, which is coming soon.
Rock of Ages - She’s seeing the Rock of Ages until she can meet her mother, who just died.
Whiskey Girl - About a woman and a guy who are living in the underworld, in a drunken state.
Winters Come and Gone - The most uplifting song. She’s talking to a bird who is telling her winters over. She wonders how she’ll make it with 5 cold quarters.
Great album though. I saw her(I’m actually seeing her tomorrow too!), Ani DeFranco and Greg Brown together couple years ago. They did this thing where someone shouts out an emotion, and they all had to do a song about it. Someone shouted out ‘happiness’. She went last. I was wondering what she’d do because she doesn’t have a lot of them, she did one of the above songs.
Temple of Low Men and Together Alone, both by Crowded House.
Modern Times by Al Stewart. The title cut was such a bummer when I bought the album (I was 17) that I never listened to it again, but 25 years later, it really resonates.
I only bought the album to begin with because it had Dr. Strange on the cover (although the current printing no longer does). So did his subsequent album, Past, Present and Future, which was a huge favorite when I was a teenager. I guess I just wasn’t ready for Modern Times.