Why the appeal of dark music?

[Fracktured]

I must admit that I am guilty of enjoying dark music myself and I often wonder why. After all don't we have enough experiences of sadness and dismay in our lives? Why would we want to sudject ourselves to the dark emotional style of music also? We listen to music for many reasons but mostly for enjoyment. Does it ease the pain in some way when we listen to dreary music? Shouldn't we want to listen to nothing but music that makes us happy? Or maybe in some ways it helps us cope with the sorrow that we feel at times. Dark somber music has been around for centuries.

[lak611]

What exactly constitutes "dark music"? Did you have any specific examples in mind?

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[Facelift]

What exactly constitutes "dark music"? Did you have any specific examples in mind?

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I was going to ask the same question, but then thought that it had the potential to derail the thread with a side-discussion that constituted what dark music is. I think that this can be avoided, given what appears to be the purpose of the thread: why a person chooses to listen to music that he perceives as being dreary, dark, sinister, foreboding, etc. Whether this music is Univers Zero, Peter Gabriel or The Beatles, is not important.

My personal answer to this question is that I don't often listen to music that I consider to be dark and dreary. But I do listen to plenty of music that I do not consider to be dark or dreary (at least, those are not what I perceive to be their primary characteristics) but which others might (Univers Zero, for example).

[Fracktured]

What exactly constitutes "dark music"? Did you have any specific examples in mind?

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A valid question. Let me give a few examples of what I would consider dark music and being both popular and music that I enjoy a lot.

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Richard Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen
Gustav Mahler - Kindertotenlieder "Songs on the death of Children"

Maybe these pieces of music in some ways give us hope but are still dark in nature.

[Jubal]

A valid question. Let me give a few examples of what I would consider dark music and being both popular and music that I enjoy a lot.

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Maybe these pieces of music in some ways give us hope but are still dark in nature.

I think The Final Cut is much darker, although some of the Wall can be pretty downright depressing.

I considered about half of Porcupine Tree's In Absentia to be very dark, but beautiful nonetheless.

[Svetonio]

(...)

Pink Floyd - The Wall

(...)

The BEST cover of that song...




Of course, it's rather "bittersweet" and haunting than, let's say, "really dark" like e.g. above posted Jesus With Me's Silence in the Space of Half an Hour - a mindblowing heavy psych track by an underground band of Russian immigrants in NYC - but dark thing is, as someone already said, pretty relative and its intensity depends of many factors that are wide–ranging from our personal opinions about "what's dark music" to the genre of the music. Thus, some e.g. 70s melodic hard-rock song, which is dark in its genre, shouldn't be in comparision with some dark e.g. avant track as avant garde was / is always widely open for extremely dark thing.


edit: Re Pink Floyd, to these ears, this song is "really dark" (from one of my fav albums by them):

[markwoll]

In some part it depends upon how the music effects you.
Dark is relative.
I have found my mood darkening while listening to happy pop music with lyrics that brought up unpleasant memories .
I'm sure the musicians were not counting on that.
Or maybe they were.

Anyhow many artists have issues that drive their art. Many dark issues.

[lak611]

In some part it depends upon how the music effects you.
Dark is relative.
I have found my mood darkening while listening to happy pop music with lyrics that brought up unpleasant memories .
I'm sure the musicians were not counting on that.
Or maybe they were.

Anyhow many artists have issues that drive their art. Many dark issues.

I agree with you.

In the case of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters' father's death was an influence on the lyrics. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/art...tar-to-the-ex/

[Svetonio]

(...)



Dark is relative.





(...)

+1

[Trane]

In some part it depends upon how the music effects you.
Dark is relative.
I have found my mood darkening while listening to happy pop music with lyrics that brought up unpleasant memories .
I'm sure the musicians were not counting on that.
Or maybe they were.

Anyhow many artists have issues that drive their art. Many dark issues.

+1

is it, though??

[Svetonio]

is it, though??

[JKL2000]

Good topic! I think it's similar to why we like to watch scary movies. It's practice for actual scary or dark times in our lives. Sometimes it's just therapeutic to wallow in trepidation, fear, or depression (if it's not true depression, which thankfully I never experience but I know many do).

Also, Poesque purple prose and macabre stylings can just be plain fun!

[jake]

I have listened to the string quartets of Shostakovich for many years and find them very dark, as is the case with a great deal of his later works - his 14th Symphony is a song cycle meditating on the notion of death - is that dark enough? I am also drawn to the music of Alban Berg whose music I find intellectually demanding, emotionally draining and somewhat oppressive - but I love it.
Also a big fan of Throbbing Gristle and Coil - again very dark subject matter with a generally depressive ambience.
I don't know why I am drawn to this, but it does match my mood when listening alone - I don't find myself listening to this kind of music with others - which may be something else worth discussing. Despite all this I would not consider myself a depressed type - in fact quite the opposite - maybe this music takes care of all that and I can just get on with being the life and soul of the party.

