Why Nirvana's 'Something In the Way' Is the Saddest Song Ever
The psychology behind the enticing melancholy of Kurt Cobain’s lyrics and the universal appeal of sad music
Looking back, music has been a big part of my life. Even before I picked up the bass guitar or launched my first music webzine, Rock n’Heavy, I always had a soft spot for sad songs.
I can name a few songs playing on repeat on my coming-of-age soundtrack. Teen angst hit hard back then, but the music was always there for me, even in my darkest moments when everything felt wrong and I was sinking into the bottomless pit of depression.
A 2014 study involving 8th graders (ages 14–15) confirms how empathy and prosocial behavior gradually develop throughout adolescence, coinciding with the years when music plays a major role in identity formation, emotional regulation, and social integration (Saarikallio S., Vuoskoski J., Luck G., 2014).
I still remember how during my adolescence I went from being an honor board student to a high school dropout and back again to an award-winning valedictorian, and how music played its part in my rise from the ashes.
Every time my heart seemed so heavy that I wished I could rip all the sorrows from my chest, I would look for the heaviest song I could find or the saddest one and play it as loud as I could.
Science has long suggested emotions can be successfully conveyed through music and recognized by the listeners, which allows music to be used as a means of emotional communication in different non-verbal scenarios (Micallef G., 2022).
This also explains why six basic universal emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise) are perceivable in music unknown to listeners with different cultural backgrounds (Argstatter H., 2016).
Surprisingly (or maybe not), it was the saddest song that ended up lifting my spirits.
However, trying to point out the “saddest song ever” is almost like debating which came first, the chicken or the egg.
It’s hard to apply scientific methods to decipher something so subjective, especially when it’s experienced differently by each person.
Nevertheless, here are a few science-backed contestants (according to A. Grimaud) for the title of the saddest song ever:
Eric Clapton — “Tears in Heaven”
In the aftermath of losing his young son, the singer and songwriter delivers a poignant and stark music piece on grief and loss.R.E.M. — “Everybody Hurts”
This one is a crowd favorite as it deals with questions about enduring pain and finding hope, with a slow, melancholic melody.Pearl Jam — “Black”
I was never a big fan of Pearl Jam, but their ballads about lost love and longing drenched in Eddie Vedder’s soulful vocals pack a punch.Alice in Chains — “Nutshell”
The Seattle sound played a big part in my musical awakening and this stripped-down acoustic was one of my go-to tracks in moments of deepest isolation and despair.Radiohead — “How to Disappear Completely”
“Creep” ranks higher on the list of my favorite saddest songs, but I understand why this hauntingly mesmerizing song about detachment and emotional numbness stills the sobering show.Johnny Cash — “Hurt”
The singer released his cover of the Nine Inch Nails hit not long before passing away, which makes this poignant reflection on grief, remorse, and regret even more heart-wrenching.Leonard Cohen — “Famous Blue Raincoat”
A melancholic dirge about love, betrayal, and forgiveness, told through Cohen’s poetic lyrics.The Smiths — “I Know It’s Over”
Ballads about unrequited love and existential dread are tear magnets.Joy Division — “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
This post-punk anthem was written from the abyss of a crumbling relationship and is another personal favorite of mine.Lana Del Rey — “Video Games”
Lana sings about love and longing with such a dreamy and yet sorrowful tone that this song plucks every fiber of my heart.
In 2010, a study tested our ability to perceive six basic emotions (happiness, anger, disgust, surprise, sadness, and fear) in music presented to 115 participants:
The results show that six basic emotions are perceivable in musical segments previously unknown to the listeners, although there was large variability in the percentage of correct classification of each of the segments comprising each emotion, and happiness and sadness were easier to classify than the other emotions. — Mohn C., Argstatter H., Wilker F. W. (2011)
When I learned about the new research carried out by Annaliese Micallef Grimaud, an expert from the Music Department, at Durham University, I was instantly hooked. Her approach seemed solid and straightforward:
Grimaud first analyzed lists of sad songs published by Rolling Stone and NME. She then combined them with playback data on the music streaming Spotify.
The analysis focused on the following elements:
Tempo
Dynamics
Pitch range
Frequency values
Song mode
From what I’ve read about the research, Grimaud was able to determine that elements that convey sadness include:
Slow tempo
Minor mode
Legato articulation
Soft dynamic levels
Lower tones
Dark tone
When Grimaud combined all those metrics, her analysis showed that Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” topped the list of the saddest songs ever.
The saddest song of them all
Taken from Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind, “Something in the Way” would certainly make my bucket list of personal favorite sad songs.
