As the headline suggests, I am looking for mainstream or broadly known music with dark and decadent themes.
At the top of my head right now...
Falco - Jeanny
A stalker who wants desperately a 19 years old girl, believed by the critics back then that this song "glorifies rape".
Genesis - Illegal Alien
A silly and arrogant portray of a Mexican who wants to trespass the US borders to the "promise land".
Nirvana - Rape Me
"My favorite inside source / I'll kiss your open sores / I appreciate your concern / You'll always stink and burn"
I guess the obivious one is Police - Every Breath You Take
Lou Reed "Street Hassle" - first part is about a very ugly, possibly obese woman paying a gay hustler for sex. Second part is about two gentlemen discussing how to dispose of a girl's overdosed corpse, third is about the transvestite Reed was breaking up with at the time. Features a depressed Bruce Springsteen saying "we were born to pay."
Another obvious one is AC/DC "Night Prowler," self-explanatory.
The many Judas Priest songs about male rape, like "Eat Me Alive," "Love Bites," and "Delivering The Goods," and more.
Cocteau Twins "Foetzepolitic" - about childhood memories of sexual abuse, pretty vulgar title if you know a little German.
Motorhead - "Jailbait," self-explanatory.
Sex Pistols - "Bodies," classy take on abortion, ("fuck this and fuck that, fuck it all and fuck the fucking brat")
Ramones - "Beat On The Brat," "All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" (about stalking at night while amped on speed)
Tons of various Misfits songs - "Theme For A Jackal," "American Nightmare," "Spinal Remains," "Hollywood Babylon," "Bullet," etc etc etc
Danzig - "Killer Wolf," "The Hunter," "Stalker Song"
Mark Kozelek does a pretty great cover of Dayglo Abortion's "I Killed Mommy," and Bad Brains "I," which has the line "cram their chivalry inside their guts," fairly obscene considering his fanbase of polite, middle-class hipster liberal indie rock kids.
The Who - "Fiddle About," Tommy gets molested by his uncle.
Basically half of the material Frank Zappa wrote between 1974-1980 concerned unusual sexual practices; fetishism, homosexuality, bestiality, sexual confusion, ugly people having sex, fatal sex with robots, Catholic teenage groupies, being raped by large black prison inmates, etc etc. Start with "Bobby Brown Goes Down" (big hit in Scandinavian countries for some reason, hehe), "Dong Work For Yuda," and "Dirty Love," then go from there. You're welcome.
Always thought Bruce Springsteens "I'm On Fire" could be reinterpreted to be fairly dark, considering some of the lyrics and the weird reverb on the vocals.
EDIT: Forgot Lana Del Rey! She has songs like "Lolita" and "Serial Killer," which are pretty twisted. Good voice, too.
remember some pop song of a few years back, female singer, standard pop thing,
singing about crashing her car into a bridge and not caring whilst qatching it burn.
then she throws some ex lovers propery into the street from their presumed ex live nest, again not caring.
struck me as pretty nihilistic ideas to sell to pre and actual teens.
Roxy Music -"In Every Dream Home A Heartache"
Quote from: cr on May 23, 2017, 07:49:32 PM
Roxy Music -"In Every Dream Home A Heartache"
yeah
I remember similar topic on older defunct board. Think the best song anyone mention was Tina Turner "Private Dancer"
Charles aznavour-'thank heavens for little girls'
the child molesters, 'thirteen is my lucky number'
grateful dead ' hello little schoolgirl'
Quote from: david lloyd jones on May 23, 2017, 06:21:10 PM
remember some pop song of a few years back, female singer, standard pop thing,
singing about crashing her car into a bridge and not caring whilst qatching it burn.
then she throws some ex lovers propery into the street from their presumed ex live nest, again not caring.
struck me as pretty nihilistic ideas to sell to pre and actual teens.
Charlie XCX "I don't care". Great bassline too.
Quote from: david lloyd jones on May 23, 2017, 08:35:33 PM
grateful dead ' hello little schoolgirl'
"Good Morning Little School Girl" by Sonny Boy Williamson in the 1930s, and Pigpen could get real raunchy in the jam sections.
Depeche Mode - Master And Servant
Scorpions - Virgin Killer
Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (EAV) - Samurai
A satirical (but weird) look at sex tourism (in Thailand as it set). Those who know/speak german language will get it!
Serge Gainsbourg - "Love on the beat"
Also...
Soft Cell - Dwarf Sex
Iggy Pop - Nazi Girlfriend
Agnetha Fältskog - Mr. Persuasion*
Napoleon XIV - They're Coming To Take Me Away
Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne
Jethro Tull - Kissing Willie
The Normal - Warm Leatherette**
Tom Waits - Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis
The Tiger Lillies - Piss On Your Grave
Army Of Lovers - Crucified
*Well, if you think in an other point of view, it may be suspicious.
