How can music be depressing?
 

Deserves it's own thread.

I don't udnerstand how a song can be depressing. The only instance surely, is if that particular song kicks off a memory associated with it.

A song in it's own right depressing? Why would music make you feel depressed?

Music is beautiful. Music can be good, bad, indifferent, depending on ones tatse. But why would it invoke a sad or depressed feeling after listening?

Any opinions?

A downtempo song can easily be depressing without invoking memories. How can anyone not be depressed when they hear this?

Music, like all art, is a way of expressing feeling. Sometimes that feeling is joyous, sometimes it's angry, sometimes it's excited, sometimes it's depressing. Honestly, if you don't understand this I'm kind of curious why you'd even listen to music at all.

So your saying that everyone who has just clicked on that and listened, now enters a period feeling depressed?

It might be down tempo, but I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would listen to that track and be anything other than inspired, uplifted and full of awe at what an amazing song it is.

Unless you just don't liek that type of music, in which case fair enough.

I udnerstand the expression. Of course. But if a songwriter writes a song about being depressed, surely the object is not to make the listener depressed? The object is to write a terrific song.

What I'm getting at is that there is so much music that is dismissed as "depressing" just because it's downbeat, slow or whatever. I think the term is overused and inaccurate.

Because others may be able to relate the song to the feeling of depression.

GrapevineFires; if your mother died it wouldn't mean anything to me. I wouldn't be depressed however the situation would effect you in a different way.

If I hear a particular piece of music and it evokes images of a time, a place and event which is synonymous to me with the feeling of depression, then yes obviously I will feel that emotion.

People react to things in different ways. D'uh.

You've clearly not read the opening post.

erm. see above.

I think the object is to create a terrific song that communicates depression. The result is a depressing song, which if it evokes that much emotion, is a powerful piece of art. I think you're confusing subject matter with quality here.

I don't think it's a way of dismissing music at all, it's simply a way of describing the mood of the music. There's a lot of music I love which I'd describe as "depressing". That doesn't mean I'm dismissing it, it means I find very emotionally powerful.

Theres nothing that says music is depressing, nor is there anything that says music is out of key. Everything is a Western Construct, but to remove music from culture is to make music just noise.

LOL I take it you've never listened to The Smiths.

Seriously though a lot of my favourite music I would describe as melancholy. As much as I enjoy it I also find that if I listen to too much of it I can get lost in it. Admittedly I am prone to depression but to say that there is no inherent sadness in the music would kind of miss the point. I think artists frequently exploit the inherent power in the darker moments of life.

I don't see how you can answer this question without it being personal.

Music is an expression of the soul. I don't think a musician would try to program how the audience feel. Again personal.

That's surprisingly a genre of music...

One of my favourites. Never ocne have I felt depressed listening to them.

sadness. yep. I see lots of it in music. But to actively get depressed by it? Feel down after listening to it?

To me that's madness.

What is?

This is a different question than you had originally asked. A song being depressing is not the same as a song making you depressed.

But, being depressed is not a positive thing. Therefore the music is having a negative effect. "Depressing" is not good.

I listen to alot of music that people would describe as downbeat and melancholic. That's because I find it the most beautiful. The most inspiring and the most uplifting. This is why I feel there is a misconception over the term "depressing". That term for me, is a negative state of mind. And anything that does that to you should be avoided.

Music is not depressing, in my humble opinion.

No, your opinion is that music doesn't cause depression.

Well thanks for telling me my opinion, but I'd extend that to say music doesn't cause depression, doesn't sound depressing.

Depressing is a lazy, inaccurate word to use when music or any art is concerned.

Noise.

Funny that you chose that song. I'm just watching Father Ted where he inadvertently cheered up a depressed priest by playing Shaft but the priest's mood reverted to depression when he heard that song on the bus on his way home.

There is definitely beauty in melancholy but it's possibly more an indication of your own resilience that music never depresses you.

