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My (American) kids love this song. :D
This one immediately came to mind. They have a lot more good songs too.
99 Luftballons is upbeat and fun, and about some balloons inadvertently kicking off a cataclysmic war that leaves the world in ruins.
It's about the cold war paranoia. Sound is all synth pop upbeat, though.
The English version is called "99 Red Balloons".
Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind is the usual one I see brought up.
Push by Matchbox 20 and Possum Kingdom by Toadies are arguable ones.
Also, Richard Cheese covers a lot of raunchy and dark stuff in a vegas lounge singer style. Rape Me sung in a cheesy upbeat tone is a trip.
Pumped up kicks
Under the bridge Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Came here to post pumped up kicks
Hey Ya by Outkast.
Also pretty much everything I have ever heard by Steely Dan.
90% of ska/ska punk music is like this. A few examples:
"The Science of Selling Yourself Short" - Less Than Jake
"Beer" - Reel Big Fish
"Struggler" and "I Don't Love You Anymore" - Bomb the Music Industry!
"The Last Bell I Will Ever Hear", "1-800-ALARM-ME" and "Last on my List" - The Arrogant Sons of Bitches
"Ska Dream" and "Checkerboard Ashtray" - Jeff Rosenstock
"A Better Place, a Better Time" and "As the Footsteps Die Out Forever" - Streetlight Manifesto
Nearly Everything by Reel Big Fish. It's all fun ska and mostly about social anxiety, broken hearts, and substance abuse. I love them.
I'll have to listen to that one! "I Know You Too Well to Like You Anymore" fits the bill as well. A very ugly fight between a couple who hate each other but can't live without one another.
Oops, I messed up my capitalization. I just meant nearly every song by them.
People forget that Today by The Smashing Pumpkins is literally about suicide.
But it's about the euphoria one may experience after deciding to go through with it. Ya^a^^y^^y^
/s
PS, I have witnessed the euphoria, but I didn't recognize it for what it was at the time. They were calling to say goodbye. Fuck, that still gets to me.
I wouldn't call the smashing pumpkins upbeat. Some are up tempo, .maybe, but upbeat is not their style. Their biggest album was titled Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness. Not exactly cheerful stuff.
Pumped up kicks by foster the people
Rockin in the Free World by Neil Young
Good point. Born in the USA and Fortunate Son would probably fit in here as well.
Every Stromae's songs.
It's always funny to see non-french-speaking people being so hyped by Stromae's songs, like they think it's joyful af and all... While his songs lyrics are litterally about :
- a man who drinks and dances a lot in order to forget his shitty life ( Alors on danse )
- a song about his father who was killed during Rwanda's genocide ( Papaoutai )
- other songs about suicide, cancer, breakups, addictions, depression etc... But always with an upbeat melody !
I don't speak a lick of French (I know enough Spanish to recognize some words if they are slightly similar, but that's it) but still enjoy Stromae, although I've never found his music to be upbeat. I think, especially in Papaoutai, you can hear the struggle and sadness in the tone of the song and in his voice.
hey ya -- Outkast It's about relationships that aren't working out, but you still stay together.
" thank God for Mom and Dad / for sticking two together cause we don't know how"
Then later
" are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here? / y'all don't want to hear me, y'all just want to dance"
- OutKast - Hey Ya!
- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
- Tones and I - Dance Monkey
- NENA - 99 Red Balloons
- The 88 - At Least It Was Here
- The Beatles - Help!
- R.A. the Rugged Man - Legendary Loser
- Theory of a Deadman - Bitch Came Back
- Atmosphere - The Best Day
- Atmosphere - Yesterday
- Gorillaz - DoYaThing (Full-Length)
- Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
- Foster The People - Best Friend
- The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright
- Tyler, The Creator - 48
- Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A
- KISS - Detroit Rock City
- Scissor Sisters - Laura
- The Dead South - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company
Semi-charmed Life
My boyfriend said he thought about me when we listen to Saturday Night by the Misfits. I'm like.... do you want to murder me?...
The lyrics always sounded very murdery to me. I think they did an amazing job of making it sound romantic but bf read through the lyrics after that and hugged me when I got home and said he definitely didn't want to murder me.
Edit: Ok this one is purely personal but I just got done with work and it came out on the playlist, Achilles Come Down by Gangs of Youth.
