Bruce Springsteen wrote Born in the USA. More than one politician (Ronald Reagan) tried to use song to pump up the audience at a campaign rally. The song about being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Of a sibling perishing in the War. Of a returning vet being unable to find to find work. Hardly a happy song.
The amount of songs that Americans think are love letters to the USA that actually put the USA down is rather shocking. Another one is "American Woman" by Canadian group, The Guess Who.
20 LDN: Lily Allen 0:48 19 Little Talks: Of Monsters and Men 1:48 18 Basket Case: Green Day 2:52 17 Mr Jones: Counting Crows 3:52 16 Some Nights: Fun 5:02 15 Guns for hands: Twenty1 pilots 5:53 14 Electric avenue Eddy Grant 7:09 13 Today: Smashing Pumpkins 8:06 12 rock the casbah: The Clash 9:10 11 bad moon rising: Creedence Clearwater revival (reminds me of my dad) 10:06 10 You can call me Al 9 Hey YA: Outcast 12:06 8 Mr Brightside : The Killers 13:04 7 Detroit Rock City: Kiss 14:16 6 American pie: Don McLean 15:10 5: Jump : Van Halen 16:16 4 Bullet: Hollywood undead 17:14 3 Semi-charmed life: Third Eye. Blind 18:18 2 99 luftballons: Nina 19:16. Euro trip theme song hey - awesomeness! 1 Pumped up kicks: Foster the people 20:28 Have a beautiful day everyone!
HOW could You miss "Copacabana"?! It's such a dancing song, but it talks about a woman who loses the love of her life due to a man's jealousy and then becomes an alcoholic before she dies!
Well, it's kind of hard to miss the content when you listen to the final verse. I mean, the song tells you that Lola "lost her Tony" and "now she's lost her mind." Even the end of the second verse--"the punches flew, and chairs were smashed in two, there was blood and a single gun shot, but just who shot who"--leaves little doubt that the song is NOT exactly going to have a happy ending. (To a degree, it's the opposite of Dido's "Thank You" which is largely depressing through the song until the final verse when all the day's troubles resolve to a happy ending--even if each verse ends on a somewhat positive note, that positivity is fleeting when the next verse begins.)
While it does have a slower beat, frat boys and Parrotheads have spent decades holding up "Margaritaville" as the ultimate party anthem; a celebration of the hard-drinking, hard-partying beach life. If you listen to the lyrics, it's sung from the perspective from a man who's hard-drinking, hard-partying beach life has left him old, drunk and alone and he's slowly coming to understand that it's his own fault. To his credit, Jimmy Buffett tried for years to get people to realize this, but eventually gave up, probably because you can't reason with drunk people.
It's also said that the "lost shaker of salt" he carried with him to disguise that it had his cocaine in it. He forgot it on a table in a restaurant and it was picked up by the waitress who thought it was just salt. "Some people say that there's a woman to blame (the waitress), but I know it's my own damn fault (because he's the one who forgot it on the table)."
They did not included the MOST misunderstood song ever: "You Are My Sunshine: The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken And I hung my head and I cried You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are grey You'll never know, dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away I'll always love you and make you happy If you will only say the same But if you leave me to love another You'll regret it all some day You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are grey You'll never know, dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away You told me once, dear, you really loved me And no one else could come between But now you've left me and love another You have shattered all my dreams You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are grey You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away
I spent this whole list expecting "End of the World As We Know It" by R.E.M. to appear and was honestly surprised to see it overlooked. It's literally a super-happy song about the world ending and the singer feeling okay about it!
It's not necessarily about the apocalypse. The lyrics say "it's the end of the world as we know it." The important peice you're overlooking is "as we know it." The phrase as a whole is suggesting a transformation of the world, an end to what's normal. It could be an apocalypse, but it could also be just drastic changes to the world.
I'm glad you included 99 Red Balloons. But honestly, you could have filled a chart just with cheery 80s poppy songs about nuclear annihilation from Britain alone.
The point is that if you only listen to the music and the main chorus, it sounds like a party song, but if you ever listen to the lyrics it's obvious something very different. Think about the first time you heard this on the radio or MTV with your mates. I know I wasn't thinking about politics and oppression while listening to this in the locker room before our high school games, we were just getting pumped up and having fun.
The thing with ,,Mr Brightside“ is that you can sing this song and those lyrics with every emotion you could feel during a heartbreak. You can be sad, jealous, angry or happy that its over. The song fits to every vibe it just how you perform ot
It was a popular choice to use for commercials with the lyrics in them and I thought the lyrics were fine until you got halfway through the lyrics then...
99 Luftballoons was released in bith German and English versions by Nena in the US. I remember dancing to it in high school, despite it being about accidental Nuclear War. But a lot of 80s New Wave was surprisingly depressing. Voices Carry is about a woman in a bad, borderline abusive relationship (the video makes it very clear). And don't get me started on The Smiths or The Cure.
99 Luftballoons came out when I was in 3rd grade (in US) and randomly learning a bit of German in school (long story). I learned the lyrics and what they meant before I ever heard the English version. Nena was my first celebrity crush, and those lyrics were definitely part of the reason. I ended up a bit of a Goth in middle and highschool. Though still have a real affinity for depressing vocals with a pop/dance beat.
My brother went to see Counting Crows in concert right after they put "Recovering the Satellites" out, and he said they looked DEPRESSED. I think they were touring themselves into mental illness at the time. He said it was still one of the best concerts he'd ever been to. The depression actually came through on the music and made the music connect even more with the crowd.
Yeah, Adam has had crippling depression and anxiety pretty much his whole life. It's destroyed most of his romantic relationships and caused him all sorts of problems. But at the same time, he feels like he's one of the luckiest people alive to have made it in the music industry, so he beat himself up about it, because he "shouldn't feel that way". There are tons of references to how he brings everybody down, pushes lovers away, just wants to drown his sorrows in booze, has become cynical and nihilistic, etc. And with some of the most beautiful lyrics ever written, IMHO. From what I gather, he's come a long way with therapy, though. Although major depressive disorder never goes away, he doesn't beat himself up over it any more, and he's able to talk about it and maintain a more optimistic outlook.
I remember hearing that song and when I realized what the lyrics were saying I was appalled. And they'd play it during my kids school events. I was like that's the LAST song that needs to be played at a school!
I could not get "Pumped Up Kicks" out of my head for the longest time when it came out. My husband had just died, and all music sounded weird to me. I kept singing g that song under my breath. I'm OK now.
I remember the first time I actually listened to the lyrics instead of just tuning them out and enjoying the music part of the song. Yikes! I can't really listen to it anymore.
My husband did his first skydive the day of the Parkland massacre. Coincidentally the song they used in the video of his dive was Pumped up Kicks. Haven't been able to watch it again.
I think the best exemple of song on this specific theme I thought about when I saw the title is missing here, Shiny Happy People by REM. It's definitely an ironic pop song.
@@catsandbats77This one, written by Carol King, is about suburban married boredom in Berkeley heights New Jersey, near where i grew up. She wrote a lot of songs for other people there.
Behind many of ABBA’s catchy Europop melodies, there are often melancholy lyrics that tell of loneliness, bitterness, heartache, domestic violence, breakup and divorce, bitterness at the fleeting nature of youth and life, fear and the threat of authoritarianism. ‘The Visitors’, ‘The Piper’ and ‘Soldiers’ are stark and political. Even the lyrics of ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ suggest a sinister subtext. Strangely, ‘The Day Before You Came’ sounds like it is full of ennui and sorrow, but its message is one of joy and fulfilment.
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, "Tears of a Clown" This classic R&B tune sounds like a fun time at the circus, but the song is about the crippling loneliness the narrator feels after a break-up. He still maintains a positive public image, even cracking jokes to everyone, but cries desperately lonely tears once he's alone.
One of my favorites, because of the cheerful, upbeat, peppy music. However, I can’t sing along because side I always start to cry because it’s such a sad song.
Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is another one. It sounds like an upbeat synth 80s hit, which it is, but the lyrics are all about the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. Once you see this and rethink the lyrics, you realise it’s filled with some of the darkest lyrics in synthpop history
erm Enola Gay IS the name of that plane. So unless you don't know the name of the song, I don't see how anyone could approach that song as anything optimistic.
Enola Gay dropped the bomb on Hiroshima but didn't drop the one on Nagasaki. That was Bockscar. Enola Gay was on the second mission but was the weather recon for another target. Never heard the song myself but random fact - Enola Gay was named for the pilot Paul Tibbits's mother.
"Alone Again, Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan. As a kid I thought it was a happy song and was shocked at how depressing it is. I bet it's not played on the radio anymore. A good song, but dang--so sad.
This song came out when I was a kid, but as soon as I was old enough to understand the lyrics, I disliked song. The protagonist has crappy friends who don't stay too comfort him after he's been left at the altar. His mother doesn't love him enough to stay alive after being widowed. And he just accepts that that's the natural order of things. Nope, too damn depressing!
And in a little while from now, If I'm not feeling any less sour, I've promised myself to treat myself And visit a nearby tower, And climbing to the top Will throw myself off In an effort to make it clear to whoever What it's like when you're shattered...
No Rain sounds really bright but its about being depressed and feeling unable to control your life, and then everyone misjudging your emotional state. Skinned is also pretty dark, it's about Ed Gein. 2x4 is about Shannon Hoon trying to fight his heroin addiction. St. Andrews Fall is about someone jumping from a building that the band witnessed in Detroit. Blind Melon deserved a place on this list.
Great list! A few others I can think of are: The A Team - Ed Sheeran. He wrote it after visiting a women's shelter, and meeting women who were surviving on money from prostitution & selling dr*gs. Chandelier - Sia. It sounds like a party song, but it's about alcoholism and becoming numb to the effects of getting drunk. Love on the Brain - Rihanna. It's about an abusive relationship that you're struggling to leave, seemingly due to trauma bonding. You Are My Sunshine - (a lot of artists have sung this one). It's about someone you love leaving you for someone else, and the pain that comes from it.
Mad World by Tears for Fears. Really upbeat, really depressing. Curt Smith said something to the effect that if you want an insight into the English mindset, consider that the song was number one in England at Christmas time.
I've been waiting for someone to mention Mad World, a clear masterpiece. But, despite being upbeat it doesn't really sound "happy", maybe that's why it didn't make the list.
I never thought that one sounded upbeat , it may be a poppy synth track but it still sounds like the thoughts of a child who is going to grow up needing years of therapy.
You all forgot the song “Luca” by Susanne Vega. It’s the most peppy song all about a child who is being abused by his parents. How could you forget that one?
Van Halen's Jump... I lived in Atlanta 1997 to 2003. The afternoon radio talk show host Kimmer (Kim Peterson, male) and Traffic Reporter Keith Callum often told the story of an individual who was on an overpass of the Perimeter (Beltway) threatening to jump. Police and others tried to talk him down. Traffic was backed up for miles... miles. Somehow the local rock station (96 Rock) managed to get their van to the scene and the guys from the station started blaring JUMP!! Every time I hear that song, that's all I can think about.
TV Tropes has dubbed this practice as "Lyrical Dissonance", where the upbeat tune doesn't match the usually depressing lyrics. "Mr Brightside" was my favourite song to sing along with as a teenager, and I didn't realise the lyrics until about a decade later.
Honestly, as someone who mishears lyrics (and honestly doesn't really focus on them; I tend to sometimes make up my own when I listen in private, especially songs I REALLY like), I didn't know what any of these were talking about if I heard them at all. Wanna say I didn't even HEAR "High Pumped Kicks" until I found about the Uvalde shooting (or maybe it was just about the song's theme in general), and suddenly, it played in a store and I was like "OH LORD THAT'S THAT SONG!".
I think "Digging Your Scene" by the Blow Monkeys needs to be on this list. It's the happiest sounding song ever written about watching a friend die of AIDS.
HELP! By the Beatles! John Lennon wrote it about his struggles with his insecurities! He meant for it to play slower than what was released! I guess you could say the song was a cry for HELP!
..she lost her life and she lost her love and she drinks herself blind every evening... at the Coooopa... i am disappointed this song didn't make it here. it was the first one i thought of
@@kamsismith Well, according to a TikTok video I watched recently, the story chronicles a couple who are only together because everyone else expects them to be, and they know that they're not happy, but pretend to be, masking their acrimonious feelings. Andre 3000 even says just before the chorus "Y'all don't wanna hear me, y'all just wanna dance."
Well, damn. That's wild. It’s just as wild as Ms. Jackson, another Outkast song I listened to a lot because of my dad, and while it’s not as upbeat as Hey Ya, it’s obvious that the song was based on Andre’s relationship with his then-girlfriend Erykah Badu and her mother.
@@kamsismith Yep, that's another catchy song, but it gets darker once you listen to the lyrics, and he states that he never meant to hurt her daughter.
Bullet by Hollywood Undead makes me always cry at the end, because the child who is singing at the end always makes me sad and shiver. The lyrics are so deep. It's one of my favorite songs. Even if it sounds happy in the first place. But if you listen to the lyrics it's really a sad song. Someone with depression is good in hiding his depression to others. Like this song is hiding the sadness in between a happy sound. We are getting distracted by the sounding and not listening to the lyrics, like most of the ppl don't listen enough to a person with depression. They don't read between the lines. For me this song is iconic and symbolic for depression.
I'm surprised "Livin' On A Prayer" didn't make the list. The sound: fist-pumping 80's hard rock. The subject: a couple falls on hard times when the guy gets laid off, leaving the girl as the sole breadwinner.
‘MmmBop” by Hanson is catchy and sounds upbeat. The lyrics are about how relationships come along and go just as quickly, but you don’t know which one will last.
Pumped Up Kicks is such a great song, I'd also include: Rehab - Amy Winehouse Luka - Suzanne Vega Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve Ghetto Soundwave - Fishbone Every Breath You Take - The Police The One I Love - REM Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello
Good call on Watching The Detectives, not especially upbeat in my view but more a case of even darker than it sounds. Likewise, though Alison , while not upbeat, is a lot more disturbing than ther ballad about lost lover that it superficially sounds like.
Putting a pop/happy vibe to the song makes sure it stays in people’s mind and gets the point across when people actually start looking or diving into the lyrics. Props to the artists because I know ALL of the songs and love them
My then-2-year-old cousin LOVED “American Pie” and actually *learned the lyrics* from sheer repetition and sang along. He had no idea what he was saying by oh my gosh was it amazing and adorable, but darn grim in the context of the overall lyrics. He has always loved music (he’s 27 now) but as a toddler, other than American Pie, he loved hard rock. He called it “big music”.
I'd suggest _Bittersweet Symphony_ by The Verve, but I don't know if its cadence matches up to the theme of this list. Better suggestion for an honourable mention: _Beds Are Burning_ by Midnight Oil.
Nah, *Bittersweet Symphony* is mournful sounding. I also considered suggesting it though, ha! *Beds are Burning* has lyrics which are too easy to pick out to be a "surprise" sadder song, but otherwise it does fit the criteria. I would suggest *St. Valentine's Day* by Linkin Park: upbeat, but raging against Chester's unexpected loneliness on a day supposedly about love. However, maybe it's similar to *Beds are Burning* in that the lyrics are relatively easy to pick out?
Who thought Mr. Brightside was a happy song? The title is clearly ironic from the moment the song starts. It's literally one of the biggest songs of 2000s emo culture lol.
Yeah, Brandon Flowers has been very open that it was about discovering his then-girlfriend cheating on him and the paranoia the built up just before discovering it. It's all there in the lyrics!
There are so many songs like this, where the music is happier/livelier than the lyrics are. One that always stands out to me is Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon.
