It depends on what you mean.
A single song: Hurt - Jonny Cash
Playlist to feel that:
- Pergunta Urgente - Frejat
- Broken Heart - White Lion
- Hurt - Jonny Cash
- Shake It Out - Florence & The Machine
- Best Thing I Never Had - Beyonce
- Dos Margaritas - Herbert Viana
- Depois - Marisa Monte
To recover from that:
- Ain't no grave - Jonny Cash
- Where Angels Fear to Fly - Battle Beast
- Hurt - Jonny Cash
- Fire in Bone - The Killers
- Semana que Vem - Pitty
- Life Won't Wait - Ozzy Osbourne
- Broken Heart - White Lion
- Temporal - Pitty
- O Poeta Está Vivo - Barão Vermelho
- Could Have Been Me - The Struts
- This Time - Guano Apes
- Spirit Never Die - Masterplan
- Sem Parar - Gabriel o Pensador
- Tente Outra Vez - Barão Vermelho
- Carry On - Angra
- Levanta e Anda (feat. Rael) - Emicida
- What a Wonderful World - Joey Ramone
- Rising Fire - Firewind
- Let Me Hear You Scream - Ozzy Osbourne
- Heavy Metal Never Dies - Iron Savior
- Born to Survive - Myrath
- Amnesia - Red Sun Rising
- Dance - Myrath
- Freak Like Me - Halestorm
- Where My Heart Will Take Me - Russel Watson
- Saga Cega - RAPadura
- Farol - Supercombo
- I Like It - Lacuna Coil
- Beyond the Burning Skies - Battle Beast
- Reason to Believe - Arch Enemy
- Moving On - Jimmy Cliff
- Conselho - Almir Guineto
- Unstoppable - Sia
- A Beautiful Life - Dorothy
- Nothing is Forever - Iron Savior
This second playlist is named "Keep Walking". The first one, translated, could be "wheel's bottom".
The Cure, Disintegration
The Great Below -- Nine Inch Nails. (About 5 months in 2001 while addicted to Everquest).
The Beginning is End is the Beginning -- Smashing Pumpkins (this version: https://youtu.be/0fDZD46IZ5Q?si=CyfMtrWL7YbtsEs7) (during my undergrad thesis crunch time crisis circa 2009)
There's more but these are good examples.
Mine is for a very specific kind of depression that's really more of a vibe of melancholic regret and realization of self limitations which breeds a strange, nearly apathetic anxiety. The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New (full album) just picks at a scab that you know probably isn't healthy but feels satisfying to indulge.
For existential dread, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd hits way different now than when I was young. Especially the songs Time and Great Gig In The Sky.
For depression depression, I couldn't be bothered to listen to any music. "Music is for winners" is kinda the mindset. Not helpful, but depression is a motherfucker and it's almost like self-inflicted emotional abuse when you're already vulnerable. You feel miserable and convince yourself that you deserve misery, so all is right in the world. It fucking sucks and I hope that if this comment causes anything in anybody's brain to light up, saying "hey wait a minute, is that not normal?", then please invest in yourself and spend some time with a therapist, take more vitamin D, and try to do what you can to get yourself to a place where those feelings are just memories that you can mention on Lemmy in hopes of helping others the same way that you needed help.
It's not really a single song for me, it really depends on how depressed I am and whether I want to dive deeper into it (which really helps a lot sometimes) or make myself feel better.
Dive-in (including, but not limited to):
-
The album Spiderland by Slint is pretty much full of depression songs for me, gloomy and full of dread. Don, Aman and Washer in particular are very hard hitting for me.
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F#A#∞ by Godspeed You! Black Emperor has similar vibes but is a lot more dystopian and pessimistic. Ever since hearing East Hastings in 28 Days Later it's been my favourite song on the album.
Feel better (including, but not limited to):
- Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.; I normally don't like this kind of songs but this one just feels honest and sincere which I can appreciate, plus Michael Stipe just has a great voice.
- Down Under by Men At Work; Pretty much the polar opposite of the post-punk/-rock songs mentioned above. I really want to move to Australia one day and this song reminds me of that goal.
- Happiness/The Gondola Man by Elliott Smith; just a nice song and I really like Elliott's voice.
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The Wall is a special album for me, usually makes want to kill myself so I have to carefully pick the moments I listen to it.
These songs will always make me cry when I'm down in the dumps
- Liability by Lorde
- All I Want by Kodaline
- Thursday by Jess Glynne
- Heavy by Linkin Park ft. Kiiara
Stone Sour - Bother
I've got a playlist, "Everything sucks but that's ok". This Year by The Mountain Goats is usually a solid pick. It's wistful and defiant without being too sweet.
Misanthropic Drunken Loner by Days N Daze is bleak with a wry smile.
Nausea by Jeff Rosenstock.
I got so tired of discussing my future I started avoiding the people I love Evenings of silence and mornings of nausea Shake and sweat and I can’t throw up
And if things are starting to get a little better Good As It Gets by Little Hurt is great. It is incredibly catchy.
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes by Crosby, Stills, and Nash (and sometimes Young). Also, Wooden Ships, same band. Four Way Street is an outstanding album full of heavy hitters
On GP - Death Grips
This album does the trick.
Planning for Burial - Below the House
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lX7Y_8v8ReyLynZVcEua1Kcs9PMcVL9Ow
LDLHA‐IBCSYWA by Twiztid
When my dog died I’d listen to it and cry a ton.
Mostly Leaf Ellis from Sorority Noise
Deerhunter - helicopters
Daniel Johnston - Cold Hard World
What I listen to when I'm depressed and want to be, not the best song to lift you out of it.
