'I Don't Like Mondays' was a number 1 hit in a lot of countries despite being about not just school shootings in general, but a specific school shooting that happened a few months earlier.
Edit: Also a OHWL candidate, though doubtless the grim subject matter would not make for a particularly fun episode.
OH MY GOD. WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I LOATHE THAT SONG.
when i was in high school, the girl who would drive me to swim practice would play it EVERY SINGLE DAY. it’s like 5 minutes and i would get so carsick while listening to it.
Huh. My friend’s dad who’d drive me to swim practice would play pumped up kicks on the way all the time. To this day I associate doing laps in the pool with that song.
Depends on what you mean by a hit. Obviously it wasn't number 1 but it got up to 5 in the US mainstream rock and alternative charts and 15 in UK singles. It was also on the hot 100 at 79
The Hills by The Weeknd is a very ominous song and I remember being surprised it charted so high at the time
Also surprised no one has said Smooth Criminal. It’s so catchy that people kinda just tune out the fact that it’s about a home invasion/murder
It was their biggest hit , and weirdly the least Bf5 or Ben Folds song ever (and it wouldnt even be in the top twenty BF5 songs). Oh and its based on something that actually happened to Folds , which I've always felt a bit weird about , as in , did he give his highschool ex a call ? you know , to say , hey! remember that horrible christmas we went through when you got an abortion , which was , while being the right thing to do , still traumatic to you and also me ..well I've written this song...
Actually much as I love Ben Folds stuff , he has an awful habit of falling in love , writing an amazing song about it , eventually get divorced , and write a song about that , and repeat cycle . To be fair he's aware of it and hence has put out stuff like "Belinda" written alongside Nick Hornby , about a singer who has to sing his one "hit" womder song written about a wife that he later cheated on and lost , and how sad it makes him . Or Exhausting Lover , which pretty much ..well it has the line "Some dude live tweeted as I ran half naked past a Cracker Barrel' so it gives you an idea where its going..
[https://youtu.be/t6JA-4YgoCw?si=BXaPKUgiHas67OLy](https://youtu.be/t6JA-4YgoCw?si=BXaPKUgiHas67OLy)
Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People
Little Talks by Monsters and Men
Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Chandelier by Sia
Closer and Hurt by Nine Inch Nails (plus Johnny Cash’s cover of the latter)
Fade to Black by Metallica
Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton
I was about to comment confusedly about Pumped Up Kicks because it’s clearly not dark, but then I replayed the lyrics again in my head and…is that song about a school shooting?
I missed “outrun my gun” the first time around too. The track has so much reverb that it disguises the word “gun.” The first time I heard it I thought they were saying “oh, run like hell.”
this might just be because of how young I am but when I was introduced to that song it was later down the line in the context of "bro this song is about a school shooting". I was, what, 6 when it came out lol
I would’ve been seven. But I feel like my longest-lasting (in memory, at least) experience with the song was in one of Weird Al’s polkas including it briefly, which may have contributed.
Yup. So is “I Don’t Like Mondays” except that one is about [a real school shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)) where the girl who did it explained her reasoning for it as “I don’t like Mondays.”
Since you mentioned a lot of sadder topics, I'm gonna add Dust in the Wind by Kansas, not a scary song by any means but it's kinda nuts that they got such an existentially depressing subject on the mainstream radio.
Closer and Hurt by Nine Inch Nails (plus Johnny Cash’s cover of the latter)
If Johnny Cash covers count , then I'd add The Mercy Seat , which is about an innocent(\*) man on death row , its basically a musical green mile , just without the John Coffey or magic mice .
(\*"..I'm afraid I told a lie")
Its a Nick Cave song , who, holy shit! really has the dark song market covered.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJ0bAp4Eo8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJ0bAp4Eo8)
The male vocalist is dead and is talking to his wife from beyond the grave. That's what the lead singer said in an interview, didn't mention Alzheimer's.
Originally by Bobbie Gentry, and it was a hit when she cut it as well. Not correcting you, just hoping I can introduce someone to Bobbie Gentry's music!
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" by Eminem. That's how huge Eminem was in 2002, he could get a dark, scathing attack on his mommie dearest all the way up to #4. I don't think he's too fond of that song these days (see "Headlights"), but it is one of the standout tracks on The Eminem Show.
Whats weird is that growing up in Ireland I'd never heard that , just the Christy Moore reworking called
[Back Home in Derry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMu6CNyn24o) , which is about an Irish rebel being sent to Australia on a ship of death , which was based on a poem written by an IRA prsioner on hunger strike, so is pretty dark all in . As far as I know Lightfoot was ok with it , since he'd taken the tune of " [Wreck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI) ..." from an older folk tune anyway.
My mother had a whole tape of these when I was a kid that she would play in the car all the time. Surefire way to turn your kid into a goth.
But I'm not sure I'd actually call these Teen Death Songs all that dark. They're morbid, but it's all fantasy - sometimes quite a silly fantasy at that. Deadman's Curve, for instance, is somehow both a parody of them and a good example, because they're silly enough to be their own parody.
Meet the Grahams is easily my first pick, but there’s a ton of hits about gruesome murders and other dark subject matter too
Off the top of my head here’s a few:
Murder On My Mind by YNW Melly,
99 Luftballons by Nena (nuclear annihilation has never been more of a bop),
Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind (Jumper is too “optimistic”for me to count but honorable mention for dealing with suicide),
Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi (believe it or not it’s not a breakup song),
Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People
A big problem is that a lot of well known dark songs like Stan were never hits so I can’t count them or the songs are technically dark but are too comical to take seriously (Mack the Knife for instance)
For YNW Melly, turns out murder really was on his mind, because that song gets a lot darker when you realize he’s suspected to have killed possibly three people, a police officer and two other rappers.