I had trouble sleeping after my parents split up and my Mom, sister, and I moved into my grandparents’ house. My family thought leaving some music on for me was a good idea…to this day, they don’t know how Maxwell’s Silver Hammer terrified me as a 6 yo😢
I love that Paul McCartney wrote a song about a serial killer that beats people to death with a hammer, but made it sound like a children's show theme song.
thank you!! can't believe they made a list without it.....doubly can't believe it isn't mentioned in half the comments; fully expected it to be #1...and several other songs from the same album would make good candidates (diamond's smile, someone's looking at me)
David Bowie's "Jump (They Say)" sounds super happy and upbeat, then your realize it's about a guy debating on committing suicide by jumping and the crowd is encouraging him to do it.
I'm surprised that Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" wasn't included. Despite being a song that always gets people up and dancing at parties, it's actually a very depressing song!
@nuttycommuter3718 I remember one of our team at work announcing that she was getting married, so I instinctively started singing Band of Gold. I stopped when our boss called out from her office, "NOT THAT ONE!". 😆 Although sadly the marriage did end after only a couple of years when her husband had an affair with his secretary...I hope I didn't jinx it 😳.
The 80s song 'Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades' was mistaken as an upbeat song about someone looking forward to a great future. But what it was really about was the threat of nuclear war.
That's similar to the German band, Nena, and their song "99 Luftballons" which just means "99 balloons". It's about a bunch of balloons accidentally starting the nuclear Holocaust. It's a really upbeat song, though.
The band Blue October has made a career of writing catchy, happy sounding songs that are very dark and depressing: "HATE ME", "I HOPE YOUR HAPPY", and "INTO THE OCEAN" to name a few that got a lot of radio play.
I love them but I wouldn't say that they sound "happy". They always have this deep feeling of many emotions to it which makes you think and you need to know what it is about. Sorry if my description doesn't make sense, I just don't know how else I could explain it :3
I disagree. Their songs may seem depressing to many but I would say they're more of a long running journal of how Justin has faced hardship but dealt with it in the most possible ways. You can even track how he's not only got better at dealing with the problems of life but has been able to see the beauty of things around him and learnt to truly love the person he is and embraces life. This is obviously my view having followed them from the beginning. I'm a very big fan. I don't think they have a single depressing song; just various levels of strength in that moment of time/life. Such an underrated band. Their message and music is like a comforting hand on your shoulder giving you reassurance that yes, life is hard but it's also beautiful and it's OK to feel everything good or bad.
"It's impossible for Counting Crows to sound anything but happy" -- Ah, WTF? "Round Here" "Long December" anyone? Two fantasticly depressing songs, and "Round Here" has picked up some particularly dark associations.
Yeah, the writers clearly don't listen to Counting Crows. They didn't even quite get the meaning of "Mr. Jones" right. Adam is shy about going up to people, but the song is about wanting to be a famous rock star so everyone will think he's a brilliant artist (i.e. beautiful on the inside) and fall in love with him. But Adam's lyrics are rife with references to depression, heartbreak, and bringing others down or pushing them away. There are probably more soft, sad or reflective songs in their repertoire than upbeat "Hey, we're rockstars/in love/lucky to be alive!" songs.
Oh please, Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves is the king of this list. It's about a potentially mentally ill woman who thinks a lover (real or imaginary) is going to walk through the door at any time . . . and never does.
How did I know I was officially old??? When I heard friends 7 year old child singing along to Pumped Up Kicks!!! I asked the Mother if she had listened to the lyrics at all and she said no she paid no attention. I said you may want to listen. Not my job to police someone’s child but I did think Mom should be aware of the content.
"Last Kiss/Where oh Where Can My Baby Be" by J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers. "Moonlight Shadow" by Mike Oldfield. "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling. "Forever Young" by Alphaville. "Leader of the Pack" by Shangri-Las. "It's My Party" by Leslie Gore.
I always thought Cher’s song Believe was a fun dance song until Adam Lambert sang it at the Kennedy Center Honor awards for Cher, omg a whole new meaning 😢 even Cher cried and later told Adam to release it, just beautiful.
I love these videos!!! Would you guys ever consider the top 10 songs that make you feel like a superhero/supervillian? Maybe top music videos that feature superpowers like Titanium, Heroes (We Could Be), or Birds by Imagine Dragons?
I love the way "Detroit Rock City" recontextualizes its chorus. The first time you hear "everybody's gonna move their feet, everybody's gonna leave their seat," you think it's about fans in the arena jumping up with excitement. Then at the end you realize "leaving their seat" is referring to the driver being thrown from the car during the wreck.
One Week isn’t that dark. It’s just about a couple being predictable after a fight 🤷🏼♀️. BNL has far darker songs - Pinch Me, Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank… My ex hated Old Apartment because he thought it was about a failed relationship even though the band claimed it was just about revisiting the past before the couple became successful.
@@revolutionfrommahbed4246The Old Apartment about the guy revisiting where they used to live, but wasn’t he violent? There’s a line in it that always made me think the guy killed the girl
I would like to add "Mack the Knife". It's an old big band crooner type song. It's super upbeat sounding and catchy... but it's about a serial killer. "Now on the sidewalk Sunday morning lies a body just oozing life." It even lists the names of his victims.
It's a song from the play/musical "Die Dreigrosdchenoper" (Three Penny Opera) by Bertolt Brecht and was written for the play by Kurt Weill in 1928. It's set in London of the late 90s century, in the East End I'll just guess, and shows the poverty, the "shodow society" and crime there. And Mack the Knife is the mobster boss there. So Maceaths knife can be as well the weapon he's got under his wannabe-fancy coat or some guy he sent out with a job while he's all smiles collecting money in the gin tavern around the corner.
Just Like Heaven by The Cure is a good one. Robert Smith sings "you're just like a dream", then we find out she in fact WAS one, after which the song abruptly ends.
Santeria is the king of this category. It's not just that he wants to murder the guy who cheated with his girlfriend. It's the specific fantasies he has on how to do it.
"Artificial Flowers" by Bobby Darin was one of those songs that stuck with me since I first heard it. Such and upbeat swinging number about a 9yr old orphan girl freezing to death selling paper flowers to rich people. My senior prom was themed to "Time of Your Life" and for the last dance, most of us thought they were going to play the song from Dirty Dancing... then Green Day's "(Good Riddance) Time of Your Life" started and the most awkward, confused slow dance started...certainly made it memorable
Come on, son! Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O'Sullivan should have easily taken your number 1 spot. It practically defined the genre of happy sounding songs with depressing lyrics. Pure, gorgeous perfection. It's an absolute crime that it didn't even make your list.
@@lindazee Huh. Okay, to each their own. I always thought it sounded sweet. Kind of like "Close to You" by The Carpenters. And it starts with him promising to treat himself. :)
reminds me of the song escape (pina colada song). i get the impression very few people are aware it's a song about a couple cheating on each other only to accidentally be their own blind dates.
One of my favs is Girlfriend in a Coma. It cracks me up because it sounds like a number in an uplifting musical but it’s literally dude singing about his girlfriend being in a coma. So wrong! Ha ha ha
Every time I see a list like this I mention Bullet by Hollywood Undead... So extremely happy to see it actually on the list... And in the top 5 at that!
I have to add the song Timothy by the Buoys. It's an extremely catchy tune, but when you listen closely to the lyrics, it's a song about a mine caving in and the miners resorting to cannibalism. "Stomach was full as it could be, and nobody ever got around to finding Timothy."
@@triciaa7259ALCOHOL! There we go! I was trying to think of other BNL songs that were bangers but actual sad/depressing. “Now I know that there’s a time and there’s a place where I can choose, to walk the fine line between self-control and self-abuse…”
Bruce Springsteen wrote Born in the USA. More than one politician (Ronald Reagan) tried to use song to pump up the audience at a campaign rally. The song about being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Of a sibling perishing in the War. Of a returning vet being unable to find to find work. Hardly a happy song.
Agreed.
Some people can't listen and rock simultaneously
Absolutely. Should have easily made the list even no.1
@@christopherhoddinott Alas, the song came out in 1984….perhaps too long ago
The amount of songs that Americans think are love letters to the USA that actually put the USA down is rather shocking. Another one is "American Woman" by Canadian group, The Guess Who.