Yes the same happenend with a Billie Holliday song I think. Banned in a few countries.

cheers will give it a go

When I hear something like 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' or pretty much anything written by Jim Steinman, or if I have to listen to the braying idiocy of modern country, where some asselope takes yet another jingoistic phrase like 'Don't Count yer Chickens' and turns it into a rollicking tune, when I hear one of those awful American Idol singers flailing away at some pop standard, when I hear music like that, I get depressed. There is no other word for it. Don't tell me music can't be depressing....Would that it were true.

Yup. Good point there. Especially with those reality tv shows.

Once again, you're confusing subject matter with quality here. Not all art deals in positive emotions, that doesn't make it bad art.

Let me put it this way: Have you ever seen a movie that was sad? If so, does the fact that it was sad mean that it was a crappy movie?

I hate to break it to you, but melancholy is also a negative state of mind.

Yes

No.

Not sure of your point sorry.

Then we need to think fo a better word to describe it. One that's positive.

It's really not that hard to follow, but let me break it down for you:

1. Sadness is a negative emotion.
2. Some movies are sad.
3. Some of these sad movies are good movies.
4. Therefore it is obviously possible for a movie to evoke a negative emotion while still being a good movie.

Now let's apply the same logic to depressing music:

1. Depression is a negative emotion.
2. Some music is depressing.
3. Some of this depressing music is good music.
4. Therefore it is obviously possible for a piece of music to evoke a negative emotion while still being good music.

How would that make sense? As I’ve said before, you’re confusing content with artistic quality. They aren’t the same thing. To pick an example from literature: The content of Lord of the Flies is depressing and disturbing, but the artistic quality of the book is excellent. It’s a good book because it expresses what it expresses so well, but what it expresses is definitely quite depressing and disturbing.

But you've jumped to the conclusion that the sad movie has made the viewer depressed. Because of it's content.

If this is the case, then that person must be rather unstable - to have his or her entire frame of mind chanegd by a movie.

Right. But my problem is that people use the term "depressing music" as a detrimental term. Hinting that all music that is melanholic is bad. Because depression is bad.

I guess this is just a matter of opinion. Perhaps I am stronger mentally then. Because I've never listened to a song or watched a movie and then though how awful everything is.

Actually you're the one who has jumped to that conclusion, not me.

The only person I've seen doing that so far is you.

I think the real issue here is probably that you simply don't know what the word "depressing" means.

Well perhaps. Just thought I'd invoke debate.

This isn't the friendliest forum, I must say.

I'm not sure what you expected coming in and making an ill-informed instigating remark.

We just expect our users to be open minded and reasonable, and they see that behaviour returned when they deliver it.

Apologies for that. Which remark was illinformed and what did it instigate?

It is what you make of it.

OK, to be fair I think this is a decent topic to be talking about.
In the most simple sense, music written with the intention of expressing the sad feelings of the writer in a way that makes it obvious what their feelings are is what would usually be labelled "depressing", because it's attempting to share something with the listener, in this case an idea of what it's like to be them.

Just for the record, that's what I'd see as good songwriting. In one sense I don't mind what emotion the writer is trying to convey, I'm more interested in them doing it well.
I'd prefer to hear an insightfully written song that conveyed the feelings of sadness over a tacky, inane song about some poorly expressed sense of happiness.

Furthermore, I'd like to question the merit of complaining about something being "unjustly" labelled depressing. When you are unhappy, you want to hear someone who knows what it's like to be you, or who knows what you're going through. I see that as something of value, and would object to that being labelled as a bad thing.

Come to a pick a fight, have ya? Well I'm your man.

You're showing me that you don't really grasp linguistic nuance while you're also saying you know a thing or two about word-choice; Why is depressing a lazy word? What word would you use instead? What do you think music does to people that the rest of us plebs are calling "depressing."

I look forward to the free enlightenment I'm going to get, and on behalf of all MB - thank you.

