# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/21 "2018-09-10T17:28:21Z")
I’m thinking Xiu Xiu’s “A Promise” album, but that to me sounds maybe more like the soundtrack _of_ a mental breakdown rather than a soundtrack _to_ a mental breakdown. Here’s a sample of [Sad Pony Guerilla Girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afDuFd37yXU). Sparse. Creepy. Very nervous, wavering sounding vocals. And a glitchy electro-noise part that starts at around 2:02. First time I heard the album, I felt like I was going nuts myself. It’s still an album I have to be in a very, very particular mood to want to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/22 "2018-09-10T17:42:13Z")
> [@jimmydingo](#): > > “Stone Cold Crazy” either Queen’s or Metallica’s version. I would have gone with Queen’s [I’m Going Slightly Mad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6hY_50Dh0). Cool video. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/23 "2018-09-10T17:44:50Z")
[Someone to Pull the Trigger](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yHLNf0bJlM) - Matthew Sweet ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/24 "2018-09-10T17:53:09Z")
Despite being a damned catchy song (with a great video), Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats’ “[S.O.B](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAYhQsQhSY)” is about drinking your life away after a breakup. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/25 "2018-09-10T18:02:17Z")
[Take This Bottle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoU2V1DpzLI) - Faith No More ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/26 "2018-09-10T18:39:06Z")
I think “Music that will make you crazy if you’re sane” is very different from “Crazy music”. The songs where someone **says** they’re going crazy are usually very sane. The ones that will drive you crazy are scary. The songs that are “gone and never coming back” (like you might actually hear a long-term mental patient singing) are sometimes disturbing, sometimes surprisingly tame. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/27 "2018-09-10T18:57:42Z")
Talking Heads - _Memories Can’t Wait_ [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJu-IABeCws) Pink Floyd - _Careful with that Axe Eugene_ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-1g5236sKlc/hqdefault.jpg "Careful With That Axe Eugene/Pink Floyd") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1g5236sKlc) Funkadelic -\* Maggotbrain\* [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JOKn33-q4Ao/maxresdefault.jpg "Funkadelic - Maggot Brain [HQ]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOKn33-q4Ao) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/28 "2018-09-10T19:07:53Z")
Maybe not a total breakdown, but definitely depression: Black Sabbath’s “Paranoia” is practically my theme song: Finished with my woman 'cause she couldn’t help me with my mind People think I’m insane because I am frowning all the time All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy Think I’ll lose my mind if I don’t find something to pacify Can you help me, occupy my brain? Oh yeah I need someone to show me the things in life that I can’t find I can’t see the things that make true happiness, I must be blind Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry Happiness I cannot feel and love to me is so unreal And so as you hear these words telling you now of my state I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but it’s too late ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/29 "2018-09-10T19:11:39Z")
The craziest music I know is from the boy at the end of Berg’s _Wozzeck_ - “Hopp hopp, hopp hopp”. But you have to know what happened before that, for it to be crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/30 "2018-09-10T19:31:16Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > 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? > > \ > > 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? These days I mostly listen to goregrind, brutal death metal and slam; I could name dozens and dozens of songs that would fit these descriptors. ETA: Here’s one: [Nails - Scapegoat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h6KmFXZJFA). ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/31 "2018-09-10T20:22:55Z")
Rockwell - Somebody’s Watching Me Lindsay Buckingham - Go Insane Geto Boys - My Minds Playin Tricks on Me Prince - Strange Relationship Prince - Starfish and Coffee DMX - Party Up (Up in Here) Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/32 "2018-09-10T20:32:31Z")
For what I would call “existential dread and despair” I suggest the soundtrack album(s) for “The Thing.” (1982) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/33 "2018-09-10T21:40:39Z")
Lyrics? I don’t need lyrics. I have enough voices in my head for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and they’re all saying something different. Nope, all I need is a backing track, and [Free Form Guitar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4X4rsw2vQ8) by Chicago fits nicely. As a matter of fact, it’s hard to listen to that song and not have a nervous breakdown, even when you’re perfectly sane. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/34 "2018-09-11T17:05:07Z")
