25 Depressing Popular Songs With Even More Depressing Backstories

While Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" is focused on a student taking his own life in front of his class in 1991 in Texas.

Pop band Fastball's only hit, "The Way," tells a romanticized version of a real story - about two elderly people disappearing. Lela and Raymond Howard left home in June 1997 to attend a festival in Texas, despite Lela suffering from Alzheimer's disease and Raymond having recently had brain surgery.

The couple was found deceased two weeks later at the bottom of a ravine near Hot Springs, AR, hundreds of miles away from where they intended to go.

Deeply-troubled Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis wrote the band’s only real hit about the tempestuous relationship he had with his wife, Deborah. It also reflected his state of mind in general - and if the song did not communicate how depressed Curtis was, the fact that he took his own life just a few weeks before the track was due to be released as a single.

While obviously about substance abuse, it's less well known that Neil Young wrote this song about a specific person. Included on the 1972 album Harvest, "The Needle and the Damage Done" eulogizes the addiction of his bandmate, guitarist Danny Whitten. As the story goes, while rehearsing for a tour, Young gave Whitten $50 and a plane ticket for Los Angeles so he could take care of his addiction. Whitten used the money to get high and suffered a subsequent overdose. 

While "Tears in Heaven" is famously about the passing of Eric Clapton's young son, Conor, in 1991, it is not the only song about this subject matter. Another track, "Circus," from his 1997 album Pilgrim, was also written by Clapton about the tragic accident and is just as sad and forlorn.

The song is about the last time Clapton saw Conor, the night before the incident, when Clapton took him to the circus.

One of Blondie’s many hits, the poppy and up-tempo "One Way or Another," actually stems from a harrowing experience for lead singer Debbie Harry - being stalked by an ex-boyfriend. A closer examination finds a number of incredibly creepy lines about following, watching, and cataloging Harry's activities.