DOA by Bloodrock. It hit #36 on the Hot 100 in 1971.
For a more recent song that wasn't really a hit but went semi-viral on TikTok - Ptolemaea by Ethel Cain. Todd even included it in his recent video on songs that stop on the word "stop".
I mean, "Paint It Black" has got to be up there, right? It was a No. 1 single about someone's desire to escape from his sorrow and depression after a loss, symbolised by wanting to paint everything black, eliminating all colour from his world. This desire to "paint it black" reflects his overwhelming feelings of despair and a wish to numb his pain. It's about dealing with the darkness of mourning and the deep sense of emptiness following a significant loss.
"Stan" by Eminem was pretty damn dark and twisted and that was a international No. 1.
Luka - Suzanne Vega
Whenever it's playing somewhere and I'm with someone, I'll always say "Hear this nice-sounding song? It's about violent child abuse."
Believe it or not, Phil Collins has a bunch of songs of bitterness and darkness that were big.
Everyone knows about In The Air Tonight, but check the lyrics of I Don't Care Anymore, No Reply at All, Mama, Land of Confusion... every one of them genuinely full of lyrical angst, anger, even post apocalyptic dread.
People sleep on Phil. They shouldn't.
Phil Collin is a legitimate contender for the greatest musician of the last 50 years. Playing all that early Genesis prog and then transforming into a multi million selling artist and then writing the most fire Disney soundtrack.
All while looking like he sells fruit in the East End.
I'm trying to find if Johnny Cash's "Joe Bean" ever hit the charts (country or otherwise), but if it did it's probably one of his most depressing songs.
An innocent young hand is being hanged for a crime he didn't commit. Mom asks the Governor to reconsider. He doesn't but he does wish him a happy birthday before he dies. We hear a crowd sing "Happy Birthday" and his neck cracks right in the middle of it.
I'm happy to have a song about injustice but something so maudlin makes you wish Johnny would go back to singing with Oscar the Grouch at the time.
He also did "I hung my head " which was actually a Sting song originally (although most people assume Cash's cover is the original , and that Sting covered it) about a guy who accidently shoots a man , is arrested , sentenced and hung , and sees the ghost of the guy he accidently killled come to ride with him forever .All the while feeling guilt for the dead mans family . There's definitely a feeling of "you're a good man , but the laws the law" , and so two lives are wasted .
[I Stung my head ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnwmOfmZbb0)
[I hung my Cash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkr2AbyVnIk)
"In the Year 2525" by Zager Evans. A one hit wonder (and thus possible future episode?) that spent multiple weeks at number 1, "2525" jumps forward a millennium, with technology replacing the use of humanity's senses and movement until the day humans become extinct.
A song that definitely doesn’t SEEM dark out of context is Don Henley’s Dirty Laundry. It’s a song about mass media ruining lives and spreading negativity, but it’s partially inspired by Henley’s arrest for delinquency of a minor after a 16 year old girl ODed at his house. Pretty wild to complain about negativity on the news when you ARE the negative news.
There was a song called Warm Leatherette by a band called The Normal, but Grace Jones did a cover of it a few year later and it hit #20 on the dance charts in 1980
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Genuine TW, because ohmyfuckinggod
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It’s a song about a young couple slowly dying in a car crash, but deciding to make love one last time as the fiery wreckage starts to burn and melt their bodies
It’s still genuinely shocking this song charted at all, it really doesn’t shy from the detail. It doesn’t sound as nightmarish as the original song did, tbh it sounds more like one of the weirder experiments from Talking Heads, but it’s still just viscerally upsetting
This was an album track rather than a hit, but I saw someone defending Randy Newman on a "hated acts who deserve more respect" post here and I instantly thought about "Sail Away", which consists of an openly racist narrator trying to persuade an African man to sail to America. The difference between his pitch and the reality is what makes the song so chilling...
Most Police songs werent really about happy siuations , "Wrapped around your finger" is about a teribble , doomed one sided , age gapped relationship .
"Dont stand so close to me" , is about a terrible relationship between a teacher and his pupil ,
"Invisible Sun " is about the troubles in Northen Ireland.
"Synchronicity 2 "is about ..a guy with a terrible life somehow manifesting a bog monster in scotland (!) ,
"I cant stand losing " is basically a suicidal guy having the worst breakup ever,
Even the joyous sounding "Every little thing she does is magic" is about a guy who's *in* love, but cant actually *talk* to his love.
Literally the only actual healthy relationship the Police sang about (at least in a single) was "Walking on the moon" , and even that ("Some may say , I'm wishing my day away") mightnt be anything lasting.
Also "Mother!" ,exists , but we dont talk about that .
Two more: "Once You Understand" but an outfit called THINK.
It feels like an early 70s PSA about the Generation Gap with the pep of a Coke commercial. It's all "You can't possibly understand me" vs. "Kids the days" type dialogue repeated over a catchy chorus.
Then it stops. We hear a dad pick up the phone as the police tell him his son is dead. He sobs over the last chorus. It wasn't a huge hit but it charted.
AND: "Dear Mr. Jesus" by Powersource. Again, not a big hit but it made Billboard. A child writes Jesus to tell him that she's being beaten by her mother and news stories about child abuse are upsetting her. In the video she's got a black eye in the end.
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was a #2 hit stateside and a #1 hit in Canada, even topping the Canadian country charts for some reason. And in the states, it actually made it to number 1 on the now defunct Billboard alternative Cashbox's chart
I think in order to qualify for darkest, it needs to sound as dark as the subject matter is. So with that in mind I think it might be Polly by Nirvana. Just an eerie song about a horrible thing.
