Anger expressed in music

[zombywoof]

File under 'angsty'

[bigbassdrum]

Phil Collins - "I Don't care Anymore"

'Cos I remember all the times I tried so hard
And you laughed in my face 'cos you held all the cards.
I don't care anymore.
And I really ain't bothered what you think of me
'Cos all I want of you is just a let me be.
I don't care anymore D'you hear? I don't care no more

I don't care what you say
I never did believe you much anyway.

I won't be there no more
So get out of my way.
Let me by
I got better things to do with my time
I don't care anymore
D'you hear? I don't care anymore
I don't care no more
You listening? I don't care no more
No more!

You know I don't care no more!

[Hoops]

Procol Harum - "Still There'll Be More"...

[spellbound]

I always thought Pantera were pretty good at expressing anger in music.

[SteveSly]

It was actually on hearing this part back in '97 that I could never get over the whole 'Morse' phenomenon as fundamentally corny. I just never got over it. You may put out a 79 mins CD of pukes and farts - but you do not release something as cerebrally revealing as this.

IMPO, of course.

Different strokes I guess. “The Water” and “The Light” are two of his greatest compositions to my ears and what got me into Spock’s Beard in the first place.

[SteveSly]

Cant believe no one has mentioned "Death on two legs" Freddy Mercury's rant against Queens Management.

Agreed, that is a good one.

[BigSixFan]

One of the things I love about prog is that it tends NOT to be angry or topical. There is enough anger to share in the world for all of us simply by reading the news. I would rather hear Jon's nonsensical lyrics, using his voice as an instrument in the piece. The one exception is Rogers Waters' lyrics in Dogs. Being in the corporate hierarchy, one could see the things he discussed.

[klothos]

One of the things I love about prog is that it tends NOT to be angry or topical. There is enough anger to share in the world for all of us simply by reading the news. I would rather hear Jon's nonsensical lyrics, using his voice as an instrument in the piece. The one exception is Rogers Waters' lyrics in Dogs. Being in the corporate hierarchy, one could see the things he discussed.

many prog bands do have morose songs -- not necessarily angry but certainly negative. Marillion comes to mind


Besides, I think the OP is actually asking if we can feel the actual anger in songs rather than songs that are intentionally written as angry. There is a difference here, because a song can be happily themed but theres a subliminal layer in the performance feels "dark and angry" that was probably the mood of the artist that got captured to tape, despite what the song is about. thats why I mentioned Ike and Tina. Somebody else mentioned "Rumors" album by Fleetwood Mac, another good choice........I also feel a layer of resentment in The Lemon Pipers "Green Tambourine"

[Halmyre]

CSNY - Ohio

[JJ88]

Different strokes I guess. “The Water” and “The Light” are two of his greatest compositions to my ears and what got me into Spock’s Beard in the first place.

It was specifically the 'FU' section which was being discussed, at least by me. I can't believe anyone can look at those lyrics and not cringe.

[Oreb]

Not too many where I think the anger is genuine and then it's almost always under-stated:

The Band, King Harvest (particularly the last minute)

Peter Gabriel, Biko (particularly the start - 'September, 77' is seething)

Joni Mitchell, Not to Blame (the way she mentions Jackson Browne's 'buddies' is scary)

[Rune Blackwings]

Darkthrone-Shut Up

I think this one is pretty hilarious really.

[davis]

One of the things I love about prog is that it tends NOT to be angry or topical. There is enough anger to share in the world for all of us simply by reading the news. I would rather hear Jon's nonsensical lyrics, using his voice as an instrument in the piece.

I don't know if this particular line is a reaction to Don't Kill the Whale, but I like the lines "This is radio clash/tearing up the seven veils/This is radio clash/save us not the whales" in 'This Is Radio Clash." Joe had a dry sense of humor, so that might've have been tongue-in-cheek... or completely unrelated.

[Trane]

John Lennon's Working Class Hero.... and Marianne Faithful's version is even angrier

Peter Gabriel's Digging The Dirt


and ...



[VIDEO]


that whole first album really.

[SteveSly]

It was specifically the 'FU' section which was being discussed, at least by me. I can't believe anyone can look at those lyrics and not cringe.

For me within the concept of the whole song it works with the "I'm So Sorry" section of the song that comes after it.

[davis]

[Zonefish]

I find the entirety of The Wall a very angry album---not just the obvious lyrics, but even through the slow boiling undercurrent in much of the instrumentals. A great deal of sadness that manifests itself angrily.

[GuitarGeek]

"Jagged Pill"... that wasn't her first album?

In much the same way that Stella Linon (or if she was a soap opera character, it'd be Stella Zelcer Vander Linon) was a teenage chanteuse before she got kidnapped by the visiting Kobaïan, so also Alanis Morrisette began her singing career by making a couple pop records. Think Debbie Gibson, but with an a Canadian accent.

Supposedly, after she reinvented herself as an "angry alterna-rock chick" on Jagged Little Pill, her American record company took great pains to block the reissue of her teenaged pop tart records, apparently because they were afraid they would ruin her new image or whatever.

[Haruspex Carnage]

How about SOBER by TOOL?

Try Ticks And Leeches, Bottom, Crawl Away, Hush, and Hooker With A Penis more...although they're all arguably tongue in cheek save Bottom and Crawl Away.

[davis]

I find the entirety of The Wall a very angry album---not just the obvious lyrics, but even through the slow boiling undercurrent in much of the instrumentals. A great deal of sadness that manifests itself angrily.

Indeed! I don't listen to it very often because it IS such a downer. plus I can relate too much to some of it.

[señormoment]

Thanks to all for sharing here. I suppose, as Yves commented earlier, that this is a very broad topic, but what particularly resonates, sited by your examples, has been interesting and is appreciated.

[2steves]

Be gone you ever piercing
Power Play machine
Cutting our musical solidarity
For those who would break the windows
Of our true reflections
And perceptions of the world
'For I am out of thee with a vengeance'

Whew, you don't want to get Jon Anderson pissed at you, that's for sure.

Bill

Lol--what about..Kill them..give them as they give us...slay them...burn their children's laughter...on to HELL.........

[simon moon]

Samuel Barber - Medea's Dance of Vengeance
Pain of Salvation - Used
ELP - The Only Way
Gustov Holst - Mars, God of War

[Progbear]

It was specifically the 'FU' section which was being discussed, at least by me. I can't believe anyone can look at those lyrics and not cringe.

It doesn’t help that he sounds like some whiny, privileged little teenaged brat who’s railing against his parents because they didn’t buy him the video game he asked for for his birthday. :P

[Scrotum Scissor]

what about..Kill them..give them as they give us...slay them...burn their children's laughter...on to HELL.........

I'm sorry, but the very idea of that milkman being able to express a genuine sentiment of actual anger remains preposterous. I mean, there's the usual and pedestrian, everyday herb tea and then of course the somewhat more wicked'n'sinister Earl Grey, but I doubt the latter would infuse many more balls.