Sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
These three concepts are grouped together for more than just the obvious reason that they historically go hand in hand in hand with each other. In fact, sex, drugs, and rock and roll all have a very similar effect on the human brain. But it is not just rock and roll that has this effect, it is music in general that produces this dopamine release similar to that of sex and certain drugs (Psychology: From Inquiry To Understanding, page 179). Yes, music is as powerful as sex and drugs are. Music is a phenomenally broad term though; the musical tastes of each individual are unique. We try to organize music into genres, but even the distinctions of genres are overly vague, as the criteria for each genre varies among individuals. Instead, each individual creates his or her own genres to categorize their taste in music. One of my personal favorite genres of music is depression music. Call me a weirdo, a depressed individual, a cynic, or all three, but depression music produces such a strong emotional effect like no other music can. For me, there is no better way to release my emotions than to sit down in my room alone and listen to some depression music.
As previously mentioned, every genre of music has different criteria for each person. For me, depression music has a variety of criteria. Firstly, and most important, a truly great depression song has to be dark. Something about a good depression song has to reach down deep into the soul of a listener, grip their hearts, and squeeze it until negative emotion comes flowing outwards in the form of somberness and melancholy. This is what depression music is all about – making a listener feel worse to eventually feel better. Depression songs make us hit rock bottom, make us feel all of the negative emotion that we’ve been trying to avoid, and when all of this negative emotion is released, we finally begin to feel better.
The rest of the criteria work toward producing this emotional effect. In a great depression song, the lyrics must be (probably not surprisingly) depressing. Maybe the best part of a depression song is that it is easy for a depressed person to relate to. No matter what it is that has a listener down, the listener can always relate to a great depression song because they know exactly how the writer of the song feels. This, in turn, allows a listener who is down in the dumps to feel connected to someone, to feel as though they are not alone in their struggles; the writer (or singer) of the song is just as depressed. To go along with lyrics are vocals. The singer has to make the listener feel his or her pain with their voice. There are a handful of approaches towards this goal, but each approach shares the fact that the singer has a depressed tone of voice.
Words and how they are presented are important to a depression song, but they are not the only important part. We are, after all, talking about music, and so naturally the actual music within a song is an enormous part in the making of a great depression song. The next criterion for a great depression song is a slow tempo, which supports the depressed mood of the lyrics. Next, there should always be some kind of deep, thick sound in depression music. Whether this is the singer’s voice, the bass, the drums, the piano, the guitar, or even another instrument, this kind of deep sound kicks a listener when he or she is down. There is just something haunting about Johnny Cash’s baritone voice or Ray Manzarek’s low pitch keyboarding that makes your heart sink and gives you goosebumps. Finally, all great depression songs have some sort of piano, synthesizer, or keyboard playing in them. This is a much more general point because the sounds that a piano, synthesizer, or keyboard create are so diverse. Each instrument can produce such a vast array of sounds that it can be hard to even recognize that they are in the song. However, they all produce the same sort of effect in depression music – they add eeriness to songs. Each of the three instruments has a way of creating a strange sense of calm among the depressiveness of the music. If a song contains all of these parts, it is ready for depression-genre stardom. Given the criteria for a great depression song, there are fives songs that stand out as the best depression songs of all time, and, in no particular order (it was hard enough to narrow the list down to five, there’s no way to number the top five), the top five are: “No Quarter”, by Led Zeppelin; “Hurt”, by Johnny Cash; “Riders on the Storm”, by the Doors; “The Thrill is Gone”, by B.B. King; and “Wish You Were Here”, by Pink Floyd.
