What is your Depression Anthem?

vis4valentine@lemmy.ml to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 67 points –
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What's a depression anthem? I never expected sufferers of depression to feel like singing a theme song to it.

It's a song that speaks to your flavour of depression. Makes you feel like someone feels the exact same way you do. That in turn makes you feel sane. Like you're heard. Even understood.

Over time, songs (or movies or other things) can become a ritual - you feel awful, listen to the song, eventually you come out the other side as the depressive episode fades. Then the next time it happens you associate the song with your recovery. So over time it becomes What You Do when you Feel That Way.

What song would you recommend to someone who has done things she regrets when she had the opportunity to have something good and lives with the still-ongoing snowball effect that she is so used to seeing as karmic that she doesn't typically bring up any of the issues?

Swans - Song for Dead Time

So bury your trust beneath the ground with me, dear

And lay your loneliness down for the sun to burn

To sand...

Yes. Swans have several beautiful crushingly dark songs. God Damn the Sun is one I go to.

Here's the closest I've got.

Priest - History In Black

Priest is an electronic music project originally formed by ex-members of the hugely popular band Ghost. I'd call this Darkwave, but the label doesn't matter, it's depeche mode-y and don't let the gimp mask put you off, I believe the song is very sincere.

I can't stop, it's too late, it pours out, it's my fate
My legacy in black
Looking in to my eyes, see the things i despise
My soul is tainted black

I traveled with the enemy, i thought it was my destiny
I'm free of all the lunacy
I never want it back, my history in black

Silent screams longing voice, violent dreams, ringing noise
My memory is black
It's not a mask, it's my skin
Please don't ask where i've been
My heart is painted black

I traveled with the enemy, i thought it was my destiny
I'm free of all the lunacy
I'm never want it back, my history in black

I escaped from the cage inside

I traveled with the enemy, i thought it was my destiny
I'm free of all the lunacy
I never want it back, my history in black
My history in black

Depression is a mess, it can have lots of symptoms. Same as antidepressants kek.

True, though I thought being "not in the mood" (for a lack of a better word) is required before all diagnoses of depression.

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".

Down in a Hole - Alice in Chains, from the unplugged album. Just such a raw song.

Yes, those harmonies are rough!

That was an exceptional performance. MTV unplugged was a great era

Roads by Portishead.

She knows. She gets it.

Nice choice, probably the best from Dummy for this topic. I'd also like to mention Over from their second, self titled album.

Ecellent choice! My personal choice is "threads" from their third album.

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.

Dark Side is such a good album. Great Gig in the Sky never resonated with me as a kid but now it’s a whole different story.

The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is such a good album. In some ways I hate listening to it because I know it's not helping me but at the same time everything about it is just perfect

How to Disappear Completely - Radiohead

This is probably the best answer I've seen. Watching them build the song over the OK Computer tour when you were sure they were going to implode... It hits just right.

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.

  • 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.

Nine Inch Nails album With Teeth. Every Day is Exactly the Same, Only, and Right Where it Belongs.

This by far my favourite album of theirs. Every one a banger. Especially those you listed.

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.

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.

LDLHA‐IBCSYWA by Twiztid

When my dog died I’d listen to it and cry a ton.

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

Sea Change album by Beck

Oof, great album, especially after life hits you hard.

I overheard a guy tell his friend ‘it’s Beck, but without all the gadgets’ and I thought that was hilarious so I checked it out (as was going through a tough break up years ago), and damn was it perfect

Lol that's a good description. So many good tracks there, but Golden age is one of the bes, driving songs ever.

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.

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.

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.

Lorde - Liability

Hits that slow, mellow, sad music tone cravings with heavy hitting lyrics.

Desperados Under the Eaves (but really, lots of Warren Zevon songs)

That's the Way the World Goes Round (John Prine)

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)

so many against me songs are depressive yet really beautiful. joy, searching for a former clarity, i still love you julie, and especially paralytic states. that song is like a knife in the heart for my dysphoria lmao.

I like to go all the way back to Pints of Guinness Make You Strong sometimes. The line

  • If I would have known
  • Just how things would have ended up
  • I just would have let myself die

Always gets me

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

Electric Wizard - Saturnine

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.

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.

Surrounded by Richard Buckner

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.

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.

I have several actually:

  • As mentioned earlier: Portishead - Threads. Actually, the whole album is perfect for a certain desolate mood.
  • The God Machine - Picture of a Bleeding Boy
  • The Cure - End
  • Joy Division - Komakino
  • Nine Inch Nails - The Wretched

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 ♪ ♫

Solace by Earl Sweatshirt.

https://youtu.be/k2HFehg2BfY?si=59XU06XWTQ9HTNUA

Good pick, I don't even have to click the link to recognize that pink background. I'd throw in most of SRS in there, too.

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!”

Lately, its been Oni by Swersvlt. The mood of just staring miserably into space wile zoning out.

Y'all are in the mood for music when you're depressed?

Yeah I cry to sad songs when I'm depressed.

When I'm happy, I try not to listen to sad music because it brings the mood down. But when you're already feeling like shit, sad music helps you feel even worse. LPT

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.

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.

For any mundane depression, (you're gonna laugh, they're all gonna laugh at me) it's OK to laugh at this, believe it or not my go to song is "On a Clear Day" Yes that song from the musical of the same name. Stupid, I know - but it does the trick. For seasonal depression, my go to is "Sleigh Ride." How can you feel blue when you're balls are bouncing on a sleigh over the snowy hills and through the woods?

For any mundane depression, (you're gonna laugh, they're all gonna laugh at me) it's OK to laugh at this, believe it or not my go to song is "On a Clear Day" Yes that song from the musical of the same name. Stupid, I know - but it does the trick. For seasonal depression, my go to is "Sleigh Ride." How can you feel blue when you're balls are bouncing on a sleigh over the snowy hills and through the woods?

Bad Life by Sigrid+Bring Me The Horizon. Very on-the-nose but it's a damn good song.

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.

Gris Soundtrack - Gris Part 1

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.