I learned this song from my daughter. I let her control the music when we'd drive to school and back but I immediately loved this song because unlike me, she has an amazing voice. This is one I only ever heard underneath her crystalline soprano while she sang along.
It was always so beautiful that I didn't focus on the song so much as her. She made a haunting, sad song a beautiful, pleasant memory for me because now she's had her license for a while, she's doing her thing being an ambitious senior. I don't get to listen to her sing anymore between my work and her school/social schedule.
I miss the days when I stayed up after a 12 hour shift to take her to school because I miss listening to her sing. I brain was fuzzy and that morning sun seared my eyeballs but I cherish every morning now because I don't have many left. I acutally miss everything about my kids needing me now that one has been independent for quite a few years and the other two are almost independent. I'm listening right now and all I can hear is her voice.
Fuck that shit hits hard. Im going to be an empty nester soon. Fucking FUCK. Fuck does it hit hard. I should be proud. I am! Jesus am I. I don't know how I was blessed with these people, bio and adopted, that's how vlessed I am, but I don't want to look the gift horse in the mouth. Fucking wow, am I proud. But really I'm sad, too.
/soliloquy
Jonathan Coulton has a bunch of these. "I Feel Fantastic" "Betty and Me" "Blue Sunny Day" "Shop Vac" "Chiron Beta Prime" "Future Soon" off the top of my head. "Skullcrusher Mountain" and "Re: Your Brains" to a lesser degree.
Rock-a-bye, baby
On the tree top
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock
When the bough breaks
The cradle will fall
And down will come baby
Cradle and all
We sing that shit to literal babies, what the fuck is wrong with us?
You are my sunshine
The other night dear As I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms But when I woke up I was mistaken so I held my head and I cried You are my sunshine My ONLY sunshine
It doesn't get any better from there
Edit: I will never understand how to format things the way I want them to sorry
pumped up kicks
The Macarena I'd about a woman cheating on her BF getting drafted into the military with 2 other guys
Which is pretty intense for a song they taught to kids in grade school
Talking Heads - Life During Wartime and Once in a Lifetime spring to mind.
It's probably easier to list the Talking Heads songs that are not upbeat and depressing.
Bad Moon Rising by Creedence.
It's about the apocalypse, but you wouldn't know it from how upbeat it is.
Hey Jealousy by The Gin Blossoms comes to mind.
Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen. It's about realizing that you've peaked and your best days are behind you.
- El Fusilado - Chumbawumba. A happy clappy sunshiney recounting of the life and times of one Wenceslao Moguel, a soldier of Pancho Villa's who was captured, executed by firing squad, and lived to tell the tale. Short version: He got knocked down, but he got up again.
- Scarborough Fair - Folk; often associated with Simon and Garfunkel. I'm stretching the definition of "upbeat" here, but it baffles me that this is counted by anyone as a love song. It's a song about two ex-lovers expressing how much they hate each other by assigning each other impossible tasks as conditions for taking them back. He says "tell her I'll take her back if she sews me a shirt with no seams, washes it in a dry well and hangs it to dry on a vine with no thorns." She says "O RLY? Well you tell him that if he finds an acre of land between the ocean and the beach, sews it all with one seed and reaps it with a leather scythe, I'll take him back. And I'll even make him his damn shirt." It's a bitter song.
- Another Day In Paradise - Phil Collins. Again I'm stretching the definition of "upbeat," it's slow in tempo, kind of heavy, but it has that big sexy hook, manages to feel kind of breezy, it feels designed for first dances at wedding receptions, and the refrain is "It's just another day for you and me in paradise." It feels like a competitor to Fields of Gold by Sting. It's not! The verses are about the humanity crushing power of abject poverty.
Vamos a la playa - super catchy totally 80s pop song that was everywhere in amusement parks ..... and it's about nuclear hellscape.
Zero 7 - Waiting to die
Snowpix mentioned lots of ska/ska punk I gotta agree, my pick is The Aquabats - chemical bomb
Maybe a bit of a stretch but just running with the musical tone doesn't match the lyrics Ben Folds - bitches ain't shit cover
Fast Car
Pumped Up Kicks
Flowers on the Wall
Hey Ya
I don't like Mondays by boomtown rats
https://open.spotify.com/track/7JFoeg0arawADjGcz9gBnq
Quite a chill and happy song about a school shooting
No Rain by Blind Melon... literally a song about deep depression with upbeat music
David Bowie - Five Years Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight
And about half of Pink's oeuvre.