@@heathermcmichael6462 Not according to the band. They’re quoted as saying, “It’s basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about.” Henley said this in a 2002 interview.
As a big fan of Nirvana I could tell from the first time I heard it that Polly was about a kidnap and torture victim. But to find out it's based on true events makes my blood run cold. That's very chilling.
@@intothemystic5223 it makes sense. When Nirvana blew up in the early 90s there was no internet of course, so it was actually challenging to find out information about your favorite bands! Unless they were featured in a magazine or interviewed on TV, you just didn't know all the facts about them. I was 16 when Nirvana became insanely popular and I never knew the history of Polly until I saw this video.
Another dark fact surrounding Polly is the group of men who SA’d a woman here in Reno while singing the song to her. There’s an interview of Kurt talking about how that broke his heart & how much he hated the way people misinterpreted his lyrics.
In the linear notes for Incesticide, He wrote, "last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly'. I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience."
I was abused by my biological father. My family suspected that something was going on but did nothing. We don't talk to each other any more. I have a child who will never know my parents but at least she wonderful grandmother through her father. I've been on the path to healing myself ever since I left my parents. I get those dark thoughts but they go away when I'm in the presence of my true family.
To those who have been abused, you are not alone. You are worthy of love. You are stronger than those that have hurt you. You have worth even though you don't feel it some times. Hang in there and see what life will bring to you. There will be days when you feel like you just can't deal with the pain but know that we are with you. There are more of us in this world. We might be standing next to you. Even I cry when I type these words. A great man one said, "Life is just a ride. It goes up and down, round and round. Just enjoy the ride.". - Bill Hicks.
@@THRITCHIE76 hugs to you. I smashed my cycle. I only recently have really believed that I really broke the cycle, but when I realized that my kids call me for comfort and just because they want to chat is when I opened my eyes to my full healing. I’m grateful that I won. I’m happy that I did good for my kids who are 21, 20, and 18 now. I got damn lucky finding my husband at 18, and we’ve been married for 25 years now and 27 years together. Found family and created family is beautiful and I have so many extra babies. I love hearing mom, mama, mum, ma, and any other variation. It all sounds like love to me. So much love to you. We survive, and then we thrive.
i listened to it all the way through once and only once. that was enough. he has a breakdown around the six-minute mark of the nine-minute song. the chorus is absolutely haunting and horrifying.
I'm so sorry that is such an awful thing to have happened to any child. He also mentions it on "Freak on a Leash" when he says it was "raped and taken from me"
(Sittin' on) the dock on the bay by Otis Redding is another because it was the last song he wrote and because of the many creepy as hell parallels to how he would actually meet his end just 2 weeks later. Harry Chapin - sniper. (it explains itself) Harry Chapin - 30,000 pounds of bananas. (same thing, it explains itself) that makes 5 though I can see just picking one harry chapin song.
The worst part about the last story is that the guy who accused Bud Dwyer ended up admitting that he had lied in order to try and reduce his sentence and that of his wife.
As both a fan of the macabre side of humanity and The Doors, it pleased me to see Riders On The Storm on this list. Jim's haunting voice seems to almost recall a distant time in history even after the decades since his death, Ray's perfection of both the ambiguity of the darkness and his openings replicating the sound of raindrops never fails at sending a shiver down my spine, Robby's groovy guitar riffs always keep a catchy rhythm in my mind, and John's booming and expressive drums echo throughout the darker parts of the subconscious. One of Morrison's last songs before he succumbed to the grip of death never fails at startling me, not only because of the meaning of said song, but the implications it would have towards the sealing of his inevitable fate. The main influence from this song was the news of the murders, his poems about The Hitchhiker, and the movie called HWY: An American Pastoral would inspire him to create this unnerving piece that still awakens in our heads even after the 1970's came and went. RIP Jim and Ray.
Nursery rhymes is really creepy when sung by children. Another song with a dark text is The Smiths song about the moors murders "suffer little children". Morrissey a child himself at the time of the killings was deeply affected by the events after reading a book about Moors murders.
@@theangriestcatintheworld Yes quite revolting and disturbing too. I think if I'm not mistaking they're called the moors murders (or something like that) because of where the victims were found.i think they killed 5 total 3 being children. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details as it's been a few yrs since I thought of that
I would love if you can make a sequel of this list. There exists a plethora of songs with very dark backgrounds to them. Here are a few. 1. Zombie - Cranberries 2. Don't let daddy kiss me - Motorhead 3. The Garden - Creepshow 4. Wings for Marie & 10,000 Days - Tool 5. Broken Chromosomes - Tourniquet 6. Youth of the Nation - P.O.D. 7. Karizma - W.A.S.P. 8. Angel of the Morning - Juice Newton 9. 44 Minutes - Megadeth Etc........
I found this so interesting songs that we listen to can be rooted in such dark events without us realizing. Would be awsome if you do another video like this one as I am sure there are many more songs like these. Ty for always amazing content.
@@EmilyBeaulieu My first thought was that the song was about a woman intoxicated on heroin. In a part of the song he tries to save her from choking to death. Your mind is more innocent. The actually story is even darker than I could imagine
Everyone interprets music to their own circumstances..that's whats awesome about music ..it's like a book you visualize to your own self..hard to put in words I guess 🤘✌✌❤
Bud Dwyer was posthumously cleared of all wrongdoing when the real culprit was caught. That's what makes it so incredibly sad: he never committed the crimes he was accused of, but he felt so backed into a corner that this was his only way out. I don't think Filter knew this back in '94, or whenever this song was actually written, before it was recorded and released in '95.
This video was so intense and real. I can’t imagine the time you put into researching and writing it. Good on you, dude. Keep it up. Your content makes my days better. Let’s Read is legit my absolute favorite channel by far. Thank you for what you do.
I agree! It’s amazing how consistent he is, how much time and effort he puts into his videos, and how he’s not just a great narrator but a great writer too. I really love this channel, it helps me wind down before bed almost every night. Thank you for everything that you do Let’s Read ❤️
Me too. I listen to these stories every morning at work at 4am and this voice and narrating totally relaxes me and helps me focus on my job and helps me improve on my job as well. Thank goodness for AirPods. Sometimes a story is so good I'll have to rewind and re listen. A++++
@@emilymurdoch6713 most of his vids (true stories like these) are him reading to an article or wikipedia. but in this vid, it seems like he wrote it himself🤷♀️
The song Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World is definitely one I think deserves a spot on this list. For something so sad, it’s a wonder why they featured it in A Cinderella Story in 2004
When I first heard Daddy by Korn, I lost it. My friend at the time told me exactly what the song was about before I heard it, but it was not enough to brace myself for what exactly I was about to hear. The sobbing is just heartbreaking.
I would like to add a footnote to your story of "Hey Man, Nice Shot". Bud Dwyer was later determined to be innocent of all charges. Years after his suicide the people who accused him confessed the conspiracy that he espoused. At the time of his suicide no one would listen.
I was looking for this. It makes it so much worse that they wrote that song, he shot himself because his family was being slandered as well for his alleged crimes, and he shot himself to make the harassment stop, as he believed no one would ever believe him. It was also the first case of a death shown on live tv.
"Riders on the storm" have always given me chills for a reason I couldn't explain. Even though I enjoy the song it gave this sense of dread I couldn't shake off and after hearing the story behind it, it makes a lot more sense now.
Same - it’s got an eerie, heavy but uncomfortably hollow atmosphere, and, well… talks about a killer on the road, but with how it doesn’t really repeat itself or go out of its way to directly connect its pieces together, it’s clearly telling a story but leaves you wondering what that story is. (In an intriguing way, I definitely don’t mean that as a point against it.) Hearing what it is, though, yeah, it suddenly all makes depressingly clear sense. It’s like looking at a painting of symbols that don’t have an *obvious* connection out of context, but are still arranged together in a way and done in a style that gives you the chills to look at and makes you remember, and then having a lightbulb go off when you see it again in an article explaining how the composition flows through a narrative.
I really Loved this!! Can we please get a part 2??? Some how I knew “Polly” would be the first on this list after seeing the thumbnail. I grew up in the 90s, with a mom who had a pretty awesome taste in music. Nirvana was one of her favorites and I could sing every word to every song they had before I was even 10. Nirvana is still one of my favorites and I appreciate them more being in my 30s than I did back then. I didn’t know the back story to “Polly” until I was in my 20s though. Kurt definitely lives on through his lyrics and music.
