10 Rock Music Acts That Went Dark (AND NAILED IT)

Any connoussiers of the classic series Behind the Music knows that the dark album should normally signal alarm bells for many famous bands. Around the time that you see the dark albums turning up, that’s when things seriously start going wrong, with the episode either ending in the band breaking up or about to go through some of the darker parts of their career. Every so often though, there’s that one dark record that hits a lot closer to home than some people might actually realize.

Before people talk about what constitutes dark here, not all of these albums are necessarily on the same level as like metal bands or anything. These are just rock and roll bands that are playing songs with a more cynical bent to it, either through the heaviness of the riffs or the subject matter they’re talking about. For all the years that you’ve put into playing stuff that will get on the radio, this is the kind of music that’s much more introspective, with riffs that will make you want to put on a mean mug and grab your guitar.

That’s not excluding the singer songwriter crowd either, with some of the best albums on this list being from people that are a lot more introspective and suddenly decide to lay out their problems for the world to see. You might not see all of these artists in their best light personality wise, but the darker shades of their music might be a lot closer to what the real version of them actually is.

Towards the end of the '90s, the Battle of Britpop really seemed to do a number on Blur. After Song 2 launched them into the stratosphere in America, the band were starting to really turn into shambles in the studio, getting off their faces on drugs and morale being at an all time low. Since all of that was against them though, how did this turn into one of the best albums they've ever made?

While the self titled Blur record may have been more about the mainstream songs they could sell to the American market, 13 almost goes in a more art rock direction, with every song being a different creative endeavor for them. Blur had always been known as the more eclectic Britpop act next to Oasis, and you can really hear them trying to tap into something that they hadn't heard before, going so far as to have Graham Coxon sing on the eventual hit single Coffee and TV.

Things may have been looking up on the charts, but it made sense that this version of the band wasn't going to last for very much longer, only sticking around for one more album before going on hiatus and Damon Albarn leaving to build something different with Gorillaz. 13 may have been an absolute mess to make, but sometimes that darkness can lead to you writing your greatest stuff without even knowing it.