** You can't go wrong with this fetish-car song especially when it was covered by Quincy Jones, Duran Duran, Suzi Quatro and others!
Jacques Brel - Au Suivant
You may know this song as "Next" covered by Scott Walker and Alex Harvey Band
Cant be arsed to check if its been mentioned but the patti smith classic rock n roll nigger.
I don't know if it can be considered "mainstream" in a sense but Comus' First Utterance is full of stuff like this. From Wikipedia: First Utterance was notable for its unique blend of progressive rock, folk, psychedelia, and elements of paganism and the macabre. The overall thematic tone of the album is of vulnerable innocence facing abusive power,[1] the songs dealing with violence ("Drip Drip"), rape ("Diana", "Song to Comus"), and insulin shock therapy ("The Prisoner"). These themes contrast starkly with the acoustic sound of the record, featuring acoustic guitar, violin, flute, and lyrical, almost Arcadian, female harmonies.
It's a damn fine album too.
I'll have to think some more when I have time. Also thanks to Petersson for pointing that Lou Reed song. I have it on a strange split 12" with VU's Venus In Furs but I haven't listened to it in 10+ years.
Depeche mode got away with a lot of stuff. I think it was martin Gore who said that if you label yourself as pop, you can get away with a lot of sex and drugs content.
A question of time/behind the wheel/Never let me down again/Little 15/Master and servant/Rush etc etc etc....
Soft cell also nailed it a few times.
Isn't Kiss "Goin' Blind" about a 93 year old man lusting after a 16 year old?
Also if you read the lyrics "Strutter" is the original meninist/power electronics anthem.... :)
Serge Gainsbourg "Lemon Incest" - song together with his minor daughter.
Mozart on coke.
I could come up with a lot if I had time.
I do want to mention that Danzig did a cover of a Black Sabbath song
("Hand of Doom"), but changed the lyrics to be about stab wound intercourse.
I also enjoy the songs like "Electric Avenue" and "Born in The USA", or even "Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson, for their ubiquitousness, yet their lyrics are cynical and dismissive of the lowest common denominator in an unambiguous way that people ignore. "Keep on Rockin' In The Free World" by Neil Young is another one. It's not about "Rockin' out" and having a good time.
hank williams, sr.
Blondie - One way or another (About DH's stalker)
https://youtu.be/pryJYyzoSpA
Boomtown Rats - I don't like Mondays (School shooting)
Tubeway Army - Down in the Park
"it tells the story of a futuristic park in which Machmen (androids with human skin) and machines rape and kill human beings to entertain spectators who, along with their numerically-named robotic "friends" ("Down in the Park, with a friend called Five"), view the carnage from a nearby club (wikipedia)"
https://youtu.be/oVW59ir4dw8
Tom Jones - Delilah (Murder ballad)
https://youtu.be/8a_T3U1rg2I
going back in time...
maurice chevalier 'thank heaven for little girls'
Quote from: wyngarde on May 27, 2017, 04:17:06 PM
Tom Jones - Delilah (Murder ballad)
https://youtu.be/8a_T3U1rg2I
Tiny Tim's version is great https://youtu.be/ziEoFiSddVY
Tindersticks
the cure - disintegration
Creep city...
https://youtu.be/qJFVPxBpezk
Thank you everyone!
Curiously there's been no mention of Nick Cave in this thread thusfar.
Murder Ballads has been on repeat as of late. All songs about murder, to some degree, obviously. First track 'Song of Joy' is about killing his family, getting away with it, and then going on to kill and kill again. Standout track might be O'Malley's Bar, in which he depicts himself getting off on being a tall & handsome heaven-sent angel brutally murdering everyone in the bar over the course of the 14+ minute duration of the song.
Also the album 'Your Funeral... My Trial'. The guy seemed to have an erotic fantasy about killing his wife.
First posting here, so hello everybody!
Quote from: Otomo_Hava on May 23, 2017, 11:39:57 PM
Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (EAV) - Samurai
A satirical (but weird) look at sex tourism (in Thailand as it set). Those who know/speak german language will get it!
Yes! EAV had a lot of dark social topics, similar to the already mentioned compatriot Falco. Musically it's not dark at all of course, it's one of these bands you listen to as a kid. That kind of Austrian morbidity you also find in the movies of Haneke or Seidl.
Not mainstream music, but HÜSKER DÜ - Diane is a very disturbing topic as well. It's about a real serial killer case, but from the perspective of the killer and not the victim.
Quote from: wyngarde on May 27, 2017, 04:17:06 PM
Boomtown Rats - I don't like Mondays (School shooting)
My ex-girlfriend's father was a reporter in San Diego. When the shooting happened his editor told him to call houses in the neighborhood to try to get information. The first call he made, he ended up talking to the girl doing the shooting from her window. He didn't believe her at first. When he asked why she was doing it she told him "I don't like Mondays."
