10 Darkest Rock Albums Of The 70s

Before goth rock really took over the underground, there was always post punk. After Joy Division blew the doors wide open for the more disturbed side of punk, you had bands like Television turning the darkness up to 1000 every time they took to the stage. Those were all fairly down to Earth though. The debut record from Suicide practically feels like a post punk hellscape.

While the glitchy production doesn't necessarily belong in the rock category all that often, it just adds another element of insanity to everything, as Alan Vega's lyrics get more and more chaotic. Though they were already going for a more scattered approach to rock and roll on a song like Rocket USA, the darkest layers of this record are where they go for something more experimental like the 10 minute epic Frankie Teardrop. This song could practically serve as its own mini horror movie, as layers of distortion swirl around the vocals and Alan tells the story of Frankie coming home and murdering his family until he eventually turns the gun on himself.

As offputting as this seems for pretty much everybody, it did have its fair share of fans both then and now, with Bruce Springsteen praising Frankie Teardrop and attempting to write his own take on the tune a little later down the line. Compared to the other punk outfits out at the time, this is practically the rock music equivalent to the Exorcist, both violently disturbed and impossible to turn away from.