Bad trips
July 31, 2014 1:37 PM Subscribe
Recommend me the darker songs of the 1960's and 70's - paranoia, political repression, nuclear war, etc. For example, Love's The Red Telephone
Well, Lou Reed's Berlin is pretty intense...
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:44 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:44 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: It doesn't get much darker or more apocalyptic than Pere Ubu's Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1975).
posted by mykescipark at 1:48 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by mykescipark at 1:48 PM on July 31, 2014
Barry McGuire, Eve of Destruction
posted by mattu at 2:26 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by mattu at 2:26 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: War (What is it good for? Absolutely nothing).
posted by kbar1 at 2:29 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by kbar1 at 2:29 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: It's kind of self-pitying, in an English Psychedelic kind of a way, but Cheadle Heath Delusions brings it.
There's a whole bunch of bad trip songs on the Nuggets albums.
posted by scruss at 2:33 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
There's a whole bunch of bad trip songs on the Nuggets albums.
posted by scruss at 2:33 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Isn't that pretty much the gist of Pink Floyd's "The Wall"? And every song in it?
posted by amtho at 2:50 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by amtho at 2:50 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: Pretty much all of Bowie's Diamond Dogs is just brimming with apocalyptic paranoia and decadence -- e.g. Future Legend, Sweet Thing/Candidate, Big Brother. It's an album I really like, but can't ever listen to much, because it tends to put me in a dark place mentally.
Some other dark/apocalyptic Bowie tracks from the '70s: All the Madmen, Five Years, Panic in Detroit, Warszawa, and Sense of Doubt (the latter two both instrumental).
posted by scody at 2:54 PM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
Some other dark/apocalyptic Bowie tracks from the '70s: All the Madmen, Five Years, Panic in Detroit, Warszawa, and Sense of Doubt (the latter two both instrumental).
posted by scody at 2:54 PM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
Best answer: My grade school children's choir was given One Tin Soldier to sing, if you can believe it.
posted by drlith at 3:11 PM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by drlith at 3:11 PM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen is pretty apocalyptic, as is the video.
posted by homesickness at 3:13 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by homesickness at 3:13 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The Sun is Burning, from Simon & Garfunkel's 1964 album "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM."
posted by Corvid at 3:14 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by Corvid at 3:14 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: Another entire album of the period that's extremely dark (though it's a chronicle of personal breakdown rather than social breakdown) is Big Star's Third -- e.g., Holocaust, one of the most haunting songs I've ever heard.
posted by scody at 3:16 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by scody at 3:16 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: Terry Jacks -- "Seasons in the Sun" (1974)
of dying in a plane crash
I was also coming in here to recommend D.O.A but must clarify, we always interpreted the lyrics' 'flying' to mean driving while intoxicated which made it a car crash song.
posted by Rash at 3:22 PM on July 31, 2014
of dying in a plane crash
I was also coming in here to recommend D.O.A but must clarify, we always interpreted the lyrics' 'flying' to mean driving while intoxicated which made it a car crash song.
posted by Rash at 3:22 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: Mr Blue, Clear Light
Inside Looking Out, Grand Funk Railroad
I believe the band was Bloodrock, and the song was DOA.
posted by kellyblah at 4:11 PM on July 31, 2014
Inside Looking Out, Grand Funk Railroad
I believe the band was Bloodrock, and the song was DOA.
posted by kellyblah at 4:11 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: Animals is a better choice than The Wall imo.
posted by stinkfoot at 4:39 PM on July 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by stinkfoot at 4:39 PM on July 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Also, early Black Sabbath like Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and Master of Reality.
posted by stinkfoot at 4:42 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by stinkfoot at 4:42 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: All of Tonight's the Night by Neil Young.
posted by pipian at 6:35 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by pipian at 6:35 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) takes a bleak look at urban life, environmental degradation, drug addiction, the Vietnam War and so on.
posted by Leontine at 6:57 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by Leontine at 6:57 PM on July 31, 2014
Best answer: Black Day in July by Gordon Lightfoot
Just to expand on scody's post, most of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy is pretty despairing.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:10 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Just to expand on scody's post, most of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy is pretty despairing.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:10 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Ball of Confusion - The Temptations
posted by doctor_negative at 7:20 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by doctor_negative at 7:20 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The Fugs - subversive "freak-folk"-y stuff
Last Poets - black power proto-rappy stuff
posted by batfish at 8:46 PM on July 31, 2014
Last Poets - black power proto-rappy stuff
posted by batfish at 8:46 PM on July 31, 2014
Cant go wrong with Paint it Black.
posted by boilermonster at 11:59 PM on July 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by boilermonster at 11:59 PM on July 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Some of these are more overtly political than others:
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
King Crimson - One More Red Nightmare
Genesis - Watcher of the Skies
Gentle Giant - Peel the Paint
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - House Burning Down
Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home A Heartache
As far as I know, the lyrics aren't explicitly about anything dark, but I've always found Brian Eno's "Julie With..." to be super sinister.
posted by saladin at 6:10 AM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
King Crimson - One More Red Nightmare
Genesis - Watcher of the Skies
Gentle Giant - Peel the Paint
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - House Burning Down
Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home A Heartache
As far as I know, the lyrics aren't explicitly about anything dark, but I've always found Brian Eno's "Julie With..." to be super sinister.
posted by saladin at 6:10 AM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Speaking of Terry Jacks, The Poppy Family gave us a nice little ditty called Where Evil Grows in 1971.
posted by philip-random at 8:37 AM on August 1, 2014
posted by philip-random at 8:37 AM on August 1, 2014
Frank Zappa / Mothers of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money (1968)
posted by bubukaba at 9:14 AM on August 1, 2014
posted by bubukaba at 9:14 AM on August 1, 2014
Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter. Merry Clayton's vocals give me chills every time. (See also: Gimme Shelter tracks deconstructed, previously on the Blue.)
It's just a shot away. It's just a shot away.
posted by Westringia F. at 2:58 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's just a shot away. It's just a shot away.
posted by Westringia F. at 2:58 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Hawkwind - Hassan I Sabha; Damnation Alley (the latter a bit too upbeat maybe).
posted by Rumple at 12:46 PM on August 3, 2014
posted by Rumple at 12:46 PM on August 3, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Bromius at 1:43 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]