Nothing to contribute to the topic at hand, just a weird connection to my life...
Chronik - Deepest Darkest
Awesome UK grime with a video that plays on some pretty brutal imagery about African paramilitaries. Reminds me of Dark Heart Katanga by Am Not. He's got another song called "Man in the Boot" which is pretty standard thug themes but still quite hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DH6Uaeo7nk
The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs
One of my favourite songs ever.
Quote from: NaturalOrthodoxy on September 21, 2017, 04:00:59 PM
Chronik - Deepest Darkest
Awesome UK grime with a video that plays on some pretty brutal imagery about African paramilitaries. Reminds me of Dark Heart Katanga by Am Not. He's got another song called "Man in the Boot" which is pretty standard thug themes but still quite hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DH6Uaeo7nk
I guess chronik isn't too mainstream but yeah, if we're getting into this territory then your average grime tune contains more legitimate decadence, violence and vice than a bakers dozen of your most nasty industrial discographies.
Quote from: Otomo_Hava on May 24, 2017, 12:08:44 AM
The Tiger Lillies - Piss On Your Grave
At the risk of nit-picking I wouldn't qualify The Tiger Lillies in any way as mainstream. Commercially successful, yes, melodic, certainly, but they're not really the type of thing you'd expect to hear covered on "Your-Country's-Name-Here's Got Talent" or something like that. Mind, I'd love it if someone did do a cover of "Banging In The Nails" in front of a panel of has-been pop prats and an audience of fucking idiots.
Probs been mentioned before but maybe not: Portishead; any of their stuff.
Tricky, who I think is one of the foremost exponents of trip hop, very lush sound and often not just a little dark.
Aphex Twin: Come To Daddy (should I be surprised that this has not been mentioned already?)
When you really crank it, the opening moments from the new Taylor Swift single '...Ready For It?' sounds like some Throbbing Gristle track or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T62maKYX9tU
Taylor Swift intro drill_type_of sounds absolutely rocked. Still mainstream can sound indie from time to time. Mainstream normally takes some components of indie music and parallels sections. For example Nicky Minaj backgrounds sound a little like Mika Vainio production, minimalistic. I dont really consider mainstream music cancerish, but the tempos are often same, maybe because of some human nrain synapses that make us consume more and subconciously certain labelled products or semantics? Really fascinating how the _usual_ tempos have taken place to walking phase of kids for example, and happen on spacememory in stores for example. Them people walking on metronome. God Bless musicwalkerconsumers hipjoints with oil. Kraftwerk absolutely the best mainstream artist no doubt.
Quote from: Duncan on September 22, 2017, 12:30:00 AM
Quote from: NaturalOrthodoxy on September 21, 2017, 04:00:59 PM
Chronik - Deepest Darkest
Awesome UK grime with a video that plays on some pretty brutal imagery about African paramilitaries. Reminds me of Dark Heart Katanga by Am Not. He's got another song called "Man in the Boot" which is pretty standard thug themes but still quite hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DH6Uaeo7nk
I guess chronik isn't too mainstream but yeah, if we're getting into this territory then your average grime tune contains more legitimate decadence, violence and vice than a bakers dozen of your most nasty industrial discographies.
totally. I've talked with people in our world with no previous interest in rap who have been very turned on by grime because of the total sleaze and violence of it
Quote from: Grimm on September 24, 2017, 04:18:11 AM
Taylor Swift intro drill_type_of sounds absolutely rocked. Still mainstream can sound indie from time to time. Mainstream normally takes some components of indie music and parallels sections. For example Nicky Minaj backgrounds sound a little like Mika Vainio production, minimalistic. I dont really consider mainstream music cancerish, but the tempos are often same, maybe because of some human nrain synapses that make us consume more and subconciously certain labelled products or semantics? Really fascinating how the _usual_ tempos have taken place to walking phase of kids for example, and happen on spacememory in stores for example. Them people walking on metronome. God Bless musicwalkerconsumers hipjoints with oil. Kraftwerk absolutely the best mainstream artist no doubt.
(http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ThinkingGradualAwesome.gif)
"Blasphemous Rumours" by Depeche Mode. Rad lyrics + banging and clanging.
4th page and nobody has brought up
Some Velvet Morning - Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood
https://youtu.be/C2PbG6KQKsE
and Lydia Lunch.
https://youtu.be/8wJ2t0kyRTA
Come fucking on guys. Get it together.
Listening to the Cigarettes After Sex CD now. Recommended if you like melancholic hipster pop.