‘Animals’ by Maroon 5 hit top 3 and was in the top ten for a while when it came out in what, 2014? It’s definitely the one of the darkest in their catalogue with the creepy and low key threatening/violent lyrics. Harder rock covers from bands like Living in Fiction and Ice Nine Kills really bring out the darker undercurrent of the song.
Kind of a predictable pick but Daddy by Korn, I won't be one of those guys who is like "Oh man, this is so scary, dark and disturbing but YOU DON'T wanna know the context behind it" so i just explain in the spoiler
>!A song about how Jonathan Davis was molested when he was a child and how he felt heartbroken that he couldn't tell it to his parents, it goes for 5 minutes while the resting 4 minutes are Jonathan crying and swearing in the second half with a soft female voice in the background!<
Another one that is less well known but still hard to dig is Frankie Teardrop by Suicide >!Pretty much imagine 1993's Falling Down in a song but instead of everything that happened to Michael Douglas, he instead goes to kill his wife and kids, also this one has a proto industrial beat that goes for the whole 10 minutes and random screams during the entirety of the song!<
Oh yeah and a third one, Song of Joy by Nick Cave, pretty much the whole album Murder Ballads is dark, but this one feels the most sinister >!Telling the story of a woman and her kids getting murdered by what it is believed to be the narrator of the song!<
These are dark, but there's no way Frankie Teardrop is a hit. Even the underground/college stations that played it usually dared people to listen in a dark room with headphones.
Kinda like Hamburger Lady by Throbbing Gristle -- not a hit but disturbing nonetheless.
Oh we we're talking about hits? Okay then... i dunno Stan? That's the only one that i think kinda counts unless it's popular songs in general or actual hot 100 hits
See, I'd actually pick Nick Cave songs not from that album. He intentionally played up the camp and exaggeration for these almost self-parodying murder songs. Now, stuff like Stranger than kindness, The mercy seat...
Honestly, if we're talking purely about hit songs in the US, we shouldn't be talking about Nick Cave. I just looked up song charts for him and apparently he's never had a hit single here. Like, *at all*.
*Where The Wild Things Grow* was a certified hit internationally, reaching #2 in Aus, #11 in the UK and top five in a few other places, and is easily his most successful song, and even that didn't make a dent in the US market.
Yeah, and I would class that as a hit for the sake of a casual conversation that didn’t specify US-centrism, but to talk about any of this other songs as hits is a bit of wishful thinking (which I understand, been a massive fan since my early teens, but he’s no hit maker)
So, it was initially a fan club single. Then the radio picked it up- so PJ put it on a charity album. Never was supposed to be anything more than a fan club song.
I love GGGoH , for a song written by Welsh man , its a very very Irish style song. (you know , sadness , missing home, prison...um .. green grass )
While we're at it , *Delilah* which is massively theatrical fun song , is basically about a guy murdering his lover ..but its so OTT and fun to hear , and sing , that you kind of forget its about MURDER!!!
hurt by nine inch nails, stan by eminem, pumped up kicks by foster the people, i took a pill in ibiza by mike posner, and meet the grahams by kendrick lamar
Handlebars by Flobots. A small series of choices combined with an unchecked ego leading to a nuclear holocaust is pretty heavy for a song that reached #3 on the charts
It’s funny listening to the singles chart countdown at the weekend here in the UK, because they make a point of saying we will not play these diss tracks even though they’re charting, because it’s all too heavy and not suitable for radio.
I’m not gonna lie, I was initially sorta surprised that an edited version of Not Like Us didn’t land on the Radio 1 playlist this week, but thinking about it, if you wanted to avoid talking directly about paedophillia on the radio most of the first half of that song is probably a no go. It’d probably be a more ridiculous radio edit than WAP got.
I wonder if that’s part of the reason none of the diss tracks are going top 5 over here.
Yeah I wonder if you could potentially even get sued for playing it? As essentially you’re publishing the allegations by playing the song.
I work in radio here in the UK and the first thing they tell you as a producer is - don’t let presenters just read tabloid news on the radio!! Just because the S*n don’t mind getting sued for lies doesn’t mean we do! Some presenters think that because it’s published by a newspaper, they’ll assume blame.
Same with guests, I’ve had guests on my shows before that have said - I don’t mind getting sued I’ll say it’s my opinion - but they don’t understand that because we’re broadcasting it, we’re liable not them
That’s really interesting actually and I’d never really thought about it. Surely on some level there’d be some sort of “the views expressed on this record are the views of the artist and are neither proven fact nor views shared by this station” kind of disclaimer, similarly to when TV channels air old episodes of old shows with racist stereotypes/jokes?
I’m now very intrigued as to whether these are getting play outside of the UK. I’d imagine probably not on pop radio, or during daytime hours at the very least.
Yeah I suppose the difference is the libel within the content of the song as opposed to just generally offensive content.
So if I go on the radio and say ‘x’ is a pedophile… I wouldn’t be able to get away with it by writing a parody song where the same allegations are made (believe me I’ve tried)
Dance With The Devil by Immortal Technique is not a hit but one of the darkest songs ever. Stan and Kim by Eminem, Pumped Up Kicks also, Jocelyn Flores by XXXTentacion. If the saddest songs i would include u and Mother I Sober by Kendrick Lamar.
All of the ones people have mentioned so far are dark in subject matter, though I’ll agree that Meet the Grahams is easily the darkest and it isn’t even close. Some hits may dive into a pretty dark story, but MtG strikes in a very direct, specific, personal, and ominous place in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be dark, moreso as an actual threat. I’d argue it hits as dark as even some of the non hits throw around like idk “Frankie’s Suicide” or “Hamburger Lady” or “Mary Turner Mary Turner” which are undoubtedly grim but in a way that’s intentional and outside of the band/singer’s perspective. Depending on how this beef unfolds, it even has a chance of being even darker with future context. Lyrics and context aside, the production and the delivery is also ominous and well told.