[Reid]

I have listened to the string quartets of Shostakovich for many years and find them very dark, as is the case with a great deal of his later works - his 14th Symphony is a song cycle meditating on the notion of death - is that dark enough? I am also drawn to the music of Alban Berg whose music I find intellectually demanding, emotionally draining and somewhat oppressive - but I love it.

I love Berg too. Speaking of Shostakovich, I just discovered a dark and beautiful piece yesterday. Sinfonia for Viola and Strings featuring Yuri Bashmet. Cathartic and moving! Some of Shosty's chamber music can be unrelenting and tiresome in its anguish, but there is some great stuff as well.

[jake]

I love Berg too. Speaking of Shostakovich, I just discovered a dark and beautiful piece yesterday. Sinfonia for Viola and Strings featuring Yuri Bashmet. Cathartic and moving! Some of Shosty's chamber music can be unrelenting and tiresome in its anguish, but there is some great stuff as well.

Seems that is a reworking of the 13th String Quartet - must have it!!!! That is def one of my favorites of his quartets. The 8th and 10th(My absolute fave) quartets were already orchestrated as Chamber Symphonies 1 & 2 by Rudolf Barshai

[rcarlberg]

I think we generally use music to enhance the mood we're already in, rather than using it to change our mood. When we're feeling carefree, happy and gay we listen to The Monkees and The Beatles and Lovin' Spoonful. When we just had a shitty day and want to kill our boss or our spouse we listen to Univers Zero or Magma. You know, serial killer music.

[notallwhowander]

Sometimes you need a good cry, or a good brood. Also, sometimes is nice to have a good scare.

If you want all three, Leonard Cohen's last album, You Want It Darker delivers.

[moecurlythanu]

It's cathartic.

It's mysterious, and an escape from the norm.

It has an air of danger, or at least foreboding.

It usually has depth that the happy, frothy fluff does not.

[simon moon]

It's cathartic.

It's mysterious, and an escape from the norm.

It has an air of danger, or at least foreboding.

It usually has depth that the happy, frothy fluff does not.

This is pretty close to how I feel.

I listen to a lot of dark music, and there is almost always a feeling of catharsis when it is over.

An analogy may be like the love some people have for very spicy foods. Your brain associates the pain with actual physical harm (which in turn releases endorphins), giving you a high, but your rational mind knows you are not really being harmed.

Or the feeling from intense thrill rides. Your evolved flight or fight system gets activated due to the apparent danger, but rationally you know that actual harm is extremely unlikely. I am sure the parts of the brain activated would be the same our ancestors on the African plains had activated when being chased by a predator.

The vast majority of my music collection is dark.

[Rune Blackwings]

This is pretty close to how I feel.

I listen to a lot of dark music, and there is almost always a feeling of catharsis when it is over.

An analogy may be like the love some people have for very spicy foods. Your brain associates the pain with actual physical harm (which in turn releases endorphins), giving you a high, but your rational mind knows you are not really being harmed.

Or the feeling from intense thrill rides. Your evolved flight or fight system gets activated due to the apparent danger, but rationally you know that actual harm is extremely unlikely. I am sure the parts of the brain activated would be the same our ancestors on the African plains had activated when being chased by a predator.

The vast majority of my music collection is dark.

I am sure you are surprised to know this-I have a lot of dark music. I find the music to be more creative, on a higher skill level and invoking more emotion. If you listen to the Carpenters, for example, or ABBA, the songs of their true skill are often in the darker, more brooding work. The same is with a lot of the bands I listen to. I think it is harder to do dark music.

[davis]

[QUOTE=moecurlythanu;666362]It's cathartic.

It's mysterious, and an escape from the norm.

It has an air of danger, or at least foreboding.

It usually has depth that the happy, frothy fluff does not.[/]

I've always been attracted to dark music. still am. when I heard Ghost Rider's in the Sky on radio I loved it. it scared me a little but not enough to cover my ears. I wanted to know more about it. Same thing happened when I first heard "Riders on the Storm". Loved it. had to know more about the song and who performed it. on the other hand, I love "Penny Lane."

[Nijinsky Hind]

Kind of like getting in touch with your feminine side

[klothos]

i personally favor melancholy music, which ususlly tends to be 'dark'...the feel is 'thick' so its easy to lock into and lose myself into....bonus when the songs just turn out that way by proxy: a lot of The Byrds music tethers a fine line between pop and melancholy and the two opposing forces meet in a really cool place...early REM is similar

[hippypants]

Misery loves company? But we all have light and dark sides, guess it's just whatever you're in the mood for. A lot of it has an atmospheric quality to it, which appeals to me at times.

[Mythos]

Love me some Joy Division... they pretty much invented modern goth music