@@lezzimars6061 for a start its a good song, and kurt wrote it because he felt so outraged he wanted something positive to come from it and raise awareness that this stuff is real and happens... yet here you are here on a channel that is full of worse stories no doubt enjoying every moment. whats your excuse hypocrite?
I was addicted to Nirvana after the 90 still to this day being as my grandfather died like slightly after Kurt his music and it got me through it ur awesome if u had all his songs memorized
@@lezzimars6061 because it brings awareness to the dangers young women face every single day when letting their guard down. I understand where you’re coming from, but as a Nirvana fan from the beginning, and a mother of 2 teen daughters now, it’s songs like Polly that I play for them to make them more aware and street smart. It’s freaking terrifying raising kids in the internet age with predators lurking everywhere. The best I can do it put it in their faces and teach them how to avoid danger.
I will always remember my friend Pamela, who introduced me to the Outlander books. I drove my daughter back to school several states away, and when I returned, Pam was gone, really gone! No sign of her, or her dogs. None of the neighbors at our apartment complex even knew who I was talking about. It was beyond creepy. I sent her a Facebook message wishing her a happy birthday. There was no response. Nothing on her page indicated where she had gone - or why. None of her Facebook friends even knew where she was. I finally asked a leasing agent where Pamela was and the agent refused to answer. I said, "Is it a private matter? Please, give me some clue!" Like some cruel childhood game, she suggested that I guess, in a whisper. This was obviously confidential information. I asked many questions and all I got was that she moved and was dying of cancer. I never did get a satisfying answer. Years later, I bought an old LP at a thrift store and heard this song. I didn't even remember hearing the tune as a child. Every time I hear Pamela, Pamela by Wayne Fontana, or read a new Outlander book, I think of Pam, and I cry.
I'm so sorry for you. Not knowing is always the hardest part. I'm sorry to suggest this but if it helps in any way.... Is prison or witness protection a possibility. Either may explain the suddenness and secrecy? Hope you get answers one day and can reconnect.
Great video! I'm sure you're going to be given many songs in the comments that you could use for a part 2. So I figured I'd throw my picks in: *One- Metallica* About a young man who is blown apart by a landmine in the war & his subsequent horror at the state he's left in. *Partytime- 45 Grave* About the rape, torture & murder of a 5 year old girl by her mother & mother's boyfriend. *You Don't Mess Around With Jim- Jim Croce* About a young man revenge killing another man who robbed him. *Down By the Water- PJ Harvey* About a mother committing filicide by drowning her daughter. *Stagger Lee- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds* A rendition of a classic folk song about a violent black pimp who shoots a couple guys in a bar. *Henry Lee- Nick Cave & PJ Harvey* A rendition of a classic folk song about a girl stabbing her man to death for being unfaithful. I'll stop at half a dozen. Now I gotta subscribe to see if you do a part 2 & use any of my suggestions! 😉
My mom used to sing 99 luftballoons when i was a kid and she’d translate it for me. That and Der Kommisar by Falco. Now she has Alzheimer’s and sings O Tannenbaum
Sorry to read about your mom. Alzheimer's is a terrible illness. Just a note on those songs, which remind me of my younger days. Der Komissar is by After the Fire. Falco sang Rock Me Amadeus...another rockin' 80's tune. Best to you & your mom. Give her lots of love. ❤
@@MsMC-vr1jd Both recorded it and Falco wrote it with fellow Austrian songwriter Robert Ponger. Falco recorded the German version in 1981. After the Fire recorded their English cover version in 1982. I was 12 when it came out and still love it to this day. @imanurse I wish you love and patience and I wish peace to your mother. Alzheimer's can be so hard to deal with...for everyone involved. Blessings.
Sorry to hear that ( my mom has it also and I know how it is) but I do have to admit the transit from 99 luftballons to O Tannenbaum made me giggle. Hope you're both well tho' , and happy
Not really a super dark example, but Hey Ya! by Outkast is a song that sorta mocks the idea of people mindlessly listening to music without paying attention to the lyrics. The song itself is about a man and a woman trapped in a relationship that they keep getting into fights with and are rapidly growing apart from one another but neither one is willing to leave the other...but then halfway through the song the guy just "gives up" on the verses and just lets the happy-go-lucky chorus take over, during the line "Ah y'all don't wanna hear me, you just wanna dance." as it's drowned out by the music. So yeah..not all that dark, but definitely a depression story hidden behind upbeat dance music. (also the music video does something similar as well. Looks like a kooky wild dance video, but you don't realise that the guys singing are standing on top of a coffin).
*Nirvana/Kurt Cobain: I grew up in Aberdeen, WA and lived there until 2016 when we moved to Olympia. Not only did I once live three blocks from Cobain's childhood home, but two of my friends dated Krist Novoselic. Kurt and I were the same age and Krist was a year older and graduated with my brother. Krist and I both graduated from Weatherwax/Aberdeen High School. Kurt went to school in a neighboring town.*
@@Tanya49655 They were. At the same school. I knew them and later Courtney later by 1988. I tell to people that what they were genuine. What you see in interviews is not a character. They were like that. Kurt was annoyed by some interviewers because some were very invasive. Usually krist were the one who was more talkative. Courtney was lound but not as rude as they wanted you to believe.
Wow, I really liked this one! I’d be stoked for a part 2 on this topic in the future, there’s a lot of great and every songs that could make the list, and I’d love to hear your take on it. C:
I really love the way you edit portions of the songs for the intro of each entry to give context of how the songs are supposed to sound and the narration and word choice makes the backstory of each entry really enticing.
Honestly i loved this a lot, I didn't expect to but I was transfixed the entire time and was disappointed when it was over. I love this new content, please make more it's so interesting!!!
I’ve learned and sung Vége a Világnak. I can promise it’s not cursed lol. But I can see how it could push someone who’s already in a dark place, over the edge. I actually think the song sounds beautiful. You can really hear the sadness in the melody. The swelling in it could possibly signify crying. I think the piece was well written. It roughly translates to this: It is autumn and the leaves are falling All love has died on earth The wind is weeping with sorrowful tears My heart will never hope for a new spring again My tears and my sorrows are all in vain People are heartless, greedy and wicked... Love has died! The world has come to its end, hope has ceased to have a meaning Cities are being wiped out, shrapnel is making music Meadows are colored red with human blood There are dead people on the streets everywhere I will say another quiet prayer: People are sinners, Lord, they make mistakes... The world has ended!
I didn’t know Pollys killer tortured/assaulted another girl 😳😞 I can’t believe after what that poor girl went thru, she still had the will and strength to jump out of the car and ran to safety! She’s a real inspiration and hero! If only Polly was able to escape too 😔
I died during that shout out to Cannibal Corpse. That whole band used to be banned in countries (might still be, haven't looked them up in a long time). This upload was AMAZING. Thank you 🧡
Ha! Ha! I knew the mother of one of the band members! She was so prim and proper. It was years later that I had found out about her son's band! I am still stunned! 😳
I am impressed. The stories are interesting to start off, but they are well researched, written and the narrator has a good delivery and inflection. Well done
The name of the Hungarian song is actually “Szomorú vasárnap” or “gloomy Sunday” and not “end of the world” The original lyrics were titled “Vége a világnak” (The world is ending) and were about despair caused by war, ending in a quiet prayer about people's sins. Poet László Jávor wrote his own lyrics to the song, titled Szomorú vasárnap (Sad Sunday), in which the protagonist wants to commit suicide following his lover's death. The latter lyrics ended up becoming more popular while the former were essentially forgotten. But either way Great Video!
50:00 Common misconception even amongst gore hounds. Ed Gein was not a serial killer, but a grave robber. He only killed two people supposedly do to a very cold winter that froze the ground leaving him unable to rob graves.
@@madmigraineur3815 Nice! I forgot all about them it's been so long. Guess now I have to follow the bee girl down another musical RUclips rabbit hole. Can only imagine where I will surface after mixing Blind Melon, and Ed Gein into it.🙃
@@ducksauce1290 Carseat (God’s Little Presents) is another creepy one off of that same album- I think it was based on someone, but don’t quote me on that! (Edit: you can never go wrong with blind melon 😄)
I remember when 99 Luft Balloons first came out, I was learning German in high school so we had to learn it in both German and English. That was when we all realised that it wasn't the cheery song we thought it was.
I stopped dead in my tracks when you discussed Luftballoons. It was one of my father's favorite songs... he was an Algerian that lived in Germany for a couple years for work related reasons, before going back to Algeria and then coming to settle down in America and birthing me and my sister. I always hated the song and I couldn't ever place why. Now, I kinda get why I felt creeped out by it... it's essentially a war song.
