# Soundtrack for a mental breakdown **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088 "2018-09-10T04:08:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/1 "2018-09-10T04:08:24Z")
So you’re planning a mental collapse – a descent into paranoia, debilitating depression, substance abuse, what have you – and you want to get the music right. What’s on your playlist? In Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta”, the narrator wants to “publish 'zines and rage against machines”, and grouses that “only stupid people are breeding”, but he ends up with visions in which he contemplates the “rottenness and evil” in himself and has his arms and legs amputated. He cries, “I’m not sick, but I’m not well, and I’m so hot 'cuz I’m in hell”, and “Paranoia, paranoia, everyone’s coming to get me!” He’s coming apart at the seams. If you’re not on edge, the video will get you closer: [Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta (Official Music Video) - YouTube](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wYsMjEeEg4g) Awolnation’s “SAIL” has unsettling lyrics, including “maybe I should cry for help. Maybe I should kill myself.” But it’s mostly the music that gets my brain squirming. The mix of the plinky piano, strained vocals, and distorted bass line just makes the whole song seem off kilter. The narrator is clearly not all together. [SAIL-Awolnation {lyrics} - YouTube](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2CaypEojjKQ) I don’t entirely understand what’s going on in “Pretty Pimpin” by Kurt Vile, but anyone who doesn’t recognize his own face in the mirror and sees himself as some “stupid fool blocking the bathroom sink” is dealing with some shit. Feeling like you’re “brushing some stranger’s teeth” instead of your own is not a good sign. I’m no psychiatrist, but if you’re viewing yourself from a third person perspective, and not reliably recognizing your own face, it’s probably time to seek professional help. Something ain’t right with this guy. [Kurt Vile - "Pretty Pimpin" Official Video - YouTube](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=659pppwniXA) And, finally, “Hate Me” by Blue October is less a song of mental unraveling than one of overwhelming guilt, but I think it belongs here. The narrator tells his mother, “I have to block out thoughts of you so I don’t lose my head. They’re crawling like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed.” Which is a bit of an unsettling image. He goes on to describe the “nervous bleeding in [his] brain.” The whole song is his begging his mother to start hating him and put him out of her life so she can reclaim her own life after all he put her through in his addiction. The narrator is sober now, and relatively mentally stable, but he’s facing the overwhelming guilt of all he’s done. That’s… not cheerful. [Blue October - Hate Me - YouTube](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dDxgSvJINlU) What are your go-to songs that are either about people at the end of their rope, or should be used in a movie when a character comes undone? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/2 "2018-09-10T04:14:36Z")
Is Pink Floyd too obvious? “The Final Cut” is Roger Waters at his… best? > [@](#): > > Through the fish-eyed lens of tear stained eyes > I can barely define the shape of this moment in time > And far from flying high in clear blue skies > I’m spiraling down to the hole in the ground where I hide… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2e-yO6_FbtI/hqdefault.jpg "Pink Floyd Final Cut (11) - The Final Cut") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e-yO6_FbtI) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/3 "2018-09-10T04:15:47Z")
How could you miss [the pretty much definitive one](https://youtube.com/watch?v=l-lJZiqZaGA#)? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/4 "2018-09-10T04:43:42Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Awolnation’s “SAIL” has unsettling lyrics, including “maybe I should cry for help. Maybe I should kill myself.” SAIL appears to be the official anthem of wingsuit proximity flying, e.g. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB\_R6L8XvGQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB_R6L8XvGQ) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/5 "2018-09-10T05:07:49Z")
It’s one thing to write lyrics that convey mental problems. To sing a crazy sad song about ones koo-koo-ness. But it’s a whole other dimension when sheer liquid madness is revealed through a lone piano. In less than 90 seconds. Everyone knows the third movement of this sonata, it’s Chopin’s iconic funeral march. Neat-o, right? But after the funeral’s over and all the toys are put away insanity swallows all. [Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2, op.35 4. Finale: Presto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67QcrvAyQ2Y) By the end at 1:25 you can see that playing the damned thing has liquefied this guys soul. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/6 "2018-09-10T07:14:57Z")
pretty much the whole of “The Wall” would suffice ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/7 "2018-09-10T07:52:03Z")
A few that come to mind: - “[Psychotic Reaction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je0xsuaeXbU)” - The Count Five - [“The End”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXqPNlng6uI) - The Doors - “[Dress Rehearsal Rag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI_rKF0C8NI)” - Leonard Cohen ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/8 "2018-09-10T09:20:35Z")
