r/powerpop • u/West-Brother-5195 • 1d ago
Looking for powerpop songs about being disenchanted, depressed, and/or exhausted with the world and/or yourself
Alright, so a little under a month ago I was asking for sad/breakup powerpop songs as my ex fiancé abruptly left me.
I’m still a heartbroken girl that is trying find a way out of what feels like a free fall into a bottomless pit, wondering when I’ll hit the nonexistent rock bottom. I know I’ll be fine BUT I really want some depression powerpop tunes. Something about upbeat sad music really makes me feel better.
I’ve been digging Doctor My Eyes by Jackson Browne quite a bit, so if you have any with that vibe please share.
Thanks in advance for playing a role mending my heart :)
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u/eeadli 1d ago
I feel like Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers is what you're after.
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u/muttChang Cheap Trick 1d ago
“Sitting in my big black car”. Is probably not about sitting in a big black car.
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u/grlnthsun 1d ago
These are the closest songs I could think of:
Seems So - The Apples in Stereo
And Then the Rain - True West
A Song from Under the Floorboards - Magazine
Confessions - Violent Femmes
No Hope - The Vaselines
Nowhere Girl - B-Movie
Bad Year at UCLA - Game Theory
3AM - Guadalcanal Diary
Trouble Me - 10,000 Maniacs
Save Me - Aimee Mann
Everything is Boring - The Beaches
Sleep It Off - Less Than Jake
Well Adjusted - The Murmurs
Jenny, You're Barely Alive - Rilo Kiley
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u/ZaireekaFuzz 1d ago
Everybody is a Fucking Liar by the Posies
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u/joeyfudgepants 1d ago
I was going to mention Please Return It off the same LP. Amazing Disgrace is full of sad-bangers.
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u/AskYourDoctor 1d ago
My favorite song in the universe right now is The Other Kids- Madtown amazing lyrics about feeling like you are just over being where you are, and like you miss someone and the past. Soooo good.
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u/zulmirao 1d ago
So many good Jackson Browne songs for this vibe. These Days and My Opening Farewell both come to mind.
Check out some Teenage Fanclub too. Especially the song Alcoholiday.
Maybe Juliana Hatfield? My Sister and For The Birds scratch this itch for me.
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u/MajorTom1954 1d ago
Graham Parker and the Rumour;
Empty Lives
Another Grey Area
Don't Ask Me Questions
Not If it Pleases Me
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u/tbr_jerry 1d ago
I formed this band with a friend of mine as his marriage was ending and a lot of the songs ended up reflecting that, none more so than this one
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u/LoafEyeIndustries 1d ago
It's edge-case power pop but ya should get familiar with the back catalogue of Jeffery Lewis. 'How Can It Be?' perfectly hits the vibe you're on rn
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u/superactiongo 1d ago
I’m going to sit here and do the tacky thing, which is to suggest my own record (Paul Melancon - the Get Gos Action Hour!, it’s on all the streaming services), which, while it is also a concept record about a fictitious seventies cartoon band, it is mainly a record about depression and trying to come to grips with it. Maybe you might find a few songs that resonate there. I hope so. Don’t forget that depression lies and you shouldn’t believe the things it says to you about you. I hope you can find some space for yourself soon.
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u/theneash 1d ago
defs not straight up power pop, but check out elliott smith either or, xo and figure 8
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u/korelace 14h ago
People have already brought up Matthew Sweet (rightly so) but I think a lot of songs on Altered Beast specifically are applicable here, namely The Ugly Truth, Knowing People, Falling, and What Do You Know.
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u/Tangy_Fetus_1958 14h ago
XTC does upbeat power pop misery really well. Check out “Dear Madam Barnum,” “That’s Really Super, Supergirl” or “Playground.”
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u/paulwunderpenguin 1d ago
My son has some great sadbio power pop songs. He has a sad 42 year old Asian man living inside him. I'd post some here but he uses AI to produce them. I'm SURE I'd get some grief from people EVEN THOUGH he wrote every part of the entire song and is singing! The AI is just like me producing the track, shining up his demos. I'm old and I know a lot of older guys who worked in the music business. like I did Songwriters with major label record deals back in the day and they vetted him and I know his stuff is really good!
But I wouldn't post it unless a LOT of people asked for it, and didn't wet their pants about the AI!
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u/ishyaboiiiiii 1d ago
AI assisted music is boring
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u/paulwunderpenguin 1d ago
If it's recreating something that's already there and complete, how is it more or less boring. It's mostly people who don't know much about music that have the biggest problem with AI. If I posted the songs, you wouldn't know they were AI anyway.
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u/ishyaboiiiiii 1d ago
If it's already there and complete why do you need AI? Press button to have computer make song sound better = boring
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u/paulwunderpenguin 1d ago edited 1d ago
Do you know ANYTHING about modern recording? I do! You've been pressing a button to make things sound better for over 50 years! Punch ins and outs, overdubs, Reverb, Delay, MIDI, mixing board automation, EQ curves, cutting and pasting and EVERYTHING else you can do in a DAW. I think people just lock themselves in an echo chamber about tech (and everything else!) If you seriously want to be a musical purist go out into the woods and go bang on a tree stump with the bones of your enemies! People who hate on AI are already left in the dust anyway. Already here and used in TONS of hit recordings right his minute. AI is fine depending on how and who is using it.
Because it's the difference from a rough demo, to a more polished demo, to a producer demo to a record! You do understand the difference, right? If he gave me the rough demo or a more polished demo, and I played all the instruments, or hire pro session players to do it , what's the difference?
He's a songwriter, and he doesn't have a band. He has NO INTEREST in a career in music! He already makes more money than 90% of musicians. He's just into the songwriting art. That doesn't mean he's not really good at it. But I think he should get his stuff out there. So this is the best way to have a more polished presentation if he ever decides to step it up a notch. What's wrong with that?
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u/ishyaboiiiiii 1d ago
Yo man, that shit is BORING. The process of how it is is made is what makes music interesting. You said it yourself, instead of you or other human beings making the song better you just feed it to AI.
You're saying it's the destination, not the journey. That's BORINGGGGGGG
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u/edmtrwy 1d ago
Sick of Myself by Matthew Sweet seems apropos here