# Recommend some quiet, sad, angsty music to me. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972 "2003-05-18T00:57:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/1 "2003-05-18T00:57:44Z")
I am in a poor mood and am in need of musical catharsis. Would you nice folks be kind enough to recommend some quiet, sad, angsty music to me? Something similar to Everessence _Hello_ or the Donni Darco version of _Mad World_. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/2 "2003-05-18T01:14:21Z")
Try these… Damaged - Plumb The Liar - Ozzy So Tired - Ozzy Hurt - Johnny Cash Sweeter For Me - Joan Baez ---
**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:** [May 18, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/3 "2003-05-18T01:21:40Z")
Not too familiar with the music you referred to, but the saddest, angstiest (is that a word?) band I can think of at the moment is **The Handsome Family**. I particularly recommend their album [Through The Trees](http://ubl.artistdirect.com/store/artist/album/0,,333229,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/4 "2003-05-18T01:23:18Z")
It’s a perfectly crumulent word. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/5 "2003-05-18T01:25:50Z")
That’s “cromulent.” Don’t you have a dictionotomy? ---
**Author:** ![Skillet38](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Skillet38](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skillet38)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/6 "2003-05-18T01:54:17Z")
The Red House Painters Songs for a Blue Guitar brilliantly simply sad and slowed down ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/7 "2003-05-18T02:41:33Z")
Needle in the Hay by Elliot Smith Slob by Weezer ---
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/8 "2003-05-18T02:58:39Z")
Evanescence - “Anywhere” – this is from their demo tracks and didn’t make it to their debut album, so you may need to utilize some rather underhanded means in order to hear it. Dead Can Dance – Within the Realm of a Dying Sun – the entire album is dark, moody, and bittersweet. I wouldn’t exactly classify it as angst, but it definately holds some dark catharsis (at least for me). Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58, Movement ii: Andante con moto – one of the most beautiful, sad, and expressive pieces of music you will ever hear that doesn’t have lyrics. This was composed around the time he realized he was going deaf. Clint Mansell – Requiem for a Dream – I prefer the Lux Aeterna version from the Two Towers soundtrack, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/9 "2003-05-18T03:02:14Z")
I have heard “Slob” before, good song, but far from quiet. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/10 "2003-05-18T03:04:07Z")
Similiar to Hansome Family, (really the Sparks family, husband and wife, Rennie and Brett), try Bonnie Prince Billy(real name Will Oldham.) Mr. Oldham also goes by the pseudonym Palace. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/11 "2003-05-18T03:05:39Z")
Rather than bands and singers, I would really appreciate particular songs. Which ones affected you the most? ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/12 "2003-05-18T03:26:17Z")
Excess Baggage - Staind Quiet, sad, and angsty, I think you’ll like it. ---
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/13 "2003-05-18T03:30:29Z")
From the previously mentioned Dead Can Dance album, try “Cantara” and “Persephone (the gathering of flowers)” Here’s a few more: Mazzy Star - “Fade Into You” Sarah McLachlan - “Good Enough” Madredeus - “Vem” (more meaningful if you have a translation handy or are fluent in Portuguese) Samuel Barber - “Adagio for Strings” Granted, not all these may be in the genre you seek, but I find them to be cathartic nonetheless 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/14 "2003-05-18T03:31:39Z")
Anything by the Magnetic Fields. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/15 "2003-05-18T03:33:15Z")
Be careful with Mazzy Star’s Fade into You. Don’t drive with it on. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/16 "2003-05-18T03:46:37Z")
Ennio Morricone - “Gabriel’s Oboe” The Smiths - “Asleep” and “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” ---
**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:** [May 18, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/17 "2003-05-18T03:52:19Z")
Here’s some specific **Handsome Family** songs: Weightless Again Woman Downstairs My Ghost In the Air So Much Wine All the TVs in Town Enjoy… ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/18 "2003-05-18T04:01:31Z")
More popular artists would include: \*\* A Perfect Circle\*\* - specifically the songs: 3 Libras, Sleeping Beauty, Thomas, and Breña. **Alice in Chains** - specifically the songs: Nutshell, Rotten Apple, and Down in a Hole. **Bush** - specifically: Inflatable and Letting the Cable Sleep. **Coldplay** - specifically the songs: Warning Sign and Amsterdam. **Nine Inch Nails** - specifically the songs: A Warm Place, The Great Below, and At the Heart of It All. **Pantera** - specifically: Planet Caravan. **Portishead** - almost anything by them, but I’m especially affected by the songs: Roads, Sour Times, and It Could Be Sweet. **Sarah MacLachlan** - specifically the songs: I Love You, Witness, and Angel. Some lesser known bands include: **Yo La Tengo** - specifically the songs: Everyday, Night Falls on Hoboken, and Tears Are In Your Eyes. **Mad Season** - specifically: Long Gone Day. **Cat Power** - a girl with a truly cathartic voice. Specifically the songs: Colors and the Kids and Metal Heart. **Modest Mouse** - specifically: Gravity Rides Everything, 3rd Planet, Lounge, and Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset. All of it is quiet, most of it is sad, angsty is subjective. In one way or another they all should meet your specifications. Music always helps me feel better, or at least worse before getting better, but I honestly believe it’s natural and good for a person to dwell on things sometimes. Hope these songs help you as they’ve helped me many times over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/19 "2003-05-18T04:02:11Z")
I recommend Bonnnie Prince Billy’s “I See a Darkness” and “Wolf Among Wolves” I second “Weightless Again” by the Handsome Family. It’s my favorite Handsome Family song. And although I don’t particularly like the song as a whole, the Handsome Family’s “Drunk by Noon” contains one of my favorite sad, angsty couplets: “Sometimes I flap my arms like a hummingbird just to remind myself I’ll never fly/And sometimes I burn my arms with cigarettes just to pretend I won’t scream when I die” ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972/20 "2003-05-18T04:14:35Z")
“Timelessness” by Fear Factory. “Something’s Always Wrong” by Toad the Wet Sprocket And always for quiet and angsty, Radiohead: “Climbing Up the Walls” (you’ll want the lyrics for this one, though, because it’s kind of hard to understand) “Pyramid Song” “Knives Out” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-quiet-sad-angsty-music-to-me/175972.md?page=2)