Messed Up Love Songs

61 thoughts on “Messed Up Love Songs”

1. My favorite fucked up love song is probably the Afghan Whigs’ “What Jail is Like”.

   Also I’m a big fan of that Garbage song, which is not a garbage song.

   What can I say? I was a teenager in the ’90s.

   1. I’ve actually never heard that before, thanks, I really liked it.

      1. Awesome.

         The whole album is good. Probably my favorite junior year of high school.

         (In retrospect, I can see why the message that romantic relationships are horribly painful might appeal to a perpetually dateless 17 year old.)

2. Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith – Not in love

   1. Love it! Thanks!

   2. Honestly tho, the whole idea of “messed up love songs” from Crystal Castles is … well … it’s a thing.

3. My favorites (probably a good thing I’m already married):

   I Hold Your Hand in Mine
   Skullcrusher Mountain

   1. I’m not sure its possible to beat the poignant lovelorn question for the ages:

      “Isn’t it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?”

      Skullcrusher Mountain speaks to me.

      1. There’s still time left in the day to make your own and give it to your valentine: http://www.bmgbiz.net/ponkey.html

         1. …and I was just starting to panic. Thanks.

   2. On humorous bad love side, add

      How can I miss you if you won’t go away?

      1. Check out “Baby I Love You” by The Yayhoos. You may recognize it as the closing song of the horror/comedy Slither.

         1. Oh, jeez. And that reminds me of this one.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkAUCWbUpJM

      2. That’s a fun one. Reminded me thematically of this parody that was topical a couple of months ago (I assume everyone saw it at the time, but just in case…).

         1. That’s great!
            Thanks. I don’t know how I missed it.

      3. Heh. That’s pretty funny!

   3. Hahahahaha! Unbelievably awesome thank you so much!

4. I love this! All my favorite love songs are of the obsessed/crazy/toxic love variety so this is right up my alley. You even named a few of them- #1 Crush, Love the Way You Lie, Bad Romance.
   Also, Make Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless
   A bunch of Fiona Apple
   Call Me a Dog by Temple of the Dog
   Sanctified by NIN
   Habits by Tove Lo
   I could go on but I won’t.
   Great piece Kristin!

   1. I actually thought about including Habits but I have something planned for next month…

      Thanks for the suggestions!

5. Then there is the “file a restraining order now!” genre. The classic example is, of course, The Police’s Every Breath You Take. But this is my favorite. It starts out as a classic “she done him wrong” song, until it comes out that the wrong was telling him to go away, But he won’t let that stop him! Disturblingly enough, I think this is meant to be romantic, not a giant red flag.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5JXiwJ_B8

   1. Yes. There are way too many songs like Creepy, Creepy Love but that aren’t parody.

   2. This fits in there with my genre of songs where if someone just waits around long enough, the person who isn’t interested will suddenly become interested and that loyalty will be rewarded.
      Thanks!

6. Gotta get my nine inch nails in.
   Reptile from the Downward Spiral
   [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhkXxmnYHc?start=55&w=560&h=315%5D

   And an earlier one. Sin from Pretty Hate Machine:
   [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEWdjtMmqGo?start=55&w=560&h=315%5D

   1. Aaah, thanks – can’t leave out NIN in any such list

7. There are only three types of love songs:
   1. Baby, I love you
   2. Baby, I love you and miss you
   3. Baby, I love you and want to get into your pants

8. I don’t like Bruce Springsteen much, but “The Fever” is pretty damned tough to beat.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mLmoR3WhX0

   1. Me either, but yeah, that’s good.

9. Meatloaf has some amazing messed up love songs. Everyone knows “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”, but there’s “2 Out 3 Ain’t Bad” and far lesser know “Dead Ringer for Love” which has this wonderfully duet ending with this set of lyrics:

   “..You got the kind of mind that does less than think
   But since I’m feeling kinda lonely and my defenses are low
   Why don’t you give it a shot and get it ready to go
   I’m looking for anonymous and fleeting satisfaction
   And I want to tell my daddy I’ll be missing in action
   Ever since I can remember I’ve been hanging ’round this joint
   My daddy never noticed, now he’ll finally get the point
   You got me beggin’ on my knees, c’mon and throw the dog a bone
   A man he doesn’t live by rock ‘n roll and brew alone
   Baby baby Rock ‘n roll and brew, rock ‘n roll and brew
   They don’t mean a thing when I compare ’em next to you
   Rock ‘n roll and brew, rock ‘n roll and brew
   I know that you and I oh we got better things to do
   I don’t know who you are or what you do, or where you go when you’re not around
   I don’t know anything about you baby, but you’re everything
   I’m dreaming of I don’t know who you are, but you’re a real dead ringer for love
   A real dead ringer for love
   Dead ringer for love
   Dead ringer for love, dead ringer?”