20 LDN: Lily Allen 0:48
19 Little Talks: Of Monsters and Men 1:48
18 Basket Case: Green Day 2:52
17 Mr Jones: Counting Crows 3:52
16 Some Nights: Fun 5:02
15 Guns for hands: Twenty1 pilots 5:53
14 Electric avenue Eddy Grant 7:09
13 Today: Smashing Pumpkins 8:06
12 rock the casbah: The Clash 9:10
11 bad moon rising: Creedence Clearwater revival (reminds me of my dad) 10:06
10 You can call me Al
9 Hey YA: Outcast 12:06
8 Mr Brightside : The Killers 13:04
7 Detroit Rock City: Kiss 14:16
6 American pie: Don McLean 15:10
5: Jump : Van Halen 16:16
4 Bullet: Hollywood undead 17:14
3 Semi-charmed life: Third Eye. Blind 18:18
2 99 luftballons: Nina 19:16. Euro trip theme song hey - awesomeness!
1 Pumped up kicks: Foster the people 20:28
Have a beautiful day everyone!
I love you
Pumped Up Kicks was totally my first thought before I even clicked play on the video.
Thank you
Thank You 😊
Today's not a happy song.
HOW could You miss "Copacabana"?!
It's such a dancing song, but it talks about a woman who loses the love of her life due to a man's jealousy and then becomes an alcoholic before she dies!
Well, it's kind of hard to miss the content when you listen to the final verse. I mean, the song tells you that Lola "lost her Tony" and "now she's lost her mind." Even the end of the second verse--"the punches flew, and chairs were smashed in two, there was blood and a single gun shot, but just who shot who"--leaves little doubt that the song is NOT exactly going to have a happy ending. (To a degree, it's the opposite of Dido's "Thank You" which is largely depressing through the song until the final verse when all the day's troubles resolve to a happy ending--even if each verse ends on a somewhat positive note, that positivity is fleeting when the next verse begins.)
The musical is VERY fun. If you ever get the chance I see it - I strongly recommend!
@@revolutionfrommahbed4246ao[[90's o
Even the Muppet Show version depicts the murder.
I think most people are still trying to block that song out of their minds. 🙉
Every Breath You Take by The Police is often thought of as a love song but is about obsession and jealousy.
So is Cherish by the Association
And "you and me" by Milo
But it does not sound happy, does it?
@@davorvrcibradic234Moderately
True , but it doesn't sound particularly happy so I think they were right not to include it.
While it does have a slower beat, frat boys and Parrotheads have spent decades holding up "Margaritaville" as the ultimate party anthem; a celebration of the hard-drinking, hard-partying beach life. If you listen to the lyrics, it's sung from the perspective from a man who's hard-drinking, hard-partying beach life has left him old, drunk and alone and he's slowly coming to understand that it's his own fault. To his credit, Jimmy Buffett tried for years to get people to realize this, but eventually gave up, probably because you can't reason with drunk people.
It's also said that the "lost shaker of salt" he carried with him to disguise that it had his cocaine in it. He forgot it on a table in a restaurant and it was picked up by the waitress who thought it was just salt. "Some people say that there's a woman to blame (the waitress), but I know it's my own damn fault (because he's the one who forgot it on the table)."
I feel the need to give props to the Last Man on Earth series for personifying the song.
They did not included the MOST misunderstood song ever:
"You Are My Sunshine:
The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
And I hung my head and I cried
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
I'll always love you and make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me to love another
You'll regret it all some day
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between
But now you've left me and love another
You have shattered all my dreams
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
Boy, Lebron, where do I begin?
Whoa. I never understood just how sad and creepy the lyrics are. Sounds like a broken-hearted stalker wrote it! 😂
@@deborahblackvideoediting8697 it is a painfully depressing song.
And 95% of folks just bop along thinking it is a happy love tune.
Check out The Dead souths cover of you are my sunshine. It is haunting and beautiful
I sang this to my brother the morning he died from cancer. We were “Irish twins” and very, very close.
Who the heck ever thought “America Pie” was a happy song?
I was about to say that. It starts of with "bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step". No way is that happy.
It’s not the lines the day the music died are about the plane crash that killed the big bopper , buddy holly and Richie valens
"Happy sounding", not just "happy"
@@TheMCzorro it is not happy sounding.
@@sureshmukhi2316 What do you mean "it's not happy sounding"? It sounds like it's designed for nighttime campfire sing-alongs
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something was upbeat but with a sad realization of a married couple who have nothing in common.
I spent this whole list expecting "End of the World As We Know It" by R.E.M. to appear and was honestly surprised to see it overlooked. It's literally a super-happy song about the world ending and the singer feeling okay about it!
But everyone knows it’s depressing. “Born in the USA” gets played on Independence Day, because people don’t realize it’s a protest song.
Check out Weird Al's "Christmas At Ground Zero". 😂
I feel fine!
It's not necessarily about the apocalypse. The lyrics say "it's the end of the world as we know it." The important peice you're overlooking is "as we know it." The phrase as a whole is suggesting a transformation of the world, an end to what's normal. It could be an apocalypse, but it could also be just drastic changes to the world.
REM songs are so hard to figure out what they are about. Man on the moon and Orange crush come to mind but I love them anyway.
I'm glad you included 99 Red Balloons. But honestly, you could have filled a chart just with cheery 80s poppy songs about nuclear annihilation from Britain alone.
Same I could do with songs from West Germany. '99 Luftballons' wouldn't even be No. 1.
@@walterbar3118What songs would you include on that list? In either English or German. German music interests me, but I don't know much about it.
@@scifithinker8899 Alphaville's Forever Young is a famous one that came straight to my mind.
@@-locke-6051 For post-apocalypse, "The Final Countdown"...
Dancing with Tears in my Eyes
9:32 Anyone who thought The Clash wrote a single “happy” song clearly didn’t know The Clash.
I'm lost in the supermarket gets me Everytime!
@@jojoagogo912 Pretty sure London Calling is the album I’ve listened to the most of any album in my lifetime.
The point is that if you only listen to the music and the main chorus, it sounds like a party song, but if you ever listen to the lyrics it's obvious something very different. Think about the first time you heard this on the radio or MTV with your mates. I know I wasn't thinking about politics and oppression while listening to this in the locker room before our high school games, we were just getting pumped up and having fun.
999oooo
Same with Twenty One pilots except maybe Tear in my heart, Smithereens, and the craving ( which are still somewhat sad In there own right)
The thing with ,,Mr Brightside“ is that you can sing this song and those lyrics with every emotion you could feel during a heartbreak. You can be sad, jealous, angry or happy that its over. The song fits to every vibe it just how you perform ot
The videos tells everything to those of us who saw the movie/play Moulin Rouge! The video is just the highlight reel!
Semi-Charmed Life was my longtime pick for least appropriate candidate for a Kidz Bop album until Pumped Up Kicks came along.
It was a popular choice to use for commercials with the lyrics in them and I thought the lyrics were fine until you got halfway through the lyrics then...
and then thay then chose in the end by linkin park
@@xiansantos3156 that one was so bad lyrics wise compared to Semi Charmed Life
@@Emily-cw7tj fair enough
I don't see how pumped up kicks can be misinterpreted
99 Luftballoons was released in bith German and English versions by Nena in the US. I remember dancing to it in high school, despite it being about accidental Nuclear War.
But a lot of 80s New Wave was surprisingly depressing.
Voices Carry is about a woman in a bad, borderline abusive relationship (the video makes it very clear).
And don't get me started on The Smiths or The Cure.
99 Luftballoons came out when I was in 3rd grade (in US) and randomly learning a bit of German in school (long story). I learned the lyrics and what they meant before I ever heard the English version.
Nena was my first celebrity crush, and those lyrics were definitely part of the reason.
I ended up a bit of a Goth in middle and highschool. Though still have a real affinity for depressing vocals with a pop/dance beat.
