10 Songs By Artists Who Know Your Pain

Songs about depression are not hard to find, but the best recordings come from musicians who found inspiration in a hard spot. 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 eloquent sense can shine a light into the darkness, making them more than just meaningful. It's like having a friend who can sort things out for you. Some people can't relate. Oh well, whatever, never mind. We do.

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 He says the band sank into depression and isolation, and became withdrawn.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 ordeal, 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."

"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. 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." Meanwhile, the song was playing on repeat when his body was discovered in his room. All said, the post-grunge punk ditty is best when it inspires what it was made for--surviving the lure of suicide. That's why, band members say, they put it out there in the first place.

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