   1. You are totally right and before I turned this into a mostly-female list I had him on there as a possibility. Thanks as always for reading/commenting!

10. Good stuff Kristin.

    Ain’t No Sunshine-Bill Withers
    Paint it Black-The Rolling Stones
    Sundown-Gordon Lightfoot
    Drops of Jupiter-Train
    The Valley Road-Bruce Hornsby and the Range
    Dark Nights-Dorothy
    Cold Cold Heart-Hank Williams
    Rose in Paradise-Waylon Jennings

    1. If anybody’s bored, here’s a playlist that includes at least some of the songs that have already been mentioned here, but that also has Mazzy Star, Alicia Keys, Sam Cooke, UNKLE, Big Mama Thornton, and They Might Be Giants.

       1. Thanks.

    2. If you’ve got Paint It Black on your list, you should also have Black by Pearl Jam. But those are more heartbreak songs.

       Elvis Costello’s label asked him to do a light-mood love song to get back on the charts. This is what he wrote:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knTvHRz_qnU

       1. “I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life
          I know you’ll be a star
          In somebody else’s sky”

          I avoid that song because I lived that part in color, it’s hard to hear it again.

          1. “…but why, why can’t it be mine?”

             Yeah. I don’t care who you are, if you’re 14 or older, that line is a gut punch. The live version of that song, from On Two Legs, has one of my favorite guitar leads. The guitar, the vocals, everything about that song is coughing up blood by the end. The vocals aren’t even words by that point. There’s an acoustic live version that’s pretty good, too.

             1. Perfect synopsis. Love PJ and love this song.

    3. Ah I love these, except for Dorothy, which I hadn’t heard before, and then listened to, and also love! Thank you!

       1. Your very welcome, something about that song appeals to my dark side.

11. Add to this list a lot of stuff from Halestorm for instance

    https://youtu.be/YpJAmlnBxoA

    https://youtu.be/FmkHqUwa4zg

    I’m pretty surprised that Alanis Morisette is not in this list

    https://youtu.be/NPcyTyilmYY

    1. I deliberately skipped Alanis. I had a list of obvious choices to sprinkle in and I decided she’d be better off used in a different application.

       Love me some Halestorm and I actually meant to include them and forgot to. Thank you!

       1. I deliberately skipped Alanis.

          Thanks!

12. No “See How We Are?” by X

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPf286i_Wa0

    1. Interesting song, thanks.

13. Or we can stick with poetry. Here is Having a Coke with You by Frank O’Hara:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDLwivcpFe8

    1. Nice. Thanks.

14. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side by the Magnetic Fields:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhO1XlDFqxE

    1. This guy may be in for a surprise. Attractiveness doesn’t work the same for girls as it does for dudes. He may end up with a girlfriend at the end of it all.

15. Disco 2000 by Pulp:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJS3xnD7Mus

16. To compliment the OP, Vinegar Valentine’s.
    https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vinegar-valentines-victorian

    1. I read a lot of books from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s and people used to be quite mean to each other. It was largely codified into society (as the vinegar valentines prove)

       I sometimes wonder if we just were so lucky to live through a brief and shining period of history where people looked askance at freely criticizing one another, and the era of social media is just a return to form. Humans doing more of their human thing.

17. Babies by Pulp

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38by00DGid0

18. Also the great Common People by Pulp

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM

19. Ahem, Loverman by Nick Cave

    L is for LOVE, baby
    O is for O yes I do
    V is for VIRTUE, so I ain’t gonna hurt you
    E is for EVEN if you want me to
    R is for RENDER unto me, baby
    M is for that which is MINE
    A is for ANY old how, darling
    N is for ANY old time

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P51IVqf28Hs

20. A love song for… a Road? Well, it is Lake Shore Drive.

    But isn’t the Anthem for Ironic Love songs: Song for Whoever
    {We were so young}

    I started make an Ironic Love Song list, but stopped when I realized it was mostly just Beautiful South songs. The again, given our demographics, maybe this is the Perfect messed-up love song for Valentines.

21. Mamacita by Outkast is spectacularly messed up.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnHzhK0te5Q

22. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, in which Dylan tries to tells a woman he’s leaving, except that she’s never paid him any attention before, so why should she start now?

    1. Wow I’ve listened to that song quite a few times and never got that – but now it’s obvious.

       Thanks!

23. My favorite messed up love song is Read About Love by Richard Thompson

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw7d4pVKHyo

    1. Oooh, that’s great. Thanks.

24. https://youtu.be/eHrekB-Pp_o
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHrekB-Pp_o

    1. you’re speaking my language, Pat.

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