Honestly, this is just one of "many" creepy songs we who grew up in the 1980's remember well. A bit like "Dance because we might be dead tomorrow" vibe. Your dad had some very cool travels, thank you for sharing this!
It's an anti-war song . It's an anti-war anthem , actually . The writer explains just how easy , life as we know it , can be ended . When you grow up with nuclear bomb silos , in your backyard . You cannot deny the possibility . 😘 People ( in small villages ) all over Europe were literally , at ground zero . In the US most of the silos were hidden in , farm country , mountains or underground ( secret) bunkers . This song helped open the eyes of young , newly , able to vote Americans . If this song made you uncomfortable and uneasy : it hit its mark . 😇
Oh, yeah, the baby now grown is claiming that the photo constitutes “child pornography “ … He’s just mad cause a billion people have photos of his D and he’s broke!
Kurts “Something in the way” he’s describing the time he was homeless living underneath the bridge. One of my most favorite and haunting songs. Courtney killed him. The shotgun was too long for him to pull the trigger on himself. “Theirs a killer on the road, His brain is squirming like a toad, If you give this man a ride, Sweet family will die. Killer on the road “
I bought the I Don’t Like Mondays single on a market in Camden, London, Great Britain, when I was 15. It was a second hand item and I payed only £1 for it. This was back in 1993, and I still have it.
You definitely should be doing more of these! I love the true stories, but this is sort of an other level of creepy. Really enjoyed this one. Of course I fell asleep after 2 songs the first time around…. But listened to all of them te second time. And I’m impressed ♥️💋
I grew up in the cold war era, I was 18 when 99 Red Balloons came out. God, we loved that song, played it over and over. But I'm here to tell you that no one was at all worried about nuclear annihilation. We went through all the scenarios at school, bomb drills, squatting in the hall, we studied all about the world affairs, we saw all the movies depicting atomic bombs killing us all. But it's like hollywood and the government wanted us to be scared, but we weren't. We honestly never even thought about it. All the hype people talk about growing up in the shadow of the cold war is hogwash. It didn't affect us one tiny bit. It never infected our dreams or shaped our nightmares or gave us cold sweats thinking about it. Sometimes I feel like people want to romanticize the cold war era in ways that weren't true.
I was 19 or 20 when it came out and I agree with you. In spite of living in Utah, with a major Air Force Base next door and MX Missile Silos out in the desert, we never really felt that nuclear war was all that close or imminent. We just did our day to day and sang catchy songs.
@@toshirodragon I'm born in what was called Eastern-Germany. Here the fear was real. It was a very different atmosphere than in the west as far as I know. Neighbors and colleagues denounced thoses who they didn't like and theses poor people were kept for weeks and even months over nothing. It happened to my uncle and cousin. They were taken by the stasi because they used to travel back and forth and were suspected of collaboration with the western authorities. My mother have waited on a list for years (11) to finally being called to have the right to buy a car. You weren't allowed to choose the model or even the color and obviously it was trabant. You had to go at the factory or debot to pick it up. I know it may sound unrealistic and outwordly but it was like that. We didn't even had a TV set till I was 12 years olds. Before that we only had a radio. My mother was working as school teacher and i repaired cars mopeds, motorcycles and bicyles from as young as 10 years olds. People paid me with luxury clothings and luxury foods we didn't had the money to buy. When we came in Canada in 1986, we were shocked by all the brands available in the stores here.
So I've been a Urmaker junkie for quite a while, which led to my newest Let's Read addiction- today I stumble on this submission of song lyrics which has always fascinated me and I'm enthralled. I am catatonic as I listen occasionally wiping the drool from my mouth while sitting in my car for an hour, pausing, going back to a segment, playing, stopping listen again. THIS has been my absolute favorite piece of glorious work delivered by you. Your tone coupled with the horrifying truth of each song has captured my soul. You pose the question- should do more content such as this? My response is undeniably unequivocally undoubtedly YEEEEEEEESSS. Please. Please and thank you. Well done sir well done... Or should I say hey man nice one?! I'll await additional pieces with baited breath
i would absolutely love to hear you talk about more of these in the future! your voice is so gentle compared to other “top number” list videos, and you had a great selection of songs that you don’t hear about quite often.
First-time listener here! I really enjoyed this content. And your voice is made for creepy stuff like this. I subscribed in hopes of getting more great content. Please wow us some more!
I would love to hear more of these! You might want to check out Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me by Motorhead. It's quite like Korn's song Daddy, but I think it's definitely more severe. Also, Motorhead does many songs about war, as Lemmy, the vocalist seemed to obsess over it.
I was so excited when i heard Dead Skin Mask, i feel like metal has a wide arrange of songs with creepy backstories in them, that you can make a separate video on the genre on its own. Like Slayer already has two more songs based on murderers (Angel of Death, 213, Psychopathy Red). That being said, i really hope you make another video on this topic!!!
Absolutely love these tales! You should venture into true crime stories. BTW: bloody Mary ( Mary the First of England) reigned for 5 years from 1553-1558. Her religious victims died by burning at the stake or the axe if they were nobility and lucky! The guillotine was developed in France during the French Revolution, which was about 200 years later. (*From your friendly European history buff fan.) Lol😉
This is one of my all time favorites from you. Love this style of storytelling about songs backgrounds. I wonder if there is a tie to occult things, I could really go down the rabbit hole with these and others.
Such a creative idea. Keep it coming! You often have ideas that set you apart from the others. Thank you for all the endless hours of entertainment. Hope you start live-streaming again.🥰
The "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow..." freaks me out. I didn't know the origin story of that children's song. I didn't know it's so dark. There's a movie I love, The Secret Garden (the 1993 version) where the children sang that song to the main character who is called Mary. I thought it was just a song children sing when they are teasing other children. This video is amazing.
Why was she soo smol? I remember seeing a small section of that movie on tv as a kid and then I had a memory of a perplexing sequence (entering the garden) through my formative years, unaware for years what I might have seen.
Why was she soo smol? I remember seeing a small section of that movie on tv as a kid and then I had a memory of a perplexing sequence (entering the garden) through my formative years, unaware for years what I might have seen.
Why was she soo smol? I remember seeing a small section of that movie on tv as a kid and then I had a memory of a perplexing sequence (entering the garden) through my formative years, unaware for years what I might have seen.
I LOVED this! As for the longevity of haunting tunes, "Delia" still haunts, one hundred years later. Wicked good stuff! Thanks! Loved all these back stories.
People keep mentioning "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam, but I think "Alive" is more screwed up, I don't know if it's based on anything, but it's about a mother who molests her son because he looks like his dad. Alt rock stations play "Hey Man, Nice Shot" quite a bit.
Great stroll down memory lane for a lot of these songs for me... I'm a HUGE lyrical person who would sit and REALLY listen to the lyrics. I can't tell you how many cassettes (yes, I'm THAT old) I would wear out from rewinding and playing, just to make sure I heard the words right!! Thank you for this video!! I definitely would love a sequel as there are so many songs out there with horror driven/ creepy and very real back stories!!!
@@absinthealice I will agree with you there!! At least with cassettes, we could "fix" them as opposed to 8 tracks. I'm also with you on vinyls!! Still the best!!!
You could do anything and I'd support. The topic was so good! I saw it in my notifications and was a little surprised but pleasantly surprised. We want more!!!❤️
Finish the Bud Dwyer story, please. Due to his suicide, his corruption case was looked into again, only to discover he was framed just like he said he was. Sadly the truth that he was innocent was only discovered because of his suicide, no one took him seriously when he was alive. Only after his public suicide were his claims taken seriously. The song refers to the shot getting people to listen and learn the truth. For better or worse, at least get the full context right. "You'd fight and you were right, but they were just too strong."
Would love more videos like this one, it's heartbreaking but also incredibly interesting. The work you put into to all these videos is so much appreciated, thanks for all you do!
This was absolutely one of the coolest videos. I hope there are more to follow. Even making it 10 instead of 13 and saving those 3 for the next video would have been great. And I feel like you can do 2 nursery rhymes per video to fill time. This was an hour long and I loved every minute of it.
Fia Fia yeah he claims that photo was child pornography and millions of pervs got off to it and it damaged his psycho for the world to see his naked body 😩🙄🙄🙄
@@Empress.Serenity Me too, my, "again" was in refernce to that. Well, of course, the other times too but the most recent made me perhaps think of it in general.
