From haunting melodies to disturbing lyrics, these songs will send chills down your spine. Join us as we explore the darkest corners of music history, featuring tracks that deal with trauma, violence, and psychological horror. Warning: This content contains references to sensitive topics.
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MusicTranscript
00:00Yes, son. I want to kill you.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most disturbing song that will fill any listener with dread.
00:13Let me play out, turn away.
00:18Down with the sickness, Disturbed.
00:23Oh, what's that?
00:24Though its unique opening is what captured the listener's attention the most, lurking beneath the surface is a much more distressing message.
00:37Towards the end of the piece, lead singer David Draymond stops singing.
00:41He opts for a spoken word verse about a minor abused by his mother, eventually fighting back with the added implication that she dies.
00:50The lyrics in this section are far more graphic than the rest of the song, resulting in criticism.
01:05The band has gone on to clarify themselves, saying it was all metaphorical.
01:10But regardless, the verse was cut from both the radio release and the music video.
01:15Lullaby, The Cure.
01:32Not every distressing song has an overt message.
01:36With only a reoccurring tambourine and ambiguous lyrics, The Cure managed to evoke a sense of pure dread with their 1989 hit, Lullaby.
01:46There has been a litany of theories about the song's content.
01:50The mystery has been kept alive by Robert Smith himself, who has offered multiple explanations.
01:57Regardless of its meaning, it perfectly captures a sense of impending doom.
02:02Each line describes the metaphorical spider coming closer and closer.
02:14Leaving the listener feeling as though they're being trapped as well.
02:19Despite that, it went on to hit the top ten in the United Kingdom, proving that even dreary tracks could still reach a wide audience.
02:27Precious boy, don't struggle like that at all, I will only love you.
02:35Daddy, Korn.
02:38Come out and play.
02:42I'll be your daddy.
02:46Some of the most distressing works of art are born from personal experience.
02:50This was unfortunately the case for Jonathan Davis of Korn, who was inspired to write Daddy, about the abuse he experienced during his youth, and how he wasn't believed initially upon coming forward.
03:04The lyrics are blunt and unapologetic in their message, not sugarcoating a single detail.
03:10Even more disturbing than the words are the moments where nothing is said at all, such as Davis weeping over a lullaby, and five minutes of pure silence that follow it.
03:29The raw emotion combined with the eerie silence allows the message to truly sink in, capping off the piece with a cathartic moment that leaves a resonating feeling of pure dread.
03:41Dance with the Devil
03:50A Mortal Technique
03:52While the content is disturbing enough, what truly makes it so is the fact that it's allegedly true.
04:06A Mortal Technique's Dance with the Devil details the story of a man falling further into gang life.
04:13Eventually, it takes a sharp turn as the narrator describes a night wherein the man is forced to take part in a vicious act against an innocent woman, who's revealed to be his own mother.
04:24Through the projects, the darkness swallowed her, they wrapped their shirt around their head and knocked her onto the floor.
04:30This is it kid, now you got your chance to be raw.
04:32The narrator then admits that he took part in the crime, and that the Devil is hunting him down for it.
04:38The rapper has gone on to maintain his innocence in whatever happened that night, but that it really did occur.
04:45That alone is enough to color the piece in an entirely new light.
04:49He remembered how his songs used to come home late, working hard for nothing, cause now what was he worth?
04:55He turned away from the woman that had once given her birth.
04:58The End, The Doors
05:00This is the end, beautiful friend
05:06What started out as a simple breakup song ended up evolving into something much darker.
05:14The end was eventually extended to almost 12 minutes long.
05:18Each one reveals a more disturbing layer than the last.
05:22From saying goodbye to a failed relationship to accepting death, each line takes the listener further down the abyss.
05:30Eventually, it leads into a spoken word piece, which then devolves into a flurry of curse words as the music reaches a frenzied climax.
05:48The sinister track is enough to leave anybody feeling on edge, serving as a perfect juxtaposition to the more carefree tunes that were popular at the time.
06:00This was proof that even softer songs can have a truly distressing message.
