# Music for self-indulgent/mopey teens **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729 "2005-10-04T13:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/1 "2005-10-04T13:55:08Z")
OK now, when you were a teen you sat in your room and moped. Either hating yourself, or hating the rest of the universe because they didn’t understand how you were the greatest thing and they were all a bunch of jerks. And while you did this, you listened to music. So, let us now compile the ultimate compilation of mopey teen angst music. Some of my favorites Another Brick in the Wall Pink Floyd (actually the entire album) The Angry Young Man Billy Joel I Started a Joke the Brothers Gibb Nowhere Man The Beatles Iron Man (now my mind is blanking on who sang Iron Man, BOC?) The Trees Rush He Knew Kansas Stary Stary Night Don McLean So what songs did you mope to? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/2 "2005-10-04T14:02:38Z")
Not favorites of mine, but they fit: “I Am a Rock” - Simon and Garfunkel “In My Room” - The Beach Boys Anything by Nirvana and Pearl Jam ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/3 "2005-10-04T15:10:58Z")
Drat, I thought I could be the first to post “I am a Rock”. It’s the ultimate self-indulgent mope-out song. “Alone Again - Naturally” might fit the criteria. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/4 "2005-10-04T15:59:31Z")
“The First Cut Is the Deepest.” Great song, but geez freakin’ louise, talk about self-pity! Girl division: Lots and lots of Joni Mitchell ( **hides recently-purchased CD of _Blue_** ). ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/5 "2005-10-04T16:08:26Z")
“At Seventeen”–is that Carly Simon? Anyway, that was a good self-pitying song I loved. Now while I’m separated, and probably headed for divorce, I’m enjoying Poe and Alanis. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/6 "2005-10-04T16:13:45Z")
“Yer Blues” by the Beatles “Sitting On My Sofa” by the Kinks ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/7 "2005-10-04T16:14:50Z")
Gilbert & Sullivan. I wasn’t all that mopey. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@Big\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_G)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/8 "2005-10-04T16:15:17Z")
“In the Garage” by Weezer (and probably most of the Weezer catalog) ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/9 "2005-10-04T16:18:33Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Iron Man (now my mind is blanking on who sang Iron Man, BOC?) - Black Sabbath\* I listened to whole albums when I was feeling angst-y: **Quadraphenia** -_The Who_ **Emerson, Lake and Palmer** -\* ELP\* **Brain Salad Surgery** -\* ELP\*. **Get Your Wings** -\* Aerosmith\*. **Tales of Mystery and Suspense** -\* Alan Parsons Project\* ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/10 "2005-10-04T16:22:06Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > “At Seventeen”–is that Carly Simon? Anyway, that was a good self-pitying song I loved. I think it’s _Janis Ian._ ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/11 "2005-10-04T16:22:51Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > “At Seventeen”–is that Carly Simon? Anyway, that was a good self-pitying song I loved. > > Now while I’m separated, and probably headed for divorce, I’m enjoying Poe and Alanis. Janis Ian that is. Anything by The Smiths, especially “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” When I was a mopey teen, it was _Berlin,_ the entire album, by Lou Reed. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/12 "2005-10-04T17:13:11Z")
The Cure - _Disintergration_ ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/13 "2005-10-04T19:31:31Z")
Pretty much the entirety of _The Grand Illusion_ (Styx). And _Leftoverture_ (Kansas). ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/14 "2005-10-04T19:44:37Z")
Are we exactly the same age? ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/15 "2005-10-04T19:49:10Z")
Anything Depeche Mode or Staind. “Eighteen” by Alice Cooper. “Queer” by Garbage. “Teenager” by Better Than Ezra. “Down in a Hole” by Alice in Chains. Dang…Poe, Portishead…the 90’s had lots of mopey teen angst/rock. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/16 "2005-10-04T21:35:57Z")
Yep, Janis Ian and “At Seventeen”. One of my old faves from my “mope and cry” era. I was a depressed teen back in the early Nineties, but instead of listening to the typical Music of Disgruntled Youth I turned to the lite rock station. If you’re feeling lonely and unloved, extremely sappy love songs are a teen masochist’s dream. There is NOTHING more depressing and overwrought, not even a Morrissey album. I recently heard Morrissey for the first time and wished I’d known about it when I was younger. It’s hilarious! How can you listen to something like “The World Is Full of Crashing Bores” without feeling less alone and more like continuing to live? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/17 "2005-10-04T21:46:12Z")
Violent Femmes, of course. I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT THIS WILL GO DOWN ON YOUR PERMANENT RECORD. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/18 "2005-10-04T22:20:30Z")
> [@Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy](#): > > **Tales of Mystery and Suspense** -\* Alan Parsons Project\* The follow-up to **Tales of Mystery and Imagination**? 😃 For me- The whole double-CD “This Is the Moody Blues” with special focus on _For My Lady_ _Tuesday Afternoon_ and of course _Nights in White Satin_. In college- Alan Parsons Project’s _Old and Wise_ from **Eye in the Sky**. Pink Floyd’s _Wish You Were Here_ a LOT of Kate Bush, esp _The Man With the Child In His Eyes_ (she was singing it about me, you know). ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/19 "2005-10-05T02:16:05Z")
Am I the only one who, when he feels angst-y (I’m still a teenager, by the way), wants to get over it, and so listens to cheerful music? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729/20 "2005-10-05T04:20:17Z")
The Simpsons said it best: Making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel. The music playing at the time: _Zero_ by the Smashing Pumpkins. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-self-indulgent-mopey-teens/324729.md?page=2)