Top 10 Dark Facts About Songs You Love

“Love Rollercoaster” (1975)


At first listen, it sounds like a fun and funky love song. But a strange screeching sound heard early in this Ohio Players track inspired an urban legend that may have outlasted the song’s cultural imprint. The story goes that “Love Rollercoaster” inadvertently captured a murder victim’s dying moments. That bit of lore morphed over the years, with the screech being attributed to the last gasp of the model who appeared on the album cover. Obviously, this didn’t happen. But this tall tale went viral, or at least, whatever the 1970s version of viral was. The Ohio Players decided to let the myth ride for sales purposes.

“Macarena” (1993)

Back when a dance craze wasn’t just confined to the Internet, you were hard-pressed to get away from dance remixes of Los del Río’s Spanish-language hit, “Macarena.” The track and its accompanying dance caused an international sensation. The Bayside Boys added English lyrics to their version that spelled out what the song was really about for non-Spanish speakers, but we didn’t even seem to notice. It wasn’t until years later that a lot of us took a close look at those lyrics. “Macarena” is the story of a woman cheating on her boyfriend with two of his pals, which makes its presence at decades’ worth of weddings hilarious and sickly ironic.

“Tears in Heaven” (1992)


This beautiful and moving single first appeared on the soundtrack of the 1991 crime drama, “Rush.” “Tears in Heaven” topped charts and won several Grammys after its release, but it has an extra layer of pain that comes from a very real traumatic event. Eric Clapton wrote this enduring hit while he was deep in mourning. Its lyrics and overall perspective were inspired by the death of his four-year-old son Conor in a tragic fall. Since its initial release, the song has become one of Clapton’s most successful, clearly illustrating the pain of losing a loved one.

“Paper Planes” (2008)


British rapper and songwriter M.I.A. found international success with this 2008 hit. Featuring a fusion of influences and styles, “Paper Planes” is a captivating piece of music. The song itself, though, is a critical look at the xenophobia and racism faced by immigrants, particularly in the United States. With lyrics satirizing the commonly-held view of foreign people as criminals and scammers, M.I.A. was inspired by her own struggle to secure a work visa in the country. The insane hoops and mistreatment she faced in the entire process spurred her on to write what’s become known as an anthem for outsiders and immigrants everywhere.

“Barracuda” (1977)


Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson were accomplished musicians in their own right; and as the faces of the band Heart, they endured their fair share of misogyny. One particular event encapsulates their mistreatment by male colleagues and the record industry as a whole. When their old label Mushroom Records started a scurrilous rumor for publicity, the sisters were outraged. In response, they wrote and recorded “Barracuda.” Taking its name from the predatory fish, the barracuda seems to represent every man in the industry who wielded power to minimize and dehumanize them.

“Chandelier” (2014)


Becoming famous might seem like a dream, but for this Australian singer-songwriter, it threatened to almost derail her life and career. When she came back to record her 2014 album “1000 Forms of Fear,” she donned her signature, face-obscuring wig and made some of her most personal music yet. “Chandelier” feels like a quintessential party song. With its “1-2-3 drink” refrain and soaring vocals, it’s hard to notice how dark it actually is. Sia’s inspiration for the song was her own hard-partying lifestyle after her career took off and launched her public profile. Taking refuge in substances and wild nights out, the “party girl” at the center of the song turns out to be Sia herself.

“You Learn” (1995)


There’s been a lot said about the sweat and tears that went into Alanis Morissette’s breakout 1995 masterpiece, “Jagged Little Pill.” From destructive breakups to personal demons, the album represented a new sound for the artist, but the song “You Learn” was teased out of a distinct personal trauma. Morissette was the victim of an armed robbery during the making of “Jagged Little Pill.” Though the robber only made off with cash, she was afraid at one point that he would steal the backpack she was carrying, which contained a lot of materials for the record. The incident gave her post-traumatic stress and panic attacks. She carried that experience into the song’s overall message about even life’s worst moments being valuable.

“99 Luftballons” (1993)


West German singer Nena had a crossover hit with this song, which was rerecorded in English as “99 Red Balloons.” The story often gets lost in its upbeat ‘80s pop stylings. In the 1980s, the Cold War was as hot as it ever got, and nuclear annihilation was the great existential fear of the age. Nena’s song speaks to the paranoia of the time, narrating a fictional story about a bunch of balloons that mistakenly activate a country’s air defense system. The end result is full-on nuclear war. Not exactly as upbeat as the bouncy music would suggest.

“Zombie” (1994)

This anti-war song’s inclusion on Halloween playlists is baffling once you know what it’s about. In the early 1990s, Cranberries lead singer Dolores O’Riordan wrote this perennially misunderstood classic that, despite its name, is not about the living dead. During a tour of England, the band drove near the location of a 1993 London bombing by the IRA, which claimed the lives of two children. “Zombie” was inspired by O’Riordan’s anger over the event, which was emblematic of the violence that occurred during the Troubles. Island Records actually tried to pay the band not to release such a politically-charged track. O’Riordan refused a $1 million check and released it anyway.

“Wake Me Up When September Ends” (2005)


Green Day’s mournful rock ballad from their “American Idiot” album was not only a hit. Upon its release, fans speculated about its meaning. It has since gone on to inspire memes that always crop around September. But in the years since, fans also take to the Internet to remind us the reason Billie Joe Armstrong wrote it in the first place. He first came up with the title in 1982. In fact, it was something he said to his mother after his father passed away that month. Green Day released the song over 20 years later, capturing the feeling of grief and depression after a profound loss.


Did these sad truths about these great songs surprise you? Let us know in the comments.