06:20One of the best examples of this is Nirvana's Polly, a deceptively quieter track,
06:26detailing the real-life case of a young girl who was kidnapped and horrifically tormented before eventually being able to escape.
06:41Simply retelling the events would have been enough.
06:45Cobain decided to take it a step further by including a detail wherein the victim convinces her abuser that she liked the torment.
06:52That one addition takes the track from bleak to full-on perturbing.
06:57The instrumental contrasts the disturbing lyricism, creating a layered track that has remained a standout in their discography.
07:04She calmed me off my guard, amazes me the will, it will sting.
07:13Kim, Eminem.
07:15Yesterday I changed the diaper, wiped you and powdered you.
07:19How did you get so pink? Can't believe it, now you're too.
07:23While the rapper is certainly no stranger to incorporating themes of violence in his music,
07:28this was clearly where he nearly took it too far.
07:31Eminem's contentious relationship with his ex-wife is well-known by this point,
07:36with Kim serving as the peak of his fury.
07:46In the emotionally intense piece, he lays out a fictional scenario wherein he kills her new partner before doing the same to her.
07:55He eventually imitates her screamed pleas for him to stop,
07:59which mingle with his own infuriated shouting in a truly discordant way.
08:04Where you going? Get back here!
08:06You can't run from me, Kim!
08:07It's just us!
08:08Nobody else!
08:10You're only making this harder on yourself!
08:12His usual humor was missing,
08:14making it clear that while the events didn't take place,
08:18he meant every last word.
08:20Song of Joy
08:21Nick Cave
08:23A project composed entirely of murder ballads was bound to have plenty of dark content.
08:38One clearly stands out as the most frightening.
08:41Song of Joy is gripping from the very first second.
08:46Cave tells the story of a man who meets the love of his life,
08:50only for him to later find her and their daughters murdered in their own home.
08:55This grisly description of the events combined with the dark, steadily ramping production,
09:00creates a genuinely gripping story that will leave the listener entranced and unsettled all at once.
09:07My girls were robbed of their lives
09:10Method of murder, much the same as my wives
09:14The final twist of The Knife is the ambiguous ending,
09:19where it's revealed that the perpetrator may have been the narrator himself.
09:23Do you, sir, have a room?
09:26Are you pecking to me?
09:27Ballad of Hollis Brown
09:33Ballad of Hollis Brown
09:33Bob Dylan
09:34Hollis Brown
09:37He lived on the outside of town
09:40Murder ballads aren't anything new.
09:45Artists have been creating them for centuries.
09:48Bob Dylan was no exception to this,
09:51penning several throughout his career.
09:53Ballad of Hollis Brown is one of his bleakest songs to date,
09:58and all it takes is one listen to understand why.
10:02Across nearly a dozen verses,
10:04Dylan tells the story of a man undergoing financial woes,
10:09leading to him and his family going hungry.
10:12As it continues,
10:14Hollis grows more desperate for relief,
10:16culminating in him shooting his family
10:18before turning the gun on himself.
10:23Seven shots ring out like the ocean's pounding roar
10:27Being sung through a second-person point of view
10:31forces the listener to put themselves into his shoes,
10:35creating a disturbingly relatable piece
10:37on how extreme poverty can affect a person's psyche.
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11:05Closer
11:05Though the content itself is meant to be unsettling,
11:17the most disturbing part is the way it was received.
11:21Every aspect of Closer was seemingly designed
11:24to be as unsettling as possible,
11:27from the distorted production
11:28to the lyrics detailing the narrator's extreme self-hatred
11:32and how it manifests in his relationships.
11:35The intended toxicity comes to a head in the chorus,
11:39as he makes his unhealthy obsession clear.
11:49Unfortunately, it was taken in the exact opposite way
11:53upon being released,
11:55with many listeners interpreting it
11:57in a purely lustful way.
11:59It was taken so far out of context
12:01that it was voted one of the sexiest songs of all time,
12:05showing that even the darkest of messages
12:07can be lost if they're catchy enough.
12:17What song disturbs you the most?
12:20Let us know in the comments below.
12:22And I feel like I'm being eaten by
12:25a thousand million shivering furry holes.