“No Quarter”, by Led Zeppelin, was recorded in 1973 on the Houses of the Holy album. Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin’s singer and main song writer) numerous times wrote about Viking or northern European mythology so it is thought that “No Quarter” describes a northern European army from before the Middle Ages going off to war. Plant sings about the impending danger these warriors are heading towards, painting a picture of a dark and stormy scene. Right off the bat, the lyrics create a serious mood. The first two lines of the song are “Close the door, put out the light. / You know they won’t be home tonight.” Immediately, listeners know this song is going to be a depressing one. My favorite line in this song is “Walking side by side with death, the devil mocks their every step.” If this isn’t a depressing line in the context of the song I’m not sure what is. Robert Plant does a good job of singing in a way that creates a sense of darkness and creepiness as well. But the words of “No Quarter” aren’t what put it on this top depression song list. Instead, the music is the kicker. Before the words even start you know this song means business in the field of depression. The eeriness of chords in the first 45 seconds of the song create a quiet before the storm of the edgy, low-pitched guitar that strikes right at a listeners soul. Jimmy Page is a legendary guitarist and he shows that here, as he plays with a thickness of sound that is perfect for bringing down a listener. John Paul Jones does a terrific job on piano, particularly about three and half minutes into the song and on. It serves as a calming relief in the middle of a very heavy song. The speed of the song is perfect as well, as it gradually moves along, forcing a listener to hear every word sung and every note played. The music of “No Quarter” say more than words ever could. I can’t tell you what this songs means to me because frankly, it is impossible to verbalize. It is something purely emotional that just cannot be put into words. Think “this sucks but I have to do it for those who I care about” and you’re starting to head down the right path. The first time I heard this song I was 15, sitting in the back seat of my dad’s car on the way to a family dinner. “No Quarter” was the last song I listened to before dinner, and it got me so depressed that I barely spoke during the entire meal (which for me is an anomaly). I can’t say for sure that “No Quarter” is the greatest depression song of all time, but in my mind it’s top three for sure. Thank you Led Zeppelin for yet another masterpiece.
“The Thrill is Gone”, by B.B. King, is a classic blues song by one of the best blues guitarists in the world. Released in 1969, this song is probably the most easily relatable song on my list. It is about being wronged by a woman and about finally being free from her spell. The writer of the song (Roy Hawkins, not B.B. King) knows that he needs to move on, but comments about how lonely he is without his woman (“But so lonely I’ll be) and he implies that he is bitter about the way she affected him (“And you’ll be sorry someday”). Most people have been hurt by a significant other (usually one we now consider a “former” significant other), so “The Thrill is Gone” just makes sense. At one point or another, just about every person in this world has been or will be depressed about a woman or a man who has done them wrong. In fact, love (or a lack thereof) is probably the thing that depresses people the most, so hearing a song about it stirs up bad memories and emotions. B.B. King’s deep, powerful voice is that deep, bold sound that every great depression song needs. The thick bass and low-pitched keyboard also contribute to the darkness and deepness that makes “The Thrill is Gone” such a classic depression song. Something unusual about this song that differentiates it from other depression songs is that B.B. King’s guitar playing is mid- to high-pitched, but he uses this to his advantage. He makes his guitar almost sound as if it’s crying, which he does by bending the strings with his left hand. It’s a very emotional sound, and a prime example of why B.B. King is such a blues legend. Another point that differentiates “The Thrill is Gone” from other songs on this list is that there are strings in the background throughout the song. The strings are very slow and help to mellow the tempo of the song, as well as feed into the “crying” of B.B. King’s guitar. This is one of my personal favorite blues songs because it has just about everything you can ask for – phenomenal musicianship, depressing lyrics, and a deep, soulful voice. I heard this for the first time when I was 14 and at the time, it didn’t mean much to me. Since then, I have unfortunately had an experience similar to the one that B.B. King describes (no, I would not like to elaborate, living through it once was more than enough for me thank you very much), which has allowed me to relate strongly to “The Thrill is Gone”. It has subsequently become an extremely important song to me and is one of my go-to songs when I’m feeling down.
“Riders on the Storm”, by the Doors, was released in 1971. The Doors might be the best depression-song band ever, something that has a lot to do with the fact that lead singer and songwriter Jim Morrison was a manically depressed alcoholic who routinely performed and recorded music while drunk. “Riders on the Storm” isn’t the most standard of depression songs, but it is The Doors’ best. While there are different interpretations as to what “Riders on the Storm” really means (many people argue that it is about a serial killer), I believe it has to do with the absurdity of life. The consecutive lines “Into this world we’re thrown / Like a dog without a bone” mean (at least to me) that we are thrown into life without having what we truly need or want. The words “riders on the storm” are a symbol for how we go through life – humanity being the “riders” who are just trying to survive the “storm” that is life, into which they are thrown. Using the word storm as a metaphor for life denotes a negative perception of life. This is very similar to the way that I view the world. In my mind, life is nothing more than a series of absurd experiences and unnecessary hardships that we as individuals have to survive. As expected, Morrison’s lyrics are somewhat trippy but extremely deep.