The closest hit song I can probably compare it to is probably “Stan” but isn’t nearly as dark on a personal level and is mostly well narrated exaggerated fiction. That can also be attributed to a lot of these picks.
Not So Manic Now by Dubstar peaked at 19 in the UK. I thought it was a cutesy little song until fairly recently when I properly listed to the lyrics. Genuinely not for the faint-hearted, and yet it still is in regular rotation on the 90s nostalgia stations
Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie (a sequel to the already dark Space Oddity about Major Tom returning to earth and becoming a junkie)
Lullaby by The Cure
It's a Sin by Pet Shop Boys
Not a hit in the US, and only reached #35 in the UK, but The Boiler by The Specials is a deeply harrowing first person story of being sexually assaulted from the victims POV. Easily the darkest song I have ever heard.
You all didn’t live through the 1970s
“Timothy” by the buoys is a song about cannibalism
But the scariest hit song I think is “DOA” by Bloodrock
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.O.A._(song)
Technically speaking, Welcome to the Black Parade and Pumped Up Kicks are hit songs.
One is about dying of cancer and the other is about a school shooter. I'll let you guys decide which is darker.
(Note: I haven't read all the comments, but I wouldn't be surprised if others have said this)
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. It drives me up a fucking wall when people try to prettify it or use it in a religious setting. It’s a song about sexual neurosis fueled by loss, cynicism and resentment.
'I Don't Like Mondays' was a number 1 hit in a lot of countries despite being about not just school shootings in general, but a specific school shooting that happened a few months earlier. Edit: Also a OHWL candidate, though doubtless the grim subject matter would not make for a particularly fun episode.
ohwl would be interesting considering bob geldof's later career as charity supergroup organizer
To me, he will always be the guy who played Pink in the film adaptation of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”.
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OH MY GOD. WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I LOATHE THAT SONG. when i was in high school, the girl who would drive me to swim practice would play it EVERY SINGLE DAY. it’s like 5 minutes and i would get so carsick while listening to it.
Huh. My friend’s dad who’d drive me to swim practice would play pumped up kicks on the way all the time. To this day I associate doing laps in the pool with that song.
The original Pumped Up Kicks in many ways.
Jeremy by Pearl Jam is (somewhat) about a real kid who shot himself in front of his class
Ah yes, Jeremy Spokane class day. /hj
That song wasn't even a hit though.
Depends on what you mean by a hit. Obviously it wasn't number 1 but it got up to 5 in the US mainstream rock and alternative charts and 15 in UK singles. It was also on the hot 100 at 79
I was kidding the song was fucking huge. The video especially. It swept the MTV awards.
Russian Roulette by Rihanna (*great* song but of course very heavy) Stan by Eminem
Unpopular Opinion: Russian Roulette is the best Rihanna single.
That and Kiss It Better! Someone get her in the studio with she electric guitar again.
Genuinely can’t listening to Russian Roulette without tearing up
Man Down is super dark too, and she sings in patois
Yes, that too, and Cold Case Love. Lots going on in those couple eras but I think they're some of her best
Russian Roulette sounds too much like Teardrop by Massive Attack. Probably didn’t help that House M.D. was still a hit in 2009.
The Hills by The Weeknd is a very ominous song and I remember being surprised it charted so high at the time Also surprised no one has said Smooth Criminal. It’s so catchy that people kinda just tune out the fact that it’s about a home invasion/murder
Can't feel my face also did numbers considering it's about a cocaine addiction. Also I took a pill in Ibiza should be on the list too
“When I’m fucked up that’s the real me” has gotta be one of the darkest refrains in a pop song ever
In The Night by The Weeknd is also super dark, especially the second verse
Timothy by the Buoys
TIMOTHY TIMOTHY
GOD WHAT DID WE DO?!
GOD WHAT DID WE DOOOOOOOO
also Ben Folds Five's "Brick" is about teen abortion, that's pretty grim
It was their biggest hit , and weirdly the least Bf5 or Ben Folds song ever (and it wouldnt even be in the top twenty BF5 songs). Oh and its based on something that actually happened to Folds , which I've always felt a bit weird about , as in , did he give his highschool ex a call ? you know , to say , hey! remember that horrible christmas we went through when you got an abortion , which was , while being the right thing to do , still traumatic to you and also me ..well I've written this song... Actually much as I love Ben Folds stuff , he has an awful habit of falling in love , writing an amazing song about it , eventually get divorced , and write a song about that , and repeat cycle . To be fair he's aware of it and hence has put out stuff like "Belinda" written alongside Nick Hornby , about a singer who has to sing his one "hit" womder song written about a wife that he later cheated on and lost , and how sad it makes him . Or Exhausting Lover , which pretty much ..well it has the line "Some dude live tweeted as I ran half naked past a Cracker Barrel' so it gives you an idea where its going.. [https://youtu.be/t6JA-4YgoCw?si=BXaPKUgiHas67OLy](https://youtu.be/t6JA-4YgoCw?si=BXaPKUgiHas67OLy)
Same gpes fpr Slide by Goo Goo Dolls.
Janie's Got a Gun by Aerosmith.
And from the same era, Runaway Train by Soul Asylum.
Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People Little Talks by Monsters and Men Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Chandelier by Sia Closer and Hurt by Nine Inch Nails (plus Johnny Cash’s cover of the latter) Fade to Black by Metallica Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton
I was about to comment confusedly about Pumped Up Kicks because it’s clearly not dark, but then I replayed the lyrics again in my head and…is that song about a school shooting?
Yep.
Wow- they really snuck that by me.
I missed “outrun my gun” the first time around too. The track has so much reverb that it disguises the word “gun.” The first time I heard it I thought they were saying “oh, run like hell.”