Cigarettes After Sex are awesome reminds me of [/url] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dFlnHDZNdo[/url] BedHead
Only Travis Scott & The Weeknd is real
Sun kil moon is super dark. Currently can't get enough of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=begLNqsNusk
Converge is a metalcore band which I'd say makes them pretty much commercial, this whole album was the darkest thing I'd ever heard until I heard Burning Hell by Brainbombs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRc3tbzXavQ&list=PLcZMZxR9uxC8gzlRo3rExZx1GwMQZEbxx&index=3
the crystals, 'he hit me (and it felt like a kiss)'
N.W.A. - She Swallowed It
"[...]Oh shit! It's The Preacher's Daughter!
And she's only 14 and a hoe
But the bitch sucks dick like a specialized pro[...]"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw2Yeeybjn8
Quote from: collapsedhole on May 24, 2017, 09:01:22 PM
hank williams, sr.
He's one of the first things I thought of when I saw the thread, but also country in general. I mean "cocaine blues" is about a guy doing blow, killing his girl and then getting caught. You don't even have to dig deep for country songs with topics of hard drugs, sex ect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZWckoOcOhA
Of course David Allan Coe's famous "x-rated" songs come to mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw9NMFSy-1w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPNX9WBw1rs
Oingo Boingo is fantastic.
I dunno if these groups would count as a "mainstream" act or "decadent" one, as the context of both words can be widely described in some senses. I'd say some of the stuff from the more modern synthwave/synthpop/darkwave, ect. could maybe fit in this topic. I'd say Male Tears or Night Club, which definitely feels more Italo Disco even than the for mentioned genres and a bit more "fun", perhaps not mainstream in the sense that they are popular selling, chart topping artists, but popular enough in the sense to potentially become mainstream. Their decadent side, I'd say that simply just falls under the counter culture of the material, where it's fashionably dark or decadent, but perhaps not in some deeper context, if you know what I mean.
Will post the lyrics here as the implication isn't really obvious from the title:
QuoteTrapped in a mine what had caved in
And everyone knows the only ones left
Was Joe and me and Tim
When they broke through to pull us free
The only ones left to tell the tale
Was Joe and me
Timothy, Timothy
Where on earth did you go?
Timothy, Timothy
God, why don't I know?
Hungry as hell, no food to eat
And Joe said that he would sell his soul
For just a piece of meat
One enough to swing for two
And Joe said to me, "I'll take a swing
And then there's some for you"
Timothy, Timothy
Joe was looking at you
Timothy, Timothy
God, what did we do?
I must have blacked out just 'round then
'Cause the very next thing that I could see
Was the light of the day again
My stomach was full as it could be
And nobody ever got around to finding Timothy
Timothy, Timothy
Where on earth did you go?
Timothy, Timothy
God, why don't I know?
Timothy, yeah, oh Timothy
Timothy, yeah, Timothy
I've been enjoying the new Morrissey album a lot. Just have a weak spot for this man.
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
David Bowie - Station To Station
Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible
John Frusciante - Niandra LaDes and Usually Just A T-Shirt
Kanye West - Yeezus
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
Happy Mondays - Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches
Pulp - This Is Hardcore
Ice Cube - Death Certificate
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
All major label albums, all as bleak and authentically severe as any PE or noise I've ever heard. Different medium, same message.
Quote from: NightsAquarium on April 09, 2026, 11:27:20 PMBruce Springsteen - Nebraska
David Bowie - Station To Station
Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible
John Frusciante - Niandra LaDes and Usually Just A T-Shirt
Kanye West - Yeezus
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
Happy Mondays - Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches
Pulp - This Is Hardcore
Ice Cube - Death Certificate
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
All major label albums, all as bleak and authentically severe as any PE or noise I've ever heard. Different medium, same message.
Hard agree with The Holy Bible. Edwards truly was one of the best lyricists of all time and this album is proof of it.
And while it may not be very tasteful or credible to admit, I do reckon that the vast majority of relatively young people interested in industrial or industrial-adjacent transgressive art at this point got there, in part or in whole, thanks to Marilyn Manson.
A master at translating fairly radical and insular avant-garde ideas into a mainstream culture framework. Viewed from a certain angle, industrial music is popular music. Perhaps the most popular.
Quote from: prolapsedlielack on April 09, 2026, 11:35:41 PMHard agree with The Holy Bible. Edwards truly was one of the best lyricists of all time and this album is proof of it.
Edwards was a genius, yes. Cobain, Reznor, Buckley, Yorke and all the other "tortured rock geniuses" of the decade couldn't really compete with him. Edwards, I think, operated from a much more serious place than them.
EDIT:
I guess that, in Europe, Rammstein were likely to serve the same purpose as Manson served in America. As in, they presented a similarly unified totality of vision, where the visuals reflected the music, the music reflected the visuals, and it all reflected the culture which spawned the band. And the culture was one of severe national pessimism, devoted to the idea that the late 1990s were the end of history.
"Here comes the sun..."
While the subsequent decades have produced plenty of similarly radical popular art, I cannot imagine that any other decade ever will allow said art to be as widely accessible and approachable as the 1990's did.
