# Pop Songs with Slow Depressing Music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312 "2018-04-12T19:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/41 "2018-04-13T03:06:45Z")
I am not sure what the cutoff is for pop so I will just go with the safest one I can think of which is. Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy But there is the entire shoegaze craze, some marked above but I would personally think of Slowdive’s album Souvlaki as the prototype in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/42 "2018-04-13T03:09:02Z")
Very good call on that one. It was quite a popular song too, I remember hearing it on the radio a lot (and I like it.) It has a very minor tonality, sounds quite Nirvana-influenced. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/43 "2018-04-13T03:19:00Z")
[From 1966, “Mr. Diengly Sad” by the Critters.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h27rFCiL96Y) And from the same, even with the uptempo chorus, there’s just something dreary about [“Just a Little” by the Beau Brummels.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYneeXVOAyA) ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/44 "2018-04-13T03:26:30Z")
Oh shit, how is it that we’re at 43 posts and nobody’s offered up _California Dreamin’_? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/45 "2018-04-13T03:51:30Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > \*Superman \*by the Crash Test Dummies. Hmm, why “Superman” and not “Mmmm mmm mmm”? I’ll vote for a song from the “Upbeat songs…” thread - Ben Folds Five’s “Brick”! Cowboy Junkies’ cover of “[Sweet Jane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRFZFmEq9o)” was a lot sadder than the original. Also Mazzy Star’s “[Fade Into You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImKY6TZEyrI).” I don’t know if Band of Horses’ “[No One’s Gonna Love You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuZo7pLnL7c)” is sad or not. I can’t separate the lyrics from the music. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/46 "2018-04-13T03:54:36Z")
Radiohead - No Surprises, Fake Plastic Trees, Karma Police The Smiths - I Know It’s Over, The Death of a Disco Dancer, Well I Wonder, Never Had No One Ever and many more Snow Patrol - Run Clinic - Distortions - This one I would actually want played at my funeral ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/47 "2018-04-13T04:07:14Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Oh shit, how is it that we’re at 43 posts and nobody’s offered up _California Dreamin’_? Maybe it has too much spring in its step, I don’t know. But hey, it’s not a completely sunny tune either. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/48 "2018-04-13T04:16:52Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Funny how two different people can hear such different things in the same song, huh? … > > Nobody’s right or wrong in any absolute sense. Whatever else might come from this thread, **that** is surely the ultimate point. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/49 "2018-04-13T07:15:20Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > _Hello_ by Adele Similarly, “Hello” by Lionel Richie. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/50 "2018-04-13T11:06:09Z")
I’m glad to see that Cowboy Junkies made the cut. But no mention of Tom Waits? You people disappoint me. Also, Band of Horses. Also The Smiths, “Never Had No One Ever”. Also, Audioslave, “Like a Stone”. Also… ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/51 "2018-04-13T11:38:33Z")
MacArthur Park. Horse with no name. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/52 "2018-04-13T11:51:06Z")
A lot of good ones have been mentioned. Very first that came to my mind is _The Freshmen_. Now I’m trying to imagine the music without the lyrics and see if I still find it depressing . . . I \*think \*I do but I’ve been hearing it one way for so long I’m not sure I can separate the two. I’ve always thought the music on _Ode to Billy Joe_ is quite melancholy; especially that haunting violin riff (probably not the correct term) right after the last verse that (to me) represents the sound of something or someone falling. If you know the song, hopefully you know to what I’m referring. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/53 "2018-04-13T11:51:42Z")
A couple from Lou Reed: They’re Taking Her Children Away; and Slip Away. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/54 "2018-04-13T12:27:09Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > A couple from Lou Reed: They’re Taking Her Children Away; and Slip Away. I’d also add “Perfect Day” even though there are a couple lines in it that suggest it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/55 "2018-04-13T12:48:32Z")
“Power of Goodbye” by Madonna ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/56 "2018-04-13T12:53:54Z")
A rarity from the '60s: [“When Rain Is Black” by The Deep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIS9nAs-IEU) ---
**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:** [April 13, 2018, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/57 "2018-04-13T12:55:05Z")
The first song that came to mind: Careless Whisper, by Wham! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/58 "2018-04-13T13:10:46Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > A lot of good ones have been mentioned. Very first that came to my mind is _The Freshmen_. Now I’m trying to imagine the music without the lyrics and see if I still find it depressing . . . I \*think \*I do but I’ve been hearing it one way for so long I’m not sure I can separate the two. [Here you go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJj3f6NmO6Q) Picks up a little around the 1:20 mark. One thing I’ve noticed is that most of these songs with “slow depressing music” are, well, pretty musically boring. Usually the same couple plodding chords played over and over for five minutes with maybe something over them part way through where the song would pick up a little. That’s not a criticism of the song as a whole – it feels like taking the body off a car and them commenting on how uninteresting the chassis is – but I think it does help explain why a lot of depressing songs don’t have dirge music accompanying them. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/59 "2018-04-13T13:46:09Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I’d also add “Perfect Day” even though there are a couple lines in it that suggest it’s not. Yeah, Lou Reed has a lot of slow depressing songs. Anything from Berlin works and most of Dirty Boulevard. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312/60 "2018-04-13T14:01:43Z")
Honey, by Bobby Goldsboro. Most depressing song evah, and it was a big hit back in the day. Also Teen Angel. Yecch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-slow-depressing-music/812312.md?page=4)