Thirteen Surprisingly Enjoyable Songs About the End of the World

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Thirteen Surprisingly Enjoyable Songs About the End of the World
By
Rachael Maddux
on July 5, 2009 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Image: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Viktor Vasnetsov (oil on canvas, 1887)
Happy day-after-the-4th-of-July! Isn't is great, America, how once a year we can all come together as one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, in the name of blowing shit up in backyards and town squares all across this great land of ours? It's fun, I gotta admit, but there's always a really eerie moment after the fireworks have died down and everyone's puttering back to their houses and their cars when the smoke finally settles in a hazy gray blanket over the revelers, that always makes me think the world has just ended. Like, when the big stuff goes down, this is what it's gonna feel like—ears ringing from explosions, air clogged with smoke, neighborhood dogs howling, everyone's faces smeared with hot-dog grease and face-paint.

Fortunately, we seem to have made it through yet another July 4th without that actually being the case (yippie hooray!) but the holiday still got me thinking about the apocalypse. And that got me thinking about one of my favorite songs of this year,
Elvis Perkins

in Dearland's "Doomsday," which got me thinking about other surprisingly enjoyable songs about the end of the world. I polled my Paste cohorts for their favorites, and here's 13 of the best. Scroll down for a playlist, and share your own picks in the comments.
Bob Dylan

- "Talkin' World War III Blues"
"The whole thing started at 3 o'clock fast / It was all over by quarter past," Dylan sings on this classic track (not available for our playlist, unfortunately). If we're lucky, the real thing will happen just as quickly.

Bright Eyes

- "Four Winds"
With a one-minute instrumental intro, breezy W.B. Yeats and/or Joan Didion references and that raging fiddle stringing it all along,
Conor Oberst

yanked himself out of his post-adolescent stupor with a cheery little ditty about the apocalypse. Go figure.

R.E.M.

- "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
The world probably would end if this song didn't make the list. You're probably more likely to die of asphyxiation while singing along than by a flaming meteor or a giant wave, but have fun.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland - "Doomsday"
Perkins lost his father to AIDS in 1992 and then, nearly nine-years-to-the-day later, his mother was killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, so maybe you should take comfort in his admonition: "I don't plan to die / Nor should you plan to die."

The Decemberists

- "Sons & Daughters"
Whee! I hope there's a lovely hurdy-gurdy-lead sing-along when I arise from my bunker.

Prince - "1999"
What a bummer that this chorus has become such an immense cultural cliche, because the song—and it's message—are truly awesome, summed up by that weird slo-mo voice at the start of the track: "Don't worry." Life-advice and party-time music—thanks, Purple One.

Andrew Bird

- "Tables and Chairs"
"It's starting to get warm in here, and things are starting to get strange," Bird sings, later promising that "we're going meet some day in the crumbled financial institutions of this land"—right, so, aren't we due for some pony rides right about now? And those snacks?

Jimi Hendrix

- "Third Stone From The Sun"
Truly, the lack of surf music will be one of the great tragedies of the apocalypse.

The Misfits

- "Astro Zombies"
Definitely the catchiest track among this bunch, also the most graphic. Excellent combination.

The Sadies

- "1,000 Cities Falling Apart (pt. 1)"
When the end times come upon us, let's just hope a few pedal steel players are spared.

Josh Ritter

- "The Temptation of Adam"
Warning: This one might only be considered "enjoyable" if you just really love weeping uncontrollably. Ugh. Damn you, Ritter.

The Turtles

- "Eve of Destruction"
Barry McGuire recorded the definitive version of P.F. Sloan's 1965 protest song, but this Turtles cover is just so eerily jaunty. Nothing communicates the urgency of societal unrest quite like that cheery tambourine part, huh?

The Thermals

- "Here's Your Future"
Fire and brimstone delivered with a punkish snarl, as it always should be.
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