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Ideas & Opinions What type of music do you listen to when you’re upset?

LumberJack

LumberJack

Huggy Bear 🐻
#1
#1
I’m curious about how others use music to cope with stress and any form of disappointment or sadness. I tend to listen to angry music or something that expresses similar feelings to what I’m going through. Sometimes I think I should listen to more positive music to cheer up, but feel-good music feels so cheesy when I feel bad.

There are a few songs that are uplifting without being sappy:
- hate me by Blue October
- rise above this by Seether
sometimes the sweet spot is music that is aggressive, but has a positive or neutral message behind it. Bands like Sick of It All are in this category. Most of Volbeat’s music is fun while still being heavy.

But when I feel down, it’s more likely that I will listen to angry songs or music about decay and degradation. I am referring to acts like Bullet For my Valentine, and Nine Inch Nails, especially the Downward Spiral. Most angry music turns out to be about romance gone sour, but I have decided that I can apply the expression of anger and sadness to refer to others who have wronged me regardless of the nature of that relationship.

So, I am just wondering if anyone else uses music to cope, and what is helpful when you feel down?
 
1Lefty

1Lefty

SF Supporter
#5
#5
I use music to cope, it depends on what kind of upset I am -

Generally, when I'm upset, my mood is down, often depressed, anxious, or sometimes nostalgic, or missing people. I often choose classic rock from my younger days, or sometimes deep, slow blues. The singer-songwriter genre is a favorite also. The person that I miss the most is my wife, and I often choose what we listened to together - old R&B and soul, adult contemporary and smooth jazz from the 1980s-1990s. Sometimes there is a catharsis, a good cry can be helpful.

If I'm angry, I favor punk from the early 1980s - like The Clash. Or anything simple with a strong beat

peace
:)
 
LumberJack

LumberJack

Huggy Bear 🐻
#6
#6
1Lefty said:
If I'm angry, I favor punk from the early 1980s - like The Clash. Or anything simple with a strong beat

peace
:)
Click to expand...

I also like the early punk music I don’t know if The Kinks fall into this category, but I think their music is phenomenal. They have been imitated so much throughout the decades since, but I am still inspired by listening, knowing that they were pioneering a new way of expression.
 
KM76710

KM76710

Kangaroo Manager
SF Pro
SF Supporter
#7
#7
I don't much get upset but normally for being comforted or just entertainment so much of the music I listen to is from the 70s, 80s, etc. Perhaps a reminder of earlier, simpler and more carefree days of youth and younger times. The same holds for TV and movies being older. I identify so much with the nonstop and everybody available at all moment technology being disliked.
 
Angie

Angie

Admin
SF Author
SF Supporter
#8
#8
Interesting question.

I am super sensitive to noise, so even music I like can be jarring at the wrong time.

I listen to two genres of music. One is probably familiar to most, its the "classic rock" of my youth. Anything from Pink Floyd to Bruce Springsteen.

The other is Christian music, sort of a niche there of artists like Matthew West and Zach Williams (which don't get much airplay on the radio).

I find Youtube to throw up a decent playlist of both types of music and when in the mood will listen for quite some time.

Both help, for different reasons.
 
AvidFan

AvidFan

Retired Cat Staff
SF Supporter
#14
#14
I used to listen to music that reflected my mood and found it quite cathartic. My teens and 20s were an eclectic diet of The Smiths (sing me to sleep, I know it's over), Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne (Diary of a madman, suicide solution - I'd listen to the albums while attempting to get as drunk as the Prince of Darkness himself and go out in a blaze of cigarettes and alcohol), and lots of others, I'd really gravitate to the darkest angriest music and lyrics. I'll still give Slipknot some airtime if I feel really annoyed. If I'm anxious I play Bach's cello suites or Mozart symphonies. When I feel chaotic and apocalypic, Prokoviev's piano pieces really resonate with me, especially the War Sonatas. But a lot of the time these days I play cheery pop music after Youtube introduced me to it during lockdown. Funny how we change. Or at least I seem to have!
 