Excellent episode 👏 !!! I knew about the Boomtown Rats, but not the others. And like others, I too thought that Billie Holiday 's Strange Fruit would have made the list. A second list would very happily received 😊!!! I do have a question about another song not on the list, possibly because it doesn't deserve to be, but I'm just not sure. When I was in year 7 (Australia's first year of high school) music appreciation was a mandatory subject, and my not so reliable memory seems to recall that there's a creepy back story to the Eagles "Hotel California". However year 7 was many years ago (many many years ago !!!), and I'm just not sure. If anyone does know anything about it, either way, I would really love to hear from you !!! 🤞And finally I am one of the millions who love Blondie's song, and now love it even more. Major respect to Debbie Harry and her courage in surviving AND thriving 👏 !!!!!
I'm living for this concept of stories of seemingly normal songs with eerie backstories please consider making this a continuous series on the channel!!!
Omg I love riders on the storm. Thanks to my "father" I first heard it when I was 5. He told me right away what it was about. And for some reason, that made me love it even more. 😅
I quite literally grew up with Korn playing in my household among other bands, but Korn had always been a favortie. So the whole meaning of their music and actual emotion has never been lost on me like it might have with others. A lot of their tracks talk about similarly dark subjects, or have to deal with problems that Jonathan himself has gone through (take the "Issues" album for example). and it actually wasnt until a few months back that i had first heard of Daddy. I mistook the song for "Hey Daddy" but i found out that they were two seperate songs. When I actually grew the balls to listion to that song after reading what people said about it....man. It's got to be one of the most upsetting and emotional songs i've ever heard. He's not just singing a song about what happened, but screaming and crying about it. It's a vent, it's pent up anger from all the injustice. And the further into the song you get, the more emotional you hear him become, before he just starts ranting and sobbing as he swears and cusses about the abuser. Audibly leaving the recoding booth before the song ends (which is 9mins i might add) ive only listened to it once, started crying from it, and havent listened to it again besides briefly letting my very modern music friend hear the beginning minute of it. I will highly reccomend it, but also not reccomend it for the faint of heart.
I actually remember the "Bud Dwyer" incident, LIVE ON TV! I'm from South Jersey, where almost all of our news is out of Philadelphia. It was a snow day, so all us kids were home from school. It was MIND BLOWING (no pun intended)!
I never comment on videos but this was really good! I enjoyed listening to the back stories for these songs...however eerie they were! Also nice selection of songs 👍
I agree with other people who commented in this video that this needs to be a series. Like a few others, I had no idea that I would like this video so much. Thanks for the video.
Yes, extending this topic into a series would be really good. There are so many songs with sinister backstories that you could go on with it for ever. Do be careful about your own mental health if you do do a lot of research on these though because they can send your brain into a really dark place. As additions I would recommend the whole of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' album "Murder Ballads" and Pat Benatar's "Suffer The Little Children".
@bystanderbutch35 ‘Suffer the Little Children/Hell Is For Children’ is a live performance including additional material before Hell Is For Children begins. Pat Benetar sings a sort of lullaby as an opening. “Sweet Melissa, I often pray for you, I hope your suffering was brief. I hope the angels that watch over all little children, Came for you, and took you someplace beautiful and sweet. Ahhhhh, suffer the little children.”
Bud Dwyer was actually found out to be innocent of all wrong doing. He was set up all along like he was trying to tell everyone but no one believed him because cancel culture isn't anything new. His blood is on all those journalists hands that he was too good of a guy to hurt like they hurt him. But he sure did give them a good story. Hope they sleep well at night. Also "Melt with you" by "Modern English" is a good one, just FYI.
Plush by Stone Temple Pilots is pretty dark. It’s about a girl that was kidnapped and murdered, Scott Weiland had read that story on a newspaper and decided to make a song out of it.
Also check out 13 Real Creepy PHOTOS With Scary BACKSTORIES! -- ruclips.net/video/SV9rspfGYwA/видео.html
There is another song Hotel California . My mom told me and it is true . It talks about the church of Satan.
2
@@heathermcmichael6462 Not according to the band. They’re quoted as saying, “It’s basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about.” Henley said this in a 2002 interview.
This was great! I love learning true meanings about songs. Also books and stories on Chilling.
Definitely need more of these.
As a big fan of Nirvana I could tell from the first time I heard it that Polly was about a kidnap and torture victim. But to find out it's based on true events makes my blood run cold. That's very chilling.
Same here!😳
You're a big fan of Nirvana but never knew that was a true story?
@@intothemystic5223 it makes sense. When Nirvana blew up in the early 90s there was no internet of course, so it was actually challenging to find out information about your favorite bands! Unless they were featured in a magazine or interviewed on TV, you just didn't know all the facts about them. I was 16 when Nirvana became insanely popular and I never knew the history of Polly until I saw this video.
@@intothemystic5223 nope. I said I was a fan of Nerva.... Never said I was a history buff
@Dana Doozer I'm 44. I know all about not having internet access. I just thought it was common knowledge for Nirvana fans but obviously I'm wrong.
Another dark fact surrounding Polly is the group of men who SA’d a woman here in Reno while singing the song to her. There’s an interview of Kurt talking about how that broke his heart & how much he hated the way people misinterpreted his lyrics.
In the linear notes for Incesticide, He wrote, "last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly'. I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience."
You missed Pearl Jam “Jeremy”. True story of a kid that was bullied and walked into his classroom and shot himself in front of his classmates.
Oh wow 💔
He might make another one of these and put it on there
Aw damn. I was hoping Jeremy would be on the list. Unlucky.
@Hyperskreem 82 I hope so. It’s a powerful story.
I was just about to post this. Music used to actually have depth instead of talking about getting fucked up and women’s sexual body parts.
My heart goes to everyone who were in the position of Korn's song. I can't bring myself to listen to it, I might just ugly cry. Hits home too hard.
I was abused by my biological father. My family suspected that something was going on but did nothing. We don't talk to each other any more. I have a child who will never know my parents but at least she wonderful grandmother through her father. I've been on the path to healing myself ever since I left my parents. I get those dark thoughts but they go away when I'm in the presence of my true family.
To those who have been abused, you are not alone. You are worthy of love. You are stronger than those that have hurt you. You have worth even though you don't feel it some times. Hang in there and see what life will bring to you. There will be days when you feel like you just can't deal with the pain but know that we are with you. There are more of us in this world.
We might be standing next to you. Even I cry when I type these words. A great man one said, "Life is just a ride. It goes up and down, round and round. Just enjoy the ride.". - Bill Hicks.
@@THRITCHIE76 hugs to you. I smashed my cycle. I only recently have really believed that I really broke the cycle, but when I realized that my kids call me for comfort and just because they want to chat is when I opened my eyes to my full healing. I’m grateful that I won. I’m happy that I did good for my kids who are 21, 20, and 18 now. I got damn lucky finding my husband at 18, and we’ve been married for 25 years now and 27 years together. Found family and created family is beautiful and I have so many extra babies. I love hearing mom, mama, mum, ma, and any other variation. It all sounds like love to me. So much love to you. We survive, and then we thrive.
i listened to it all the way through once and only once. that was enough. he has a breakdown around the six-minute mark of the nine-minute song. the chorus is absolutely haunting and horrifying.
I'm so sorry that is such an awful thing to have happened to any child. He also mentions it on "Freak on a Leash" when he says it was "raped and taken from me"
Was waiting for Pearl Jam's Jeremy and Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit. Would love to have a sequel with those two.
I thought of both of those as well. More so the haunting Billie Holiday song. Also Aerosmith's "Janies got a gun".
Same here
And Ewan MacColl's song; The Young Birds.
I have seen the memorial site where that school trip came to an abrupt stop when the plane crashed.
(Sittin' on) the dock on the bay by Otis Redding is another because it was the last song he wrote and because of the many creepy as hell parallels to how he would actually meet his end just 2 weeks later.
Harry Chapin - sniper. (it explains itself)
Harry Chapin - 30,000 pounds of bananas. (same thing, it explains itself)
that makes 5 though I can see just picking one harry chapin song.
Strange Fruit is probably the best example... truly grim.
Shout out to Poly...she was a real survivor 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾...may the rest of her life be blessed
I loved when you started saying the lyric of “One Way Or Another” in a sing-songy voice lol
Yeah that was great, someone should isolate it and release it on something that will go viral because it would
@@robhubbell1339 you got big ideas.