Quote from: impulse manslaughter on April 09, 2026, 11:14:25 AMI've been enjoying the new Morrissey album a lot. Just have a weak spot for this man.
Morrissey has released a lot of great material over the years. Vauxhall and I is an absolute classic and essential indie rock/pop album.
Richard Thompson - this guy is a God in our house. He can go to some really dark places - and does repeatedly. This message to a new-born usually kills conversation at dinner parties. Its from his 1974 album 'I Want To See The Bright Lights' with his wife Linda. I prefer the demo version where she sings the first two verses.
I feel for you, you little horror
Safe at your mother's breast
No lucky break for you around the corner
'Cause your father is a bully
And he thinks that you're a pest
And your sister, she's no better than a whore
Life seems so rosy in the cradle
But I'll be your friend, I'll tell you what's in store
There's nothing at the end of the rainbow
There's nothing to grow up for anymore
And all the sad and empty faces
Pass you on the street
All running in their sleep, all in a dream
Every loving handshake
Is just another man to beat
How your heart aches just to cut him to the core
Your mother works so hard to make you happy
But take a look outside the nursery door
There's nothing at the end of the rainbow
There's nothing to grow up for anymore
Tycoons and barrow boys will rob you
And throw you on the side
And all because they love themselves sincerely
And the man who holds a bread knife to your throat
Is four feet wide
And he's anxious just to show you what it's for
Life seems so rosy in the cradle
But I'll be your friend, I'll tell you what's in store
There's nothing at the end of the rainbow
There's nothing to grow up for anymore
Marilyn Manson is amazing! Although he might not be particularly enjoy within this forum, I really enjoyed his music as I first started to listen to it, back when I was 11. He was my favorite artist back then. While to this day I thoroughly enjoy his music, it might not be fair to put it into the greatest music ever. Maybe? His lyrics and aesthetics relly resonated with the youth, creating a particular language through which the 90's nihilistic urban kid ethos was conceived. I remember Kvarforths diatribe on the beginning of I Och Med Insikt Skall du Förgå, where critices "black clad wannabes" for criticising people like him and Eminem, in regards to them "bringing this shit to the masses without pretension for a style". Makes perfect sense to, as someone like him mastered the negative aspects of exisctence through a more mainstream-approach appeal and such.
An interesting topic for the sake of "decadent mainstream", because is it truely decadent by the artists true integrity to put out such material and is it cause such artists broke the matrix by accident beyond the control of the mainstream, or is it social engineering being put forth as social experiment by major record labels and for what motives? Is it ment to breakdown morality or past values on purpose? Mainstream artists of the late 90s remind me of products, products you buy in a store, on a shelf like razors, shampoo, ect. When I think of Eminem I think of social engineering, a product for the times at the end of a century. It's interesting cause at this same time Insane Clown Posse was equally as decadent one could argue, yet they didn't quite fit the mold for some reasons or another and now a days they kinda do...What changed? It's a weird thing to see, like is the world doubling down on subtle mainstream decadence or is it by true artist integrity and it's the average listeners just changing and being more open to decadent themes in music.
Quote from: Cranial Blast on April 10, 2026, 07:06:13 PMAn interesting topic for the sake of "decadent mainstream", because is it truely decadent by the artists true integrity to put out such material and is it cause such artists broke the matrix by accident beyond the control of the mainstream, or is it social engineering being put forth as social experiment by major record labels and for what motives? Is it ment to breakdown morality or past values on purpose? Mainstream artists of the late 90s remind me of products, products you buy in a store, on a shelf like razors, shampoo, ect. When I think of Eminem I think of social engineering, a product for the times at the end of a century. It's interesting cause at this same time Insane Clown Posse was equally as decadent one could argue, yet they didn't quite fit the mold for some reasons or another and now a days they kinda do...What changed? It's a weird thing to see, like is the world doubling down on subtle mainstream decadence or is it by true artist integrity and it's the average listeners just changing and being more open to decadent themes in music.
I think it's a sign of the times we live in, like any other else, where people hold certain values sacred in a specific manner, and thus what was shocking decades ago isn't anymore, and vice-versa. It can be also said that in some spaces any song could be more transgressive than what it was before - a simple example being liberals taking some things seriously a lot more than it was in the past, for nuance perspectives they hold themselves. I belive most artists aren't consciously concerned with an effective "break down of morality", but when it happens, it's mostly case of someone vocalizing certain sides of reality which are inherently present, thus making the music acknwoledged in some way.
I know this is an old (resurrected) thread, but I'm surprised that there hasn't been mentioning of Lana Del Rey in here. Namely her Ultraviolence album, which has been a "mainstream" favorite of mine since it came out in 2014.
Yeah Lana Del Rey is great!
I don't think this ever really broke into the true mainstream, but peak MySpace-era decadent pop seems relevant to this thread.
