00:00Welcome back to MsMojo, and today we're looking at the sad and disturbing
00:06inspirations, meanings and backstories behind some beloved songs.
00:11Number 10. A myth about death. Love rollercoaster. At first listen, it sounds
00:21like a fun and funky love song.
00:22But a strange screeching sound heard early in this Ohio player's track
00:33inspired an urban legend that may have outlasted the song's cultural imprint.
00:37The story goes that love rollercoaster inadvertently captured a murder
00:46victim's dying moments. That bit of lore morphed over the years with the
00:50screech being attributed to the last gasp of the model who appeared on the
00:55album cover.
00:56Obviously, this didn't happen. But this tall tale went viral, or at least
01:07whatever the 1970s version of viral was, the Ohio players decided to let the
01:12myth ride for sales purposes.
01:14Number 9. It's about infidelity. Macarena. Back when a dance craze wasn't just
01:24confined to the internet, you were hard-pressed to get away from dance
01:28remixes of Los Del Rio's Spanish-language hit Macarena. The track and its
01:38accompanying dance caused an international sensation. The Bayside Boys
01:43added English lyrics to their version that spelled out what the song was
01:46really about for non-Spanish speakers. But we didn't even seem to notice.
01:50It wasn't until years later that a lot of us took a close look at those
02:02lyrics. Macarena is the story of a woman cheating on her boyfriend with
02:06two of his pals, which makes its presence at decades' worth of weddings
02:11hilarious and sickly ironic.
02:13Number 8. Inspired by tragedy. Tears in Heaven. This beautiful and moving
02:20single first appeared on the soundtrack of the 1991 crime drama Rush.
02:25Tears in Heaven topped charts and won several Grammys after its release,
02:33but it has an extra layer of pain that comes from a very real traumatic
02:37event. Eric Clapton wrote this enduring hit while he was deep in mourning.
02:46Its lyrics and overall perspective were inspired by the death of his
02:50four-year-old son, Connor, in a tragic fall. Since its initial release,
02:58the song has become one of Clapton's most successful, clearly illustrating
03:02the pain of losing a loved one.
03:04Number 7. Experiences with discrimination. Paper Planes. British rapper and
03:13songwriter M.I.A. found international success with this 2008 hit. Featuring
03:18a fusion of influences and styles, Paper Planes is a captivating piece of music.
03:23The song itself, though, is a critical look at the xenophobia and
03:32racism faced by immigrants, particularly in the United States.
03:36With lyrics satirizing the commonly held view of foreign people as
03:46criminals and scammers, M.I.A. was inspired by her own struggle to secure
03:50a work visa in the country. The insane hoops and mistreatment she faced
04:01in the entire process spurred her on to write what's become known as an
04:05anthem for outsiders and immigrants everywhere.
04:08Number 6. Inspired by a disgusting rumor. Barracuda. Sisters Anne and
04:20Nancy Wilson were accomplished musicians in their own right, and as the
04:24faces of the band Heart, they endured their fair share of misogyny.
04:31One particular event encapsulates their mistreatment by male colleagues
04:37and the record industry as a whole.
04:46When their old label Mushroom Records started a scurrilous rumor for
04:50publicity, the sisters were outraged. In response, they wrote and recorded
04:55Barracuda.
05:02Taking its name from the predatory fish, the Barracuda seems to represent
05:06every man in the industry who wielded power to minimize and dehumanize
05:10them.
05:15Number 5. The price of fame. Chandelier. Becoming famous might seem like
05:20a dream, but for this Australian singer-songwriter, it threatened to
05:24almost derail her life and career.
05:31When she came back to record her 2014 album, 1000 Forms of Fear, she
05:36donned her signature, face-obscuring wig, and made some of her most
05:40personal music yet.
05:47Chandelier feels like her quintessential party song. With its 1-2-3 drink
05:52refrain and soaring vocals, it's hard to notice how dark it actually is.
06:02Sia's inspiration for the song was her own hard partying lifestyle. After
06:09her career took off and launched her public profile, taking refuge in
06:13substances and wild nights out, the party girl at the center of the
06:17song turns out to be Sia herself.
06:21Number 4. Armed robbery. You learn. There's been a lot said about the
06:31sweat and tears that went into Alanis Morissette's breakout 1995
06:35masterpiece, Jagged Little Pill.
06:43From destructive breakups to personal demons, the album represented a
06:48new sound for the artist. But the song, You Learn, was teased out of a
06:52distinct personal trauma.
06:59Morissette was the victim of an armed robbery during the making of
07:04Jagged Little Pill. Though the robber only made off with cash, she was
07:07afraid at one point that he would steal the backpack she was carrying,
07:11which contained a lot of materials for the record.
07:18The incident gave her post-traumatic stress and panic attacks. She
07:23carried that experience into the song's overall message about even
07:27life's worst moments being valuable.
07:35Number 3. It's about nuclear annihilation. 99 Luftballons.
07:40West German singer Nina had a crossover hit with this song, which
07:50was recorded in English as 99 Red Balloons. The story often gets
07:55lost in its upbeat 80s pop stylings.
08:02In the 1980s, the Cold War was as hot as it ever got, and nuclear
08:07annihilation was the great existential fear of the age.
08:16Nina's song speaks to the paranoia of the time, narrating a fictional
08:20story about a bunch of balloons that mistakenly activate a country's
08:24air defense system. The end result is full-on nuclear war. Not exactly
08:28as upbeat as the bouncy music would suggest.
08:31Number 2. Response to a bombing. Zombie. This anti-war song's
08:41inclusion on Halloween playlists is baffling once you know what
08:44it's about.
08:49In the early 1990s, Cranberry's lead singer Dolores O'Riordan wrote
08:54this perennially misunderstood classic that, despite its name, is
08:58not about the living dead.
09:01During a tour of England, the band drove near the location of a
09:091993 London bombing by the IRA, which claimed the lives of two
09:13children. Zombie was inspired by O'Riordan's anger over the event,
09:17which was emblematic of the violence that occurred during the
09:20Troubles.
09:26Island Records actually tried to pay the band not to release such
09:30a politically charged track. O'Riordan refused a $1,000,000 check
09:34and released it anyway.
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09:58Number 1. The Loss of a Father – Wake Me Up When September Ends
10:03Green Day's mournful rock ballad from their American Idiot album
10:12was not only a hit, upon its release, fans speculated about its
10:16meaning. It has since gone on to inspire memes that always crop up
10:24around September. But in the years since, fans also take to the
10:28internet to remind us the reason Billy Joe Armstrong wrote it in
10:32the first place.
10:37He first came up with the title in 1982. In fact, it was something
10:42he said to his mother after his father passed away that month.
10:45Green Day released the song over 20 years later, capturing the
10:48feeling of grief and depression after a profound loss.
10:54Did these sad truths about these great songs surprise you? Let us
11:04know in the comments.
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