What a horrible experience she went through. He was a straight up disturbing psychopath! Keep on rocking out, Blondie...🎤🎶 "Oh oh, whoo oh..."
One way or another by blondie,right??
The worst part about the last story is that the guy who accused Bud Dwyer ended up admitting that he had lied in order to try and reduce his sentence and that of his wife.
Pumped Up Kicks is probably my third favorite song of all time, despite it's controversial lyrics. I could play the chorus on a piano for hours.
It’s almost every OTF coach’s favorite song to play during class 😂
Same
Love it too xxxx
Same!
I find myself randomly humming or singing it!
it sucks.
As both a fan of the macabre side of humanity and The Doors, it pleased me to see Riders On The Storm on this list. Jim's haunting voice seems to almost recall a distant time in history even after the decades since his death, Ray's perfection of both the ambiguity of the darkness and his openings replicating the sound of raindrops never fails at sending a shiver down my spine, Robby's groovy guitar riffs always keep a catchy rhythm in my mind, and John's booming and expressive drums echo throughout the darker parts of the subconscious. One of Morrison's last songs before he succumbed to the grip of death never fails at startling me, not only because of the meaning of said song, but the implications it would have towards the sealing of his inevitable fate. The main influence from this song was the news of the murders, his poems about The Hitchhiker, and the movie called HWY: An American Pastoral would inspire him to create this unnerving piece that still awakens in our heads even after the 1970's came and went. RIP Jim and Ray.
There's a great doc where Ray tells all about how the song was written.
I concur. Your observation is eloquent and positively riveting. Do you write?
Nursery rhymes is really creepy when sung by children.
Another song with a dark text is The Smiths song about the moors murders "suffer little children". Morrissey a child himself at the time of the killings was deeply affected by the events after reading a book about Moors murders.
I never heard of this one
@@imissmygoats298 Look up Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.
The moor murders?
@@imissmygoats298 See above comment. Child killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Quite revolting...
@@theangriestcatintheworld Yes quite revolting and disturbing too. I think if I'm not mistaking they're called the moors murders (or something like that) because of where the victims were found.i think they killed 5 total 3 being children. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details as it's been a few yrs since I thought of that
I would love if you can make a sequel of this list. There exists a plethora of songs with very dark backgrounds to them. Here are a few.
1. Zombie - Cranberries
2. Don't let daddy kiss me - Motorhead
3. The Garden - Creepshow
4. Wings for Marie & 10,000 Days - Tool
5. Broken Chromosomes - Tourniquet
6. Youth of the Nation - P.O.D.
7. Karizma - W.A.S.P.
8. Angel of the Morning - Juice Newton
9. 44 Minutes - Megadeth
Etc........
Juice Newton? Really? Do tell.
Youth of the Nation -P.O.D ?? I thought this tune was pretty self explanatory. I'd love to hear you elaborate on it...
Please inlighten me ...juice Newton?
Janies got a gun - Aerosmith
I want to add Mother Love by Queen to the list. Simply because Freddy Mercury died before the song could be completely recorded
I found this so interesting songs that we listen to can be rooted in such dark events without us realizing. Would be awsome if you do another video like this one as I am sure there are many more songs like these. Ty for always amazing content.
Agreed..I thought Poly was maybe a parrot..lol or another bird..😳ummmm guess NOT damn the first Nirvana song is very dark😳
@@EmilyBeaulieu My first thought was that the song was about a woman intoxicated on heroin. In a part of the song he tries to save her from choking to death.
Your mind is more innocent.
The actually story is even darker than I could imagine
Everyone interprets music to their own circumstances..that's whats awesome about music ..it's like a book you visualize to your own self..hard to put in words I guess 🤘✌✌❤
Why u wearing a mask on your pic
@@felonstofreedom597 because that’s what she looks like now
Bud Dwyer was posthumously cleared of all wrongdoing when the real culprit was caught. That's what makes it so incredibly sad: he never committed the crimes he was accused of, but he felt so backed into a corner that this was his only way out. I don't think Filter knew this back in '94, or whenever this song was actually written, before it was recorded and released in '95.
This video was so intense and real. I can’t imagine the time you put into researching and writing it. Good on you, dude. Keep it up. Your content makes my days better. Let’s Read is legit my absolute favorite channel by far. Thank you for what you do.
Same!!!! Totally agreed
I agree! It’s amazing how consistent he is, how much time and effort he puts into his videos, and how he’s not just a great narrator but a great writer too. I really love this channel, it helps me wind down before bed almost every night. Thank you for everything that you do Let’s Read ❤️
Me too. I listen to these stories every morning at work at 4am and this voice and narrating totally relaxes me and helps me focus on my job and helps me improve on my job as well. Thank goodness for AirPods. Sometimes a story is so good I'll have to rewind and re listen. A++++
Joel wrote these??
@@emilymurdoch6713 most of his vids (true stories like these) are him reading to an article or wikipedia. but in this vid, it seems like he wrote it himself🤷♀️
The song Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World is definitely one I think deserves a spot on this list. For something so sad, it’s a wonder why they featured it in A Cinderella Story in 2004
When I first heard Daddy by Korn, I lost it. My friend at the time told me exactly what the song was about before I heard it, but it was not enough to brace myself for what exactly I was about to hear. The sobbing is just heartbreaking.
I would like to add a footnote to your story of "Hey Man, Nice Shot". Bud Dwyer was later determined to be innocent of all charges. Years after his suicide the people who accused him confessed the conspiracy that he espoused. At the time of his suicide no one would listen.
I was looking for this. It makes it so much worse that they wrote that song, he shot himself because his family was being slandered as well for his alleged crimes, and he shot himself to make the harassment stop, as he believed no one would ever believe him. It was also the first case of a death shown on live tv.
@@0Onyx13 no, that's wrong. Not even the first suicide on live TV. Look up Christine Chubbuck
"dance with the dead In my dreams, listen to their hallow screams, the dead have taken my soul, temptation lost all control" slayer goes so fkn hard
"I've lost...all...con...trol- TEMPTATION! It never lets you down- TEMPTATION! One foot in the ground..."
"Riders on the storm" have always given me chills for a reason I couldn't explain. Even though I enjoy the song it gave this sense of dread I couldn't shake off and after hearing the story behind it, it makes a lot more sense now.
Same - it’s got an eerie, heavy but uncomfortably hollow atmosphere, and, well… talks about a killer on the road, but with how it doesn’t really repeat itself or go out of its way to directly connect its pieces together, it’s clearly telling a story but leaves you wondering what that story is. (In an intriguing way, I definitely don’t mean that as a point against it.) Hearing what it is, though, yeah, it suddenly all makes depressingly clear sense. It’s like looking at a painting of symbols that don’t have an *obvious* connection out of context, but are still arranged together in a way and done in a style that gives you the chills to look at and makes you remember, and then having a lightbulb go off when you see it again in an article explaining how the composition flows through a narrative.
Same...dark vibes...
I really Loved this!! Can we please get a part 2??? Some how I knew “Polly” would be the first on this list after seeing the thumbnail. I grew up in the 90s, with a mom who had a pretty awesome taste in music. Nirvana was one of her favorites and I could sing every word to every song they had before I was even 10. Nirvana is still one of my favorites and I appreciate them more being in my 30s than I did back then. I didn’t know the back story to “Polly” until I was in my 20s though. Kurt definitely lives on through his lyrics and music.
How could you like a song about a girl being abused and tortured? 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
@@lezzimars6061 have you heard it?
@@lezzimars6061 for a start its a good song, and kurt wrote it because he felt so outraged he wanted something positive to come from it and raise awareness that this stuff is real and happens... yet here you are here on a channel that is full of worse stories no doubt enjoying every moment. whats your excuse hypocrite?
I was addicted to Nirvana after the 90 still to this day being as my grandfather died like slightly after Kurt his music and it got me through it ur awesome if u had all his songs memorized
@@lezzimars6061 because it brings awareness to the dangers young women face every single day when letting their guard down. I understand where you’re coming from, but as a Nirvana fan from the beginning, and a mother of 2 teen daughters now, it’s songs like Polly that I play for them to make them more aware and street smart. It’s freaking terrifying raising kids in the internet age with predators lurking everywhere. The best I can do it put it in their faces and teach them how to avoid danger.
