10 Darkest Rock Music Masterpieces

For this list, you could possibly pick a track from any of the many albums by cult Australian band, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. One of the most audaciously original post-punk groups to have emerged anywhere in the world, Cave's highly literary and highly unconventional lyrics, together with the band's resolutely idiosyncratic music, place NCATBS high on the list of critically-acclaimed groups.

The ironically-named Song of Joy features on the band's ninth studio album, 1996's Murder Ballads, which consisted of a mix of traditional numbers and original compositions, all fitting within the titular genre – songs which describe the details of violent crimes of passion. This is an old tradition within popular music, and Nick Cave and co provide the perfect vehicle for a such a project.

Song of Joy is shockingly bleak and explicit, containing such lines as: “Joy had been bound with electrical tape, In her mouth a gag, she'd been stabbed repeatedly, and stuffed into a sleeping bag.” In lesser hands, this might have been a crass curio, but in NCATBS's hands, the song is a highly affecting, terrifying, but never sensationalist experience.