Top 10 Rock Songs With DARK and DISTURBING Lyrics

#10: “Sex Type Thing” (1992)Stone Temple Pilots

It can occasionally be a risk for a songwriter to compose lyrics from the perspective of a dark or villainous character. Take, for example, the critical backlash that initially affected “Sex Type Thing” by Stone Temple Pilots. Frontman Scott Weiland was accused by some journalists of glamorizing and glorifying sexual assault within this song’s lyrics. This is despite the protagonist of “Sex Type Thing” existing as a creation separate from Weiland’s own personal views on sexuality. It then becomes a slippery slope. Does an artist risk alienating certain sectors of their fanbase by taking such a risk, or let the chips fall where they may in favor of exploring humanity’s dark side>

#9: “The End” (1967)The Doors

There will probably never be any disassociating this classic track by The Doors from its inclusion on the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola’s epic war film, “Apocalypse Now.” “The End” is an epic slice of the psychedelic era, while also making great use out of frontman Jim Morrison’s penchant for poetry. The musical arrangements slither around like a snake before “The End” reaches a conflagratory conclusion, one where Morrison grunts and howls like a wild animal. It’s during this ending coda where the singer recites an ode to Oedipus, juxtaposing the end of youth with matricidal lust and malicious intent.

#8: “A Little Piece of Heaven” (2007)Avenged Sevenfold

The fourth LP from Avenged Sevenfold was notable for how the group decided to experiment with different sounds. “A Little Piece of Heaven” is a macabre operetta of murder and revenge, a twisted tale of love gone horribly wrong. The protagonist here not only does the unthinkable to his girlfriend after taking her life, the latter comes back from beyond to settle the score. Then, in an even more perverse twist, both characters reconcile and start a killing spree of their own, together. It’s the sort of twisted, pitch-black humor that was part-and-parcel for a lot of the Avenged Sevenfold experience.

#7: “Where the Wild Roses Grow” (1995)Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

It’s sort of difficult to narrow down a particular favorite from Nick Cave and the Bed Seed’s seemingly endless list of dark and depressing tunes. “Where the Wild Roses Grow” is taken from the group’s ninth album, “Murder Ballads,” and it delivers exactly what’s promised by that album title. The song features Cave and collaborator Kylie Minogue delivering the kind of old-fashioned murder ballad one might find within the annals of classic country music. A tale of courtship that turns into murder; a brutal killing with one chilling lyrical justification from its perpetrator. “All beauty must die.”

#6: “D.O.A.” (1971)Bloodrock

We don’t normally associate the world of heavy and riffy arena rock to feature songs this dark, never mind ones that actually go on to become a hit on the Billboard Hot 100! “D.O.A.” was taken from Bloodrock’s second LP, and almost immediately amps up the creep factor to eleven. The song is a real-time recollection of someone who is dying from injuries sustained in a plane crash. The protagonist describes the “distant stare” of his girlfriend, and comments on his grave injuries. It’s truly disturbing to hear death described in this manner, and Bloodrock gives it their all with both the music and lyrics. Frontman Jim Rutledge sounds legitimately on edge with performance, while the Hammond organ accompaniment feels intentionally like a funeral dirge.

#5: “Dead Skin Mask” (1995)

Slayer

The subject of serial killers is one that’s never too far removed from the world of extreme, underground heavy metal. This went double for Slayer, who specialized in seeking out humanity’s darkest and most depraved corners for their lyrical inspiration. “Dead Skin Mask” utilized Ed Gein, “The Butcher of Plainfield,” as the subject for its lyrics, but it’s not only the song’s content that makes it feel dark. There’s how Matt Polish, a friend of the group’s, had his voice pitch-shifted higher to make it sound like a young child. The voice’s haunting pleas to be let out of captivity just adds to how “Dead Skin Mask” captures the crimes of Ed Gein in such an effectively creepy manner.

#4: “Revolution Blues” (1974)Neil Young

The death of Charles Manson in 2017 hasn’t seemed to have stopped the tales that continue to be told or recalled from those who met the infamous criminal when he was alive. Neil Young’s “On the Beach” album from 1974 is something of a cult piece, and features within its track listing a memory of Manson, titled “Revolution Blues.” Young was inspired to write the song after being introduced to Manson via the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, and the song directly references the troubled Laurel Canyon music scene that Manson so desperately wanted to join. The tune is an inspired one, musically, featuring upbeat drumming and great guitar soloing, while Young’s occasionally violent lyrics cast a dark shadow back towards the “Summer of Love.”

#3: “One” (1989)Metallica

It’s virtually impossible at this point to separate the intensely depressing music video for Metallica’s “One” (their first) and the song’s lyrical retelling of the 1971 film “Johnny Got His Gun.” This adaptation of the Dalton Trumbo novel is paid proper tribute by James Hetfield’s lyrics, which describe the film’s protagonist's existence within a living hell. This victim of war has no arms, legs or face. He wants to die, but cannot, and nobody from the military or medical sectors will assist him in self-destruction. It’s a most morbid of cautionary tales where there seems to be no hope, save oblivion.

#2: “I Love the Dead” (1973)Alice Cooper

It was on albums like 1973’s “Billion Dollar Babies” where Alice Cooper’s legacy as The King of Shock Rock was forged. This was an album that closed with one of The Coop’s all-time, classically creepy tunes: “I Love the Dead.” This ode to love after death served as one of the cornerstones to Cooper’s macabre stage show, and his band still regularly performs the song, at least in medley form, to this day. Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly enough? This wouldn’t even be the last time Alice explored this sort of morbid material, since his classic “Welcome to My Nightmare” LP from ‘75 contained yet another example with “Cold Ethyl.”

#1: “Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me” (1993)

Motörhead

Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead was a prolific songwriter who was able to write much more than just two-fisted heavy metal bangers. “Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me” was an effective yet lyrically horrifying example of how Lemmy was just as formidable at composing power-ballads. The songwriter revealed in his autobiography, “White Line Fever,” how “Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me” was initially offered to both Joan Jett and Lita Ford. Lemmy’s male narrator within the tune feels like he’s (justifiably) casting judgment upon this most awful of crimes, and the song spares little details when it comes to what’s happening to its poor little girl. “Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me” is a song that, once heard, will never be forgotten.

What are your thoughts about artists’ decision to delve into the lyrical dark side? Let us know in the comments.