I will always remember my friend Pamela, who introduced me to the Outlander books. I drove my daughter back to school several states away, and when I returned, Pam was gone, really gone! No sign of her, or her dogs. None of the neighbors at our apartment complex even knew who I was talking about. It was beyond creepy. I sent her a Facebook message wishing her a happy birthday. There was no response. Nothing on her page indicated where she had gone - or why. None of her Facebook friends even knew where she was. I finally asked a leasing agent where Pamela was and the agent refused to answer. I said, "Is it a private matter? Please, give me some clue!" Like some cruel childhood game, she suggested that I guess, in a whisper. This was obviously confidential information. I asked many questions and all I got was that she moved and was dying of cancer. I never did get a satisfying answer. Years later, I bought an old LP at a thrift store and heard this song. I didn't even remember hearing the tune as a child. Every time I hear Pamela, Pamela by Wayne Fontana, or read a new Outlander book, I think of Pam, and I cry.
I'm so sorry for you. Not knowing is always the hardest part.
I'm sorry to suggest this but if it helps in any way.... Is prison or witness protection a possibility. Either may explain the suddenness and secrecy? Hope you get answers one day and can reconnect.
I'm so sorry this happened to you! You deserve closure. Those are some of my favorite books!
Joel, you are the only reason I can make it to my crappy stressful job in the morning. Listening to you calms me down on my way to work.
Great video! I'm sure you're going to be given many songs in the comments that you could use for a part 2. So I figured I'd throw my picks in:
*One- Metallica*
About a young man who is blown apart by a landmine in the war & his subsequent horror at the state he's left in.
*Partytime- 45 Grave*
About the rape, torture & murder of a 5 year old girl by her mother & mother's boyfriend.
*You Don't Mess Around With Jim- Jim Croce*
About a young man revenge killing another man who robbed him.
*Down By the Water- PJ Harvey*
About a mother committing filicide by drowning her daughter.
*Stagger Lee- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds*
A rendition of a classic folk song about a violent black pimp who shoots a couple guys in a bar.
*Henry Lee- Nick Cave & PJ Harvey*
A rendition of a classic folk song about a girl stabbing her man to death for being unfaithful.
I'll stop at half a dozen. Now I gotta subscribe to see if you do a part 2 & use any of my suggestions! 😉
My mom used to sing 99 luftballoons when i was a kid and she’d translate it for me. That and Der Kommisar by Falco. Now she has Alzheimer’s and sings O Tannenbaum
My mom’s favorite song, too! It was decades ago!!
I’m sorry about your mom’s Alzheimer’s. At least you have some nice memories with her it sounds like.
Sorry to read about your mom. Alzheimer's is a terrible illness. Just a note on those songs, which remind me of my younger days. Der Komissar is by After the Fire. Falco sang Rock Me Amadeus...another rockin' 80's tune. Best to you & your mom. Give her lots of love. ❤
@@MsMC-vr1jd Both recorded it and Falco wrote it with fellow Austrian songwriter Robert Ponger. Falco recorded the German version in 1981. After the Fire recorded their English cover version in 1982. I was 12 when it came out and still love it to this day.
@imanurse I wish you love and patience and I wish peace to your mother. Alzheimer's can be so hard to deal with...for everyone involved. Blessings.
Sorry to hear that ( my mom has it also and I know how it is) but I do have to admit the transit from 99 luftballons to O Tannenbaum made me giggle. Hope you're both well tho' , and happy
Not really a super dark example, but Hey Ya! by Outkast is a song that sorta mocks the idea of people mindlessly listening to music without paying attention to the lyrics. The song itself is about a man and a woman trapped in a relationship that they keep getting into fights with and are rapidly growing apart from one another but neither one is willing to leave the other...but then halfway through the song the guy just "gives up" on the verses and just lets the happy-go-lucky chorus take over, during the line "Ah y'all don't wanna hear me, you just wanna dance." as it's drowned out by the music.
So yeah..not all that dark, but definitely a depression story hidden behind upbeat dance music.
(also the music video does something similar as well. Looks like a kooky wild dance video, but you don't realise that the guys singing are standing on top of a coffin).
I love Outkast and I didn't know that!!
Speakerboxx/Lovebelow album is a story in itself...
found out about the backstory while looking up the lyrics.
*Nirvana/Kurt Cobain: I grew up in Aberdeen, WA and lived there until 2016 when we moved to Olympia. Not only did I once live three blocks from Cobain's childhood home, but two of my friends dated Krist Novoselic. Kurt and I were the same age and Krist was a year older and graduated with my brother. Krist and I both graduated from Weatherwax/Aberdeen High School. Kurt went to school in a neighboring town.*
You went to school with krist? I thought him and Kurt went to high school together?
@@Tanya49655 They were. At the same school. I knew them and later Courtney later by 1988. I tell to people that what they were genuine. What you see in interviews is not a character. They were like that. Kurt was annoyed by some interviewers because some were very invasive. Usually krist were the one who was more talkative. Courtney was lound but not as rude as they wanted you to believe.
Songs that sound fun but are about messed up stuff fascinate me. This might be my favorite video of yours. I'd love to see a sequel.
Wow, I really liked this one! I’d be stoked for a part 2 on this topic in the future, there’s a lot of great and every songs that could make the list, and I’d love to hear your take on it. C:
I'd like to see more as well. Very intriguing and insightful 😊
I really love the way you edit portions of the songs for the intro of each entry to give context of how the songs are supposed to sound and the narration and word choice makes the backstory of each entry really enticing.
Honestly i loved this a lot, I didn't expect to but I was transfixed the entire time and was disappointed when it was over. I love this new content, please make more it's so interesting!!!
I’ve learned and sung Vége a Világnak. I can promise it’s not cursed lol. But I can see how it could push someone who’s already in a dark place, over the edge.
I actually think the song sounds beautiful. You can really hear the sadness in the melody. The swelling in it could possibly signify crying. I think the piece was well written.
It roughly translates to this:
It is autumn and the leaves are falling
All love has died on earth
The wind is weeping with sorrowful tears
My heart will never hope for a new spring again
My tears and my sorrows are all in vain
People are heartless, greedy and wicked...
Love has died!
The world has come to its end, hope has ceased to have a meaning
Cities are being wiped out, shrapnel is making music
Meadows are colored red with human blood
There are dead people on the streets everywhere
I will say another quiet prayer:
People are sinners, Lord, they make mistakes...
The world has ended!
I didn’t know Pollys killer tortured/assaulted another girl 😳😞 I can’t believe after what that poor girl went thru, she still had the will and strength to jump out of the car and ran to safety! She’s a real inspiration and hero! If only Polly was able to escape too 😔
I'm pretty sure he said that the girl in the song and the girl that was kidnapped and stuff did to her is the same person.
I saw a movie about her she definitely was a brave and they got the loser
I died during that shout out to Cannibal Corpse. That whole band used to be banned in countries (might still be, haven't looked them up in a long time). This upload was AMAZING. Thank you 🧡
Ha! Ha! I knew the mother of one of the band members! She was so prim and proper. It was years later that I had found out about her son's band! I am still stunned! 😳
Corpse Grinder is such a giant puppy dog! I saw them last year in Winston-Salem, NC, and they were phenomenal!
I am impressed. The stories are interesting to start off, but they are well researched, written and the narrator has a good delivery and inflection. Well done
Ok ok Joel I see you. Now if we gonna start analyzing bars, you could make a multi series wit this concept. We here for it!! 🤘
Why yes. Yes we are. lol
The name of the Hungarian song is actually “Szomorú vasárnap” or “gloomy Sunday” and not “end of the world”
The original lyrics were titled “Vége a világnak” (The world is ending) and were about despair caused by war, ending in a quiet prayer about people's sins. Poet László Jávor wrote his own lyrics to the song, titled Szomorú vasárnap (Sad Sunday), in which the protagonist wants to commit suicide following his lover's death. The latter lyrics ended up becoming more popular while the former were essentially forgotten.
But either way Great Video!
I said the same thing! Thank you!
Early Korn, Nirvana…just amazing
Too bad there was only early nirvana.
50:00 Common misconception even amongst gore hounds. Ed Gein was not a serial killer, but a grave robber. He only killed two people supposedly do to a very cold winter that froze the ground leaving him unable to rob graves.
I came here to correct that entry!
Speaking of Ed, Blind Melon wrote a song about him called, “Skinned” 🙂
@@madmigraineur3815 Nice! I forgot all about them it's been so long. Guess now I have to follow the bee girl down another musical RUclips rabbit hole. Can only imagine where I will surface after mixing Blind Melon, and Ed Gein into it.🙃
@@ducksauce1290 Carseat (God’s Little Presents) is another creepy one off of that same album- I think it was based on someone, but don’t quote me on that! (Edit: you can never go wrong with blind melon 😄)
I remember when 99 Luft Balloons first came out, I was learning German in high school so we had to learn it in both German and English. That was when we all realised that it wasn't the cheery song we thought it was.
