Depressing music

[J. Peter Alfke <alfke@csvax.caltech.edu>]

I find that for me quite often it's the music more than the lyrics that
makes a song truly depressing.  Some tops:

"Twenty four Hours" or "The Eternal"  (Joy Division)
	The first has the most incredibly despairing, doom-laden bassline
	of anything I've ever heard, and the alternation between resignation
	and mania is truly affecting ... The second is just pull-out-the-stops
	depressing, all the way from the droning synthesizer to the heart-
	rending tinkly piano bit.  Ian Curtis' voice and yes, even the lyrics
	complete everything.
	(Can you tell I've been listening to the CTwins too much? :-) )
	Side 2 of "Closer" is my fave thing to put on when I'm truly down in
	the dumps.

Side 3 of "The Wall"  (Pink Floyd)
	A classic album, nonstop gloom, and side 3 is the best.
	From the plaintive acoustic guitar of "Hey You" to the shriek of
	"Comfortably Numb" (one of my favorite guitar solos), with "Nobody
	Home", "Is There Anybody Out There" and more along the way.

"My Dark Ages"  (Pere Ubu)
	This song is why I just bought "Terminal Tower".  An amazingly
	sad guitar sound, distorted vocals ... hard to describe, but this
	is an amazingly hopeless, resigned song.  Lyrics ain't much, though.

"Coolsville"  (Rickie Lee Jones)
	How can I describe it?  The lyrics and music are inseparable.
	Bleak longing for the past.

"That's the Way", "Going to California"  (Led Zeppelin)
	I AM NOT LARRY PALENA!!  But there are almost no Zeppelin songs
	I don't like.  These two are very very pretty and very very sad
	(acoustic guitar always gets me).

Bunches of Genesis too.  I'm a far happier person than I used to be, so music
I've heard lately is far less likely to depress me.  I find no Cure depressing,
despite the lyrics; "Pornography" is wonderful for lifting my spirits (from
``Everything is terribly awful'' to ``Fuck you world!'').  Some Smiths (how
appropriate for Ducky to listen to "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I
Want" in "Pretty in Pink"...)

PS: What are the similarities between Dead Can Dance and the Cocteau Twins?
	I'm fascinated, but can't find any DCD records.

						--Peter Alfke
						  alfke@csvax.caltech.edu
"Here are the young men ..."