Songs to slit your wrist to.

[zotz]

As voted on by the listeners to 6music, apparently.

The story's at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3547347.stm and the chart is :

1 The Smiths – I Know It’s Over
2 Bowling For Soup – Girl All The Bad Guys Want
3 REM – Everybody Hurts
4 The Cure – Pictures Of You
5 Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees
6 Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
7 Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
8 Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel – Don’t Give Up
9 Blur – This Is A Low
10 The Beatles – Good Day Sunshine
= Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge
12 Tori Amos – China
13 Portishead – Glory Box
14 Al Green – Tired Of Being Alone
15 Mercury Rev – The Dark Is Rising
16 Lou Reed – Pale Blue Eyes
17 Spiritualised – Stop Your Crying
18 The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love
19 Faithless – Insomnia
20 Polyphonic Spree – Light And Day

Incidentally, I still have a caseless Cramps CD that someone left at Th'Calling, and somebody's Aqua CD single too (The Accursed Song That Must Not Be Named).

Comments

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Well some of that (ie: The Darkness) is enough to make you want to slit your wrists by virtue of how BAD it is, but others I'd agree are bonafide depressants ("I Know It's Over" always chokes me up, for example)... I reckon "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a far more miserable Lou Reed penned track than "Pale Blue Eyes" though.

However, I would argue "Animus", "Failure" or "God Damn The Sun" by Swans outmope any of the above...

Oh, and we can't forget good ol' Lenny Cohen - where the Hell's "Famous Blue Raincoat"?

Plus, whoever compiled this list has visibly heard very little to be released on World Serpent (Death In June and Sol Invictus spring to mind!)...

[zotz]

You reckon Michael "Laughing-boy" Gira should have been in there?

Fair enough. Nice to see the Spiritualised and Mercury Rev tracks, though.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Definitely I'd throw most of Gira's stuff in there!

Interesting you point out Spiritualised. I thought "Stop Your Crying" sounded like a third-rate "Urban Hymns"-era Verve B-Side... :o

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

"Failure" is *hysterically* funny! You think it's miserable? I think it's gone through miserable and come out the other side laughing at itself.

I'll grant you "Goddamn the Sun" and definitely "Animus" though. :)

I realised last night that I have 600 minutes of Swans just on my pc (I haven't burned Filth/B2BJ2J or the vinyl). It's amazing I'm so cheery really.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

"Animus" is definitely the most intense Swans track, for my money. I actually find it hard to listen to, it really tears me apart. I can probably count the other songs that do that to me on the fingers of one hand.

"Failure" as self-parody though? Interesting point of view and definitely one I could see... I guess it's a fine line! :) Maybe after seeing what a jovial chap Gira is IRL, I'm now inclined to believe he could be laughing at himself, more than I would've done before seeing him live.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I can't think of any DIJ that makes me want to slit my wrists. And I have a fairly extensive DIJ back catalogue.

Nor Leonard Cohen, for that matter, even though it's good for sitting round being self-indulgently depressed to.

For me, the one that's right on the money is the REM choice (with Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight a close second).

But I have a very weird list of depression-inducing songs.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

"Death is the Martyr of Beauty" by DIJ is one of the most incredibly bleak, hopeless pieces of music I've ever heard. Beautifully done, but very opressive/gloomy IMO. That's off the top of my head. I admit Douglas P has a crackin' black sense of humour in there too (like Morrissey) but a lot of his stuff, I find very sad/mopey...

As for REM, I think "Country Feedback"'s the only track of their's I can think of offhand that would appear on a list of songs I reckon are 'depressing'.

I think to be honest, a lot of the songs that I deem "depressing" (or maybe 'depressive' would be a better term?) I have a lot of respect for... Songs that REALLY make me lose a bit of faith in humanity and feel grumpy are indeed tracks by bands like The Darkness or the Cheeky Girls...

So maybe *I'm* the weird one. :)

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Songs that REALLY make me lose a bit of faith in humanity and feel grumpy are indeed tracks by bands like The Darkness or the Cheeky Girls...

Aah, but those make me want to go out and hurt other people, not myself.

[zotz]

I don't find most of Cohen's songs depressing, but I'd second Famous Blue Raincoat. The Future, too, I think. I'd cheer up listening to the rest of the record, though.

[random-redhead.livejournal.com]

I would suggest "First we take Manhattan" and I'll do it for them. The first two lines send me frothing.

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

The first two lines send me frothing.

May I ask why?

