Totally Tunes: Grim 'n' Shady

 It's well known that, sometimes, music will go to dark themes for inspiration. Of course, it's kinda weird to have songs about murder, abuse, psychopaths and more, but as long as we keep on consuming them, and as long as they serve as some sort of cathartic tool or just an experiment in creativity, they'll continue existing. Let's have a look at some tunes about dark themes.

Alas, poor Yoricks! via Pexels

How can you picture a happy, preppy melody being accompanied by shady as hell lyrics about a teenager who wants to murder its classmates? And yet, here's this one, a big hit too, so everyone kept listening to it on repeat, and radios would just chill by playing verses about kids (hopefully) outrunning bullets? Bullying is bad, peeps.

Talking Heads got no pass by releasing this tremendous tune around the time of the Son of Sam killings, which caused people to think David Byrne had gotten inspired by the current events. Alas, no, he actually had just wanted to do a song about the thought process of a murderer, with the preliminary lyrics even being more of an in-person description of various killings. 

Emotional abuse, what a joy! Sonny Bono wrote this hit that has been covered by endless artists, about a woman whose crush/lover was shitty to her from the get-go, and yet she continued with him until he decided to dump her, thus shooting her down wholly. The somber tone from most of the versions, including my favorite (Nancy Sinatra's), really nails the psychological manipulation of the situation.

Hilariously, one of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' biggest hits ever is this collaboration with Kylie Minogue whose lyrics are about the typical situation: boy meets girl, boy takes girl on a stroll, boy murders girl. Boys will be boys, amirite?

I'm gonna sacrifice my recurring closer with a Bowie or Sir Elton track (but they do have gritty songs, so feel free to add them on the comments), because I know all of you like musicals, so might as well give you this tune about both abuse AND murder! Hooray!

What's your favorite song with dark themes? Do you prefer your songs grim or the opposite?