I've selected one each from the 80s, 90s and 00s. They are:
Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy (1984)
It doesn't get much grimmer than a song about suffering hassle for being gay (but it does look like Jimmy's going to crack up when his "dad" threatens to hit him).
There's no cheer to be found in my next choice. This one comes from 1999, which is probably the best year for electronic music in the history of ever. Mind you I can't see many going wild on the dance floor to this one. This is Portishead's Roads:
Fast forwarding to 2004, here's Dark Globe with Break My World:
Probably the most zeitgeisty video of the mid-00s.
That's my downbeat selection from the last three decades. Now it's over to you. I hereby tag HarpyMarx, Madam Miaow, Everyone's Favourite Comrade, The Daily (Maybe), A View from the Public Gallery, Though Cowards Flinch, Luna 17, and Solomon's Mindfield. This should be easy for those comrades who spent their teenage years holed up in their bedrooms nursing dark thoughts ...
And those of you without blogs, what would be your misery picks from the 80s, 90s and 00s?
Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy (1984)
It doesn't get much grimmer than a song about suffering hassle for being gay (but it does look like Jimmy's going to crack up when his "dad" threatens to hit him).
There's no cheer to be found in my next choice. This one comes from 1999, which is probably the best year for electronic music in the history of ever. Mind you I can't see many going wild on the dance floor to this one. This is Portishead's Roads:
Fast forwarding to 2004, here's Dark Globe with Break My World:
Probably the most zeitgeisty video of the mid-00s.
That's my downbeat selection from the last three decades. Now it's over to you. I hereby tag HarpyMarx, Madam Miaow, Everyone's Favourite Comrade, The Daily (Maybe), A View from the Public Gallery, Though Cowards Flinch, Luna 17, and Solomon's Mindfield. This should be easy for those comrades who spent their teenage years holed up in their bedrooms nursing dark thoughts ...
And those of you without blogs, what would be your misery picks from the 80s, 90s and 00s?
22 comments:
One of us cannot be wrong - Leonard cohen. Also every other song by the same poetic genius.
this track is a bit different from the ones you posted but for some reason it came to mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4
Generally seen as a very depressing song but I find it quite happy. Maybe that just says something about me, but try listening to it see how it good be interpreted that way
Bah! Humbug! Young People today!
Don't even know what a miserable song sounds like.....
Xmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWgb4pugxBY
& if that's too happy for you...
Sam Stone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEa4qi6cYOQ
"Unfortunately all I could think of this Valentine's Day are bloody miserable songs about bloody miserable things."
You and me both, comrade.
That's a bit uncanny. There is a Facebook campaign going (not another one I hear you groan) to try and get Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart to number 1. I did a 'You've heard the music' type post but it wasn't particularly aimed at Valentine's Day - I've been with my wife for 20 years after all :)
No Smiths?
Poo.
How about All by myself, Celine Dion version.
I went out with a girl who would always play songs relevant to how our relationship was going at the time. During the breakup I would walk in her house and she would have this song playing all the time!
And if there is a hell (which I am still hoping you burn in) may the last thing you hear be Celine Dion.
"This should be easy for those comrades who spent their teenage years holed up in their bedrooms nursing dark thoughts ..."
Oh you know me so well... ;)
Will do this meme thing.
I look a bit further back for my miserablists.
Hank Williams- Wedding Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v_xkHnIRqk
Celine Dion? Pah, that's nothing SamG. The question is has the SWP toughened you up to handle an eternity of this?
Sorry to hear everyone seems to be miserable! I've posted my selection at my place - bizarrely I've included two things mentioned here in the comments.
Anyway, enjoy!
I hope I'm not being implicitly touted as the reason for your misery, Phil.
Not at all, lol.
Maybe I need to cheer up, but I have five decades of misery here:-
1960's - Verdelle Smith, with the first English version - and the best one , I think - of "In My Room"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5I-oeGal3A
1970's - TheFall with Bingo Masters Break Out ("checks the cards through eyes of tears")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCFWuHNYflo
1980's, I think the Elvis Costello version of Shipbuilding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMURp7S8nZA
1990's - Smog with Bqthysphere
2000's , words by Charles Bukowski
Kristian Asbjornsen - Slow Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKDXzdFsC0s
You don't know the meaning of misery until you've spent some time with the Fleapit Orchestra:
http://www.myspace.com/nigelburch
If I can find a video of such lugubrious ditties as 'BooHoo', 'Bottle Sucker', or 'We said out goodbyes at the bottle bank ' I'll post them here asap - they're not famous/signed so you'll have to search the net - you won't be disappointed (or rather you will be, very much so)
http://www.last.fm/music/Nigel+Burch+And+The+Flea-Pit+Orchestra/_/Future+Next+Ex-Sweetheart
"The question is has the SWP toughened you up to handle an eternity of this"
No!
I was expecting Phil Collins, so I was mentally prepared but...
Catherine Buca said,
"I hope I'm not being implicitly touted as the reason for your misery, Phil."
No it was very explicit.
1950-1990
1950s Conway Twitty "It’s Only Make Believe"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXDfYiYTdWg&feature=related
1960s Ketty Lester "Love Letters Straight from your Heart"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLdsIQ3dN8g&feature=related
1970s Leonard Cohen "Chelsea Hotel #2"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGfgMYfdBFc&feature=related
1980s Queen "Who Wants to Live Forever"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWfhopxpPr8
1990s Sinéad O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2U"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_fPS0HwjJc
"Chelsea Hotel #2" is a great song - but is it miserable ? Not to my mind - nor to Jeffrey Lewis's mind, if his "Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song" is to be believed
Oops! Didn't see I'd been tagged, Phil, and now I've missed the Valenitne's Day. Probably would have been Billie Holiday and various Emo output. Or ...
Ghosts by Japan
Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye by Leonard Cohen
Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More by The Walker Brothers
Emo? Nooooooo!
SamG said ...
"No it was very explicit."
Well I guess there are only so many romantic Valentine's Days you can have after 13 years together. Right? Right? :(
1999 was a lame year for trip hop and techno, and an alright year for IDM. Nevertheless, the Portishead record came out in 94, back when the genre was at its peak! If it came out 5-6 years past the movement's sell by date, noone would have cared about Dummy and Portishead would have faded within minutes :)
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