He's not making fun of him for being a criminal and killing himself, he's trying to express support and recognition for his injustice...I think
I stopped dead in my tracks when you discussed Luftballoons. It was one of my father's favorite songs... he was an Algerian that lived in Germany for a couple years for work related reasons, before going back to Algeria and then coming to settle down in America and birthing me and my sister. I always hated the song and I couldn't ever place why. Now, I kinda get why I felt creeped out by it... it's essentially a war song.
Thanks for sharing that story
Honestly, this is just one of "many" creepy songs we who grew up in the 1980's remember well. A bit like "Dance because we might be dead tomorrow" vibe.
Your dad had some very cool travels, thank you for sharing this!
It's an anti-war song . It's an anti-war anthem , actually . The writer explains just how easy , life as we know it , can be ended . When you grow up with nuclear bomb silos , in your backyard . You cannot deny the possibility . 😘 People ( in small villages ) all over Europe were literally , at ground zero . In the US most of the silos were hidden in , farm country , mountains or underground ( secret) bunkers . This song helped open the eyes of young , newly , able to vote Americans . If this song made you uncomfortable and uneasy : it hit its mark . 😇
No it's a anti war song.
A great anti war song.
Hard to believe this video was almost a full hour. It held my attention the entire time. Amazing work!
I like how the Nevermind album cover in this video has a specific part of it edited out. I think most of you old enough know what I mean lol
Well it’s controversial now since the dude is trying to claim harassment or whatever tf
@@bexmw after redoing it many time over the years and using it as a pick up line to get women
I never cared much for Nirvana. At the time...they make a lot more sense in these times though.
That was the first thing I noticed! The penis is gone!
Oh, yeah, the baby now grown is claiming that the photo constitutes “child pornography “ … He’s just mad cause a billion people have photos of his D and he’s broke!
Kurts “Something in the way” he’s describing the time he was homeless living underneath the bridge. One of my most favorite and haunting songs. Courtney killed him. The shotgun was too long for him to pull the trigger on himself.
“Theirs a killer on the road,
His brain is squirming like a toad,
If you give this man a ride,
Sweet family will die.
Killer on the road “
Riders on the Storm cool
This was GREAT content! Branch out, man. Absolutely binge-worthy.
Totally agree 👍👍👍👍👍
I bought the I Don’t Like Mondays single on a market in Camden, London, Great Britain, when I was 15. It was a second hand item and I payed only £1 for it.
This was back in 1993, and I still have it.
Just smoked a doink and laid it down after a long days work, thanks for this upload man. You’re channel is top 3. Your voice is smooth like buttah! 🙏🏻
never heard the term doink but I love it and will be using it from now on lmao
Ngl doink is a new one for me
@@meaghans4380 it’s a fun word 🤣🤣
@@karaivey2184 you’ll be using it from now on 🤣🙏🏻
The Offspring's "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay" was based on someone Bryan Holland knew in his youth that was being sexually abused.
"Mack the Knife" is a fun lil ditty 😂
I really enjoyed this video! The twisted intros of music before each story was a fantastic touch 💜👍🏻
Been listening since 2016 keep it up Joel 💫💪🏿
Well done this was by far my favorite work you have done. Can't wait for more. Brilliant.
You definitely should be doing more of these! I love the true stories, but this is sort of an other level of creepy.
Really enjoyed this one.
Of course I fell asleep after 2 songs the first time around…. But listened to all of them te second time. And I’m impressed ♥️💋
Absolutely agree. So many times I think a song means one thing only to fine out I'm very wrong 🤷♀️🤦
This was fantastic. I have no doubt there is a treasure trove of creepy backstories to songs out there. I would be very happy to hear more.
I grew up in the cold war era, I was 18 when 99 Red Balloons came out. God, we loved that song, played it over and over. But I'm here to tell you that no one was at all worried about nuclear annihilation. We went through all the scenarios at school, bomb drills, squatting in the hall, we studied all about the world affairs, we saw all the movies depicting atomic bombs killing us all. But it's like hollywood and the government wanted us to be scared, but we weren't. We honestly never even thought about it. All the hype people talk about growing up in the shadow of the cold war is hogwash. It didn't affect us one tiny bit. It never infected our dreams or shaped our nightmares or gave us cold sweats thinking about it. Sometimes I feel like people want to romanticize the cold war era in ways that weren't true.
I was 19 or 20 when it came out and I agree with you. In spite of living in Utah, with a major Air Force Base next door and MX Missile Silos out in the desert, we never really felt that nuclear war was all that close or imminent. We just did our day to day and sang catchy songs.
@@toshirodragon I'm born in what was called Eastern-Germany. Here the fear was real. It was a very different atmosphere than in the west as far as I know. Neighbors and colleagues denounced thoses who they didn't like and theses poor people were kept for weeks and even months over nothing. It happened to my uncle and cousin. They were taken by the stasi because they used to travel back and forth and were suspected of collaboration with the western authorities. My mother have waited on a list for years (11) to finally being called to have the right to buy a car. You weren't allowed to choose the model or even the color and obviously it was trabant. You had to go at the factory or debot to pick it up. I know it may sound unrealistic and outwordly but it was like that. We didn't even had a TV set till I was 12 years olds. Before that we only had a radio. My mother was working as school teacher and i repaired cars mopeds, motorcycles and bicyles from as young as 10 years olds. People paid me with luxury clothings and luxury foods we didn't had the money to buy. When we came in Canada in 1986, we were shocked by all the brands available in the stores here.
So I've been a Urmaker junkie for quite a while, which led to my newest Let's Read addiction- today I stumble on this submission of song lyrics which has always fascinated me and I'm enthralled. I am catatonic as I listen occasionally wiping the drool from my mouth while sitting in my car for an hour, pausing, going back to a segment, playing, stopping listen again. THIS has been my absolute favorite piece of glorious work delivered by you. Your tone coupled with the horrifying truth of each song has captured my soul. You pose the question- should do more content such as this? My response is undeniably unequivocally undoubtedly YEEEEEEEESSS. Please. Please and thank you.
Well done sir well done... Or should I say hey man nice one?! I'll await additional pieces with baited breath
i would absolutely love to hear you talk about more of these in the future! your voice is so gentle compared to other “top number” list videos, and you had a great selection of songs that you don’t hear about quite often.
First-time listener here! I really enjoyed this content. And your voice is made for creepy stuff like this. I subscribed in hopes of getting more great content. Please wow us some more!
Wow, the distorted song snippets before each story must've taken forever to create! Thank you for the quality in content!!! 🙏
I would love to hear more of these! You might want to check out Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me by Motorhead. It's quite like Korn's song Daddy, but I think it's definitely more severe. Also, Motorhead does many songs about war, as Lemmy, the vocalist seemed to obsess over it.
Your voice is really very soothing despite the fact that the stories are scary. Love from the Philippines!!!
I was so excited when i heard Dead Skin Mask, i feel like metal has a wide arrange of songs with creepy backstories in them, that you can make a separate video on the genre on its own. Like Slayer already has two more songs based on murderers (Angel of Death, 213, Psychopathy Red). That being said, i really hope you make another video on this topic!!!
Absolutely love these tales! You should venture into true crime stories.
BTW: bloody Mary ( Mary the First of England) reigned for 5 years from 1553-1558. Her religious victims died by burning at the stake or the axe if they were nobility and lucky! The guillotine was developed in France during the French Revolution, which was about 200 years later. (*From your friendly European history buff fan.) Lol😉
This is one of my all time favorites from you. Love this style of storytelling about songs backgrounds. I wonder if there is a tie to occult things, I could really go down the rabbit hole with these and others.
Such a creative idea. Keep it coming! You often have ideas that set you apart from the others. Thank you for all the endless hours of entertainment. Hope you start live-streaming again.🥰
The "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow..." freaks me out. I didn't know the origin story of that children's song. I didn't know it's so dark. There's a movie I love, The Secret Garden (the 1993 version) where the children sang that song to the main character who is called Mary. I thought it was just a song children sing when they are teasing other children. This video is amazing.
Why was she soo smol?
I remember seeing a small section of that movie on tv as a kid and then I had a memory of a perplexing sequence (entering the garden) through my formative years, unaware for years what I might have seen.
Why was she soo smol?
