alternativenationĀ·Alternative Nation: The Fediverse's Alternative and Indie Music Communitybyren (a they/them)
[30 Day Song Challenge: Alternative Nation Edition] Day 10 - An alternative song that makes you SAD š¢
DAY 10 of the 30 Day Song Challenge, alternative music styles!
I'M NOT CRYING! YOU'RE CRYING!!!
Each day Iāll post the challenge and you share some of your favorite alternative & indie songs that meet the challenge!
42 replies
Something I Can Never Have - Nine Inch Nails
From the first time I heard this song up until today it just hits my emotions completely. Now to go sad cry on Saturday!
Sufjan Stevens "The Only Thing"
The entire Carrie & Lowell album, really. I won't lie, that song in particular has made me tear up a few times. It's about the death of a loved one (his mother in this case).
Sputnik by Smile.
It starts out about Laika, the dog that the USSR sent into space and died, and goes downhill from there.
They seem to be a relatively unknown band, but if you like it, try "Staring at the Sun" for something not so downer.
https://open.spotify.com/track/6hRYeC9mjFK2nrm6guHAM0?si=sD0HrcxyQuuIDVbBxBTvfg
Cavetown really hits that a lot for me, but this song has made me so listening to the album because I can't stop thinking about past pets.
https://youtu.be/qdlOco92FOY
As a side note, you should listen to Lemon Boy from the same album.
Here are five, though they get slightly more mainstream as you go down the list.
EDIT: I'm trying to fix the links. Gimme a sec.
EDIT 2: Here are the music videos and fan lyric videos. I'm giving up on Beatbump, HyperPipe, and YT Music.
Amanda Ann Platt and the Honeycutters, "Boneyard".
https://youtu.be/nQ_74hfJm_E
I had trouble finding something recent, but this works, I think, just older.
Chris Bell - I am the cosmos
https://youtu.be/7VfJ8dGsAws
Hereās one Iād forgotten about. This live version is really nice (slow starter)
Crippled Black Phoenix - Burnt Reynolds
https://youtu.be/gMqjERPps2Y?feature=shared
Yesterday - Atmosphere
Here's some alternative hip hop that might make you cry
Thanks for this. "Puppets" was also one of my better finds recently.
Atmosphere has a lot of good songs. The Waitress is another good one from the same album.
Phil Elverum from The Microphones and Mount Eerie lost his wife to cancer and then wrote an album about it called A Crow Looked at Me. It is absolutely heartbreaking. Here's the opener from the album.
Real Death - Mount Eerie
There's plenty of sad songs in this thread but this is the "this isn't cathartic it's just devastating" kind of sad that can only come from real, deep, somber, visceral pain
That's a great way of putting it. It's devastating and honestly difficult to listen to. But maybe someone needs to hear it so that's why I posted it
Absolutely, Phil's an incredible artist that doesn't get nearly as much attention as he deserves
How to Disappear Completely - Radiohead
https://youtu.be/nZq_jeYsbTs
"I'm not here.
This isn't happening."
Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies
https://youtu.be/Fa9nN3G2CSg
Ugh! Yes. Their cover. Woof! Gets ya good.
oh it's gotta be "Forever" by Bruderschaft (featuring vocals by Ronan Harris of VNV Nation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBugs8pgtK0
This song is uncompromisingly beautiful: a poem of love and dedication from a son to a dying father.
grandson - Heather Hits me right in the feels every time.
This one may seem strange, but I love "Leaving New York" by REM, always got me in the feels, but the live version from REM Live, the desperation in his voice and the moaning. It gets me https://youtu.be/OEwI3yKMxkI?si=6rYShLIzeCZZa4UU
But recently... Mitski's new song, "Bug Like An Angel" makes me cry every time - especially when watching the video https://youtu.be/5WW7cuAm-7Y?si=xGFW_cIhng-SY0Sa
Small Hands - Keaton Henson
Keaton Henson makes some beautiful somber music
Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love - "Last"
Bear's Den - Pompeii
This version, specifically.
Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day and for the same reason. I miss you, Dad. Nine years.
This one is an old, sad favorite of ours: Katy Song - Red House Painters
@ren @alternativenation
This one always gets me, double so with the video.
Massive Attack - Live With Me (2006)
https://youtu.be/AIIovpUQiro
Sad musics' my jam! Enjoy being down in the dumps today
Edit the Sad Parts - Modest Mouse
Indie rock
Spectral Bride - Giles Corey
Folk, noise
My Madonna - Two Galants
Indie rock, folk
MANY HANDS - Lingua Ignota
TW: Rape, abuse, religious trauma
Appalachian, avant garde, noise
Twenty Four Hours - Joy Division
Post punk
ego death - foxtails
Screamo
To a Husband at War - I Hate Myself
Emo
You have a awesome username
Harvey Danger - Jack the Lion
Sorry to punch you all in the gut.
The Arcade Fire's Haiti
https://youtu.be/tGvpUgo7ayY Controversies with members of the band aside, this song makes me cry every time. I have no connection to Haiti but the poignant vocals really pulls at your heart strings and makes you mourn for a lost homeland. The French lines really help too.
I have an AF song too that used to get me so emotional about my daughters - but I couldnāt remember the title yesterday. A line about āif I had a daughterā, maybe from Suburbs??? But yeah, the song is in me now.
Elliott Smith - Everything means nothing to me
Brother Ali - "All You Need", TW: child abuse
Hurray for the Riff Raff - "Fourteen Floors"
Bonus, same idea but more angry than sad, Open Mike Eagle - "My Auntie's Building"
PJ Harvey - "Hanging in the Wire"
tinyhands - "You Saw Me Naked"
Garlic Bread and Roses - "Miles Away"
The Roots - "Return to Innocence Lost", TW: domestic abuse, rape, other violence
for a hot second I thought this was Enigmaās āReturn To Innocenceā
Oh wow, yeah, I forgot all about that song, but different end of the 90s and different vibe entirely there
I read the title first! lol