10 Pop Songs That Are Actually Incredibly Dark
3. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
The main mission statement behind half of Britpop was to stamp out all of the depressing feelings that came from the grunge movement just a few years before. Kurt Cobain may have ended his career saying that he hated himself and wanted to die, but on the other side of the Atlantic were bands like Oasis talking about how they were bound to live forever. It was all about positivity, but you can easily disguise something dark in there if you have just the right melody to do it.
Although the Verve may have been a little late to the top of the Britpop food chain, Bittersweet Symphony may be one of the definitive songs of that generation, lifting bits and pieces from a Rolling Stones song and turning into their own snide take on the world. Richard Ashcroft's look at the world is much different than Noel Gallagher's though, talking about how he can't really change the mold that he's put in and equating life to just trying to do the same things over and over again.
Out of the same scene that gave us songs like Wonderwall and Girls and Boys, the core message behind this track is basically to be born, make money, exist and then die. That's the point of this song though. There were no rules in the world of pop music, and even something like this could share the same slot as the Spice Girls around the same time and no one would bat an eye.