History HarsherInHindsight / Music

* Music/{{Scorpions|Band}}:
** ''Wind of Change'', a famous ballad celebrating perestroika, often seems like an example of this trope to many Russians, since the fall of the Union resulted in many tragic events in Russia (and most other post-Soviet countries too). The line about an "August summer night, soldiers passing by" is perhaps the most jarring, since the most dramatic events of the [=GKChP=] coup unfolded exactly at August summer nights just one year later after the song was recorded, and yes, it did involve soldiers.
*** The fact that Germans consider this song a symbol of one of the most joyous events in their history may seem like pure schadenfreude if you think about it.

* Music/BritneySpears' songs "Lucky" and "Mona Lisa (Demo Version)" both have extra meaning after her publicized erratic behavior and meltdowns spanning from 2006 to 2008.
-->She's so lucky\\
she's a star,\\
but she cry, cry, cries with her lonely heart, thinkin',\\
"If there's nothing missing in my life,\\
then why do these tears come at night?"
** and '''Mona Lisa''':
-->''About Mona Lisa, and how she suddenly fell (huh)\\
See everyone knew her, they knew her oh so well\\
Now I am taking over, to release her from her spell\\
\\
Don't have a break down you will hit the freaking wall\\
\\
Cuz she's gone, cuz she's gone, gone''
** She recorded a song called "Oops, I Did it Again".
*** Though released in 1988, Edie Brickell and New Bohemians' "Little Miss S." [[http://www.metrolyrics.com/little-miss-s-lyrics-edie-brickell-the-new-bohemians.html reads today]] as eerily prescient of Britney at her worst, even getting one of the initials right.

* "One Man's Fool" by Music/{{Genesis}}, the closing track on their 1997 album ''Calling All Stations'', opens with the absolutely haunting line "As the buildings crumble, tumble to the ground, and the dust-filled smoke rises in the air, you know that somebody somewhere looks with pride, they're satisfied." Then gets even more on the nose with lines like "And on the morning after do you realize, See the ruined faces and the ruined lives". At the time, it was referring to a destructive truck bombing that happened in Manchester, England a year prior. But in a modern context, you'd swear this song was written as a heartbroken reaction to 9/11.

** To a lesser extent, the opening line of "Miami 2017", [[RefrainFromAssuming "I've seen the lights go out on Broadway."]] It was written in the 1970s. The lights going out on Broadway, then, was the first sign of the destruction of New York City. After New York got through its bankruptcy issues that decade, the song came to seem silly. Then, in the winter of 2007, the writers' strike did shut down Broadway.

* Bel Amour's self-titled song "Bel Amour" ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEIgyLqqfm8 video here]]) was considered funny at the time. It was also considered as {{Squick}} back then, now it's downright ''creepy'' and verges on the UncannyValley due to the Japanese predilection for replica dolls, which is seen as downright weird in Western Europe due to ValuesDissonance. The song was popular back in 2001-2002, but the video's notoriety is probably why it's better known now.

* "One Man's Fool" by Genesis, the closing track on their 1997 album ''Calling All Stations'', opens with the absolutely haunting line "As the buildings crumble, tumble to the ground, and the dust-filled smoke rises in the air, you know that somebody somewhere looks with pride, they're satisfied." Then gets even more on the nose with lines like "And on the morning after do you realize, See the ruined faces and the ruined lives". At the time, it was referring to a destructive truck bombing that happened in Manchester, England a year prior. But in a modern context, you'd swear this song was written as a heartbroken reaction to 9/11.

* Two years after leaving Music/{{The Temptations}}, Paul Williams recorded the song "Feel Like Givin' Up", Produced by friend and fellow Temptation Eddie Kendricks, in hopes of launching a solo career. Sadly, Williams was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound before the song's scheduled release. Motown subsequently shelved the recordings to avoid this trope.

** The album took its title from a line of the song ''Asking For It'', which at some point was a duet between Courtney and Kurt (the recording still exists in bootleg form). The full line goes "if you live through this with me I'll die for you". Yes, they both sing it. It's damn creepy.

* Music/{{ABBA}} had a song ''I'm a Marionette'', which is about a singer's CreatorBreakdown. Just a few years later, ABBA collapsed due to collective CreatorBreakdown.
** ''Under Attack'', the last song ABBA released as a single before they disbanded, is written from the perspective of a woman being menaced by a stalker. The lead vocal is sung by Agnetha Faltskog, who later had this happen to her in RealLife.

** The [[https://youtu.be/KhJ9IwYc5NU video]] for his 2015 single release "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" depicts Chris Cornell being executed by hanging in a dusty western town.

* Music/PearlJam's song "Alive" now has a whole new meaning once we learn that with [[Music/{{Nirvana}} Kurt]], [[Music/AliceInChains Layne]] and Chris Cornell gone, Eddie Vedder is now the last grunge frontman standing. But only time will tell how long he stays that way.

