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