History YMMV / TheDecemberists

%%* FaceOfTheBand: Colin Meloy.

* CompleteMonster: One of the two main villains of ''[[ConceptAlbum The Hazards of Love]]'', the Rake is a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] sociopath who only married his wife to slake his want for sex, and believed fatherhood was a curse. Glad about the deaths of his wife and third daughter in childbirth, the Rake decided to [[OffingTheOffspring murder his remaining children]] in order to gain the freedom of a new, carefree life. In "[[VillainSong The Rake's Song]]", he reveals he poisoned his elder daughter, drowned the younger, and beat his son to death then burned his body because the boy dared to fight back. Assuring the listener he's never really been bothered about murdering his own kids, in the second half of the album he begins his new life by abducting the heavily pregnant Margaret with the [[AttemptedRape intent to rape her]].

* EarWorm: ''Many'', but 16 Military Wives is probably their catchiest.
** Every song on ''The King Is Dead.'' "Don't Carry It All," "Rox In The Box," "January Hymn," "Down By The Water," and "All Arise!" might be the worst.
* FaceOfTheBand: Colin Meloy.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome
** "This Is Why We Fight" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLSOzcEQjiE Just listen]] But pretty much anything off that album (or any album for that matter).
** The Tain.

* CompleteMonster: One of the two main villains of ''[[ConceptAlbum The Hazards of Love]]'', the Rake is a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who only married his wife to slake his want for sex, and believed fatherhood was a curse. Glad about the deaths of his wife and third daughter in childbirth, the Rake decided to [[OffingTheOffspring murder his remaining children]] in order to gain the freedom of a new, carefree life. In "[[VillainSong The Rake's Song]]", he reveals he poisoned his elder daughter, drowned the younger, and beat his son to death then burned his body because the boy dared to fight back. Assuring the listener he's never really been bothered about murdering his own kids, in the second half of the album he begins his new life by abducting the heavily pregnant Margaret with the [[AttemptedRape intent to rape her]].

* AccidentalInnuendo: May or may not actually ''be'' accidental, but in "Culling of the Fold": "Get him down on his knees/ With your hands all shakin'/ That'll teach him how to take it"?

* GeniusBonus: So much of it. For instance, only someone who is both a botanist[[note]]''Solanum''=potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes; ''Asteraceae''=lettuce. Vavilov=Nikolai Vavilov, Russian/Soviet father of modern plant genetics and authority on the domestication of crops, sent to the gulag for holding to "bourgeois"--and true--Mendelian genetics.[[/note]] and a WorldWarII buff would be able to really understand "When the War Came" without being told about it. "Sons and Daughters" references houses of aluminum and eating cinnamon, a pretty bizarre image unless you know that aluminum was once considered a metal more precious than gold, and cinnamon was used as currency.

* GeniusBonus: So much of it. For instance, only someone who is both a botanist and a WorldWarII buff would be able to really understand "When the War Came" without being told about it. "Sons and Daughters" references houses of aluminum and eating cinnamon, a pretty bizarre image unless you know that aluminum was once considered a metal more precious than gold, and cinnamon was used as currency.

* CompleteMonster: The eponymous character of "The Rake's Song" relates how he murders his three children after their mother died in childbirth because he wants a new life, including beating his son to death and burning the body for daring to fight back, and concludes by saying that he doesn't regret it at all.

** "The Bachelor and the Bride" requires a working knowledge of {{Dada}} art, specifically MarcelDuchamp.

* CompleteMonster: The eponymous character of "The Rake's Song" relates how he murders his three children after their mother died in childbirth because he wants a new life, including beating his son to death and burning the body for daring to fight back, and concludes by saying that he doesn't regret it at all.

** Every song on ''The King Is Dead.'' "Don't Carry It All," "Rox In The Box," "January Hymn," and "Down By The Water" might be the worst.

* CompleteMonster: The Rake from "Hazards". Killed his children ''and'' kidnapped and raped a pregnant woman.

** Pretty much every song on ''The King Is Dead.'' "Don't Carry It All," "Rox In The Box," "January Hymn," and "Down By The Water" might be the worst.

** Colin has encouraged people to have sex during Rise To Me. [[http://www.npr.org/event/music/136800524/sasquatch-2011-the-decemberists-live-in-concert Yes, really]].

** "Why We Fight" [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLSOzcEQjiE Just listen]] But pretty much anything off that album (or any album for that matter).

* TheWoobie: Quite a lot of their characters. Poor Eli.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The end of ''The Mariner's Revenge Song''.
** ''The King is Dead'', a pastoral folk album in a world dominated by decidedly ''not'' pastoral music, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: "Shankill Butchers", "Culling of the Fold", "Odalisque", "The Rake's Song", "The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)", "Leslie Anne Levine", "A Cautionary Song".

* YourMileageMayVary: They're either fresh and unique, or wholly pretentious.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome