Most disturbing song ever?

Tchaikovsky

What is the most disturbing song you've ever heard?

For me it's '4st 7lb' by the Manic Street Preachers. On an album that is choc-full of disturbing content (The Holy Bible), I think this song about anorexia stands above the rest. The fact that the author himself suffered from eating disorders and would go missing a year later, never to be found, adds to the grim nature of the song.

The lyrics are from the standpoint of a teenage girl who aims to reach the milestone of 4st 7lb; the lowest weight at which a human can survive. The music tracks the girl's descent, being at first loud and resolute, and finishing with a slow waltz.

'Frankie Teardrop' by Suicide is another one that creeps the hell out of me.

boosabum

Polly wants a cracker

nthclare

Piece of the action "Bucks Fizz"

odyssey06

Every Breath You Take by The Police
Downtown Train by Tom Waits

If you pay attention to the lyrics, bit stalker-ish.

ohnonotgmail

the theme to M*A*S*H

Kylta

how to get to sesame street.

moonage

"Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday.

It's about the lynching of black people in southern American states in the first half of the 20th Century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGY9HvChXk

Conall Cernach

Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit

Dagnammit, Moonage.

Gregor Samsa

Anything at all by UK Power Electronics combo Whitehouse is pretty disturbing - not just sonically, but the subject matter too. The had a vocalist for a while - Peter Sotos, who is a very, very odious individual. He regards Moors Murder Ian Brady as his main philosophical influence, and that's probably the nicest thing you can say about him.

I saw them play in Dublin years ago (Sotos had left at that stage, I don't think I would have gone to see them if he was still in them), quite an experience in terms of the raw power of their music. I have to say, as I've got older, I find that I'm having a harder time justifying the themes in their music on artistic grounds. It's not that they're "exploring" them - they seem to be actively promoting them.

Here's "A Cúnt Like You", written from the perspective of a psychological abuser in a domestic relationship:

Tabnabs

"Gloomy Sunday", also known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song". Banned on the BBC until 2002.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F8kh2xFwlM

Tchaikovsky

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Here's "A Cúnt Like You", written from the perspective of a psychological abuser in a domestic relationship:

First dance at my wedding

Gregor Samsa

Lisa's Father, by Alice Donut.

It's based on an actual comic book ("Chick Tract") by fundamentalist Christian publisher Jack Chick which tells the story of a child rapist abusing his daughter with a neighbour, being found out by his wife, going to kill himself, being introduced to Jesus via a comic, and coming home and declaring to his wife and child that everything would be OK because he had found Jesus and prayer.

In the original comic book, the implication is that the mother and 5 year old daughter forgive him as they embraces Jesus too, with the message being that no matter how great your sins are, the mere acceptance of Jesus is enough to absolve you.

In the song, Lisa responds with a sarcastic "Oh really?"

cml387

Pauline Black and The Selecter have a song called "The Boiler" about date rape (1979, for those who think it's 21st century thing).

The end just consists of her screaming. Strong stuff.

statto25

bertiebomber

Soldiers Things ( more sad than disturbing ) Tom Waits

razorblunt

Sweat - alalalalalong


That there be rape, lads.

o1s1n

Amazing music video and song, but always gave me the heebie jeebies

Gregor Samsa

The Pogues "The Old Main Drag"

16 year old boy heads to London to start a new life, gets involved in prostitution & drugs, gets beaten up by the cops, ends up "spat on, shat on, raped and abused", dying on the street.

Rothko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX4EpkR-Sp4

The teletubbies are genetically engineered slaves, who are issued commands by some voice on a loudspeaker in a grim, dystopian future; their Anthem is a secret cry for help. Disturbing.

Declan A Walsh

cml387 wrote: »

Pauline Black and The Selecter have a song called "The Boiler" about date rape (1979, for those who think it's 21st century thing).

The end just consists of her screaming. Strong stuff.

No, it was by The Specials AKA, featuring Rhoda Dakar, and the year was 1982!

ErnestBorgnine

Ireland's finest.

kona

Search anal c unt and take your pick.

EmmetSpiceland

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

The teletubbies are genetically engineered slaves, who are issued commands by some voice on a loudspeaker in a grim, dystopian future; their Anthem is a secret cry for help. Disturbing.

Have you seen The Twirlywoos’, ATNM? Very little “self determination” in that one.

cml387

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

No, it was by The Specials AKA, featuring Rhoda Dakar, and the year was 1982!

Yep, and funny how for years I thought it was.

Declan A Walsh

cml387 wrote: »

Yep, and funny how for years I thought it was.

Anyway, I don't recall The Selector doing any heavy duty content!

Truthvader

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artanevilla

Tabnabs wrote: »

"Gloomy Sunday", also known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song". Banned on the BBC until 2002.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F8kh2xFwlM

It's the urban legends that make this creepier than it is, at the end it's revealed IT WAS ALL A DREAM.

Truthvader

you cant be too strong Graham Parker

Songs for adults in the real world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fsFy3M5jg0

Test For Echo

skooterblue2

statto25 wrote: »

Eyebleach, rinse, unsee, check, repeat until its been removed.

cml387

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Anyway, I don't recall The Selector doing any heavy duty content!

What put me in her mind is that she was interviewed recently somewhere or other.:o

A real feelgood song here. My Mummy's Dead by John Lennon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiJmThIwnKM

Declan A Walsh

Further to the story of The Boiler by The Specials AKA. The singer Rhoda Dhaka had co-written that song while with The Bodysnatchers, and that could well have been 1979. In 1980, her band toured with The Selector. But it was 1982 when it was recorded and released with The Specials AKA. So, I think that's where 1979 and The Selector got thrown into the mix in the original post about this song!

y0ssar1an22

its kind of catchy but pretty disturbing (and apparently a true story).

Gregor Samsa

Persuasion by Throbbing Gristle is in itself an unsettling song about persuading a girl to get involved in porn, but this trance cover by Billie Ray Martin and Spooky somehow manages to make it even more disturbing.

EmmetSpiceland

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Have you seen The Twirlywoos’, ATNM? Very little “self determination” in that one.

Yes, it came on by accident. I had to sit the child down and have a long talk about fascism.

HalloweenJack

The sound, the video, the story. It all freaks me out. A great song, though.

As for this, it is just bizarre:

Tired Gardener

Diane by Therapy?/Husker Dü

https://youtu.be/md7SJ1kDE24 Therapy? Cover.

https://youtu.be/VTy8GGyUgBQ Husker Dü original.

Blood in my Eyes by Atari Teenage Riot

https://youtu.be/NLXGZQQEOIQ (NSFW!!!)

Kerosene by Big Black

https://youtu.be/HuO3wwLuF0w

Gregor Samsa

Tired Gardener wrote: »

Kerosene by Big Black

https://youtu.be/HuO3wwLuF0w

Also "Jordan, Minnesota" by Big Black, about a factual child abuse ring in the town. (although, apart from the repeated last line, the song itself is vague enough not to be disturbing).

and Fish Fry, about a guy cleaning out his truck after killing a girl (again based on a true story).

El Gato De Negocios

Forced Gender Reassignment by Cattle Decapitation. The video can be found on Vimeo, not going to link to it but viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Stripped, Raped and Strangled by Cannibal Corpse is fairly objectionable, even by their own inimitable standards.

August Underground by Sutter Kain has some of the most brutal lyrics Ive ever heard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr7mqI932e0

El Gato De Negocios

Kunt and the Gang also have some of the most disturbing (or hilarious depending on your sense of humour) lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MduVl70kB48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGuSqSSmyy0

Arghus

Disturbing. I don't know if there's much I've listened to that qualifies as disturbing. I've certainly listened to "dark" songs.

A song from a victim of an assault, about her own assault -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwvvDZhKVHk

William Shatner's - yes, seriously - "song" about his wife drowning in their pool. Pretty fcking raw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN-gyEhLX5A

maebee

More ridiculous than disturbing, imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIJv4iLuf3A

mrcheez

iamstop

This is pretty disturbing.
Graphic and nonchalant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5ORQYinBG4

Wesser

The one about hair in all the right places

I Am Nobody

I Don't Like Mondays The Boomtown Rats

Based on events from one of the earlier school shootings in the US and her reason behind it.Brenda Spencer was her name,very tragic family life as well.

wiggle16

"Slide" and "Half-Jack" by Dresden Dolls are pretty unnerving. "Climbing up the walls" by Radiohead too.

Stereophonics (of all people) have a song called Same Size Feet, and it's not disturbing exactly but there's something about it that's very affecting... it's about a woman who was having an affair with a married man but then he stops calling, basically ghosts her, then she reads in the paper that a body was pulled from a lake and she wonders if it's him because he and the body have the same shoe size. There's something very bleak about it.

NewbridgeIR

cml387 wrote: »

Pauline Black and The Selecter have a song called "The Boiler" about date rape (1979, for those who think it's 21st century thing).

The end just consists of her screaming. Strong stuff.

1982. Specials AKA and Rhoda
I played it once in a DJ set. Cleared the floor.

rapul

Anything by Type O negative, or carcass or any black or death metal band, the list goes on for waaaayyy too long

PhilOssophy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0x7nBHNOZI