* Music/{{Blink 182}}'s Music Video for "[[BoyBand All the Small Things]]" was one of the funniest music videos of its time. But the opening shot of drummer Travis Barker nonchalantly walking off a plane is kind of painful to see, considering he was severely burned by a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Carolina_Learjet_60_crash jet crash]].

* On the D12 song 40oz D12 member Proof says the line "I am in the club to beef you, got to murder me there". He ended up being killed in an altercation in a night club.

* Music/{{Soundgarden}} fans got saddened to hear Music/ChrisCornell had died, and once the cause of death was discovered as suicide by hanging, songs such as "Like Suicide", "The Day I Tried to Live" and ''especially'' "Pretty Noose" were found pretty uncomfortable to discuss/listen.
** Watching the "hanging" scene in Cornell's "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" video, as well. The video was taken down as a result.
* This page lists the deaths of Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley and Chris Cornell. Of the big four of {{Grunge}}, only Music/PearlJam's [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/05/19/after-chris-cornells-death-only-eddie-vedder-is-left-let-that-sink-in/?tid=pm_national_pop&utm_term=.b4b112402313#comments Eddie Vedder remains]], and the famous TitleDrop "I'm still alive" takes a whole new meaning.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=10&v=d-diB65scQU video]] for "Don't Worry, Be Happy", Bobby [=McFerrin's=] anti-depression song stars Bill Irwin and... Creator/RobinWilliams. Robin's forced smile in some of the scenes has a painful edge to them now. Williams's [[https://www.facebook.com/bobbymcferrin/posts/779253772097838 relationship]] with [=McFerrin=] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments makes it a little less painful]].

* Back in the 80s a magazine made a speculative guess on what certain then-current stars would be like in the future. [[http://x27.xanga.com/938f411164c32249527181/w197978412.jpg There one on]] Michael Jackson shows him looking like an older version of his young adult self and with the line "In number, his fans will have grown tenfold by the year 2000".

* During the recording of the song "Gimme Shelter" from ''Music/LetItBleed'' for Music/TheRollingStones, guest vocalist Merry Clayton hit some very high notes, and broke her voice during the bridge. She shortly after had a miscarriage, due to the stress that she put on her body during the recording. It probably wasn't very wise for the Stones to have named the album it is listed on as ''Let It Bleed''.

* The cover of World Party's 1993 album ''Bang!'' featured an image of lead singer/songwriter Kurt Wallinger's head exploding into pieces. In 2000, Wallinger suffered a brain aneurysm that took him years to recover from. World Party has not released an album since.

* Music/CourtneyLove (controversial wife of Kurt Cobain) was in a band called Hole, which released an album called ''Music/LiveThroughThis'' on April 12, 1994 - only four days after Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home. To make matters worse, one of the songs (entitled "Rock Star", a thing Kurt was never comfortable with being) has a line "Barrel of laughs to be Music/{{Nirvana}}, hope you'd rather die". Even if you're aware that the album was completed before Kurt died, it's still pretty creepy (especially with the conspiracy theory that [[NeverSuicide Courtney murdered Kurt]]). It's possibly worth noting that Hole's bassist, Kristen Pfaff, died of a heroin overdose two months later. Similar to Music/{{Slayer}}'s ''God Hates Us All'' [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror seven years later]], the unfortunate release date was just bad timing.
** The album took its title from a line of the song ''Asking For It'', which at some point was a duet between Courtney and Kurt (the recording still exists in bootleg form). The full line goes "if you live through this with me I'll die for you". Yes, they both sing it. It's damn creepy.

* In 1984, Music/{{Prince}} sang the line "Are we gonna let the elevator break us down?" in the song "Let's Go Crazy". In 2016, he was found dead on his Paisley Park complex...in an elevator.
** Also, the following lines from one of his biggest hits, "1999."
--->I was dreaming when I wrote this, so due me if I go too fast
--->But '''life is just a party and parties weren't meant to last'''

* Music/KennyRogers
** A verse from the iconic song "The Gambler" is both this and HeartwarmingInHindsight: ''And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep''. On March 20, 2020, he died in his sleep.

** A verse from the iconic song "The Gambler" is both this and HeartwarmingInHindsight: ''And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep''. On March 20, 2020, he did, indeed, die in his sleep.

* Music/{{Scorpions}}:

* Music/EdithPiaf's "[[https://lyricstranslate.com/en/hymne-lamour-ode-love.html Hymne à l'amour]] describes the lengths she'd go for her beloved, concluding that if he were to die, [[TogetherInDeath she would wish to die as well so they would be reunited in heaven.]] Just a month after she first performed it publicly, her lover and the song's inspiration, boxing champion Marcel Cerdan, died in a plane crash.

** The drum beat to Music/CheapTrick's "ELO Kiddies", released in 1977, was deliberately similar to that of Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part II": The unfortunate coincidences in that particular song don't go much further than indirectly associating Gary Glitter with "kiddies"... But on the self-titled debut album, it's immediately followed by "Daddy Should Have Stayed In High School", a song about a middle-aged man trying to pick up high school girls.