I agree this song ticks all the aspects mentioned by Grimaud in her research. It has that low tempo, dark tone, and Kurt Cobain’s raw, emotional delivery, and I see why Matt Reeves chose it for The Batman soundtrack in 2022.
But is “Something in the Way” the saddest song ever? Let’s put things into perspective.
A recent study highlights “inconsistencies between descriptions and effects of nominally sad music,” and questions “whether traditional music-related sadness can be broken down into more than one category.”
The results are consistent with the idea that musical parameters differ in melancholic and grieving states and that what has been previously defined as sad music may, in fact, be conflating more than one emotional state — Warrenburg L (2020).
This alone has to make us question what we refer to as “sad music.” Then, there’s a multitude of genres that don’t fall under the scope of Grimaud’s research.
I could easily name a few Doom Metal or Funeral Doom songs that are way gloomier, but I’ll only highlight two of the latest songs by one of my favorite Doom bands, Pallbearer.
Songs like “Where The Light Fades” or “Endless Place” aren’t even as dark and melancholic as the band’s earlier tracks, but they will help you understand what I’m talking about.
Then, if you want to listen to something that really puts everything into perspective and combines every single state of mind into one magical piece of musical art, then listen to “Autre Temps” by Alcest and let me know what you think.
The happiest song of them all
Grimaud also set out to discover the happiest song ever, and according to her research, Pharrell Williams takes the crown with “Happy.” According to the researcher, to identify a happy song, we should look for the following musical features:
Upbeat tempo,
Major mode
High dynamics
Staccato articulation
Bright timbre
These elements combined bring out a sense of joy in a song.
Grimaud’s research also features several other joyful tracks on the list of the happiest songs, including:
Outkast — “Hey Ya!”
Cyndi Lauper — “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”
Queen — “Don’t Stop Me Now”
Nina Simone — “Feeling Good”
In my opinion, Nirvana’s hit single isn’t the “saddest of them all,” just as “Happy” probably isn’t the happiest song ever.
Grimaud acknowledges it when she explains her method and how subjective the analysis is but even so it offers clues to better understand the emotional spectrum of Western tonal music:
Versions of these ‘formulas’ were used to analyse the songs given here to determine which song is the happiest and saddest, based on the research. Here, we are looking at how the cues are used to communicate emotion in Western tonal music, however, the use of these cues may differ in other cultures. Although the songs analysed are commercial music and contain lyrics, which make it more challenging to dissect, the formulas give us a good indication of which songs are most expressing sadness and joy.” — Annaliese Grimaud
Grimaud’s research, combined with other studies, helps us better understand how music can play its part as “a potential method of therapy and a means of accessing and stimulating specific cerebral circuits.”
Like me, you probably have gone through your own ups and downs. So, I’m curious what’s on your playlist? Drop your favorite sad and happy songs in the comments. I’d love to hear what moves you.
Rui Alves is a language teacher, published author, international book judge, and publisher. He runs Alchemy Publications and serves as editor-in-chief for Engage on Substack, Life Unscripted, Musicverse, Writelicious, The Academic, Portugal Calling, Engage on Medium, Rock n’ Heavy, Beloved, Zenite, Poetaph, and Babel.
References:
Argstatter H. (2016). Perception of basic emotions in music: Culture-specific or multicultural? Psychology of Music, 44(4), 674–690. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735615589214
Cespedes-Guevara J., Eerola T. (2018). Music communicates affects, not basic emotions — A constructionist account of attribution of emotional meanings to music. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00215
Mohn C., Argstatter H., Wilker F. W. (2010). Perception of six basic emotions in music. Psychology of Music, 39(4), 503–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735610378183
Micallef Grimaud, A., & Eerola, T. (2022). An Interactive Approach to Emotional Expression Through Musical Cues. Music & Science, 5. https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043211061745
Saarikallio S., Vuoskoski J., Luck G. (2014). Adolescents’ expression and perception of emotion in music reflects their broader abilities of emotional communication. Psychology of Well-Being, 4, 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13612-014-0021-8
Trimble M, Hesdorffer D. Music and the brain: the neuroscience of music and musical appreciation. BJPsych Int. 2017 May 1;14(2):28–31. doi: 10.1192/s2056474000001720.
Warrenburg L. A. (2020). Redefining sad music: Music’s Structure suggests at least two sad states. Journal of New Music Research, 49(4), 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2020.1784956
Zentner M., Grandjean D., Scherer K. R. (2008). Emotions evoked by the sound of music: Characterization, classification, and measurement. Emotion (Washington, DC ), 8(4), 494–521. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.8.4.494
Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” would rank at the top of my list, as would “Father’s Eyes.”
Hi Nancy, I fully agree. Some of my top tier sad songs are Portuguese Fados by Amália Rodrigues.