Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Gigwise, I see your list of depressing bands...

...and I chuckle raise you my list of the 23 most depressing bands of all time. Because I'm a pro at this.

A few days ago I came across Gigwise's list of the 23 most depressing bands and suddenly the word "NOOBS!" started ringing in my head. As an appreciator of the sort of music that gets to your soul and tears it apart, I was pretty shocked by their list. On the one hand, there were some famous absentees; on the other, some of the names were too bland and it almost felt like they were put there to fill in a few gaps. What's more, the names in the list are mostly mainstream artists, so the actual title should've been "the 23 most depressing mainstream bands of all time."

Hence why I decided to compile a list myself.  It's definitely not objective, but Gigwise's list isn't either (come on, The XX are depressing? you don't know depressing). Some of their names are on my list as well, so I'll start with them (disclaimer: ranking is random).


1. The Smiths

 
The Smiths are the first in my list of the 'magnificent three:' the three English bands, roughly from the same era, that are the epitome of depressing. So no surprises here.
There are so many examples I could list, but I'll just go with these two:

I wear black on the outside cos black is how I feel on the inside

I am the son and the heir of nothing in particular


2. The Cure













What can you expect from a song called To wish impossible things? Or from:

Just put your hands around my heart and squeeze me 'til I'm dry


3. Joy Division















I'm not even going to add anything here.

Existence: well, what does it matter?
I exist on the best terms I can

A cloud hangs over me, marks every move,
Deep in the memory of what once was love.



4. The National

















They're not on top of my list, but I give you that, Gigwise. Plus, they're so dramatic live you can't 'unsee' it. Berninger can really make a simple sentence sound so painful.

How close am I
To losing you 

You didn't see me, I was falling apart
I was a television version of a person with a broken heart


5. Interpol












Exactly. That line kills me every time. I dare say it might be among my three favourite lines in the history of music. And Paul Banks is even better than Berninger at killing you with one line, I guess that's because his lyrics are a little more edgy (stylistically speaking). Even the title Turn on the bright lights is a great line, and one of the most depressing records in history.

I'm sick of spending these lonely nights
Training myself not to care

I will surprise you, sometime
I'll come around
When you're down


6. Death Cab for Cutie

 













Death Cab are not on top of my list either, but they do deserve being on it. My personal favourite is What Sarah Said:

Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines in a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend on a faulty camera in our minds


I'm thinking of what Sarah said, that "Love is watching someone die"
So who's going to watch you die?



 7. Bon Iver












My beloved Bonnie Bear didn't strike me as the kind of depressing music that would make Gigwise's list, but come to think of it, his lyrics are indeed very sad, though more in a cathartic way rather than just miserable per se. There is a live version of Skinny Love where he sings a slightly different version of the lyrics (replaces 'will' with 'gonna'), and it sounds so resentful.

Who's gonna love you?  
Who will fight?  
Who will fall far behind?

And at once, I knew
I was not magnificent


8. Bright Eyes



















Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst are the last name Gigwise and I agree on. Although their lyrics are central to their fame as musicfordepressedpeople, to me it's mostly about the way he sings. I love it when the singing is rough and slightly off-key, rather than boring and impersonal.

But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with living
Because it's the ones with the sorest throats, Laura
Who have done the most singing 


The sound of loneliness makes me happier


9. Elliott Smith



















Elliott Smith is one of the first names that came to me when I opened Gigwise's list. Yet, he wasn't there. He left a great legacy behind. About his music, he said: "Depressing isn't a word I would use to describe my music. But there is some sadness in it -- there has to be, so that the happiness in it will matter."

People you've been before 
That you don't want around anymore
That push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still 


Nobody broke your heart
You broke your own because you can't finish what you start



10. Nirvana
















 Another odd absentee and another important legacy.

Married
Buried

And if you save yourself
You will make him happy
He'll keep you in a jar
And you'll think you're happy



11. Jeff Buckley


















A short career yet (therefore) he deserves to be here.

And she weeps on my arm
Walking to the bright lights in sorrow



Must I dream and always see your face?




12. Daniel Johnston















It's hard to say something objective about Daniel Johnston. He shouldn't even be on this list, because he's at the other end of the spectrum, he is living proof that music goes beyond mental illness, and it takes a lot of effort to be a true artist.

True love will find you in the end
(just that.)