Unenthusiastic

Unenthusiastic

Well-Known Member
#16
#16
LumberJack said:
I’m curious about how others use music to cope with stress and any form of disappointment or sadness. I tend to listen to angry music or something that expresses similar feelings to what I’m going through. Sometimes I think I should listen to more positive music to cheer up, but feel-good music feels so cheesy when I feel bad.

There are a few songs that are uplifting without being sappy:
- hate me by Blue October
- rise above this by Seether
sometimes the sweet spot is music that is aggressive, but has a positive or neutral message behind it. Bands like Sick of It All are in this category. Most of Volbeat’s music is fun while still being heavy.

But when I feel down, it’s more likely that I will listen to angry songs or music about decay and degradation. I am referring to acts like Bullet For my Valentine, and Nine Inch Nails, especially the Downward Spiral. Most angry music turns out to be about romance gone sour, but I have decided that I can apply the expression of anger and sadness to refer to others who have wronged me regardless of the nature of that relationship.

So, I am just wondering if anyone else uses music to cope, and what is helpful when you feel down?
Click to expand...
Relaxing ambient stuff. I'll typically just look up things like "relaxing summer ambient", just as an example. It could be a playlist or an album, it really doesn't matter.
 
Unenthusiastic

Unenthusiastic

Well-Known Member
#17
#17
KM76710 said:
I understand that one. Classical music is soothing and relaxing. One of the things I inherited from my dad especially with the old vinyls which are mostly at my brother's house.
Click to expand...
Bach's Four Lute Suites is a frequent go-to for me when I need to erase the aftertaste of unpleasant interactions from my head, and unpleasant interactions are very common in my immediate space.
 
MystriumCamillae

MystriumCamillae

Active Member
#18
#18
I have a playlist of sad music, back when I planned to commit I was going to listen to it while I did it, but now I just listen when I feel sad.

The songs run the gamut from classical to doo wop to rock to Enya lol. Anything sad and longing.

I have a special love for classical songs with choirs; Sad songs sung in harmony are especially hauntingly captivating to me. Examples are Faure's Requiem, and Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, especially the second movement of the Deutsches Requiem, since it features these lyrics (translated from German to English): For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

I always held onto that line from Brahms when I was actively suicidal, because it represents my beliefs so well: all human ambition fades away eventually and is forgotten.
 
P

pearson.pearson3

Member
#19
#19
I agree that classical music can be calming and uplifting. I also agree with y’all who enjoy Christian music.

ANY music can touch the heart, mind and soul especially if we truly listen to lyrics, (when it is not just instrumental – classical, new age, techno, etc.)

Personally, I believe these contemporary Christian songs to be examples of inspirational songs that can be found on YouTube and other online sites like SoundCloud:

#1) "Unfinished" with lyrics - Mandisa

#2) "Place In This World" with lyrics -Michael W. Smith

#3) "Beloved" with lyrics - Jordan Feliz

#4) "Freedom" with lyrics - Beckah Shae

#5) "Big God" with lyrics - Terrian

#6) "Thank You" with lyrics - The Katinas

FEEL FREE TO ADD MORE TO THE LIST!

👍 📝
 
P

pearson.pearson3

Member
#20
#20
MystriumCamillae said:
I have a playlist of sad music, back when I planned to commit I was going to listen to it while I did it, but now I just listen when I feel sad.

The songs run the gamut from classical to doo wop to rock to Enya lol. Anything sad and longing.

I have a special love for classical songs with choirs; Sad songs sung in harmony are especially hauntingly captivating to me. Examples are Faure's Requiem, and Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, especially the second movement of the Deutsches Requiem, since it features these lyrics (translated from German to English): For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

I always held onto that line from Brahms when I was actively suicidal, because it represents my beliefs so well: all human ambition fades away eventually and is forgotten.
Click to expand...
ENYA - Beautiful music, even if I don’t understand the songs in which she sings in the other language.
 
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