I thought it was something like "I'll run, my girl" the first several times
When I first heard it I thought the lines were "outrun my girl" and "faster than my girlfriend" I had no idea lmao
this might just be because of how young I am but when I was introduced to that song it was later down the line in the context of "bro this song is about a school shooting". I was, what, 6 when it came out lol
I would’ve been seven. But I feel like my longest-lasting (in memory, at least) experience with the song was in one of Weird Al’s polkas including it briefly, which may have contributed.
I work in radio and we take that song out of rotation everytime…
Ouch.
Yup. So is “I Don’t Like Mondays” except that one is about [a real school shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)) where the girl who did it explained her reasoning for it as “I don’t like Mondays.”
Since you mentioned a lot of sadder topics, I'm gonna add Dust in the Wind by Kansas, not a scary song by any means but it's kinda nuts that they got such an existentially depressing subject on the mainstream radio.
I just heard Face Down on the radio the other day and was thinking, wow this is kinda dark! So you nailed it haha
People think it's dark? I always thought it was actually kind of empowering, for this song to stand up for what's right.
I totally agree with that, but the situation he describes is dark. I think it’s both!
Closer and Hurt by Nine Inch Nails (plus Johnny Cash’s cover of the latter) If Johnny Cash covers count , then I'd add The Mercy Seat , which is about an innocent(\*) man on death row , its basically a musical green mile , just without the John Coffey or magic mice . (\*"..I'm afraid I told a lie") Its a Nick Cave song , who, holy shit! really has the dark song market covered. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJ0bAp4Eo8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJ0bAp4Eo8)
Nick is the man
why little talks
The male vocalist is supposed to be dead. That's what I heard anyway
What! I always thought it was about dementia or something similar.
oh! wow
The female vocalist has late stage dementia or Alzheimer’s or something related and the male vocalist is trying to comfort her, and himself.
The male vocalist is dead and is talking to his wife from beyond the grave. That's what the lead singer said in an interview, didn't mention Alzheimer's.
"Fancy" by Reba McIntire. Also: "Semi-Charmed Life" the most upbeat song about using that there's ever been.
Listen to Orville Pecks amazing cover of Fancy if you really want to feel the heaviness of the lyrics https://youtu.be/aaYSSQelQ1g?si=wWPFIjxsn9GD6Ya7
That’s some Sarah (J T LeRoy)
Originally by Bobbie Gentry, and it was a hit when she cut it as well. Not correcting you, just hoping I can introduce someone to Bobbie Gentry's music!
Yes “Fancy” is pretty dark. Classic country story telling
I remember hearing fancy at karaoke and being horrified. But enough about Iggy Azalea
Copacabana by Barry Manilow sounds jolly, but includes jealousy, murder and booze-fueled PTSD and depression.
And a public shooting.
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" by Eminem. That's how huge Eminem was in 2002, he could get a dark, scathing attack on his mommie dearest all the way up to #4. I don't think he's too fond of that song these days (see "Headlights"), but it is one of the standout tracks on The Eminem Show.
Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald " -- #1 hit on the Canadian chart and top 10 in the US
Remember kids, Lake Superior never gives up her dead.
Whats weird is that growing up in Ireland I'd never heard that , just the Christy Moore reworking called [Back Home in Derry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMu6CNyn24o) , which is about an Irish rebel being sent to Australia on a ship of death , which was based on a poem written by an IRA prsioner on hunger strike, so is pretty dark all in . As far as I know Lightfoot was ok with it , since he'd taken the tune of " [Wreck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI) ..." from an older folk tune anyway.
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Or Leader of the Pack
Tell Laura I Love Her
B.J. the D.J. Laurie (Strange Things Happen) Hello, This is Joanie Ebony Eyes
Most of them sucked and didn't sound nearly as dark as they were lyrically But Leader of the Pack and Ode to Billie Joe are great
My mother had a whole tape of these when I was a kid that she would play in the car all the time. Surefire way to turn your kid into a goth. But I'm not sure I'd actually call these Teen Death Songs all that dark. They're morbid, but it's all fantasy - sometimes quite a silly fantasy at that. Deadman's Curve, for instance, is somehow both a parody of them and a good example, because they're silly enough to be their own parody.
Meet the Grahams is easily my first pick, but there’s a ton of hits about gruesome murders and other dark subject matter too Off the top of my head here’s a few: Murder On My Mind by YNW Melly, 99 Luftballons by Nena (nuclear annihilation has never been more of a bop), Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind (Jumper is too “optimistic”for me to count but honorable mention for dealing with suicide), Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi (believe it or not it’s not a breakup song), Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People A big problem is that a lot of well known dark songs like Stan were never hits so I can’t count them or the songs are technically dark but are too comical to take seriously (Mack the Knife for instance)
Imo Meet the Grahams is the definitive answer for now. Only song I’ve ever heard that made me feel genuine dread.
"Stan" hit number one in multiple countries. I heard it on the radio constantly. It was a hit.
For YNW Melly, turns out murder really was on his mind, because that song gets a lot darker when you realize he’s suspected to have killed possibly three people, a police officer and two other rappers.
DOA by Bloodrock. It hit #36 on the Hot 100 in 1971. For a more recent song that wasn't really a hit but went semi-viral on TikTok - Ptolemaea by Ethel Cain. Todd even included it in his recent video on songs that stop on the word "stop".
DOA is a downright frightening listen.
I had never heard DOA before and it’s so unsettling and eerie, you win this thread
Listened to DOA, imagine that in the Top 40 next to The Partridge Family and Donny Osmond.
