The two I can think of are:
- It’s Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind is the usual one I see brought up.
Push by Matchbox 20 and Possum Kingdom by Toadies are arguable ones.
Also, Richard Cheese covers a lot of raunchy and dark stuff in a vegas lounge singer style. Rape Me sung in a cheesy upbeat tone is a trip.
I wouldn’t say Possum Kingdom is upbeat even in sound.
Agreed. Maybe if it were set to the tune of Mr. Bluesky…
Please tell us guy
Please tell us why
You showed us your dark secret
Seeecret
I fucking love Richard Cheese, especially his cover of Closer.
Omg, this is a true pickmeup 🤣🤣
The intro sounds like it’s some Blues Brothers number and then… I want to violate you
Check out his close friend and confidant, Johnny Aloha!
I do love the Richard Cheese cover of Down With The Sickness.
I wouldn’t say Push is up-beat. Or at least the fact that the refrain is so openly negative undercuts that vibe with immediacy, in comparison with Semi-Charmed Life, for example, where you don’t realize it’s all horrible unless you pay close attention.
The only 2 songs I could think of, Pumped Up Kicks, and 99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons were already brought up. So I had to think of some different songs. And I can’t. Looked through a bunch of songs on my phone and back of some of my CD cases and I can’t think of any right now.
Closest I can think of was just a video of someone reacting to the Japanese vocaloid song 「ごめんね ごめんね」 ( I’m sorry I’m sorry )by Kikuo and not knowing what the song meant until looking up the lyrics. Even then, that’s not a very upbeat song.
Edit:
I thought about “Belong” by R.E.M., but I would say it’s near upbeat but not quite there. Also, the lyrics are more cryptic and confusing to dissect than depressing in my opinion.
Edit 2:
Wouldn’t say it’s quite upbeat either, but Mighty K.C. from For Squirrels as well. Not quite upbeat but definitely depressing lyrics considering it’s about death.
Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger?
This was one I would absolutely belt out in the car when I was so over the DC life.
I’m not sick, but I’m not well
Born in the USA
Someone’s boat was blasting that at the 4th of July on the water. My brother in Christ, I understood the lyrics back in 1984. It’s a jammin’ tune, but damn.
Someone else mentioned this too, but if anyone is into Japanese songs: I think there are probably more songs (especially Vocaloid ones) with extremely messed-up (and convoluted) lyrics than those that do not… I don’t think most of them are well-known outside anime/vocaloid circles though. Trying to think about the more “cute and depressing” ones I could find:
NSFL
- Iyowa - Kyu-Kurarin: song is extremely cute. Supposedly implies breakup and suicide
- MikitoP - Shoujo Rei: involves two girls and one of them killed herself
- Mili - Nine Point Eight: one of my all time favorited; the title is somewhat self-explanatory
These are just what I could think of for now… A lot of songs with mentions of depression, suicide, etc… Other forms of messup, Telecaster B Boy is about being trans & not fitting in society I believe (song is a banger)
And this one is not “depressing” as-is, but Senbonzakura (that super famous Japan-esque song sung by Hatsune Miku that everyone has heard of) is about Imperial/WWII Japan sooo… take that as you will
Nothing but Flowers by Talking Heads is a cheerful song about post-apocalyptic life.
Little talks - of monsters and men
It sounds very chill and upbeat but it’s about the loss of a loved oneI had a period where I could not listen to this one. It hit too hard.
A solid majority of Bastille’s discography comes to mind, though not as outright depressing as Pumped Up Kicks or Youth of a Nation, most of their tracks tend to be very instrumentally upbeat and lively, with gorgeous vocals, but thematically darker lyrics / topics. Happier comes to mind as immediately fitting the prompt (and having enough radio play to be recognizable), but The Draw, Haunt, and Skulls also fit well (I’d also included their cover of City High’s What Would You Do, also long as being a cover isn’t a immediate disqualifier).
I feel like they’re kind of slept on since they don’t get a whole lot of radio play outside of a handful of songs, but all their other work is just so good. Personal top favorite artist, hands down.
It’d be hard for a song with a title like “Pompeii” to be anything but dark, LOL
Hey Jealousy by The Gin Blossoms comes to mind.
Polish Dancing Cow song is upbeat and catchy but the lyrics are about a man struggling with his cocaine addiction.
most of the after laughter album by paramore
also hey ya by outkast is often played at weddings while being about a relationship failing
Pumped up kicks by foster the people
Bad Moon Rising by Creedence.
It’s about the apocalypse, but you wouldn’t know it from how upbeat it is.
Ah, rhe bathroom song.
If they didn’t use this song in True Blood or just about any other campy Mississippi delta monster/ slasher film, then they done messed up.
I could only make it through the first season of True Blood, having read all the books that were available at the time. I actually learned about the book series and the show from a SDCC panel (we wanted good seats for the panel immediately after the True Blood one). Watching as Charlaine Harris’s fans lost their everloving minds got me all curious.