Mad World - Gary Jules ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/35 "2018-09-11T17:49:07Z")
“I Don’t Like Mondayss”-Boomtown Rats “Crazy”-Patsy Cline (or Willie Nelson, if you prefer) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/36 "2018-09-11T21:00:32Z")
Royal Tennenbaums used [professional sad sack Elliot Smith to great effect](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LIsY7_gkmY) (spoilers I guess). Dress Rehersal Rag could work here, too. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m thinking Xiu Xiu’s “A Promise” album, but that to me sounds maybe more like the soundtrack _of_ a mental breakdown rather than a soundtrack _to_ a mental breakdown. Here’s a sample of [Sad Pony Guerilla Girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afDuFd37yXU). Sparse. Creepy. Very nervous, wavering sounding vocals. And a glitchy electro-noise part that starts at around 2:02. First time I heard the album, I felt like I was going nuts myself. It’s still an album I have to be in a very, very particular mood to want to listen to. I don’t encounter many people who have heard of Xiu Xiu. Really most of their albums are pretty dire. “Dear God, I Hate Myself” is maybe the most on-point, the title track covers depression more realistically than most “depression songs” do. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/37 "2018-09-11T22:37:56Z")
Dory Previn wrote a series of songs as part of her therapy after having a mental breakdown. She recorded them in an album called [On My Way to Where](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_My_Way_to_Where). Here are some of the tracks: [With My Daddy in the Attic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc-BSq0yUQk) - Previn’s father was also mentally ill, and he once locked the family in the house and shut himself in the attic. The song also seems to be about incest, although she doesn’t say so explicitly. Woody Allen once claimed that Mia Farrow got the idea for her accusation against him from this song. [Twenty Mile Zone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O35PTBEw8F8) - Previn was once pulled over by a cop when she was practicing primal scream therapy while she was driving. [Esther’s First Communion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc5dRWiJFvM) - This describes the onset of Previn’s hallucinations. [Mr, Whisper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRN-GPFDTx4) - This is about the voices in Previn’s head, and the breakdown on board an airliner that led to her hospitalization. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/38 "2018-09-11T23:51:42Z")
[Am I Going Insane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4R0FgikJKo) - Black Sabbath [Crazy (A Suitable Case For Treatment)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivtTTKpYiaQ) - Nazareth [Hearing Voices](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpvsQl03IyU) - Suicidal Tendencies [Toys in the Attic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO-p_eSe8yU) - Aerosmith [I’m Going Slightly Mad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6hY_50Dh0) - Queen [Descent into Madness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCKNn9qTwMc) - Flying Lotus [The Quiet Room](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XTeJDMumwY) - Alice Cooper (needs to go at the end of the playlist, I think) ---
**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 12, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/39 "2018-09-12T01:42:26Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > “I Don’t Like Mondayss”-Boomtown Rats That reminds me of “Sniper” by Harry Chapin. After a lifetime of neglect, impotent anger, and unrequited love, the narrator climbs the clock tower in the middle of town and begins shooting people to prove that he exists. Obviously inspired by the University of Texas mass shooting perpetrated by Charles Whitman, the song uses a lot of jarring music and vocals. It incorporates a pretty good extended metaphor, comparing the shooting and ensuing gun battle to a conversation. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088/40 "2018-09-12T03:08:39Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > That reminds me of “Sniper” by Harry Chapin. After a lifetime of neglect, impotent anger, and unrequited love, the narrator climbs the clock tower in the middle of town and begins shooting people to prove that he exists. Obviously inspired by the University of Texas mass shooting perpetrated by Charles Whitman, the song uses a lot of jarring music and vocals. It incorporates a pretty good extended metaphor, comparing the shooting and ensuing gun battle to a conversation. [Kinky Friedman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlBuoBV-Sa0). Or ICP if that’s your speed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soundtrack-for-a-mental-breakdown/821088.md?page=3)