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Underground > Radio & Music >

Songs for when you just want to be miserable.

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13:24 / 07.12.03

Firstly, have to second the notion put out by toksik - much better to find something to take you out of your funk rather then mooring you deeper in it.

I find that something more moody help to lift me out of a self-induced dark hole (and they're all self-induced, by the way, so don't fool yourself) - Tori Amos and Elvis Costello are quite excellent. I ususally find that I'm inspired by the talent these people have to express themselves and come out feeling shamed that I'm sitting around being all 'woe is me' instead of creating something with whatever it is I'm going through.

Oh, and there's nothing quite as useful as listening to someone who's so far gone down the downward spiral that you can't help but feel better about yourself - Pulp's 'This Is Hardcore' is good for that. That's one bummed-out guy, that JC is. Every now and then it's fun to listen to a bit of Nine Inch Nails, 'cause you just have to laugh at that little angry man taking himself so freakin' seriously.

14:08 / 07.12.03

much better to find something to take you out of your funk rather then mooring you deeper in it.

That's the category Scott Walker falls into for me - it's just so sweeping and melodramatic, you know you can't compete.

And Automatic For The People -definitely. I recently had an argument about whether or not that was a sad album, and no matter how much I said "sad in the sense of unhappy" or "That doesn't mean I'm saying it's bad", they weren't having any of it...

14:10 / 07.12.03

Firstly, have to second the notion put out by toksik - much better to find something to take you out of your funk rather then mooring you deeper in it.

Yeah... but surely it depends on what happens to be powering the mood in the first place. Sometimes a happy little fucking song is not going to be enough to make you feel better, and you need something that at some level reflects and acknowledges where you're at. I think a lot of the songs listed above do that very well, it's not really about wallowing in misery but wanting to hear something that says something like: "yeah, I know where you're at - fucking bastard isn't it, but somehow, christ knows how, I've taken all of that horrible horrible shit and made something beautiful out of it, and at least that's something - so there's hope, y'know"

09:56 / 12.12.03

Elliot Smith, Needle in the Hay.

17:46 / 15.12.03

Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in NY. Quite loud. As a rule, if you hear me listening to it, I'm feeling really shit and want to dwell on it for the length of the album.

15:32 / 22.12.03

i think i have to go with chet baker, "let's get lost". utter melencholy.

16:15 / 22.12.03

when i'm down, i tend to look for albums that are down, but in a purging sort of way, like getting through depression without either wallowing in it or trying to force being upbeat.

as such, i have to also throw in my votes for Automatic For the People and the works of Joy Division and Leonard Cohen, especially "Famous Blue Raincoat."

suzanne vega's "in liverpool" is another classic. also, i find ani di franco to be really good, especially "Light of Some Kind," "Out of Range," and for the love of Bog "Both Hands":

in each other's shadows we grew less and less tall
and eventually our theories couldn't explain it all
and i'm recording our history now on the bedroom wall
and when we leave the landlord will come
and paint over it all

and i am walking
out in the rain
and i am listening to the low moan of the dial tone again
and i am getting nowhere with you
and i can't let it go
and i can't get through

so now use both hands
please use both hands
oh, no don't close your eyes
i am writing graffiti on your body
i am drawing the story of how hard we tried
hard we tried
how hard we tried

11:08 / 01.01.04

The Green Man - Shut Up and Dance (heartrending)
Mr Kirk's Nightmare - 4Hero
Anything off Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Underworld

Lots of Radiohead, Joy Division and Nirvana also.

Burt Bacharach sung by women (Just Don't Know What To With Myself, Anyone Who Had A Heart).

16:57 / 01.01.04

PJ Harvey's "Oh my lover", "The Garden".

The Smiths "How Soon is Now", "Stop me if you've heard this one before"

Marilyn Manson "1996", "Irresponsible Hate Anthem"

The Knights Templar Boogie Machine

16:30 / 02.01.04

Anything from nin's pretty hate machine, and coil for when i'm feeling sombre...........

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