Agreed! I fully expected "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" by The Smiths to be number 1 on the list!
Let's go goths! 🖤
Upbeat songs with dark lyrics is my favorite genre
That’s Her Space Holiday’s whole vibe.
Ohhh - you're gonna love The Beautiful South in that case.
My brother went to see Counting Crows in concert right after they put "Recovering the Satellites" out, and he said they looked DEPRESSED. I think they were touring themselves into mental illness at the time.
He said it was still one of the best concerts he'd ever been to. The depression actually came through on the music and made the music connect even more with the crowd.
Yeah, Adam has had crippling depression and anxiety pretty much his whole life. It's destroyed most of his romantic relationships and caused him all sorts of problems. But at the same time, he feels like he's one of the luckiest people alive to have made it in the music industry, so he beat himself up about it, because he "shouldn't feel that way". There are tons of references to how he brings everybody down, pushes lovers away, just wants to drown his sorrows in booze, has become cynical and nihilistic, etc. And with some of the most beautiful lyrics ever written, IMHO.
From what I gather, he's come a long way with therapy, though. Although major depressive disorder never goes away, he doesn't beat himself up over it any more, and he's able to talk about it and maintain a more optimistic outlook.
Marge: quick someone perform CPR!
Homer: uh uh I see a bad moon rising
Marge: no no that's CCR!
I laughed so hard at this when I first saw this EP 😸
😅😂
"Looks like we're in for nasty weather! "
Pumped Up Kicks is one of those songs which, as soon as I listened to it more, was one I went HOLY CRAP to
I remember hearing that song and when I realized what the lyrics were saying I was appalled. And they'd play it during my kids school events. I was like that's the LAST song that needs to be played at a school!
I could not get "Pumped Up Kicks" out of my head for the longest time when it came out. My husband had just died, and all music sounded weird to me. I kept singing g that song under my breath. I'm OK now.
I remember the first time I actually listened to the lyrics instead of just tuning them out and enjoying the music part of the song. Yikes! I can't really listen to it anymore.
My husband did his first skydive the day of the Parkland massacre. Coincidentally the song they used in the video of his dive was Pumped up Kicks. Haven't been able to watch it again.
Pumped Up Kicks is a beautiful song with horrifying lyrics.
Original Pumped up kicks mv is banned and they made the current mv
I still love the song
I think the best exemple of song on this specific theme I thought about when I saw the title is missing here, Shiny Happy People by REM. It's definitely an ironic pop song.
Honorable mention to The Monkees - Last Train to Clarksville. About a soldier shipping off to the Vietnam War, not knowing if he'll return.
I've listened to that song since I was a little girl and never knew that. Thanks!
Pleasant Valley Sunday by them is another song that sounds happy but isn't.
Good to see The Monkees being remembered beyond "I'm a Believer" and their TV show theme song.
Pleasant Valley Sunday (and last train,i think) were written by carol king.
@@catsandbats77This one, written by Carol King, is about suburban married boredom in Berkeley heights New Jersey, near where i grew up. She wrote a lot of songs for other people there.
'Show Must Go On' by Queen and 'Under Pressure' by Queen and David Bowie should've made the list.
Show must go on isn't happy sounding though
Under Pressure isn't happy sounding either. It's rather bold in its message.
Hammer To Fall by Queen isn't happy song either
Behind many of ABBA’s catchy Europop melodies, there are often melancholy lyrics that tell of loneliness, bitterness, heartache, domestic violence, breakup and divorce, bitterness at the fleeting nature of youth and life, fear and the threat of authoritarianism. ‘The Visitors’, ‘The Piper’ and ‘Soldiers’ are stark and political. Even the lyrics of ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ suggest a sinister subtext. Strangely, ‘The Day Before You Came’ sounds like it is full of ennui and sorrow, but its message is one of joy and fulfilment.
I wanted to leave this exact comment.
"Super Trouper" and "Marionette" tell of disillusionment with touring and the music biz in general.
Also "Money Money Money"
I agree except, where is the domestic violence?
@@MissJensk1 ‘I can be that woman’, ‘One of us’, and possibly ‘Don’t shut me down’ and ‘Hey Hey Helen’
Should've done the theme song from the TV show MASH. It is actually called Suicide is painless, and most did not realize how dark this song truly is
But that's not a happy sounding song at all.
Covered wonderfully by Manic Street Preachers
@@davorvrcibradic234 it certainly is when you hear it on MASH. Which is where almost everyone knows it from. It sounds like a very fun, upbeat song
It sounds melecholy in the movie.
It was from the movie M.A.S.H. they couldn't use the lyrics for the T.V. show
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, "Tears of a Clown"
This classic R&B tune sounds like a fun time at the circus, but the song is about the crippling loneliness the narrator feels after a break-up. He still maintains a positive public image, even cracking jokes to everyone, but cries desperately lonely tears once he's alone.
Great example.
One of my favorites, because of the cheerful, upbeat, peppy music. However, I can’t sing along because side I always start to cry because it’s such a sad song.
its an oldie, but Seasons in the Sun is a bouncy little ditty .....about approaching death.
Yes
My mom named me Michelle after that song.... 😂 she was aware it isnt happy though
@@RichardHougland The original French language version, ‘Le Moribund’ by Jacques Brel, is extremely bitter and dripping with nasty sarcasm.
Loved that one, used to listen to it in morning, getting ready for the day.
THis has always been denied and stated it was just about looking back at lost loves.
Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is another one. It sounds like an upbeat synth 80s hit, which it is, but the lyrics are all about the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. Once you see this and rethink the lyrics, you realise it’s filled with some of the darkest lyrics in synthpop history
erm Enola Gay IS the name of that plane. So unless you don't know the name of the song, I don't see how anyone could approach that song as anything optimistic.
Someday could probably also exist in this category. That synth is so hopeful but the words are not 🤣
Enola Gay dropped the bomb on Hiroshima but didn't drop the one on Nagasaki. That was Bockscar. Enola Gay was on the second mission but was the weather recon for another target.
Never heard the song myself but random fact - Enola Gay was named for the pilot Paul Tibbits's mother.
A musical masterpiece
I knew what the name of that song was from the first time I heard it in 1982, and to me, an early end to WWII is a happy thing.
The comedy of the video for “You Can Call Me Al” overpowers the depressing aspect. Even if I only hear that song, I picture the video in my head. 😂
The Way by Fastball should have really been on the list!
Definitely! It's an homage to a real life story.
It's so sad, but at least they had each other going on an adventure
Really? Found that song too melancholic.
"Alone Again, Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan. As a kid I thought it was a happy song and was shocked at how depressing it is. I bet it's not played on the radio anymore. A good song, but dang--so sad.
This song came out when I was a kid, but as soon as I was old enough to understand the lyrics, I disliked song. The protagonist has crappy friends who don't stay too comfort him after he's been left at the altar. His mother doesn't love him enough to stay alive after being widowed. And he just accepts that that's the natural order of things. Nope, too damn depressing!
YES. That was the first one my husband and I thought of.
And in a little while from now,
If I'm not feeling any less sour,
I've promised myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower,
And climbing to the top
Will throw myself off
In an effort to make it clear to whoever
What it's like when you're shattered...
It’s on the Sirius XM all the time because despite its depressing subject it’s truly a great song. Great music, lyrics, and vocals.
Should have been #1 on this list -- it's an oldie, but was a hit, and it perfectly matches the concept of this list.
No Rain sounds really bright but its about being depressed and feeling unable to control your life, and then everyone misjudging your emotional state.
Skinned is also pretty dark, it's about Ed Gein.
2x4 is about Shannon Hoon trying to fight his heroin addiction.
St. Andrews Fall is about someone jumping from a building that the band witnessed in Detroit.
Blind Melon deserved a place on this list.
The Day I Tried To Live, Spoonman, Alive, Even Flow, Would?, Lithium, Jeremy and Drain You are all worthy candidates.