I remember seeing a small section of that movie on tv as a kid and then I had a memory of a perplexing sequence (entering the garden) through my formative years, unaware for years what I might have seen.
Why was she soo smol?
I remember seeing a small section of that movie on tv as a kid and then I had a memory of a perplexing sequence (entering the garden) through my formative years, unaware for years what I might have seen.
Nursery Rhymes are all dark. People made them less scary for modern children.
I LOVED this! As for the longevity of haunting tunes, "Delia" still haunts, one hundred years later. Wicked good stuff! Thanks! Loved all these back stories.
I always thought Polly was one of the most disturbing songs ever written! I didn't know the back story until now 😳
I love that you're expanding on your video topics. You have such a soothing voice. Thanks for all of the years of amazing content!!
People keep mentioning "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam, but I think "Alive" is more screwed up, I don't know if it's based on anything, but it's about a mother who molests her son because he looks like his dad.
Alt rock stations play "Hey Man, Nice Shot" quite a bit.
Great stroll down memory lane for a lot of these songs for me... I'm a HUGE lyrical person who would sit and REALLY listen to the lyrics. I can't tell you how many cassettes (yes, I'm THAT old) I would wear out from rewinding and playing, just to make sure I heard the words right!! Thank you for this video!! I definitely would love a sequel as there are so many songs out there with horror driven/ creepy and very real back stories!!!
I am too lol 😁
@@heathermiller5765 lol... It may give us away with our names. I'm a Heather too!! 😂😂
Ahhh... cassette tapes. I still love vinyl more, but they sure were a HUGE step up from 8-tracks. 😂
@@absinthealice I will agree with you there!! At least with cassettes, we could "fix" them as opposed to 8 tracks. I'm also with you on vinyls!! Still the best!!!
@@bionicmaleficent Oh another Heather nice lol 😁
"Polly" you are a hero and not forgotten wherever you are!!! AMAZING!!!!
It would have been a big surprise if, "Pumped Up Kicks," wasn't on here.
I really think you should make a part 2 to this video! This is awesome. :)
I feel like “Excitable Boy” by Warren Zevon ought to be on here. Volume 2?
Excitable Boy is a good song but damn is it dark.
Great song, great album.
Why do they let him out of the home??!! LOL
Absolutely loved this and I hope you continue with this. I love learning about the hidden meaning of songs
You could do anything and I'd support. The topic was so good! I saw it in my notifications and was a little surprised but pleasantly surprised. We want more!!!❤️
Finish the Bud Dwyer story, please. Due to his suicide, his corruption case was looked into again, only to discover he was framed just like he said he was. Sadly the truth that he was innocent was only discovered because of his suicide, no one took him seriously when he was alive. Only after his public suicide were his claims taken seriously. The song refers to the shot getting people to listen and learn the truth. For better or worse, at least get the full context right. "You'd fight and you were right, but they were just too strong."
Would love more videos like this one, it's heartbreaking but also incredibly interesting. The work you put into to all these videos is so much appreciated, thanks for all you do!
This was absolutely one of the coolest videos. I hope there are more to follow. Even making it 10 instead of 13 and saving those 3 for the next video would have been great. And I feel like you can do 2 nursery rhymes per video to fill time. This was an hour long and I loved every minute of it.
Your intros are getting better and better. Also, now that I'm listening, the transition music.
The "baby" is being a baby...again, wanting money.
Exactly. It’s always about money 🙄
I just read something the other day, about the "baby in the photo" & that '$'
Fia Fia yeah he claims that photo was child pornography and millions of pervs got off to it and it damaged his psycho for the world to see his naked body 😩🙄🙄🙄
@@Empress.Serenity Me too, my, "again" was in refernce to that. Well, of course, the other times too but the most recent made me perhaps think of it in general.
@@mysticalwonderland8479 it's ironic seeing as he got a tattoo of it and recreated the photo 💀 money makes anyone desperate
Excellent episode 👏 !!! I knew about the Boomtown Rats, but not the others. And like others, I too thought that Billie Holiday 's Strange Fruit would have made the list. A second list would very happily received 😊!!! I do have a question about another song not on the list, possibly because it doesn't deserve to be, but I'm just not sure. When I was in year 7 (Australia's first year of high school) music appreciation was a mandatory subject, and my not so reliable memory seems to recall that there's a creepy back story to the Eagles "Hotel California". However year 7 was many years ago (many many years ago !!!), and I'm just not sure. If anyone does know anything about it, either way, I would really love to hear from you !!! 🤞And finally I am one of the millions who love Blondie's song, and now love it even more. Major respect to Debbie Harry and her courage in surviving AND thriving 👏 !!!!!
Yeah, you're right, and "hotel california" doesn't even do much to obfuscate that fact
The I don't like Mondays girl...I have remembered that one.
I'm living for this concept of stories of seemingly normal songs with eerie backstories please consider making this a continuous series on the channel!!!
This is an awesome series. I hope you decide to make this a regular thing. Its fascinating.
Omg I love riders on the storm. Thanks to my "father" I first heard it when I was 5. He told me right away what it was about. And for some reason, that made me love it even more. 😅
I quite literally grew up with Korn playing in my household among other bands, but Korn had always been a favortie. So the whole meaning of their music and actual emotion has never been lost on me like it might have with others. A lot of their tracks talk about similarly dark subjects, or have to deal with problems that Jonathan himself has gone through (take the "Issues" album for example). and it actually wasnt until a few months back that i had first heard of Daddy. I mistook the song for "Hey Daddy" but i found out that they were two seperate songs. When I actually grew the balls to listion to that song after reading what people said about it....man. It's got to be one of the most upsetting and emotional songs i've ever heard. He's not just singing a song about what happened, but screaming and crying about it. It's a vent, it's pent up anger from all the injustice. And the further into the song you get, the more emotional you hear him become, before he just starts ranting and sobbing as he swears and cusses about the abuser. Audibly leaving the recoding booth before the song ends (which is 9mins i might add) ive only listened to it once, started crying from it, and havent listened to it again besides briefly letting my very modern music friend hear the beginning minute of it. I will highly reccomend it, but also not reccomend it for the faint of heart.
I absolutely loved this topic! I even got my mom to listen. I hope you do another one.
I actually remember the "Bud Dwyer" incident, LIVE ON TV! I'm from South Jersey, where almost all of our news is out of Philadelphia. It was a snow day, so all us kids were home from school. It was MIND BLOWING (no pun intended)!
I never comment on videos but this was really good! I enjoyed listening to the back stories for these songs...however eerie they were! Also nice selection of songs 👍
Please make more of these!! I was so drawn in, throughout the whole video. So intriguing! Some of these I knew, but didn’t.
Holy EPIC video dude...I love everything you do. But this mixed so many things that interest me it was amazing. Thank you.
I agree with other people who commented in this video that this needs to be a series. Like a few others, I had no idea that I would like this video so much. Thanks for the video.
Yes, extending this topic into a series would be really good. There are so many songs with sinister backstories that you could go on with it for ever. Do be careful about your own mental health if you do do a lot of research on these though because they can send your brain into a really dark place.
As additions I would recommend the whole of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' album "Murder Ballads" and Pat Benatar's "Suffer The Little Children".
Isn't Pat Benatar's song "Hell is for children"?
@bystanderbutch35 ‘Suffer the Little Children/Hell Is For Children’ is a live performance including additional material before Hell Is For Children begins. Pat Benetar sings a sort of lullaby as an opening.
“Sweet Melissa, I often pray for you,
I hope your suffering was brief.
I hope the angels that watch over all little children,
Came for you,
and took you someplace beautiful and sweet.
Ahhhhh, suffer the little children.”
Bud Dwyer was actually found out to be innocent of all wrong doing. He was set up all along like he was trying to tell everyone but no one believed him because cancel culture isn't anything new. His blood is on all those journalists hands that he was too good of a guy to hurt like they hurt him. But he sure did give them a good story. Hope they sleep well at night.
Also "Melt with you" by "Modern English" is a good one, just FYI.
Hearing him singing One Way Or Another 😍
Great episode! Thank you! If you do a follow up you should consider: Enola Gay by Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (O.M.D.)
Plush by Stone Temple Pilots is pretty dark. It’s about a girl that was kidnapped and murdered, Scott Weiland had read that story on a newspaper and decided to make a song out of it.
I didn't know that. Still think it's one of their better albums
39:58 my heart still aches over this one 😭
This was by far my favorite title you have done. It went so smooth that during the reading I forgot the stories were about songs. Great job!!