Songs For Dark Times

I wasn't really feeling like posting today. I just kind of wanted to tune everything out, turn the thoughts in my head into white noise and then just sleep for a few days, y'know? But the thing is that I committed myself to doing this properly, to show that I can keep doing it. It's also really not a good idea to just lie there thinking about how bad you feel, it's just a vicious cycle of self-hatred. So I thought; "why not do something productive with this? There's loads of people out there who feel like this, and we can maybe do a little bit to help them pass the time."
I will do this in the form of music. Music for when you feel like there's nothing there, or when you feel like everything's there and it's stampeding in through your eyes and ears and stabbing your brain and it's too much. Music to make you feel better, or at least to give you some respite from feeling at all, without resorting to unhealthy methods. Or at least, that's what I hope it'll do. It's going to start off pretty dark, anyway.
I'll give you fair warning; this is going to contain My Chemical Romance songs.

Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
I don't know why I want to start with this one really. I suppose it just kind of sets the mood. Very gloomy, but also sparkly, which is good.

My Chemical Romance - I Never Told You What I Do For A Living
It's a song that I really under-appreciated for a while, because it's the very last song on the Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge album. But I really love it. It's just all this blood and anger, it's like a murderous rampage - and it's got awesome lyrics; "Another knife in my hands, a stain that never comes off the sheets, clean me off, I'm so dirty babe, it ain't the money and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame, it's for the bodies I claim and lose". Gerard's vocals are so distressed and raw on this, I just jf;lfja;ldjfa;ljfasdl

The Blackout - Hard Slammin'
I have this habit of skipping most of the songs on an album, so it took me ages before I found this one - I think it crept up on me while I was listening to my iPod one day. I am very glad that this happened, because this is an amazing song and really makes me wish I knew how to scream (pretty much all of Sean Smith's vocals make me wish I knew how to scream really, he's amazing at it). Plus I love the breakdown bit in the middle, with erm . . . with the screaming. Yeah.

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
Time for a little respite from the furious songs from before; a bit of time to get your breath back and just releeeaasseeee the tensssioonnnn. It's working on me, at least. This is a brilliant song, as all Gorillaz songs are (I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like Gorillaz). It's sort of a bit sad, but also really chilled and a little bit romantic, lyrics-wise. And also, you think that maybe the manatee is a metaphor for something in the lyrics, but then the video's like ". . . no, there's a big hill and it's got a fuckin' huge manatee on it".

Pierce The Veil - Hold On Till May (feat. Lindsey Stamey)
I have a lot of love for this song. It's pulled me back from some bad places on quite a lot of occasions, not only because it sounds so beautiful, but it actually means something. Vic's said in the past that it's about a friend of his who was neglected by her parents, so to see if they cared she used to do crazy stuff like climbing really high up trees to see how long it took them to notice she was gone, and it stayed with her for life. You may not have been neglected by your parents, but you can feel abandoned by a lot of different people. I like it because of the sort of dialogue part; "If I were you, I'd put that away - see you're just wasted and thinking about the past again, darling you'll be ok." "If you were me, you'd do the same. 'Cause I can't take any more, I'll draw the shades and close the door, everything's not alright, and I would rather . . .". It's not just doing the 'it gets better routine', it's speaking from the other side as well, the hurt and confused side.

My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words
Skip this one if you're still a bit sore. I am, too, but I think what we need to remember here is that, like they said, the message of the band lives on. They saved your lives before, and they can do it again. Just listen to the message in the songs. That's why I love this one. It's not cheerful, by any means, it's written from inside a very dark place. But it's still defiant. It's that feeling of down-but-not-out, that as hurt and dark and shitty as you may feel, it's not over and you will go out kicking and screaming if you have to.

Suicide Silence - You Only Live Once
THIS IS THE TRUE FUCKING MEANING OF YOLO.
Get back into fighting mode, thrash about to this, it's amazing and it makes me swear very loudly. Despite what you might think because of your preconcieved notions about bands with names like 'Suicide Silence', this is actually a pretty motivational song - "Live life hard, you only get one shot, so shoot!" - with the most amazing start I have ever heard in my life. Plus, there is the message of the singer, the late legend Mitch Lucker himself; "Keep listening to music, 'cause it gets you through everything, I promise". So there you go. You only live once, so just go fucking nuts.

Sleeping With Sirens - Do It Now, Remember It Later
It's a nice happy/angry song (I like angry songs) about doing . . . whatever you want, screw the consequences and screw the opinions of others, because you should do what makes you happy, regardless of what other people think is cool (unless you're hurting someone without their prior consent or taking advantage of someone). Get up and dance and sing, bitches.

My Chemical Romance - Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back
I Don't Even Care It's My Blog And If I Want To Post Loads Of MCR I Can (Stop Typing With Your Arse Because I Don't Care About Your Shitty Opinions). That's Fall Out Boy's next song, and I co-wrote it. Anyway, I love this one because it's all rock'n'roll and shouty and get-out-of-my-way-I've-got-a-laser-gun-and-I'm-wearing-rainbow-pants. See what an improvement it's made? An hour ago I was seeing in black and white, except mostly black.

So that's my attempt to try and make you feel better if you're feeling low. It's worked on me, definitely. It might not make you feel on top of the world, but I hope it at least gives you a short rest from the inside of your head.