quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
WTF is the fascination with sad & depressing music?

Doesn't it get draining listening to sad song after sad song?

Eric, from these comments you sound young and naive. You know, there are just times in life where people feel like indulging their sadness and meloncholy mood. It's not abnormal. Haven't you ever been through a sad, painful breakup?

quote:

Originally posted by hudson:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
WTF is the fascination with sad & depressing music?

Doesn't it get draining listening to sad song after sad song?

Eric, from these comments you sound young and naive. You know, there are just times in life where people feel like indulging their sadness and meloncholy mood. It's not abnormal. Haven't you ever been through a sad, painful breakup?

The comment was directed at people who listen to nothing but "sad" music, which I'm puzzled by. I didn't mean to imply that there's never a time when I get the urge to listen to music that suits the mood I'm in. And, no I'm neither young nor naive.

RL, I'm sorry to hear that you don't feel good very often. I hope it's a temporary thing. If it isn't, don't be afaid to get some help. It may take more than a Jason Molina album to cure what ails ya.

Yeah, I seriously agree, but if it's not gonna happen, just play "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" on repeat everyday. You'll either be cured or won't care anymore. I hope this post is funny enough to not be in lousy taste.

Anything with in it is automatically not in bad taste. Everybody laugh, Milton Friedman's dead!



See. Now it's OK. (Well, it was probably OK to say that anyway, but you know what I mean.)

Sad music has more sincerity than happy music, it feels more real.
I guess more so to people that are more introverted and are more intouch with their negative energy. You can't fake sadness as much as you can fake happiness.
But don't get me wrong, people that are like this can and sometimes be more in touch with their positive energy aswell; feeling a wider range of emotions to greater values. They don't just stick to positive feelings.. they need to know all of the boundaries to see the complete picture.

Its a shame when people shy away from negative feelings, they're perfectly natural and they're not contagious!!!
Sometimes I show people a band and they say 'ooo' they sound negative/depressing and I say 'really?' As Its not always something I look for, its more the sincerity and genuineness that they portray, so it seems more like a reward for being more openminded.
A band thats singing 'oo la la, oo la la' is all very nice but at times it can sound too fake and unbelieveable especially in a world thats so fake, its nice to have a break from it every now and then.

Of course their are people that think/feel the complete opposite to this, which is perfectly normal.

Maybe so, but I spent at least six of the first 20 years of my life "introverted", not going on dates, having jerks tell me I was a reject. OK, now 30 years later, I don't really care. I was actually happy my first 20, kicking jocks' asses, listenin' to my music, takin' care of my parents and not payin' attention to the "way it's supposed to be."

I'm sorry this has nuthin' to do with sad music, but "The Weight" is a sad song which unites every sad person I know.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

When I want some good sad, melancholy music to get lost in- which isn't often- it's off to some moody jazz instrumentals. If I want the sad stuff, the last thing I want to hear is somebody's voice whining at me about their own problems.

Best sad album of the year: Bawlers from Tom Waits' Orphans set.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
Best sad album of the year: Bawlers from Tom Waits' Orphans set.

We're back together, eric.

I can not praise Gorky Zygotic Myncci's Spanish Dance Troupe highly enough. It's in my top five albums ever - something I always look forwards to listening to.

Others:

John Cale - Paris 1919
Go Betweens - Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
Jens Lekman - You're Oh So Silent Jens

I really like the Centro-matic album from this year, but I guess you've heard this already.

I hated American Music Club the first time I heard them. In fact I was really disappointed the first time I heard any of their albums. I now would probably rate them as my favourite band ever. Give them another go(or ten)...everyone I know who has has ended up loving them.

Hmmm, I've heard a few good tracks from Gorky's Summer album (can't remember the name of the album), but I got the feeling they might be a bit too precious-sounding for me.

That's the album after Spnish Dance Troupe and it is quite sacharrine. Spanish Dance Troupe marks the transition from weird freakout Welshness to the pastoral 'precious-sounding' work that has typified their recent output.

SDT really is a work of genius, where everything comes together.

My favorite new sad-ish album, though it's kinda dreamy too, is Benoit Pioulard - Precis. It's gorgeous. Great album. Highly recommended.

