The fifth deadly sin is the one that gets us all pissed off...
Special mentions to Billy Fury, Rage Against The Machine, The Temper Trap, The Furious 5 and... erm, Angry Anderson.
10. Morrissey - Sorrow Will Come In The End
It's hard to think of a Morrissey solo album that doesn't contain a fair few angry songs, though this oddity is perhaps his most direct. Only released on the US version of the Maladjusted album, it's a spoken word rant-poem aimed at his former bandmates in The Smiths (well, Mike and Andy) and the judge who sided with them in the infamous court case over royalties. You know, the judge who decided Joyce and Rourke were thoroughly decent chaps while Mozzer was "devious, truculent and unreliable"... well, you can see why he was miffed.
All that said, Sorrow Will Come In The End isn't one of the Mozfather's finest works... though it does redeem itself by going suitably mental with a fairground organ about halfway through (following on nicely from my last two Top Tens). It remains one of the strangest records I've ever heard, and that's saying something.
9. Laura Marling - All My Rage
I love the humorous opening to this folky blast of weary resignation...
Stole my children, left my son8. Ben Folds Five - One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
Of all of them, he's the only one who did not mean that much to me
I tip my cap to the raging sea
When he was a little kid, Ben got beat up a lot. This was his revenge... kiss my ass!
7. Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
Top comedy video!
6. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Rage Hard
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage!If you say so, Holly.
Rage Hard!
5. Elvis Costello - All The Rage
Costello was very much considered the "angry young man" when he first hit the punk pop scene in the late 70s... though the only song he sang about anger back then was called I'm Not Angry (it wasn't a particularly honest title). This, on the other hand, comes from later in his career... when he was supposed to have mellowed.
Alone with your tweezers and your handkerchief4. Billy Joel - Angry Young Man
You murder time and truth, love, laughter and belief
So don't try to touch my heart, it's darker than you think
And don't try to read my mind because it's full of disappearing ink
How angry is Billy? So angry, it takes him two minutes to start singing. Blinding intro though!
3. Catatonia - Road Rage
I sympathise with Cerys; little else gets my bloody boiling quite like bad driving.
2. The King Blues - We Are Fucking Angry
Written in support of the UK student protests of 2011 against the cuts to tuition fees - one of the angriest songs you'll ever hear.
1. The Dixie Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice
The Dixie Chicks made a stand against George W. Bush and took a kicking in the conservative midwest as a result. They refused to apologise - this was their angry repost.
I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad, sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over?
So - which omission incurred your wrath?
I was thinking he (No idea of his name) always sounds jolly angry in killing in the name of but not as angry and bitter as Dave in monkey wrench. I'm going to speak to OH later, as all his records sound like they are about to kill the world it's going to be hard to choose just one death metal 'song' when there appears to be 1000s that fit this theme perfectly *sigh*
ReplyDeleteWell, don't go to too much trouble in that regard, not on my account. ;-)
DeleteBut, yeah, Monkey Wrench is a good call.
oh bless his little cottons he came up with Kreator "Extreme Aggression". Should you want bleeding eardrums here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WzWYrd5Egc alternatively just be assured the words "Extreme aggressions, Seeing you suffer bring pleasure to me, Extreme aggressions" are in this delightful tune's lyrics *sigh*
DeleteI think I'll wait for the Justin Bieber cover version.
DeleteIt's been a while since I suggested an Iron Maiden song so I'm going to suggest Wrathchild. It's quite a good one, but maybe not as good as your excellent #1 choice.
ReplyDeleteI did consider Wrathchild... being the only song I could find that actually had Wrath in the title... but when I listened to it, it didn't seem particularly angry... certainly not by the Maiden's standards.
DeleteXTC - "The World Is Full Of Angry Young Men" (as your list proves).
ReplyDeleteNot an XTC song I'm familiar with, I'm sorry to say, but I'm sure it's excellent.
DeleteTo the Wovles (Anberlin) "....who needs enemies when we have friends like you..." yeah. Exactly.
ReplyDeleteer...that's "wolves" (and not you personally) :-)
DeleteNo offence taken.
DeleteCatatonia - wow, that's a blast from the past...but how good is that track!!!
ReplyDeleteFrom a similar era, what about "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette. I know everyone got thoroughly sick of her at the time, but enough time has passed to re-appreciate this track.
Others that come to mind are:
The Honeymoon is Over by the Cruel Sea, gotta love the lyric "Gonna send you back to wherever the hell, It was you came/Then Im gonna get this tattoo changed to another girls name."
Positively Fourth Street - Bob Dylan, one of the most cheerfully angry songs you will ever hear.
Like a Dog - Powderfinger "If you treat me like a dog/ And keep me locked in a cage/I'm not relaxed or comfortable/I'm aggravation and rage
You could also give Ben Folds another shout out with "Song for the Dumped"
Yeah, I reckon Alanis is ripe for reappraisal. Not heard that Cruel Sea song in years so thanks for reminding me of that. And I do love Song For The Dumped... reckon there's a whole other Top Ten in that subject though!
ReplyDelete