Worth noting Manson didn't write much of the music. He'd been nothing without Twiggy and Pogo. (The stuff he does now... ugh. But the old stuff was great.)
Hard agree on the Manics' "The holy bible". Excellent and very unique album.
Quote from: Hyena on April 13, 2026, 08:22:51 PMWorth noting Manson didn't write much of the music. He'd been nothing without Twiggy and Pogo. (The stuff he does now... ugh. But the old stuff was great.)
Bingo. He spent all his good ideas early and surrounded himself with great musicians to cover this.
From what I've seen, Sonic Youth and Relapse Records seem to have been by far the most prevalent gateways into noise throughout the 1990s? Perhaps not overtly decadent and perverse in the same way in which Roxy Music, Lana Del Rey or Marilyn Manson are but the darkness in their subject matter was always quite obvious, even if delivered in a deliberately obscure, emotionally distant manner.
I also never understood the level of contempt some people in the underground had for SY's involvement with and support of noise. From the releases and live performances I've seen, SY's collaborations with more "authentic" noise artists came across as utterly bereft of ego or irony. Ecstatic Peace put out relatively high-profile releases by Stegm and fucking Mutant Ape. Those do not seem like the choices of a dilettante.
Quote from: Hyena on April 13, 2026, 08:22:51 PMWorth noting Manson didn't write much of the music. He'd been nothing without Twiggy and Pogo. (The stuff he does now... ugh. But the old stuff was great.)
Quote from: prolapsedlielack on April 13, 2026, 08:31:24 PMBingo. He spent all his good ideas early and surrounded himself with great musicians to cover this.
Manson is quite comparable to Bowie in the sense that all he brought to the table were ideas and strong taste in choosing people to bring those ideas to life (Pogo first and foremost, but also Twiggy, Daisy, John 5 etc. - to say nothing of the fact that Antichrist Superstar is essentially a Nine Inch Nails album in disguise thanks to the amount of influence Trent Reznor exerted over the making of that record). He wasn't capable of bringing those ideas to life himself, but he was an excellent taskmaster. Once he antagonized the people he was dependent on to the point where they quit or no longer cared, the whole concept very quickly just turned into a shitty goth rock band.
Might be marginally relevant to this thread:
Love's Forever Changes (one of the best rock-pop records ever made) is actually lyrically quite dark.
I also liked how all the "cool" "scene" people hated on MM the band back in the day. That way you could rub it in their face, annoy them, and make their day a little worse, the elitist cunts.
I dunno if anyone has mentioned Jim E Brown, he's kind of a UK parody of sorts with music in the vein of The Smiths, The Cure, ect. It's decadent in the sake that his entire aesthetic seems to be constantly revolved around self destruction through, excessive drinking, obesity, ect. Good stuff and quite hilarious to!
Amazing topic.
Kanye West "NIgga Heil Hitler" and "Cousins" are obvious recent ones
Nirvana "Polly"
The Smiths "Suffer Little Children"
Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Korn "Daddy"
The Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
Bruce Springsteen "Nebraska"
Pearl Jam "Jeremy" (the music video actually scared me when I was a kid)
The Associates "Dates and Numbers"
Geto Boys "Mind of a Lunatic"
Lady Gaga featuring R Kelly "Do What You Want"
Morissey "Jack the Ripper"
Captain Beefheart "Dachau Blues"
Sublime "Date Rape"
Definitely stretching the definition of pop music here but I actually love all of these songs.
Quote from: AdamLehrerImageMaker on May 15, 2026, 06:17:22 PMKorn "Daddy"
Good one. That first Korn record is, for my money, as avant-garde as the first couple Abruptum records, the first few Today Is The Day records, or De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. The band's subsequent influence on popular culture and rock music has done a lot to obscure just how strange, innovative and, at times, genuinely shocking their first few albums still are.
It's hard to find something so genuinely heavy, while at the same time holding a mainstream appeal to it. First six albums are masterpieces - the other stuff I don't care for. Life is Peachy is noise-rock as it gets, and Kill You track really does the justice of displaying traumatic parenthood experiences in an unnerving yet "catchy" style. Wonder what Mikko thinks about Korn."Ginna Heil Hitler"? Well, didn't seem it coming, heh.
Quote from: Kaaoskultti on May 17, 2026, 10:54:31 PMIt's hard to find something so genuinely heavy, while at the same time holding a mainstream appeal to it.
Life Is Peachy, Pantera's The Great Southern Trendkill and Slipknot's self-titled are, from what I've seen, generally regarded as the most extreme and uncompromised albums to sell millions. I don't disagree - more extreme records came out on major labels throughout the 1990s, but none of them filled stadiums.
Quote from: NightsAquarium on May 19, 2026, 12:47:36 AMPantera's The Great Southern Trendkill
Trendkill also had Seth Putnam of Anal Cunt contributing screams on several of the tracks including this one. So, technically, you can say an AC member charted in the Billboard Top 10.