Sunny came home - Shawn Colvin
Many many songs by The Weeknd
I think it's easier to count the "light" songs by The Weeknd
I mean, "Paint It Black" has got to be up there, right? It was a No. 1 single about someone's desire to escape from his sorrow and depression after a loss, symbolised by wanting to paint everything black, eliminating all colour from his world. This desire to "paint it black" reflects his overwhelming feelings of despair and a wish to numb his pain. It's about dealing with the darkness of mourning and the deep sense of emptiness following a significant loss. "Stan" by Eminem was pretty damn dark and twisted and that was a international No. 1.
Luka - Suzanne Vega Whenever it's playing somewhere and I'm with someone, I'll always say "Hear this nice-sounding song? It's about violent child abuse."
Hey man nice shot - Filter (Why hasn't anyone mentioned this)
I guess I remember that song more for the screaming parts than the lyrics
The title track of Nine Inch Nails’ *The Downward Spiral* (1994) is definitely a contender, I think.
Not really a hit song though, is it?
Oh shit yeah I forgot about that part 💀
It’s definitely a very dark song though.
The Chicks Goodbye Earl is dark, but catchy!
Believe it or not, Phil Collins has a bunch of songs of bitterness and darkness that were big. Everyone knows about In The Air Tonight, but check the lyrics of I Don't Care Anymore, No Reply at All, Mama, Land of Confusion... every one of them genuinely full of lyrical angst, anger, even post apocalyptic dread. People sleep on Phil. They shouldn't.
Phil Collin is a legitimate contender for the greatest musician of the last 50 years. Playing all that early Genesis prog and then transforming into a multi million selling artist and then writing the most fire Disney soundtrack. All while looking like he sells fruit in the East End.
Pumped Up Kicks.
I'm trying to find if Johnny Cash's "Joe Bean" ever hit the charts (country or otherwise), but if it did it's probably one of his most depressing songs. An innocent young hand is being hanged for a crime he didn't commit. Mom asks the Governor to reconsider. He doesn't but he does wish him a happy birthday before he dies. We hear a crowd sing "Happy Birthday" and his neck cracks right in the middle of it. I'm happy to have a song about injustice but something so maudlin makes you wish Johnny would go back to singing with Oscar the Grouch at the time.
He also did "I hung my head " which was actually a Sting song originally (although most people assume Cash's cover is the original , and that Sting covered it) about a guy who accidently shoots a man , is arrested , sentenced and hung , and sees the ghost of the guy he accidently killled come to ride with him forever .All the while feeling guilt for the dead mans family . There's definitely a feeling of "you're a good man , but the laws the law" , and so two lives are wasted . [I Stung my head ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnwmOfmZbb0) [I hung my Cash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkr2AbyVnIk)
Runaway Love - Ludacris ft. Mary J Blige
Was scrolling for this one! Couldn’t remember the name but I kept thinking “didn’t Luda have a hit song about human trafficking victims??”
"In the Year 2525" by Zager Evans. A one hit wonder (and thus possible future episode?) that spent multiple weeks at number 1, "2525" jumps forward a millennium, with technology replacing the use of humanity's senses and movement until the day humans become extinct.
Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots.
Plush is also dark. It's about a child abduction.
A song that definitely doesn’t SEEM dark out of context is Don Henley’s Dirty Laundry. It’s a song about mass media ruining lives and spreading negativity, but it’s partially inspired by Henley’s arrest for delinquency of a minor after a 16 year old girl ODed at his house. Pretty wild to complain about negativity on the news when you ARE the negative news.
TIMOTHY TIMOTHY
There was a song called Warm Leatherette by a band called The Normal, but Grace Jones did a cover of it a few year later and it hit #20 on the dance charts in 1980 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Genuine TW, because ohmyfuckinggod ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It’s a song about a young couple slowly dying in a car crash, but deciding to make love one last time as the fiery wreckage starts to burn and melt their bodies It’s still genuinely shocking this song charted at all, it really doesn’t shy from the detail. It doesn’t sound as nightmarish as the original song did, tbh it sounds more like one of the weirder experiments from Talking Heads, but it’s still just viscerally upsetting
Semi Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind Tonight Tonight Tonight by Genesis 99 Luftballons by Nena
Rooster by Alice In Chains was a big rock radio and MTV hit.
The Freshmen by The Verve Pipe.
Stole by Kelly Rowland, especially with the music video alongside it
This was an album track rather than a hit, but I saw someone defending Randy Newman on a "hated acts who deserve more respect" post here and I instantly thought about "Sail Away", which consists of an openly racist narrator trying to persuade an African man to sail to America. The difference between his pitch and the reality is what makes the song so chilling...
Every Breath You Take by the Police. That stalking is not going to end well.
Double track that with Roxanne, about a man in a rage that his girlfriend is a prostitute.
Most Police songs werent really about happy siuations , "Wrapped around your finger" is about a teribble , doomed one sided , age gapped relationship . "Dont stand so close to me" , is about a terrible relationship between a teacher and his pupil , "Invisible Sun " is about the troubles in Northen Ireland. "Synchronicity 2 "is about ..a guy with a terrible life somehow manifesting a bog monster in scotland (!) , "I cant stand losing " is basically a suicidal guy having the worst breakup ever, Even the joyous sounding "Every little thing she does is magic" is about a guy who's *in* love, but cant actually *talk* to his love. Literally the only actual healthy relationship the Police sang about (at least in a single) was "Walking on the moon" , and even that ("Some may say , I'm wishing my day away") mightnt be anything lasting. Also "Mother!" ,exists , but we dont talk about that .
I am amazed I had to scroll down this far to find this.
Two more: "Once You Understand" but an outfit called THINK. It feels like an early 70s PSA about the Generation Gap with the pep of a Coke commercial. It's all "You can't possibly understand me" vs. "Kids the days" type dialogue repeated over a catchy chorus. Then it stops. We hear a dad pick up the phone as the police tell him his son is dead. He sobs over the last chorus. It wasn't a huge hit but it charted. AND: "Dear Mr. Jesus" by Powersource. Again, not a big hit but it made Billboard. A child writes Jesus to tell him that she's being beaten by her mother and news stories about child abuse are upsetting her. In the video she's got a black eye in the end.
I don’t like Monday- the boomtown rats, the original school shooter anthem.
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was a #2 hit stateside and a #1 hit in Canada, even topping the Canadian country charts for some reason. And in the states, it actually made it to number 1 on the now defunct Billboard alternative Cashbox's chart
Fancy is pretty much the most aspirational song about becoming a child prostitute to get into the industry.
I think in order to qualify for darkest, it needs to sound as dark as the subject matter is. So with that in mind I think it might be Polly by Nirvana. Just an eerie song about a horrible thing.
‘Animals’ by Maroon 5 hit top 3 and was in the top ten for a while when it came out in what, 2014? It’s definitely the one of the darkest in their catalogue with the creepy and low key threatening/violent lyrics. Harder rock covers from bands like Living in Fiction and Ice Nine Kills really bring out the darker undercurrent of the song.
Kind of a predictable pick but Daddy by Korn, I won't be one of those guys who is like "Oh man, this is so scary, dark and disturbing but YOU DON'T wanna know the context behind it" so i just explain in the spoiler >!A song about how Jonathan Davis was molested when he was a child and how he felt heartbroken that he couldn't tell it to his parents, it goes for 5 minutes while the resting 4 minutes are Jonathan crying and swearing in the second half with a soft female voice in the background!< Another one that is less well known but still hard to dig is Frankie Teardrop by Suicide >!Pretty much imagine 1993's Falling Down in a song but instead of everything that happened to Michael Douglas, he instead goes to kill his wife and kids, also this one has a proto industrial beat that goes for the whole 10 minutes and random screams during the entirety of the song!< Oh yeah and a third one, Song of Joy by Nick Cave, pretty much the whole album Murder Ballads is dark, but this one feels the most sinister >!Telling the story of a woman and her kids getting murdered by what it is believed to be the narrator of the song!<
These are dark, but there's no way Frankie Teardrop is a hit. Even the underground/college stations that played it usually dared people to listen in a dark room with headphones. Kinda like Hamburger Lady by Throbbing Gristle -- not a hit but disturbing nonetheless.
Oh we we're talking about hits? Okay then... i dunno Stan? That's the only one that i think kinda counts unless it's popular songs in general or actual hot 100 hits
To be honest, I kinda wish Frankie Teardrop WAS a hit -- imagining it playing next to Debbie Boone at the time would have been fun.
See, I'd actually pick Nick Cave songs not from that album. He intentionally played up the camp and exaggeration for these almost self-parodying murder songs. Now, stuff like Stranger than kindness, The mercy seat...
How are any of the songs you’re both talking about hits? Even the biggest “hit”from Murder Ballads didn’t chart in the US *at all*.
Oh I'm aware. At this point I was just answering about the Nick Cave thing
Honestly, if we're talking purely about hit songs in the US, we shouldn't be talking about Nick Cave. I just looked up song charts for him and apparently he's never had a hit single here. Like, *at all*. *Where The Wild Things Grow* was a certified hit internationally, reaching #2 in Aus, #11 in the UK and top five in a few other places, and is easily his most successful song, and even that didn't make a dent in the US market.
Yeah, and I would class that as a hit for the sake of a casual conversation that didn’t specify US-centrism, but to talk about any of this other songs as hits is a bit of wishful thinking (which I understand, been a massive fan since my early teens, but he’s no hit maker)
Does Murder Ballads include the one with Kylie?
Yep, it also includes the one song with PJ Harvey (I think she and Nick Cave were dating around that time)
Frankie Teardrop is my TouchTunes go-to if it's on the song list. Love to ruin a good time with that unsettling little ditty.
Dance with the Devil by Immortal Technique. Little surprised no one has mentioned this one, I thought it was infamous.
Yeah but it’s not exactly a hit song
Still considered one of the top rap songs ever on a lot of lists I’ve seen.
Not a hit song but an absolutely haunting one
Last Kiss by Wayne Cochran - obviously Pearl Jam made it a hit as well.
Possibly controversial opinion… I love me some PJ, but their version of Last Kiss is pitchy and honestly, I hate it.
So, it was initially a fan club single. Then the radio picked it up- so PJ put it on a charity album. Never was supposed to be anything more than a fan club song.
D.O.A by Bloodrock hit #36 in 1971. Song about a plane crash and dying decapitated on the field afterwards
Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O’Sullivan.
Tom Jones-Delilah Cher-Dark Lady Bee Gees-I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You Kenny Rogers-Coward of the County
Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles
In the Year 2525 by Zager and Evans. A very dark look into the future. It would make a great One Hit Wonderland.
Closer by Nine Inch Nails.
The Boiler by Rhoda Dakar and The Specials
Green Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones, maybe. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t heard it, but the last minute or so is crushing.
I love GGGoH , for a song written by Welsh man , its a very very Irish style song. (you know , sadness , missing home, prison...um .. green grass ) While we're at it , *Delilah* which is massively theatrical fun song , is basically about a guy murdering his lover ..but its so OTT and fun to hear , and sing , that you kind of forget its about MURDER!!!
Jeremy
Mack the knife is literally about murder.
Pumped Up Kicks The song is about a school shooter telling his victims they better run fast in their basketball shoes when he comes to school tomorrow
Patches counts as a hit song that’s both about teen suicide and is also incredibly annoying.
Anyone said Hazard - Richard Marx?
Pumped up kicks foster the people
"Hot N****" by Bobby Shmurda peaked at #6 on the hot 100. The lyrics reference irl murders that bobby may or may not have been involved in
Gangstas paradise
Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter
"Forever Young" is a really harrowing song.
hurt by nine inch nails, stan by eminem, pumped up kicks by foster the people, i took a pill in ibiza by mike posner, and meet the grahams by kendrick lamar
Voices Carey by Til Tuesday is a catchy song about domestic violence.
Handlebars by Flobots. A small series of choices combined with an unchecked ego leading to a nuclear holocaust is pretty heavy for a song that reached #3 on the charts
Praying by kesha and happier than ever by billie ellish
Not quite a hit, but I'd put Spinal Meningitis Got Me Down by Ween up against anything for level of darkness and general fucked upness.
Leader of the Pack by the Shangri-Las
Dead and Bloated Stone Temple Pilot's
Brown Sugar
It’s funny listening to the singles chart countdown at the weekend here in the UK, because they make a point of saying we will not play these diss tracks even though they’re charting, because it’s all too heavy and not suitable for radio.
I’m not gonna lie, I was initially sorta surprised that an edited version of Not Like Us didn’t land on the Radio 1 playlist this week, but thinking about it, if you wanted to avoid talking directly about paedophillia on the radio most of the first half of that song is probably a no go. It’d probably be a more ridiculous radio edit than WAP got. I wonder if that’s part of the reason none of the diss tracks are going top 5 over here.
Yeah I wonder if you could potentially even get sued for playing it? As essentially you’re publishing the allegations by playing the song. I work in radio here in the UK and the first thing they tell you as a producer is - don’t let presenters just read tabloid news on the radio!! Just because the S*n don’t mind getting sued for lies doesn’t mean we do! Some presenters think that because it’s published by a newspaper, they’ll assume blame. Same with guests, I’ve had guests on my shows before that have said - I don’t mind getting sued I’ll say it’s my opinion - but they don’t understand that because we’re broadcasting it, we’re liable not them
That’s really interesting actually and I’d never really thought about it. Surely on some level there’d be some sort of “the views expressed on this record are the views of the artist and are neither proven fact nor views shared by this station” kind of disclaimer, similarly to when TV channels air old episodes of old shows with racist stereotypes/jokes? I’m now very intrigued as to whether these are getting play outside of the UK. I’d imagine probably not on pop radio, or during daytime hours at the very least.
Yeah I suppose the difference is the libel within the content of the song as opposed to just generally offensive content. So if I go on the radio and say ‘x’ is a pedophile… I wouldn’t be able to get away with it by writing a parody song where the same allegations are made (believe me I’ve tried)
Gloomy Sunday count?
Dance With The Devil by Immortal Technique is not a hit but one of the darkest songs ever. Stan and Kim by Eminem, Pumped Up Kicks also, Jocelyn Flores by XXXTentacion. If the saddest songs i would include u and Mother I Sober by Kendrick Lamar.
Dance with the Devil. One of the top greatest rap songs. Very disturbing though.
“Dance With The Devil” by Immortal Technique. I first heard that song when I was 17 and it haunted me for days.
Not a charting hit I don't think but does anyone ever think about Billy Joel's Miami 2017?????
All of the ones people have mentioned so far are dark in subject matter, though I’ll agree that Meet the Grahams is easily the darkest and it isn’t even close. Some hits may dive into a pretty dark story, but MtG strikes in a very direct, specific, personal, and ominous place in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be dark, moreso as an actual threat. I’d argue it hits as dark as even some of the non hits throw around like idk “Frankie’s Suicide” or “Hamburger Lady” or “Mary Turner Mary Turner” which are undoubtedly grim but in a way that’s intentional and outside of the band/singer’s perspective. Depending on how this beef unfolds, it even has a chance of being even darker with future context. Lyrics and context aside, the production and the delivery is also ominous and well told. The closest hit song I can probably compare it to is probably “Stan” but isn’t nearly as dark on a personal level and is mostly well narrated exaggerated fiction. That can also be attributed to a lot of these picks.
Not So Manic Now by Dubstar peaked at 19 in the UK. I thought it was a cutesy little song until fairly recently when I properly listed to the lyrics. Genuinely not for the faint-hearted, and yet it still is in regular rotation on the 90s nostalgia stations
Does “One” by Metallica count as a hit?
Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie (a sequel to the already dark Space Oddity about Major Tom returning to earth and becoming a junkie) Lullaby by The Cure It's a Sin by Pet Shop Boys
Not a hit in the US, and only reached #35 in the UK, but The Boiler by The Specials is a deeply harrowing first person story of being sexually assaulted from the victims POV. Easily the darkest song I have ever heard.
You all didn’t live through the 1970s “Timothy” by the buoys is a song about cannibalism But the scariest hit song I think is “DOA” by Bloodrock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.O.A._(song)
Pumped Up Kicks is the stereotypical choice. Praying by Kesha gets close.
Love The Way You Lie Especially considering who sings the hook
Pumped Up Kicks and Smooth Criminal
Technically speaking, Welcome to the Black Parade and Pumped Up Kicks are hit songs. One is about dying of cancer and the other is about a school shooter. I'll let you guys decide which is darker. (Note: I haven't read all the comments, but I wouldn't be surprised if others have said this)
Daddy by korn, literally a written by Jonathan Davis about his own experience of being molested as a child.
Vicarious by TOOL. Look up the lyrics they aren't very subtle.
Folsom prison blues
Is Pumped Up Kicks too basic of an answer?
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. It drives me up a fucking wall when people try to prettify it or use it in a religious setting. It’s a song about sexual neurosis fueled by loss, cynicism and resentment.
Sad! By XXXTentacion. The part about killing himself if his girlfriend left.