13. Nick Drake


















And I was green, greener than the hill
Where flowers grew and sun shone still
Now I’m darker than the deepest sea
Just hand me down, give me a place to be



14. Brand New















With Brand New starts my more subjective part of the list. Some of these bands/artists are less known or maybe you won't agree with me on their being depressing. 
Brand New are a great band that's unfortunately seen as music for teenagers. If you think so of them, you should listen to The Devil and God are raging inside me (great title, by the way). Here are some excerpts:

I don't mind you under my skin
Oh, let the bad parts in, the bad parts in



And I wish that I could tell you right now, I love you
But it looks like I won't be around
So you won't know


Before you put my body in the cold ground,
Take some time to warm it with your hand



15. WHY?
  
 















WHY? are one of my favourite bands - despite having a very 'weird' sound few of my friends like; Yoni Wolf is a great lyricist, but he reached his peak with the two albums Elephant Eyelash and Alopecia, which host some of the most depressing lyrics I've ever read (especially the song Good Friday). Luckily for him he isn't depressed anymore, so his recent songs are much less miserable.
 

At Jacob Han's on tour I wake up hungover on a hardwood floor
From a dream about how your dress hangs off of your little breasts
I'd rather be dead than call this song "How I lost your respect" 

But God bless or get neglected
And I'll see you when the sun sets east, don't forget me


I sleep on my back cause it's good for the spine
And coffin rehersal 



16. Sun Kil Moon / Red House Painters

  











Mark Kozelek may be a dick, but at least he's a great musician.

Oldness comes with a smile
To every love given child
Oldness comes to rile
The youth who dream suicide
 

Glass on the pavement under my shoe
Without you is all my life amounts to



17. Los Campesinos!

















If you only know a couple of LC! songs you might think they're an indie pop band who makes joyful songs. Think again. Gareth David's lyrics are sharp, witty, full of cultural (or football) references, and extremely tragic without sounding too dramatic, because he's also a smart ass. And even their album titles are depressing (No Blues, Hello Sadness)

I can't believe I chose the mountains
Every time you chose the sea   

I taught myself the only way to vaguely get along in love 
is to love the other slightly less than you get in return. 
I keep feeling like I'm being undercut. 

And the weather here is overcast and the sea is the same shade of grey, 
so the landscape before you looks just like the edge of the world, 
but to the left side and the right side, either way is a crazy golf course 


18. Burial

  











You weren't expecting this one. I recommend:

Come down to us


19. Neutral Milk Hotel

  















In the aeroplane over the sea is just the perfect album. The cover, the songs, the lo-fi recording, Jeff Mangum's singing style. And one of my favourite lines of all time:

And in the dark we will take off our clothes
And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine


Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all 


20. Kevin Devine

  





















I fangirl over Kevin D. a lot (plus I saw him recently) so maybe he's not supposed to be on this list; in fact, some of his lyrics are not really depressing. But I love him when he screams (e.g. live versions of Ballgame or Brother's Blood) and he's pretty intense. [PS: he and Brand New are BFFs]

Rest assured, I used to be someone
A brother's brother
And a mother's son

Maybe we need to be hollowed
To get up and grow
And stop fucking around


And there's a clamp around my chest
That tightens every time I lapse into another sorry story



21. American Football

  












I will end my list with three (old-school) emo bands. American Football are that kind of band that makes you cry even before you start listening. They're melancholic more than depressing, and their eponymous LP tastes like the end of summer when you're about to move away from your parents' home and have to figure out your life.

Thinking about leaving and how I should say goodbye. 
with a handshake, 
or an embrace, 
or a kiss on the cheek, 
or possibly all three

That's life: it's so social
So physical
So so-so
So emotional
So stay home



22. Penfold

 

















They deserve a spot on the list, if only for the way he screams the lyrics

And if you were here then
I would take you everywhere


23. Mineral

 
















Just look at that picture, put their music on, and sit back. Also, nothing happy can come out of a song called Unfinished.

I wish you could put your ear up to my heart
And hear how much I love you


You picked me up and whispered "Forever"
Like a secret in my ears




And that was my list. I hope someone reads/hopefully likes this because it took me a long time to write it. If you have depressing bands to recommend, go ahead.
Gigwise, you should hire me.

Bye.
- Claudia


PS: BONUS TRACK!

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