I'm with Eric G and Mark F on this one. I think there's something very narcissistic about indulging in your sadness. I remember breaking up with a girl and moving across the country at the time Sea Change came out, and I acted as if the album was made just for me. I'm embarassed at myself for that. Now I can't stand the album.

What are kids listening to these days??? "I hate my mom, I hate my dad, I hate everything and did I mention life sucks?" What's the point of that? I suppose that's more angst than sad, but whatever, it still sucks.

I don't go around listening to Barney albums either. I don't mind music that's downtempo, I just don't want to listen to something that "enhances" my sadness. No thank you. Sure I get sad, but do I want to stay sad? No. Do I hide from it? No.

One of the saddest songs I can think of is Murder by Death's "Shiola". Even though the song is about The Fall of the House of Usher, everytime I hear it I think of my fiance's grandfather whose wife died ten years ago and children ended up incarcerated. The man spends essentially every day drunk and alone, and I genuinly feel pity for him.

quote:

Originally posted by Musicalifragilistic:
I'm with Eric G and Mark F on this one. I think there's something very narcissistic about indulging in your sadness. I remember breaking up with a girl and moving across the country at the time Sea Change came out, and I acted as if the album was made just for me. I'm embarassed at myself for that. Now I can't stand the album.

What are kids listening to these days??? "I hate my mom, I hate my dad, I hate everything and did I mention life sucks?" What's the point of that? I suppose that's more angst than sad, but whatever, it still sucks.

I don't go around listening to Barney albums either. I don't mind music that's downtempo, I just don't want to listen to something that "enhances" my sadness. No thank you. Sure I get sad, but do I want to stay sad? No. Do I hide from it? No.

Dude, there are times when the only kind of music I--and others, I'm sure--can connect to is sad music. It doesn't make you feel worse either; it makes you feel better, though not in the way people typically think of feeling better. Listening to happy or upbeat music while I'm feeling bad, now that would make me feel worse. It'd be annoying as hell. Far from making me feel worse, sometimes sad music can be the only real bright spot.

It's just like watching a sad movie or horror film. People don't go to those kinds of movies because they want to feel bad or genuinely afraid. They just want to experience something that they find fulfilling or satisfying.

It's funny that you mention being embarrassed at having listened to sad music and "indulged" your sadness, because I've had something of the opposite experience. When I first started getting really depressed about 4 or 5 years ago, I sort of tried to fight it by acting happy all the time and just kind of joking around and acting silly or stupid. It didn't really work, and now when I look back on those times, I'm really embarrassed by my behavior.

RL you make a good point. I certainly don't try to hide my sadness by acting goofy or silly, although I know exactly what you mean. If I get sad, I find myself becoming quiet and distracted....but I don't go running for my Bright Eyes collection.

I don't know, I have to rethink what I wrote earlier. I believe in "mood music" and I agree that if I'm sad, listening to Odelay would piss me off.

I suppose I was thinking along the lines of listening to music that makes me sad; as in feeling good and deciding to put on music for the sole purpose of feeling sad.

All in all, you gotta put on what you're in the mood for. To each their own, but normally, it's a rare occasion that I reach for Sigur Ros. Yes, they make beautiful, aching (sp?) music...ah fuck, I don't know. Stop confusing me!

Not sure if it was mentioned, but I love me some Mountain Goats. Wilco can also have some 'sad' elements as well.

Mike beat me to the punch. I was just about to say the Mountain Goats. The latest, Get Lonely, is right up there with the saddest music I've ever heard. The lyrics are incredibly simple, but very poignant. I guess his gf or wife left him right before he wrote it. The review on Pfork mentions it. The reviewer gets sat the f%#& down by Darnielle. Good stuff.

Darnielle's wife did most definitely not break up with him, but the album is about break-ups. The lyrics are excellent, but I actually don't think the music is all that sad for the most part. Nothing like Beck's Sea Change, for example. The one really sad-sounding track, "Maybe Sprout Wings," is absolutely brilliant, one of the best songs of the year, but the rest is a little sub-par for Darnielle I think.

Then again, I know a lot of people really like this album, too. And the good thing about the Mountain Goats is that they're so prolific that even when you don't like an album of theirs, there's always something new coming right around the corner. I really like the Babylon Springs EP that was released earlier this year, for example. One EP of good material is more than most of my favorite bands gave me this year, so I'm still high on the Mountain Goats.