* Music/TheMove (precursors of Music/ElectricLightOrchestra) recorded two songs about mental illness, "Disturbance" and "Cherry Blossom Clinic." (They recorded the latter song ''twice.'') Move bassist Ace Kefford has suffered from mental illness for decades. During that time, he's also battled substance abuse and attempted suicide.

* Music/{{Prince}}'s 1984 hit song "Let's Go Crazy" included the lyrics "Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down?" seems pretty haunting now, considering that Prince was found dead in an elevator at Paisley Park on April 21, 2016.

* The song "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)". It's pretty disturbing in the first place but becomes even more uncomfortable when you find out that not only is it absolutely sincere and unironic, it's based on the actual relationship the singer Little Eva had with her boyfriend. And it gets even worse when you consider that the producer was Music/PhilSpector, who was an infamous domestic abuser and was later arrested for murdering an actress he was dating.

* The song "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)". It's pretty disturbing in the first place but becomes even more uncomfortable when you find out that not only is it absolutely sincere and unironic, it's based on the actual relationship the singer Little Eva had with her boyfriend. And it gets even worse when you consider that the producer was Phil Spector, who was an infamous domestic abuser and was later arrested for murdering an actress he was dating.

* Music/NeilYoung's "Piece Of Crap" was written as his jab at products on the market that were effectively overpriced junk. This would be the reaction a lot of people would have to the Pono Player, a portable music player that Young would lead to market that can play higher-quality formats than regular [=MP3s=]. Discounting the fact it costs a whopping $400, many critics doubt very much that the "high quality" files being sold in his web store are enough of an audible improvement over standard [=MP3s=] to warrant the need(indeed, one test of the very files, when downsampled to CD quality, only showed a minor difference in the high frequency ranges that humans can't even hear!). And did I mention that the device literally has only 3 buttons and issues with the touchscreen being unresponsive at times?

* Music/BlackSabbath's album ''Music/{{Paranoid}}'' has a DrugsAreBad song named "Hand Of Doom", sang by Music/OzzyOsbourne. If you realize how much unhealthy stuff Ozzy would take the following decades this makes this song particularly harsh to listen to. He is still alive today, though the effects of all this drug abuse are very visible and audible.

* A particularly horrifying example would be The Coup's "Party Music" and its [[https://www.ruv.is/sites/default/files/fr_20180920_094596.jpg original album artwork]] designed in June 2001 depicting the band in front of an exploding World Trade Center; the album was scheduled for release in September 2001.

* "Rehab" from ''Music/BackToBlack'' by Music/AmyWinehouse (and all the jokes about Winehouse being a drugged-up mess) has officially become more disturbing since she passed away after a short lifetime of drugs and alcohol abuse.

** A couple lines from "Creeque Alley": ''And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass/And everybody's gettin' fat except Mama Cass''. The first one was actually referring to Cass Elliot being wealthy, but takes on a whole new meaning on July 29, 1974 after her weight contributed to dying in her sleep from a heart attack; the second one talks about the success of The Journeymen, Music/TheByrds, and Music/TheLovinSpoonful before The Mamas And The Papas were founded, but ''before'' Mama Cass joined the group; after her death, some people ''are'' getting fat except her.

* Harlem rapper Big L's line in "Street Struck": "Stay off them corners, that might be your best plan/before you catch a bullet that was meant for the next man." Guess what happens to him four years later?

* There are two filk albums, ''Music/AVeryScarySolstice'' and ''An Even Scarier Solstice'', with solstice carols inspired by Creator/HPLovecraft's horror writings, intended for the listener who's sick of the usual [[TastesLikeDiabetes Christmas soundtrack]] and relying heavily on LyricalDissonance for its comedic effect. This combination backfires badly when you listen to it on Christmas 2015, while catching up on the outcomes of the just concluded 21st international climate conference, and realize that Cthulu and R'yleh work quite well as a metaphor for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis "methane clathrate gun"]]. [[note]]It's huge, it's been "sleeping" deep under the sea for countless eons, and when it rises, it will cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt through runaway climate change and a mass extinction possibly as big as the "Great Dying" at the end of the Permian era. And there are many people (climate scientists) who really do have nightmares about it, and at least a few particularly pessimist dark-green activists have developed mental illness (depression) and even committed suicide.[[/note]] Suddenly, songs like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptP0OR-e7rI "Death to the World"]] are a lot less funny.

* The Argentine rock band Music/SodaStereo has a song called ''Cuando pase el temblor'' (After the trembling) that has the verses "Wake me up after the trembling". In 2010, Gustavo Cerati, former vocals and guitar of the band, suffered a cerebral stroke after a show in Venezuela, remaining in a coma under respiratory aide until his death in September 2014.
** Additionally, "temblor" can also means "earthquake", which took a different meaning after the song was released in the immediate aftermath of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake that killed thousands. Due to this coincidence, the song was banned in several radio stations across Mexico after its release.