@CEO_of_Stutters But none of those songs sound happy. This list is about happy-sounding songs with dark content.
I remember watching the video to No Rain as a kid, and I never thought of it as a happy video/song, I loved it though 😍
Yeah, it's their whole shtick 😅
Great list!
A few others I can think of are:
The A Team - Ed Sheeran. He wrote it after visiting a women's shelter, and meeting women who were surviving on money from prostitution & selling dr*gs.
Chandelier - Sia. It sounds like a party song, but it's about alcoholism and becoming numb to the effects of getting drunk.
Love on the Brain - Rihanna. It's about an abusive relationship that you're struggling to leave, seemingly due to trauma bonding.
You Are My Sunshine - (a lot of artists have sung this one). It's about someone you love leaving you for someone else, and the pain that comes from it.
But none of these songs are happy/cheery sounding though?
Yes A Team and Chandelier were my first thoughts!
Chandelier is the epitome of a not at all party song/upbeat song.
I love Basket Case. Anytime it comes on the radio I singalong.
Another one that we KNEW was not “upbeat” but that’s why we loved it! We related.
There's something freeing about feeling bad and being able to sing about it. Bernie Taupin and Elton John said it best: "Sad songs say so much."
It has become canon in my playlist.
@@revolutionfrommahbed4246 💯 💯
but the fact that I opened this video just waiting for a gd song is kinda sad tbh
I'm a huge gd fan lol
Mad World by Tears for Fears. Really upbeat, really depressing. Curt Smith said something to the effect that if you want an insight into the English mindset, consider that the song was number one in England at Christmas time.
I've been waiting for someone to mention Mad World, a clear masterpiece. But, despite being upbeat it doesn't really sound "happy", maybe that's why it didn't make the list.
I never thought that one sounded upbeat , it may be a poppy synth track but it still sounds like the thoughts of a child who is going to grow up needing years of therapy.
You all forgot the song “Luca” by Susanne Vega. It’s the most peppy song all about a child who is being abused by his parents. How could you forget that one?
I have to disagree. It has always struck me as being gloomy and depressing.
It does not sound all that upbeat to me.
The lyrics directly reference the violence. "They only hit when you cry, after that you don't ask why". How could that be happy?
Luca is not a peppy song.
I don't think of it as peppy, I must admit. It's heartrending.
Van Halen's Jump... I lived in Atlanta 1997 to 2003. The afternoon radio talk show host Kimmer (Kim Peterson, male) and Traffic Reporter Keith Callum often told the story of an individual who was on an overpass of the Perimeter (Beltway) threatening to jump. Police and others tried to talk him down. Traffic was backed up for miles... miles. Somehow the local rock station (96 Rock) managed to get their van to the scene and the guys from the station started blaring JUMP!!
Every time I hear that song, that's all I can think about.
Wow, I’m from ATL & I didn’t know this!
Seriously? WTF.
TV Tropes has dubbed this practice as "Lyrical Dissonance", where the upbeat tune doesn't match the usually depressing lyrics. "Mr Brightside" was my favourite song to sing along with as a teenager, and I didn't realise the lyrics until about a decade later.
Honestly, as someone who mishears lyrics (and honestly doesn't really focus on them; I tend to sometimes make up my own when I listen in private, especially songs I REALLY like), I didn't know what any of these were talking about if I heard them at all.
Wanna say I didn't even HEAR "High Pumped Kicks" until I found about the Uvalde shooting (or maybe it was just about the song's theme in general), and suddenly, it played in a store and I was like "OH LORD THAT'S THAT SONG!".
Hell yeah, TV Tropes mention!
I think "Digging Your Scene" by the Blow Monkeys needs to be on this list. It's the happiest sounding song ever written about watching a friend die of AIDS.
HELP! By the Beatles! John Lennon wrote it about his struggles with his insecurities! He meant for it to play slower than what was released! I guess you could say the song was a cry for HELP!
It literally was. The Carpenters' version is a bit closer to the intent, I think.
@@fnjesusfreak
John Farnham
@@maisydaisy9970 Dunno, never heard his take.
Tina Turner did it. Slower and sad
Never heard those renditions but I'll have to check them out!
Her name was Lola
She was a Showgirl,
And she loved Tony,
He got his face shot off,
At the Copa, Copacabana!
..she lost her life and she lost her love and she drinks herself blind every evening... at the Coooopa... i am disappointed this song didn't make it here. it was the first one i thought of
Me too@@dorothea_walland
"Hey Ya" is so ridiculously catchy, and my pals and I used to happily sing along to it at karaoke, blissfully ignorant to the sombre lyrics.
I'm curious about how somber Hey Ya is. I listen to that song all the time and I know of it, but don't know the full details.
@@kamsismith Well, according to a TikTok video I watched recently, the story chronicles a couple who are only together because everyone else expects them to be, and they know that they're not happy, but pretend to be, masking their acrimonious feelings. Andre 3000 even says just before the chorus "Y'all don't wanna hear me, y'all just wanna dance."
Well, damn. That's wild. It’s just as wild as Ms. Jackson, another Outkast song I listened to a lot because of my dad, and while it’s not as upbeat as Hey Ya, it’s obvious that the song was based on Andre’s relationship with his then-girlfriend Erykah Badu and her mother.
@@kamsismith Yep, that's another catchy song, but it gets darker once you listen to the lyrics, and he states that he never meant to hurt her daughter.
@@trinaq Wow I never knew that. The video shows cute puppies and I think kitties too!
Bullet by Hollywood Undead makes me always cry at the end, because the child who is singing at the end always makes me sad and shiver. The lyrics are so deep. It's one of my favorite songs. Even if it sounds happy in the first place. But if you listen to the lyrics it's really a sad song. Someone with depression is good in hiding his depression to others. Like this song is hiding the sadness in between a happy sound. We are getting distracted by the sounding and not listening to the lyrics, like most of the ppl don't listen enough to a person with depression. They don't read between the lines. For me this song is iconic and symbolic for depression.
I'm surprised "Livin' On A Prayer" didn't make the list. The sound: fist-pumping 80's hard rock. The subject: a couple falls on hard times when the guy gets laid off, leaving the girl as the sole breadwinner.
But they've got hope! They're going to make it - if you take his hand, you're halfway there!
After all - you live for the fight when that’s all that you got! 😉
We'll make it I swear"
Yeah, but by 2024, they have to be at least 3/4 the way there now....
I’ve never seen it that way 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
‘MmmBop” by Hanson is catchy and sounds upbeat. The lyrics are about how relationships come along and go just as quickly, but you don’t know which one will last.
I thought MmmBop was about death through nuclear war.
😂😂😂😂😂yeah, perhaps for someone who listens to that crap.@@K.Dwizzle
I came to say mmm bop too
@@Linz1489 Nope, too late.
Mmmmbop is talking about relationships coming and going. And holding on to the ones who care because in a mmmbop they are gone...which is so true
How about hotel California? When I was a kid I interpreted it as a ghost story and then I found out about struggles with addiction.
Hotel California has NEVER sounded happy.
I thought Hotel California was about the purgatory that is the music industry.
@@samanthaash3944 we all interpret it differently, so when in doubt: Google it.
Hotel California is a foretelling of how California is today.
You mean it's NOT a ghost story?? I refuse to believe otherwise!
Pumped Up Kicks is such a great song, I'd also include:
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
Luka - Suzanne Vega
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
Ghetto Soundwave - Fishbone
Every Breath You Take - The Police
The One I Love - REM
Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello
Good call on Watching The Detectives, not especially upbeat in my view but more a case of even darker than it sounds. Likewise, though Alison , while not upbeat, is a lot more disturbing than ther ballad about lost lover that it superficially sounds like.
Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" giving what happened later.😢😢
But that’s not really a happy sounding song, is it?
@@BarbaOlof, I'd argue that it has a happy beat/tempo.
@@BarbaOlofupbeat
@@BarbaOlof I'd say it is, ignore the lyrics like we do for most songs and it's definitely there. Maybe the lyrics are too clear?
Now who thinks that song has a happy sound to it?
Putting a pop/happy vibe to the song makes sure it stays in people’s mind and gets the point across when people actually start looking or diving into the lyrics. Props to the artists because I know ALL of the songs and love them
Build Me Up Buttercup is about a girl ghosting her boyfriend constantly and him continually trying to understand why
Great example! Also i love that song
My then-2-year-old cousin LOVED “American Pie” and actually *learned the lyrics* from sheer repetition and sang along. He had no idea what he was saying by oh my gosh was it amazing and adorable, but darn grim in the context of the overall lyrics.
He has always loved music (he’s 27 now) but as a toddler, other than American Pie, he loved hard rock. He called it “big music”.
My son’s singing Alice In Chains and Nirvana Songs and actually gets the lyrics right - but doesn’t understand a word because we’re German 😅
I'd suggest _Bittersweet Symphony_ by The Verve, but I don't know if its cadence matches up to the theme of this list. Better suggestion for an honourable mention: _Beds Are Burning_ by Midnight Oil.
Nah, *Bittersweet Symphony* is mournful sounding. I also considered suggesting it though, ha!
*Beds are Burning* has lyrics which are too easy to pick out to be a "surprise" sadder song, but otherwise it does fit the criteria.
I would suggest *St. Valentine's Day* by Linkin Park: upbeat, but raging against Chester's unexpected loneliness on a day supposedly about love. However, maybe it's similar to *Beds are Burning* in that the lyrics are relatively easy to pick out?
American pie actually sounded like a depressing song
Who thought Mr. Brightside was a happy song? The title is clearly ironic from the moment the song starts. It's literally one of the biggest songs of 2000s emo culture lol.
Yeah, Brandon Flowers has been very open that it was about discovering his then-girlfriend cheating on him and the paranoia the built up just before discovering it. It's all there in the lyrics!
Still gonna hit the dance floor when it comes on, can’t help it
I'm not sure I remember the ambiguity of Mr. Brightside. Still a great song tho.
😂the title is miss leading
That song is about a guy who catches his girlfriend in bed with another man
There are so many songs like this, where the music is happier/livelier than the lyrics are. One that always stands out to me is Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon.
Most of the songs off that album should've been on the list
Don't know that song, but I do know 'Werewolves of London' and that's because I used to follow a local blues band and they covered it.
Maxwell's Silver Hammewr by the Beatles is a happy sounding tune but has a very dark content. About a psychotic serial killer.
I had trouble sleeping after my parents split up and my Mom, sister, and I moved into my grandparents’ house. My family thought leaving some music on for me was a good idea…to this day, they don’t know how Maxwell’s Silver Hammer terrified me as a 6 yo😢
I love that Paul McCartney wrote a song about a serial killer that beats people to death with a hammer, but made it sound like a children's show theme song.
YES I WAS LOOKING FOR A COMMENT LIKE THIS FOR AGES BRO😭🙏
"I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats would fit in here, i think.
thank you!! can't believe they made a list without it.....doubly can't believe it isn't mentioned in half the comments; fully expected it to be #1...and several other songs from the same album would make good candidates (diamond's smile, someone's looking at me)
I love this. It's about a true story.
YES! First song I thought about.
Got to disagree, I always though ther bleakness of the song was pretty clear.
Any song off After Laughter especially Hard Times and Fake Happy definitely fits the description
"Ain't It Fun" has a sarcastic nature to it that fits the description as well
That alum is so good, and the messages behind it, especially -Rose Colored Boy - and Caught in the Middle
My first thought was Jack and Diane. "Oh Yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone"
That became my life motto the last couple years of work and helped me realize I needed to retire!
Alors on Danse, What a Fool Believes, and Build Me Up Buttercup should've been on this list for sure
David Bowie's "Jump (They Say)" sounds super happy and upbeat, then your realize it's about a guy debating on committing suicide by jumping and the crowd is encouraging him to do it.
I though for sure “walking on Broken Glass” by Annie Lennox would have been on the list.
I was looking for this comment!! Totally fits. I love the song, though.
I'm surprised that Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" wasn't included. Despite being a song that always gets people up and dancing at parties, it's actually a very depressing song!
When I first started DJ-ing, it was a classic wedding song despite being about somebody leaving them.
@nuttycommuter3718 I remember one of our team at work announcing that she was getting married, so I instinctively started singing Band of Gold. I stopped when our boss called out from her office, "NOT THAT ONE!". 😆
Although sadly the marriage did end after only a couple of years when her husband had an affair with his secretary...I hope I didn't jinx it 😳.
@@andybaker2456 ha ha ha! That’s great! “Young Hearts Run Free” is another one that has really sad lyrics
I am surprised Sublime is not on this list. The Wrong Way and What I Got were quintessential happy beat songs with dark lyrics.
Absolutely I agree. And then they also have a song about the LA Riots and it's pretty heavy.
And Santería!
@@jacquelinekeller3485 April 29, 1992 (Miami)
The 80s song 'Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades' was mistaken as an upbeat song about someone looking forward to a great future. But what it was really about was the threat of nuclear war.
That's similar to the German band, Nena, and their song "99 Luftballons" which just means "99 balloons". It's about a bunch of balloons accidentally starting the nuclear Holocaust. It's a really upbeat song, though.
@@schneir5 - Love the contradiction between the upbeat feel and the doomsday lyrics!
"Party Like It's 1999", another cheery apocalypse song.
@@rpontonjr - Good one!!
The band Blue October has made a career of writing catchy, happy sounding songs that are very dark and depressing: "HATE ME", "I HOPE YOUR HAPPY", and "INTO THE OCEAN" to name a few that got a lot of radio play.
They put on an amazing live show!
Well, bad example. Nobody thinks "Hate me" is a happy song.
I love them but I wouldn't say that they sound "happy". They always have this deep feeling of many emotions to it which makes you think and you need to know what it is about. Sorry if my description doesn't make sense, I just don't know how else I could explain it :3
I disagree. Their songs may seem depressing to many but I would say they're more of a long running journal of how Justin has faced hardship but dealt with it in the most possible ways. You can even track how he's not only got better at dealing with the problems of life but has been able to see the beauty of things around him and learnt to truly love the person he is and embraces life. This is obviously my view having followed them from the beginning. I'm a very big fan. I don't think they have a single depressing song; just various levels of strength in that moment of time/life. Such an underrated band. Their message and music is like a comforting hand on your shoulder giving you reassurance that yes, life is hard but it's also beautiful and it's OK to feel everything good or bad.
Love Into the Ocean!
"It's impossible for Counting Crows to sound anything but happy" -- Ah, WTF? "Round Here" "Long December" anyone? Two fantasticly depressing songs, and "Round Here" has picked up some particularly dark associations.
Yeah, the writers clearly don't listen to Counting Crows. They didn't even quite get the meaning of "Mr. Jones" right. Adam is shy about going up to people, but the song is about wanting to be a famous rock star so everyone will think he's a brilliant artist (i.e. beautiful on the inside) and fall in love with him.
But Adam's lyrics are rife with references to depression, heartbreak, and bringing others down or pushing them away. There are probably more soft, sad or reflective songs in their repertoire than upbeat "Hey, we're rockstars/in love/lucky to be alive!" songs.
Uhm, "Colorblind" anyone?
Glad I'm not alone here. CC tunes are generally depressing in nature.
Oh please, Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves is the king of this list. It's about a potentially mentally ill woman who thinks a lover (real or imaginary) is going to walk through the door at any time . . . and never does.
When asked to list most upbeat songs this is one of my top 5. Guess I never got past joyous tone and lyrics.
I never knew that!!! I LOVED that so g back in the day!
How did I know I was officially old??? When I heard friends 7 year old child singing along to Pumped Up Kicks!!! I asked the Mother if she had listened to the lyrics at all and she said no she paid no attention. I said you may want to listen. Not my job to police someone’s child but I did think Mom should be aware of the content.
America Pie was about the loss of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, that almost took Waylon Jennings if he hadn't give up his seat.
Not just that, it’s basically a lamentation of the entire decade of the 60’s and what happened to music and America after Buddy Holly died.
@andianderson7203 but your missing what Buddy Holly left behind. Waylon Jennings gave up his place and continued a different genre.
Waylon had longstanding depression and survivors remorse over that
"Last Kiss/Where oh Where Can My Baby Be" by J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers. "Moonlight Shadow" by Mike Oldfield. "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling. "Forever Young" by Alphaville. "Leader of the Pack" by Shangri-Las. "It's My Party" by Leslie Gore.
Yeah, Last Kiss was the first one I thought of when I saw the category.
I always thought Cher’s song Believe was a fun dance song until Adam Lambert sang it at the Kennedy Center Honor awards for Cher, omg a whole new meaning 😢 even Cher cried and later told Adam to release it, just beautiful.
''When we're happy we listen to and sing the lyrics, when we're sad we listen to and feel the lyrics.''
- someone maybe
I love these videos!!! Would you guys ever consider the top 10 songs that make you feel like a superhero/supervillian? Maybe top music videos that feature superpowers like Titanium, Heroes (We Could Be), or Birds by Imagine Dragons?
“You may think ‘Mr. Brightside’ is about optimism, but did you know it’s actually about….‘Jealousy’?”
I love the way "Detroit Rock City" recontextualizes its chorus. The first time you hear "everybody's gonna move their feet, everybody's gonna leave their seat," you think it's about fans in the arena jumping up with excitement. Then at the end you realize "leaving their seat" is referring to the driver being thrown from the car during the wreck.
That seemed to be the signature of the 1990s. I was always struvk how bouncy and sad they were. Love it!
I'm surprised "The Way" by Fastball wasn't on here, or "One Week" by Bare Naked Ladies.
Yep. Came here looking to up vote this song for the list.
Or Pinch Me
One Week isn’t that dark. It’s just about a couple being predictable after a fight 🤷🏼♀️. BNL has far darker songs - Pinch Me, Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank… My ex hated Old Apartment because he thought it was about a failed relationship even though the band claimed it was just about revisiting the past before the couple became successful.
A better BNL song would be Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel, though the title kinda gives that one away.
@@revolutionfrommahbed4246The Old Apartment about the guy revisiting where they used to live, but wasn’t he violent? There’s a line in it that always made me think the guy killed the girl
I would like to add "Mack the Knife". It's an old big band crooner type song. It's super upbeat sounding and catchy... but it's about a serial killer. "Now on the sidewalk Sunday morning lies a body just oozing life." It even lists the names of his victims.
It's a song from the play/musical "Die Dreigrosdchenoper" (Three Penny Opera) by Bertolt Brecht and was written for the play by Kurt Weill in 1928.
It's set in London of the late 90s century, in the East End I'll just guess, and shows the poverty, the "shodow society" and crime there. And Mack the Knife is the mobster boss there. So Maceaths knife can be as well the weapon he's got under his wannabe-fancy coat or some guy he sent out with a job while he's all smiles collecting money in the gin tavern around the corner.
Just Like Heaven by The Cure is a good one. Robert Smith sings "you're just like a dream", then we find out she in fact WAS one, after which the song abruptly ends.
I've always thought "Santeria" by Sublime to be deceptively peppy-sounding...until you listen to the lyrics.
Yeah, I assumed Santeria would be at the top of the list.
Santeria is the king of this category. It's not just that he wants to murder the guy who cheated with his girlfriend. It's the specific fantasies he has on how to do it.
Haven't watched this yet, but hands down, the #1 song should be Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy.
Oh, and "Vamos a la Playa" was a massive worldwide hit in 1983 about saying "f*ck it, let's go to beach!" as nuclear bombs fall.
i was looking for this comment
Frequently performed lip-synced with happy dances on 1980s pop shows back then, excellent!
"Artificial Flowers" by Bobby Darin was one of those songs that stuck with me since I first heard it. Such and upbeat swinging number about a 9yr old orphan girl freezing to death selling paper flowers to rich people.
My senior prom was themed to "Time of Your Life" and for the last dance, most of us thought they were going to play the song from Dirty Dancing... then Green Day's "(Good Riddance) Time of Your Life" started and the most awkward, confused slow dance started...certainly made it memorable
It's Raining Again by Supertramp always brings back happy memories of my childhood, playing in the rain at my favorite park.
Couple of my personal favourites….
Del Amitri - Kiss this thing goodbye
The Jam - Town called malice (brilliant!)
Love that deal amitri song! And yes it’s depressing but sounds so happy!
Just read the lyrics to town called malice and you’re right! It’s horrendous!
I was talking about Kids this thing Goodbye. Love the banjo in it
Come on, son! Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O'Sullivan should have easily taken your number 1 spot. It practically defined the genre of happy sounding songs with depressing lyrics. Pure, gorgeous perfection. It's an absolute crime that it didn't even make your list.
Most sad and depressing song ever!
Absolutely
I don't think it sounds happy at all. The song's chords and tempo make it sound very melancholic. 😢
@@lindazee Huh. Okay, to each their own. I always thought it sounded sweet. Kind of like "Close to You" by The Carpenters. And it starts with him promising to treat himself. :)
Zero by Imagine Dragons is this song for me. It sound so upbeat but it is all about feeling left out. I feel like it describes my life sometimes.
reminds me of the song escape (pina colada song). i get the impression very few people are aware it's a song about a couple cheating on each other only to accidentally be their own blind dates.
that song by hollywood undead totally sounds like mambo number 5
One of my favs is Girlfriend in a Coma. It cracks me up because it sounds like a number in an uplifting musical but it’s literally dude singing about his girlfriend being in a coma. So wrong! Ha ha ha
I know, it's really serious.
I came here to say that! "I would hate anything to happen to her."
Yellow lemon tree
Fool's Garden
It kinda descent how I feel when my depressions get the better of me
Thats actually the perfect description of 95% of Twenty One Pilots whole discography 😅 That's why we love them so much ❤️
Especially Scaled and Icy, which I'm surprised doesn't have any of its songs in this video.
@@apoet-y6c it's underrated as fuck
There's a bathroom on the right.
Sounds happy to me!
Every time I see a list like this I mention Bullet by Hollywood Undead... So extremely happy to see it actually on the list... And in the top 5 at that!
Bad Moon Rising always made me think of An American Werewolf in London
Then you should hear the song "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon!
@@bloodgain don’t worry I am old enough to have heard that song. It’s a good song.
No, Werewolves of London makes me think of The Color of Money.
"The Way" by Fastball, "Here Comes Your Man" by The Pixies, "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies...
Tbh a LOT of BNL. "Pinch Me" is basically the platonic ideal of this concept
Sunday Will Never Be the Same by Spanky and Our Gang (1967) sounds very upbeat and happy, but is actually about loneliness after a break up.
Youth of The Nation. P.O.D. sounds good, lyrics are dark AF.
I have to add the song Timothy by the Buoys. It's an extremely catchy tune, but when you listen closely to the lyrics, it's a song about a mine caving in and the miners resorting to cannibalism. "Stomach was full as it could be, and nobody ever got around to finding Timothy."
This song is SO underated!!
Barenaked Ladies is good at this. Pinch Me is a good example of a happy song about depression.
Also "Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel" and "Alcohol" by them too
@@triciaa7259ALCOHOL! There we go! I was trying to think of other BNL songs that were bangers but actual sad/depressing. “Now I know that there’s a time and there’s a place where I can choose, to walk the fine line between self-control and self-abuse…”
Their name really affected their path to fame
I saw them at mardi gras in either February or March and they were awesome.
That's my favorite song by them, it's been years since I've heard it
"'Today' certainly sounds like a happy song, doesn't it?"
I don't believe I've ever heard The Smashing Pumpkins sound happy, ever.
"Hooray" from Atum, disc 1
They did a cover of Thin Lizzy's Dancing in the Moonlight , thats surprisingly upbeat (for them).