There are songs we all know, in every genre, that have told stories throughout the decades. Hotel California by the Eagles, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, Stan by Eminem, Jeremy by Pearl Jam, Thriller by Michael Jackson, The Devil Went Down to Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band, and the list goes on and on. But what about the ones you many not have heard about because maybe they didn’t get a ton of radio play or maybe the band didn’t reach superstar status. So we’ve compiled 5 story-based songs you might want to checkout and why we think they’re worth the listen.
No. 5 - Cage Around the Sun by Monster Magnet
“I had an urge to build a cage around the sun. I couldn’t find a way to say no.” Well, we’ve all been there, right? Track #4 off of Monster Magnet’s album Superjudge brings us a weird, but oddly entrancing one. Light guitar strumming fades in as Dave Wyndorf’s calm voice comes in over the top. What has silently felt ominous comes screeching in around the 01:42 mark and crashes against your eardrums. Musically, it’s great 90s rock. Lyrically, it has that same draw of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun where you can’t honestly say you know what the lyrics mean entirely, but you know the how the words have been strung together sound superb. I mean, what better way to go out than to say,
“The ocean parts and the meteors come down
Laid out in amber, baby
Fate come on and slap me in the head
Punch the switch, arrivederci…”
No. 4 - Desperate Guys by The Faint
What an album opener this song is! From the moment the violin draws you in and gives way to a funky beat, you know Desperate Guys is setting the tone for the entire Wet From Birth album. Deperate Guys is full of a great mixture of musical sounds from traditional instruments to electronic-based programming and producing. The Faint finds a way to pack a lot of energy into this 3 minute-ish track.
No. 3 - The Lighthouse by Halsey
When you are a dozen songs deep into If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power by Halsey, you’ll find yourself face to face with the screeching opening of the track The Lighthouse. She’s a powerhouse pop star for sure, but having teamed up with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails to help produce this entire album means you get a very different feel from the typical pop song. Oh, and maybe even some vocal tracks from Trent Reznor himself. Hint, hint. And it should come as no surprise that there’s a story in this song when Halsey wrote an entire film to accompany this concept album. Read more about that HERE.
No. 2 - Footsteps (Not Jeremy) by Pearl Jam
This was a tough one because Pearl Jam has so many great story-based songs. And Footsteps was a B-side on the Jeremy single, with the latter probably being one of their most famous songs that tells a story. But this is about deep dives and I, personally, like Footsteps better than Jeremy. With that said, we all know Pearl Jam is a big band in the music scene and their 90’s anthem Alive still gets radio play as a now “classic rock” song, but did you knoww Alive is actually just one song in a trilogy that tells the dark story of an incestious relationship that creates a killer? While Alive kicks off unofficially as “Act One” in the trilogy, giving way to Once as “Act Two,” while what brings it all home in “Act Three” is a lesser known track called Footsteps.
NOTE: The LISTEN button below takes you to the studio verson that’s on Lost Dogs. I’d highly recommend finding the orginal, slightly more stripped down, B-side version on Apple Music or Spotify.
No. 1 - Cheers Darlin' by Damien Rice
Once you’re seven songs deep into O by Damien Rice, you’ll hear some soft music (including a clarinet), ambient bar-crowd noise, and the clink of a glass repeated throughout to kick off the track Cheers Darlin’. It’s apparent that this song is about heartbreak, but the story behind the story is well worth watching. So, after you dive into the song and the lyrics, come back for the this link (which should start at around the 02:30 mark) and watch Damien drink soooo much wine with a fan while explaining the song and then performing it live on stage.