Yeah but they're still bouncing that off the wall of culture. The noise, being intentional, is still working around the parameters of culture, even if its flouting them. Noise in culture has direction.

Noise outside of culture is functional at best. At worse, the result of things moving and the chaos of the universe. A wildfire makes noise, but thats not the same noise as an album called noise, thats intentionally making sounds to sound like it has no order.

Yes I agree - it's not necessarily good or bad, it's just part of the human condition. If you relate to a song like 'Ramblin' Man' by Hank Williams - there can, on one level, be a certain satisfaction in seeing yourself in that song - I'm a Ramblin' Man! Hank GETS me! - but on another level, it's a sad song because Hank is also saying, baby I love you but this is the way I am - and you can relate to that too. It might indeed leave you feeling a little depressed, but just finding that you have something to relate to, that you're not necessarily alone in how you feel can be a very enriching and valid experience, even if it's not always a happy one.

Well put mate!

I was wanting to say something on these lines but you've put it better.
Taking that slightly further, I was reflecting a bit along the following lines: the OP referred to music being depressing "apart from bringing up depressing memories".

I'd like to suggest that this isn't so simple - we can only feel sad through music because we already know what it's like to feel sadness and to be unhappy. Basically, I was listening to "How to Grow a Woman From the Ground" two nights ago, and the very fact that it was so sad and the imagery of the song so dark yet sung so beautifully , made me reflect on an intensely painful memory of the last month, the sequence of events playing out in slow motion. And the song made me sad because although it had no connection to the events it made me sad by association the emotions with the ones I felt.

So the point is that songs may have the effects of producing emotions in the listener which are depressing.

By pointing it out I was hoping to mean that there are still intentional artistic qualities that can be evoked with such presentation. I never once implied that it had no culture, but merely surprised how music could be used.

A song doesn't have to be written in a depressing tone or mood to evoke those feelings. Every time I hear a bad cover version of a classic, a "clubbed-up" slow song (Harry's Game, I'm looking at you!) or a pointless extended mix of something that wasn't too good in the first place, I can get depressed. Sometimes it's more a sense of loss, something that was great has been, erm, bastardised and sterilised for the mass market --- "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen is one such. There are good versions, certainly, but there are some woeful ones. So the song may not have been written to be depressing, but it may evoke these feelings for other reasons.

One of the guys made a great point here earlier: sometimes the link your mind and heart makes to a song can make it depressing. I had an experience like this with Dan Fogelberg's "Windows and walls", as it reminded me my mother liked it and soon after she died I found myself crying when I played it. James Blunt's "No bravery" makes me cry, just because of the lyric content and how soulful and intense and yet simple it is. "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan always catches in my throat. It can be the arrangement of the song, the way it's sung, the lyrics, the mood it evokes, anything.

Remember, we don't all want to be happy happy chappies all the time. That would be unhealthy. Sometimes the pressures of life get to you and you want to slide into a morass of depression: the only way then to get out of it is to go through it, and sad music can aid that process. Depressing/sad music also shows the amount of their heart and soul that the artiste has put into writing the song. Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird" is another one: always tear up, not sure why. It just has that effect on me.

Now, if you listen to depressing music ALL the time, then sure that's not good. But there most certainly is music that is meant to be depressive: have you never heard of the subgenre Depressive Black Suicidal Metal?

Also, I would say the reason you're seeing this forum as unfriendly is down to you: you've come in, asked a question and proceeded not only to take apart everyone's reply because they don't agree with you, but you have in fact been quite rude and for someone who's only here a wet day that is not advisable. As a pure point of courtesy from one human being to another it's also not so clever, and then to hit back at US for not being friendly...!:confused:

Music can be depressing generally when the song has the volin. Usually then the song can be very depressing because it could be a song of a tribute to a musician or a person you know. Also music can be depressing with someone's tone. Some singers like to sound too emotional and that usually means that they might be depressed themselves and they want you to feel their pain.

Jesus what's with all the personal stabs?