\*Haven’t slept in a while Lost the dread to dream I blocked it out But I still remember everything (All I see is me at nineteen Silencing the voices within me) You’re hopeless You’ll never be enough You’re crazy You are You are A monster O can’t you see You play it Some one put a curse on me\* [She is we - Monster - Lyrics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7-X6LSx5Jw) (The lyrics shown on the screen aren’t really accurate.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/9 "2018-09-10T10:33:56Z")
Herman’s Hermit’s complete discography seems the obvious answer. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/10 "2018-09-10T10:41:20Z")
**Shostakovich** : _Cello Concerto n°1_ [21:27 is THAT moment when you finally snap…](https://youtu.be/m4t3UtfWnsE?t=1282) and spend the rest of your life listening to the nightmare-made-music that is **Scriabin** : [_Piano Sonata n°6_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a-F2YCqzb4), with its “pure dread” motif that first appears between 0:32 and 0:36. Or perhaps **Ligeti** ’s _Requiem_. The whole piece actually, but especially the [third movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApdYpaPamMs). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/11 "2018-09-10T12:46:01Z")
Can’t go wrong with [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTnq268y2ms) Adam Sandler ditty. Pity it’s so short. The best thing to do with depression is to turn it into hate. For [everyone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3dY6aCUe9Y). That’s never gone south. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/12 "2018-09-10T13:03:57Z")
You may as well get ready for your future: [THE CRAMPS-live at Napa State Mental Hospital](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fat2rswNJ1k). “We’re The Cramps and we are from New York City. And we drove 3,000 miles to play for you people…and somebody told me you people are crazy… but I’m not so sure about that. You seem to be alright to me” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/13 "2018-09-10T13:14:54Z")
Tom Paxton’s [Now That I’ve Taken My Life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzQpWSdiN0I) is an absolute gem. ---
**Author:** ![jimmydingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jimmydingo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmydingo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/14 "2018-09-10T13:31:29Z")
“Stone Cold Crazy” either Queen’s or Metallica’s version. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/15 "2018-09-10T13:38:13Z")
[Girl Anachronism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO5APfKnR50) by the Dresden Dolls seems like a good fit. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/16 "2018-09-10T14:44:35Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Is Pink Floyd too obvious? “The Final Cut” is Roger Waters at his… best? > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e-yO6\_FbtI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e-yO6_FbtI) I held the blade in trembling hands, prepared to make it…but …I never had the nerve to make the final…cut. I vote for [Suicidal Tendencies Institutionalized](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYItTxqTc38). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/17 "2018-09-10T15:48:35Z")
How about _Suicide is Painless_, with the lyrics? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/18 "2018-09-10T15:55:57Z")
“[We Ride](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCNZnlF_PDI)” by SYL seems like an excellent choice. Brutal, punishing music, with lyrics that do not match at all: > [@](#): > > What the fuck was that? > I’m being completely rational > I’m not yelling! > In every relationship > There has to be compromise > And God knows every one of them has baggage > I know I have my issues > And we know you have yours! > > Put it in gear, motherfucker > For tonight we ride ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/19 "2018-09-10T17:01:17Z")
I love the responses so far. I just have a minute to post a couple quick replies, but please keep 'em coming. > [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > [Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2, op.35 4. Finale: Presto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67QcrvAyQ2Y) > > By the end at 1:25 you can see that playing the damned thing has liquefied this guys soul. Brilliant and unsettling. I hadn’t been thinking of classical pieces, but this and the others posted so far are great. > [@NDP](#): > > “[Dress Rehearsal Rag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI_rKF0C8NI)” - Leonard Cohen :eek: > [@kayaker](#): > > Herman’s Hermit’s complete discography seems the obvious answer. I actually don’t know many of their songs, but based on what I do, I think you’ve hit on a good answer there. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/20 "2018-09-10T17:08:09Z")
Can’t go wrong with Garbage. Much of their classic album [_Version 2.0_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7o9DVkP3I) could be considered on-topic, but especially: “I Think I’m Paranoid” “When I Grow Up” “Medication” “The Trick Is to Keep Breathing” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088.md?page=2)