[random-redhead.livejournal.com]

"They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom,
For trying to change the system from within"

Yup, thats what you signed up for! You knew thats what you were getting into, so why are you whining about it now?! Sorry, it really annoys me. Completely irrational I know.

Almost as bad as one of the pop rap songs that was going about last year. It was saying that a specific girl shouldn't be a stripper, that its demeaning. But failed to realise that every girl in the place is a friend of someone/ daughter/ sister/ mother. It is a matter of supply and demand, if he thinks girls shouldn't strip he shouldn't be going to strip clubs.
I have spent way too long thinking about that. Thats what enforced shop music does for you!

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain about shop music, there's nothing worse than being trapped somewhere with someone else's taste in music. Especially at Christmas...

[devilgate.livejournal.com]

Yup, thats what you signed up for! You knew thats what you were getting into, so why are you whining about it now?!

I'm intrigued as to what you mean by this. I suppose it depends on who you think the viewpoint character is; what system they were trying to change, and how. I have no strong opinions on the matter (though I suspect that in that context the line "I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons" would get him marked down as a terrorist in today's USA) but clearly(?) you do...?

[random-redhead.livejournal.com]

If he is trying to change the system he must know enough about it to know he doesn't like it, and what conforming to it for long enough to "change it from within" will mean. So if he knew this before doing it he sentenced himself to it. And he could choose to not do conform if he finds it that bad.

[devilgate.livejournal.com]

I take your point. But consider the rest of the song: it could be argued that he is accpting his sentence and has won through ('Im coming to reward them/First we take Manhattan...' or 'I've practised every night and now I'm ready').

Makes about as much sense as 'Jazz Police', anyway.n And don't get me wrong, I love the album. In fact I think I'll listen to it right now. :-)

[random-redhead.livejournal.com]

I have never actually managed to listen to the rest of the lyrics long enough to commit them to memory or consider this point, those lines have me frothing and chewing the carpet so much that I can't listen to the rest.

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

"Famous Blue Raincoat" isn't a slit your wrists song - try "Last Year's Man" for that. "Famous Blue Raincoat" is dealing positively with a bad situation - I'd aspire to behave that well if I was in that position.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

I suppose the protagonist of "Famous Blue Raincoat" is dealing with things as best he can, but I felt the character who's 'story' he was telling fared somewhat less well... I thought that was more the 'depressing' part of the song.

I guess everyone reads things differently. :) I agree about "Last Year's Man", mind you. :)

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

That's why I find it quite uplifting - the protagonist is reaching out to help someone who has, on some levels, wronged him. It's not an irretrieveable situation.
Also the protagonist recognising that what was done was justified and to the benefit of the woman involved.

[zotz]

Yes, but having to do so would be intensely unpleasant. Doing The Right Thing is always laudable, but in my limited experience it's been little comfort at the time.

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure. It can be damned hard. I would be letting myself down if I gave in to it though.

[devilgate.livejournal.com]

I once saw an advert for The Samaritans that reprinted the entire text of 'Everybody Hurts'. The whole point of the song is that you're not alone. So anybody who would slit their wrists to it is kinda missing the point, really.

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

Indeed. REM's Leave would be much better for that, really.

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Ah, having now read the original story I am now in favour of Famous Blue Raincoat - because it reminds you that things will get better.

Seasons in the Sun is another notable omission - but these lists are always a bit wierd. Were they voting choices from a supplied list, or could they nominate anything? Oh, and "Bottoming Out" by Lou Reed from the "Legendary Hearts" album. Lines like "I aim the bike at the old pothole beyond the underpass"

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Just been listening to the Legendary Hearts album. It's all pretty bleak, actually.

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

I hate Seasons in the Sun, I think it is the single most depressing song ever written. I can't stand it.

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed, it's really bad. But if you're hovering pn the edge and need something to push you over, that'd do it.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Yup. :)

You should hear Boyd Rice and Rose MacDowell doing it on the Spell album (an album entirely devoted to covers of "old" songs about death)... even jollier! :D

[daevid.livejournal.com]

Perhaps i'm just wired up wrong, but the way i see it, is that if others find it depressing i actually find it cathartic and strangely uplifting...

Unless it's by (insert boy girl manufactured pop band, rap, hip hop act etc) or anything to do with that ponce from the Smiths ;)

Now that is wrist slitting muzak!

[randomchris.livejournal.com]

I find "This Is A Low" quite uplifting. "No Distance Left To Run", on the other hand, makes me want to weep every time I hear it. (OK, I have no taste in music...)