I saw them touring for this and the pit for this song was one of the most insane I ever witnessed, just for the sheer massive SIZE of it.
Alica In Chains Dirt
Honestly shit like Mötley Crüe is pretty decadent, and hair metal in general. Also rap music, can't get more decadent than shit like Mystikal (was in jail for rape incidentally) or UGK. I dunno, does anyone listen to rap music here? Cos I guess that would be the most decadent of music genres as far as lyrical content goes.
Tales from the tour bus is a great show about this shit, country & funk have their own seasons. I really wish Mike Judge would make one about jazz artists, bet there's some crazy stories.
Quote from: host body on May 19, 2026, 04:11:02 PMor UGK
The lyrics to "Pregnant Pussy" song might be crazier than anything I've heard in a PE song.
When I think of hip hop as being "decadent" often times I'd think of the more horrorcore types, rather than your run of the mill typical hip hop artists whom straddle the lines of hip hop/gangsta rap music. Something like Insane Clown Posse, straight away comes to mind as "decadent", more so than any hip hop or gangsta rap peoples that MTV sharted out once upon a time in 1997 and went into the ether never to be mentioned again. I'd say ICP would make a lot more sense in this topic, specifically speaking about rap music and much like Marilyn Manson like some previously mentioned, simply for the sake of it's decadent behaviors and the fact it got some mention in mainstream notoriety. The large hosted event, known as the Gathering Of The Juggalos event... from what I've heard or "gathered" is the most destructive, decadent, and fucked up festival around. Lots of actual whoredom, violence, ect. Seems to host much filth from the spectators as much as the preformers, by far from anything I've heard that's been highlighted in the mainstream world, if and when we are talking about big time events that is. I know some people will say, but ICP is underground shit, so that doesn't count... I'd say no way! If your shirts sell in a Hot Topic retail store, you're the epitome of mainstream and thus mainstream decadence! When you got other mainstream rappers like Method Man and Redman preforming at your festival and they get littered with broken bottles, rocks and the trailer park meth head juggalos calling them niggers... what's more decadent leaning than that in a mainstream type of setting?
Quote from: AdamLehrerImageMaker on May 15, 2026, 06:17:22 PMThe Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
The Stones have a bunch- "Cocksucker Blues", "Stray Cat Blues", "Midnight Rambler", "Starfucker", "Undercover of the Night", "Brown Sugar" (since "cancelled" and removed from their set lists in recent years) and no doubt a load more.
The Flying Burrito Brothers "Sin City"
The Eagles "Hotel California", "Life in the Fast Lane" etc.
Leonard Cohen "Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On"
Dr. Hook "Freakin' at the Freaker's Ball" is a classic:
https://genius.com/Dr-hook-freakin-at-the-freakers-ball-lyrics
The Prodigy "Smack My Bitch Up"- good video too!
They changed the words slightly, but Boney M. "My Friend Jack" is a cover of a '60s Mod/psych song, originally about sugar cubes laced with LSD.
The Shamen topped the UK charts with their ecstasy anthem "Ebeneezer Goode".
The Outhere Brothers had a couple of UK #1 hits, the original versions of which have explicit porno lyrics- "Don't Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)" and "Boom Boom Boom". They also did one called "Fuk U in the Ass", though apparently that only charted in Germany and the Netherlands!
Some say "Sexual Healing" is a song about Marvin Gaye trying to "detox" from S&M.
Loads of Prince songs- "Head", "Jack U Off", "Darling Nikki", "Sexy Motherfucker" etc.
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Sir Psycho Sexy", "Purple Stain" etc. The latter song is about fingering a girl whilst she's on her period.
Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love", "The Lemon Song" and "Stairway to Heaven" (backmasked Satanic Tool Shed remix hehe).
The Beatles' "Please Please Me" is supposedly about oral sex, "Why Don't We Do it in the Road?" is about monkeys fucking, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is about a serial killer, then of course things like "Helter Skelter" and "Piggies" ended up linked with the Manson Family murders.
A chunk of The Doors' catalogue would qualify- "The End" especially, plus their versions of "Alabama Song" and "Back Door Man".
See also The Stranglers- "Bring on the Nubiles", "Peaches", "Nice 'n' Sleazy", "Golden Brown", "I Feel Like a Wog", "Tits", "School Mam", "La folie", "Old Codger" etc. Several of these were released as singles haha- I love The Stranglers!
Lou Reed has already been mentioned, but not in relation to his biggest hits- "Walk on the Wild Side" (which "touched on topics considered taboo at the time it was released, including transgender people, drugs, male prostitution, and oral sex") and "Perfect Day", allegedly about his heroin addiction, though he denied the claims. That said, the song gained massive exposure in the '90s via its use during the overdose scene (!) in Trainspotting, then again when it was covered by a load of pop/rock stars for charity.
