The Depressing Music Thunderdome - You're in Too Deep, There's No Way Out

[Falselogic]

Well, it took all day (not really, I was just busy all weekend with reorganizing my living space and life to accommodate a soon arriving baby) but the bracket is ready! Thank you to everyone who nominated we got 64 entries and that made bracketing a bit easier. Hopefully, I didn't put anyone up against their own song but in case I did let me know ASAP and I will tweak things.

Welcome to the Depressing Music Thunderdome! Where you nominated the music that hits you right in the feels in order to determine which one makes you stare off endlessly into the distance and sigh....


Oh, where was I? I'm going to try and do two matches a day with voting being open for roughly 24 hours. I think everyone here knows how to do this, but just in case you missed it, vote by bolding either the title or the artist or some semblance thereof that is recognizable as such. (Apologies ahead of time YT and Music Labels are going to be real shitty about a lot of these video so you're going to have to clickthrough. I tried different things and nothing seemed to work.)

Let's go ahead and get started now shall we?

Round 1
Match 1
We have @Exposition Owl 's Secret Meeting by The National going up against @Torzelbaum 's Hurt by Johnny Cash going up against

VS

Match 2
@Violentvixen 's Title and Registration by Death Cab for Cutie up against my own He Stopped Loving her Today by George Jones

VS

 

[Torzelbaum]

Hurt
and
He Stopped Loving her Today

 

[4-So]

Death Cab for Cash

 

[SpoonyBard]

Hurt and He Stopped Loving Her Today

 

[Dark Medusa]

Secret Meeting is a cool song I enjoyed, but I feel that Hurt just encapsulates Depressing Music better while being just as good of a song.

I don't like He Stopped Loving Her Today nearly as much as a song (even if I do like country/folk quite a bit!)... even though it more obviously fits the Thunderdome, I'll go for the song I like better that still fits the parameters in my head, Title and Registration.

 

[Exposition Owl]

Secret Meeting is a great song that has a lot of personal meaning for me, but I’m not sure that even I can vote for it over a titan like Hurt. Still, I can’t quite bring myself to vote against it, either. So:

abstain
and
Title and Registration

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Hurt Stopped Loving Me Today

 

[Kirin]

Registration Hurts

 

[Violentvixen]

Death Cab for Cash

Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt is one I planned to nominate but it was already taken. That was the first song I thought of when I saw the topic. It being the last song he ever recorded, hitting right after June's death... oof.

Also I want to add my note from the nomination thread about Title and Registration, because I really am in awe of the music video for this one but acknowledge it freaks some people out.

Title and Registration - Death Cab for Cutie (note: this is the official video but I know a lot of people who can't handle the papercraft surgery in the video. Personally it's always been one of my favourite music videos, because there truly is just a chaotic rush during a heart transplant, and the moment they finish when the paper all lights up is breathtaking and beautiful and how surgeons I've talked to have felt about the moment they knew a surgery worked)

 

[pudik]

pass
George Jones

 

[q 3]

Secret Registration

 

[Falselogic]

Johnny Cash and George Jones

 

[Issun]

Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt is one I planned to nominate but it was already taken. That was the first song I thought of when I saw the topic.

Same here. Anyways, George Jones and

 

[Falselogic]

Hurt Wins. Death Cab for Cutie and George Jones are tied. Next vote takes it.

 

[Falselogic]

Round 1
Match 3
@Issun 's Crazy by Patsy Cline is up against @Exposition Owl 's Let Down by Radiohead going up against

VS

Match 4
@Kirin 's Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen faces How Can I Help You Say Goodbye by Patty Loveless

VS

If you nominated one of these songs please do let us know why you did! And why you like how they make you feel so so sad!

 

[Violentvixen]

Loveless Radiohead

 

[4-So]

Loveless Patsy

This one is pretty hard, since I know both songs in Match 3 really well. Certainly one of the best tracks on OK Computer but I think I have to give it to Patsy. I never really perceived Let Down as a sad/depressing song. "Floor collapsing / floating/ bouncing back and / one day I am going to grow wings" seem like hopeful lyrics to me.

Everybody Knows is a fuckin' great song. I think I first encountered it in the 90s while watching Pump Up The Volume. And, like Match 3, I don't really see it as a depressing song (although it's certainly a dark song.) I'm not really a fan of the Loveless song but I think it's a better match for the sadness thing we're going for here.

 

[Issun]

Crazy and Everybody Knows

A Patsy Cline song was a given for my noms. Just lost the love of your life? Put Patsy on and pour yourself a double scotch. She is perfect for wallowing in your misery, and Crazy is her most iconic song for good reason.

 

[Exposition Owl]

Let Down and Everybody Knows.

I’m not going to argue that somebody’s interpretation of a song is wrong, but it always seemed to me like Yorke calls the feeling that one day he’s going to grow wings “hysterical and useless” two lines later.

 

[Kirin]

I’m not going to argue that somebody’s interpretation of a song is wrong, but

a song about the fact that the world is hopelessly broken and we all know it but can't seem to fix it is certainly depressing to me. (I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of the fact that the verse about infidelity is written in a snarky, slut-shaming tone, but the rest of the song is classic "everything is fucked" material. And of course Leonard Cohen's delivery needs no introduction.)

Anyway, I still gotta actually listen to all these before putting in a vote.

 

[q 3]

Pat_y Patsy & Patty

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Crazy Knows

 

[Kirin]

Everybody’s Down

 

[Dark Medusa]

Let Down, but one of the best songs on OK Computer!? I can name at least five better songs... Airbag, Tourist, Paranoid Android, Subterranean Homesick Alien, No Surprises, Karma Police... anyways I know it's subjective but COME ON

Also, Everybody Knows is a classic. Hard for it to be topped here.

 

[4-So]

Karma Police is the "Creep" of OK Computer and is generally worth skipping; Tourist is right out. I've always thought The Bends was the best 'Head album and everything after it was various levels of pretention, a little too cute by half. For me Radiohead albums after Bends have always been "here's, like, four good songs, and a lot of fluff and noise." I'm not married to these opinions, though. I've never considered myself a fan, except, again, for The Bends.

 

[SpoonyBard]

Crazy / Everybody Knows

 

[Falselogic]

Patsy Cohen

 

[Dark Medusa]

I've always thought The Bends was the best 'Head album

To be fair I think everything else about your post is so incredibly wrong (in a respectful sort of way), but I do love me The Bends more than a lot of people do!

 

[Issun]

Karma Police is the "Creep" of OK Computer and is generally worth skipping; Tourist is right out. I've always thought The Bends was the best 'Head album and everything after it was various levels of pretention, a little too cute by half. For me Radiohead albums after Bends have always been "here's, like, four good songs, and a lot of fluff and noise." I'm not married to these opinions, though. I've never considered myself a fan, except, again, for The Bends.

To be fair I think everything else about your post is so incredibly wrong (in a respectful sort of way), but I do love me The Bends more than a lot of people do!

I also really like The Bends. Black Star is probably my favorite Radiohead song.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Crazy
and
Everybody Knows