Broken, by Sentenced.
Lorde - Liability
Hits that slow, mellow, sad music tone cravings with heavy hitting lyrics.
i'm so tired - fugazi. this song has accompanied almost every depression breakdown i can remember.
Might as well just ask what my Recap is:
- All We Ever Wanted Was Everything - Bauhaus
- New Dawn Fades - Joy Division
- The Last Thing - Lebanon Hanover
- Autonomy - Boy Harsher
- Ghosts Again - Depeche Mode
- Anhedonia - Chelsea Wolfe & Emma Ruth Rundle
- Various Methods of Escape - Nine Inch Nails
- Turn Those Clapping Hands into Angry Fists - Against Me!
- Lost in the Supermarket - The Clash
- 6:45 - Firewater
- The Man on the Burning Tightrope - Firewater (the whole album, not just the song)
A black sun rises everyday / Shadows cross my path as if to say / "Change your life, change your ways, look up to the sky" / Tomorrow'll soon be here then time to die
This is some loud stoner/doom metal. Cheesy? sure. Self indulgent? Absolutely. But when the mood strikes it hits the spot every time
Album or song? Because for me, they both kinda blurred together when I was at my worst. That being said, I'd suggest the album Tomorrow is nearly yesterday and everyday is stupid by Crywank (UK). I listened and related so much to this album at one point that it's actually difficult for me to listen to anymore.
Silence
Lately, its been Oni by Swersvlt. The mood of just staring miserably into space wile zoning out.
Owen's Theme from Torchwood. Not an amazing show, but the music was written and composed by Ben Foster & Murray Gold who brought us all the haunting music from the new Dr. Who series. The descending pattern, combined with Owen's own tragic story is one of the most indulgent depressing songs I've ever heard.
My go-to song for turning into a sobbing mess on the floor is Sting (feat. Ray Chen) - What Could Have Been. Hits very hard.
Desperados Under the Eaves (but really, lots of Warren Zevon songs)
That's the Way the World Goes Round (John Prine)
Doomed by I Prevail
No room to live, and no room to die / Hell is a kettle with a concrete sky.
Life in a big city in the developing world. Makes you hard like hunger, sharp like regret.
How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead
- Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
- Johnny Cash - Hurt
- Radiohead - Street Spirit
- New Order - True Faith
Solace by Earl Sweatshirt.
https://youtu.be/lSWv9qodOAs?si=teXNFUnC19ETe6TB Al Green - How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.
I especially like how the “rain falling down” metaphor comes back when he’s going off and he says, “My clothes are all wet, tell me!”
The Burgundian lullaby perhaps
Have been too depressed for too many decades. Lost the ability to enjoy music. Miss it, but anytime I try it feels contrived and I hear people from my past deriding my selections for various reasons.
Magnolia Electric Co - The Dark Don’t Hide It or Just Be Simple
Mogwai - Helicon 2
Broken Social Scene - Lovers Spit
There is a small indie band called Kabir Cafe, whose songs are inspired by a 14th-15th century poet- philosopher called Kabir. Those are some amazing songs to hear to.
Liquor Bottle by Herbal T. Has a nice faux-upbeat rhythm with jazzy kinda beats, but lyrics.are dark. Definitely helps me keep a sane face on the dark days:
And that's why / I keep a
A liquor bottle in the freezer ♪
In case I gotta take it out ♫
Mix me a drink
To help me
Forget all the things
In my life that I worry about ♪ ♫
steiner's theme from ff9
Desperation - Steppenwolf
TV On The Radio - Young Liars. The entire EP, or just the single with the same name from it, depending on my mood.
Every New Year's i play the same two songs around midnight: This Year by The Mountain Goats and The Ice of Boston by The Dismemberment Plan. Both help me get through those turn of the year moods.
You just won't lie down. Even closing your eyes, you can't let it go, Surrounded inside. Leave it alone. You don't get it back Undoing the scenes you can't explain, Whatever you dream That you've buried away. It seems like you're there as someone removed And left in their place with nothing to do. Bound to the switch. Railing again at the thought of the fight For well-earned dissent Undeserved at the time. As you've been shown, the motion has gone A shade of the night, only leading you on.
Bad Life by Sigrid+Bring Me The Horizon. Very on-the-nose but it's a damn good song.
Giving up by Corbin and sodus cementeries
Eye of the Tiger
I'm a big music snob, and I'm in my forties, but Decompression Period by Papa Roach hit me really hard the first time I heard it, and it's always one I go back to. I've never had a bad breakup or anything, but it really captures the feeling for me.
Whipping boy - we don't need nobody else
Bird is Bored of Flying, by Mastersystem, is the best soundtrack for falling into a depressive haze. Death Dream and Loneliness and the Scream by Frightened Rabbit, who shares the lead singer above, are also incredible. Music can keep the void from growing, and let you sort of float atop it.
Wildfires by State Faults
808 OG trap beats
Orchid Mantis - Flashbulb Memory
I've got a whole fucking playlist for real sadboy hours on rainy drives home where I want to get lost in the back of my mind and it's like 50% this band.
Saddy Daddy-O by Artimus Wolz, which is also a bop
Bedwetter - Man wearing a helmet
The whole soundtrack (and game) is wonderful, and it develops across the album through to hope. The first few tracks though, they take me back to a point of great sorrow and straight through the stages of grief.
After opening the news and gandering at the state of the world for a different perspective; I drop back to AJR - Way Less Sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlVhUbGa2pg
