10 Songs By Artists Who Know Your Pain

Songs about depression are not hard to find, but the best come from musicians who found it hard. Gerard Way tells us as much discussing "Welcome to the Black Parade," a MCR song featured on this list. Songs that express hard times with both eloquence and sense can shine a light, making them profoundly meaningful. It's like having an imaginary friend who can help sort things out. Some people can't relate. Oh well, whatever, never mind.

Gerard Way says that My Chemical Romance has always gravitated toward writing songs that inspire hope and perseverance. In an interview, he talked about how “Welcome to the Black Parade” does that. According to MCR’s lead singer, it’s essentially about the human spirit triumphing over darkness, about self-actualization, “and things like that.” But he also said that the 2006 fan-favorite was made while the band was in a dark place, both physically and emotionally. 

The revelation did not come to the surface until a 2021 podcast. Way told My Turning Point that MCR was recording The Black Parade album inside of an old Hollywood estate, the notoriously haunted Paramour Mansion. He says the band sank into depression and isolation, and became withdrawn. The remainder of the album had to be recorded elsewhere. At the end of the day, this is what he came away with: "There's a darkness in the world. And I think overcoming that darkness, that darkness externally and internally, is a beautiful thing." Indeed, like beauty wrenched from pain sounds Devine.

"Adam's Song" is probably the peppiest and most popular song about suicide ever written. It was inspired, in part, by a suicide note written by the song's eponymous, Adam. Mark Hoppus, the band's bassist, discovered the posthumous farewell note in a magazine. At the time, Hoppus could relate, so much so, he wrote the song in one sitting. 

Later, however, the Blink-182 anthem inspired a fan's suicide. Worsening the situation, media buzz around the death went viral since the victim was a Columbine survivor. He even referenced the song's opening line: "I never thought I'd die alone." Darker still, the song was playing on repeat when Adam's body was discovered in his bedroom. But it was't the fault of the song. This post-grunge-punk ditty was not made for that. It was made to inspire surviving the lure of suicide. At least that is why, according to the band members, they put it out there in the first place.