The Kinks' "Lola" is another one about relations with transvestites.
Scott Walker had a penchant for singing songs about degradation, prostitution, squalor and death during his "teen pop heart-throb" phase.
Roy Harper isn't exactly a household name, though millions of people have heard his voice, as he sang lead on "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd and has worked with Kate Bush. Anyway, back in the '70s he wrote a pretty little song named "Forbidden Fruit", which is about exactly what you'd imagine- I bet he wishes he'd never released it in light of his ordeal with the police in the 2010s, though for the record he was cleared of all charges.
Jim O'Rourke, Bill Callahan/Smog and Will Oldham/Palace Brothers- again, not exactly big chart stars, but certainly popular enough back in the day with the indie press and magazines like Mojo- Whitehouse fan O'Rourke penned "Halfway to a Threeway", a blackly comedic song about wanting sex with a severely disabled woman, Callahan did things like "Dress Sexy at My Funeral", whilst the early Oldham catalogue is a goldmine of Old Testament sin and debauchery. Sample lyric:
"Unhappiness at last
Will last
And last
Till we see fit to stand before
That virgin cunt, that sainted whore
Whose piss we have slept under
Whose smell we have bore
Is her heelprint that marks our faces?"Hüsker Dü "Diane" has already been mentioned, but weirdly the band Therapy? had a minor hit with their acoustic cover version.
The UK glam rock/indie band Suede were a pretty big deal during the Britpop era, with scores of songs about bi-sexual fucking, hard drug abuse, gutter trash life, decaying glamour etc.
Similarly, Blur had big hits with songs about doing smack, wife-swapping/swinging and hedonistic 18-30 holiday sex.
Not forgetting Oasis, of course- the kings of '90s champagne swigging, cocaine snorting rock excess! "All your dreams are made when you're chained to the mirror and the razor blade"...
And it's not "decadent" per se, but Bloodrock's "D.O.A." is surely one of the darkest, grimmest songs to ever grace the pop charts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.O.A._(song)
Quote from: Kaaoskultti on May 17, 2026, 10:54:31 PMKill You
Back at school, a former friend of mine was perma-banned from computer club for stupidly making a "tribute" to that song in Microsoft Paint hehe. I was like "err, maybe you shouldn't...", but sure enough the teacher walked up behind him mid-creation and that was the end of that! What a moron.
Steely Dan. 'Everyone's Gone to the Movies' - about Joseph LaPage AKA 'The French Monster'. 'Cousin Dupree' - older cousin jumps younger one. 'Hey Nineteen' - teenage old man lust. 'Peg' - revenge porn tale. etc. etc.
Quote from: NedOik on May 22, 2026, 09:46:41 PMSteely Dan. 'Everyone's Gone to the Movies' - about Joseph LaPage AKA 'The French Monster'. 'Cousin Dupree' - older cousin jumps younger one. 'Hey Nineteen' - teenage old man lust. 'Peg' - revenge porn tale. etc. etc.
Haha yes, steely dan... I was gonna mention it too... Maximum greasy old man chasing skirt vibes ...it's crazy
My answer hit me while I was walking earlier today, "The Ballad of TV Violence (I'm Not The Only Boy)" by Cheap Trick. Under the smooth riffs and pounding bass line is a pretty thin reference to Richard Speck.
"I need a girl to get me some love
I need some love, gimme your love
Gimme your love
I need a knife to get me a wife
I need a knife, gimme your life
Gimme your life
I need a gun to have me some fun
I need a gun, gimme your love
Gimme your love
I need some rope, it's my only hope
After twenty or so I just don't know."
Interesting to see no mention of Type O Negative in this thread so far. I reckon this band was a massive entry point into both shoegaze (via October Rust, as flawless, visionary and fearless of a 1990s alternative record as The Downward Spiral, In Utero, Achtung Baby or OK Computer IMO) and doom (via World Coming Down, an act of spectacular "we've only just become kinda famous and we already don't like it, so let's immediately alienate all of our new fans" self-sabotage only matched by Therapy?'s Infernal Love as far as the 1990s go) for thousands of people.
All via songs of lust, hate and addiction. Though they were, frequently, very pretty songs.
Mentioned TON on the XE thread! All their albums are top-notch, but Slow, Deep and Hard and later, World Coming Down deserve praise! The lyrics to their debut are quite outstanding as well.
Perhaps The Smashing Pumpkins could potentially tread into this territory a little bit. I feel like their Machina album, although not as popular as their classic Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness, I've always felt like Machina was a bit more harder edged at times. The last song Age Of Innocence felt like a salute to the end of an era of life and entering a more darker one without a care. I don't know if they fall under "decadent" so much, but certainly had lyrics that were more thought provoking than most of the mainstream stuff out there.