Some songs make the listener feel good from their first note to their last. They’re the type of songs that are perfect for backyard parties, summertime get-togethers on the beach, and long, luxurious drives down the Pacific Coast Highway as the wind whips through your hair and the sun shines on your gold-kissed tan.
These songs, however, are not those types of songs.
For music fans who prefer exploring the darker side of life, or for people going through a particularly rough patch, these 15 songs make the perfect playlist for a veg-out session on the couch with a tub of Tillamook ice cream and a freshly-washed crocheted blanket for the inevitable river of tears that will follow.
1. “Mad World” by Gary Jules & Michael Andrews
In 1982, British pop band Tears for Fears released “Mad World” to little fanfare in the United States. Nearly 20 years later, Gary Jules and Michael Andrews recorded a haunting acoustic version of the song for theDonnie Darko soundtrack and created one of the biggest tear-jerker songs of all time.
Thanks to the acoustic version of the song, fans really understood its truly depressive, with lyrics like, “And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.”
“I think it’s a really beautiful example of a person struggling with the fact that life is mad,” Jules said to theBBCabout the cover. “I honestly think it’s one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard and the way it’s stripped down now just pins people.”
2. “Outro” by M83
Though French electronic music outfit M83 isn’t well-known on American shores, their haunting song “Outro” earned a bit of fame thanks to its appearance on theVersailles soundtrack and the band’s Grammy-nominated Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
The band’s anthemic coda, “Now and forever, I’m your king,” over a lugubrious electronic freak-out will give a roundhouse kick to “the feels.”
3. “Let Her Go” by Passenger
Few pains hit the heart harder than the pain of loving someone intensely but never quite getting it together for the sake of the relationship.One-hit wonder Passenger explored this very pain in their 2012 super-smash single, “Let Her Go,” which quickly climbed the charts in several countries and became one of the best-selling singles in the singer-songwriter’s repertoire.
The song features a don’t-know-what-you’ve-got-til-it’s-gone quality with lyrics like, “Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low, only hate the road when you’re missing home, only know you love her when you let her go.”
4. “Seasons” by Chris Cornell
Although only appearing on theSingles soundtrack, “Seasons” by Chris Cornell remains the late Soundgarden vocalist’s best-known and best-loved solo track. Described as “acoustic and bare, like an empty apartment” by Ted Kluck for The Jackson Sun, “Seasons” explores the ups and downs of a volatile relationship through the changing seasons.
The song was subsequently featured on Cornell’s first solo EP,Poncier, which was released in 1992. Cornell’s depressive state of mind is deeply explored with lyrics like, “Well I want to fly above the storm, but you can’t grow feathers in the rain. And the naked floor is cold as h*ll, the naked floor reminds me.”
5. “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars has plenty of regrets. One of his biggest regrets includes treating a beloved girlfriend so terribly that she left him for someone else.And the pop-soul singer explores this pain in his hit song, “When I Was Your Man,” in which he laments about all the ways he screwed up their relationship while simultaneously hoping that his dearly beloved finds a man that treats her with the respect he lacked.
Mars toldRolling Stone (viaPEOPLE) that the song was written for his girlfriend,Model Latina star Jessica Caban, during a rough patch in their relationship. “When you perform it, you know, you’re bringing up these emotions again. It’s just like bleeding,” he said. “I’m not answering any questions about this song. It’s too close to home.”
6. “Hurt” by Johnny Cash
In 1995, Nine Inch Nails released the goth-rock classic “Hurt,” which had many depressed Gen Xers singing along to Trent Reznor’s ode to his vices. Seven years later, the Man in Black — Johnny Cash — released his version of the classic track as part of his swan song. The track and the accompanying video featured a broken, elderly Cash and a tearful June Carter Cash longing for her beloved husband, and left rock fans gasping for air.
Cash’s cover moved Trent Reznor so much that he declared, “That song isn’t mine anymore,” according to Joe Taysom ofFar Out.Even sadder still, Carter Cash died three months after filming the video, and Cash himself died seven months after filming.
7. “Brenda’s Got a Baby” by 2PAC
Tupac Shakur — known as 2PAC in his prime — explored controversial themes in his classic hip-hop tracks. 2PAC explored the theme of teen pregnancy on the 1991 track “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” The song tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who fell pregnant after her cousin assaulted her. The girl subsequently got arrested when she tried discarding the baby in a trash can after he was born.