The first sounds a listener hears are rain and some light thunder. Most people find this type of weather to be the most depressing weather there is. Eventually the drums come in (which is merely quiet tapping on the high-hats), followed by Ray Manzarek and his haunting keyboard playing. Robby Krieger does a great job of playing a low-toned, low-pitched (for the most part) guitar throughout the song. During Manzarek’s keys solo in the middle of the song, the depressiveness drops a little bit but the rest of the song is strong enough in the make-your-heart-sink department to make up for this. Jim Morrison’s deep voice provides the thickness of sound that depression songs need. The first time I heard “Riders on the Storm” was actually in a video game I played when I was 13, and the version of the song I heard was a remix by Snoop Dogg. But I loved the music behind Snoop’s voice, so I downloaded the real version and fell in love with The Doors. “Riders on the Storm” is one of those depression songs that just kind of make you calm and quiet, and really makes caring seem unnecessary.
The next song on this list is one that confused me the first few times I heard it. “Wish You Were Here”, by Pink Floyd, was released on the album Wish You Were Here in 1975. The album is overall a depressing album that is essentially about how former Pink Floyd front-man Syd Barrett was corrupted by the greed of the music industry. The music producers didn’t care about him and turned him into a drug addict (as the story goes, Syd Barrett wasn’t mature enough to handle stardom and the spotlight that he was thrown into by his producers who were using him to get rich, and he wound up a drug addict who had to leave the band). Any song from the album Wish You Were Here could have made this list, but the song “Wish You Were Here” is the most lyrically meaningful to me. The first time I heard it, I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics and what I heard was a light, calming song. But this made little sense to me because the rest of the album was so dark. I thought maybe it was meant to lighten the mood just a little before plunging back into depression with the twelve-minute album-ending song, but again, this didn’t really seem to make too much sense. I went back and listened to the lyrics instead of the music this time, and it was then that I understood just how depressing of a song “Wish You Were Here” is. The song is about the general confusion about life that most people have, how life is really nothing more than false beliefs that people hold. The best word to describe life as portrayed by “Wish You Were Here” is absurd. This truly hits home with me because it has always been one of my strongest beliefs that nobody really knows anything about life, that to claim to know anything about the nature of life itself is nothing more than arrogance. The first stanza addresses this directly with lines such as “So, so you think you can tell / Heaven from Hell / Blue skies from pain”. David Gilmore’s raspy voice does a great job of bringing the mood down. His medium-pitched acoustic guitar playing creates a sense of calm that also brings the mood down. The piano playing works with the acoustic guitar to form that calmness in “Wish You Were Here”. The thickness of the synthesizer creates an eeriness that is central to the depressing mood of the song. The deep base works to darken the song as well. Despite the sadness of the music, the words of “Wish You Were Here” are still what make it depressing enough to be on this list.
The final song on this top-depression song list is “Hurt”, by Johnny Cash (recorded in 2002, just six months before he died), and I just may have saved the best for last. Nine Inch Nails originally recorded “Hurt” and Cash covered it, but Cash’s version is a whole hell of a lot better. Cash’s slow picking on the acoustic guitar is chilling, and the simple piano playing complements this perfectly. However, it is Cash’s voice that makes the song musically. His deep voice is hauntingly dark and goose-bump producing. The lyrics fit Cash’s voice (and frankly his life) perfectly too.
“Hurt” is about looking back on a life full of mistakes and about missing loved ones who have died. Cash was in his early 70’s when he recorded “Hurt”, and at the time he was very frail and unhealthy because of his drug abuse problems decades earlier. His wife June Carter had recently passed away, so when he sings “Everyone I know / goes away / in the end” he is speaking about how at an old age, most of his friends and family are dead or dying. “Hurt” is just a heavy song. Without fail, my heart ends up in my stomach after I listen to it. The two lines “I focus on the pain / The only thing that’s real” are to me the lines that are easiest to relate to. Occasionally, we all have points in our lives when something happens that hurts us and confuses us. We question the world and what we believe about it, and in such times, the only thing that seems to be straightforward is the pain we feel from getting hurt. I have had such moments in my life, and so I can easily relate to Johnny Cash. I can honestly say this is the only song that has ever made me come close to tears. Johnny Cash’s deep, dark, mysterious voice is filled with so much pain that no listener can help but feel compassion for the man and think about all of the sadness in his or her own life. This is a must-hear for any fan of depression music.
So there you have it, my top five depression songs. Each of them is unique in how they approach making a listener’s stomach to drop, but they all share certain common features, the most important one being a dark and deep sound in each song. Depression music doesn’t sound particularly appealing, I know, but give it a try. On a day when things just aren’t going well, listen to a depression song (probably best to listen to one of the five I’ve recommended) and watch how much better you’ll feel. You’ll realize that things in your life really aren’t that bad, and if they are, well…at least you’re not alone.