Worse yet, Shakur wrote the song after reading a news report about this very topic (meaning it was based on a true story), according to Rock The Bells — and it’s a tragic crime that continues happening to this very day.
8. “Heal Me” by Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol’s best-known hit is, perhaps, “Chasing Cars,” which garnered the Northern Irish & Scottish alt-rock band a legion of followers after it was featured in the second season finale ofGrey’s Anatomy.
But 2018’s “Heal Me,” written as a tribute to lead singer Gary Lightbody’s acupuncturist friend who encouraged his sobriety, deserves more flowers than its more infamous predecessor ever would. Lightbody’s ode to his accidental savior comes off as equal parts lamenting, begging, and soaring gratitude, leaving the listener awash with a flurry of conflicting emotions.
9. “Karma Police” by Radiohead
Although Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke insisted that the 1997 single, “Karma Police,” was some of the band’s more light-hearted fare, fans certainly didn’t see it that way.The single, which thrust the indie rockers into the mainstream, has an almost-ethereal sadness at the end, when Yorke repeats, “For a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself.”
Even more depressingly, the British Government Communications Headquarters (the equivalent of the CIA) launched an Internet surveillance program called the KARMA POLICE, named after the song (and, in particular, the lyric, “This is what you’ll get when you mess with us”). Whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the program’s existence in 2015.
10. “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri
There are a million and one things wrong with theTwilight series of films. “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri, however, is not one of them.The song, originally written for the problematic film series, has since accumulated more than 2.5 billion views on the official video, making it one of the most popular videos on YouTube.
Although the song is specifically about the age-inappropriate love affair between Bella and Edward, countless couples have used the song as their “wedding song,” which is probably a bad idea considering the song mentions how one of the parties “[has] died every day waiting” for the other party.
11. “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
Leonard Cohen initially wrote “Hallelujah” in 1984, but it mostly flew under the radar until ex-Velvet Underground vocalist John Cale recorded a cover version of the track in 1991. Cale’s version inspired rock scion Jeff Buckley to record his version in 1994. Buckley released his heart-rending version a few years before his tragic accidental drowning.
Buckley’s version of the classic song has been used in countless films and television shows, includingCrossing Jordan,The West Wing, andLord of War. It was also played in Fenway Park before a Boston Red Sox game back in 2013, as a way of paying tribute to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing which happened that same year.
12. “Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos
Shortly after Tori Amos’s 1980s pop-rock project, Y Kant Tori Read, flopped, she was tinkering on the piano as she read Hans Christian Andersen’sThe Little Mermaid to her niece, Cody.
The story of the titular mermaid — which would later be explored in Disney’s super-smash animated movie of the same name — inspired “Silent All These Years.” Later, the song promoted RAINN (R*pe Abuse and Inc*st National Network) awareness, further cementing its tear-jerking quality.
13. “Fix You” by Coldplay
Gwyneth Paltrow’s father, Bruce Paltrow, died on October 3, 2002. Three years later, Gwyneth’s then-husband Chris Martin released “Fix You” with his band, Coldplay, as a tribute to his late father-in-law.Few fans can keep it together when the final refrain of “tears are streaming down your face when you lose something you cannot replace” comes on the air.
“Fix You” was also played at various tribute concerts, including the One Love Manchester concert in 2017. One Love was a tribute and fundraising effort for Manchester Arena bombing victims.
14. “Atmosphere” by Joy Division
Joy Division released their haunting track “Atmosphere” in 1980, shortly after the death by suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. Many consider it one of the greatest Goth tracks ever composed. In the wake of Curtis’s death, critics noted that the song was a requiem of sorts, a final goodbye from a band that left a permanent imprint on rock music.
The Guardian (viaDig) noted that “Atmosphere” was “an unbreakable testament” to Joy Division’s brilliance. Unfortunately, Ian Curtis’s demons got the better of him.
15. “The River” by Bruce Springsteen
During the late 1980s, Bruce Springsteen gained fame for performing upbeat, anthemic bar songs like “Glory Days,” “Dancing in the Dark,” and “Born in the USA.” In the early part of the decade, however, he was known for morose reflections on the fragile human condition, as showcased in his 1981 song “The River.”
According to Matthew Futterman of The New York Times, Springsteen wrote “The River” for his sister, Virginia, who also inspired the track. “The River” tells the story of a teenage couple who give up on their dreams after they fall pregnant.
Bernadette Giacomazzo
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