History Main / SurprisinglyGentleSong

** ''Relapse'' is mostly [[{{Horrorcore}} horrific]] SerialKiller fantasies, with a few witty hip-hop party songs and a sarcastic, mean confessional about his drug abuse. But there's also "Beautiful", a melancholic and grudgingly self-affirming RockRap ballad in which Eminem sing-raps about writer's block and whether he can even still be a rapper. It's also produced in a completely different style to everything else on the album, highlighting its weirdness.

* Music/{{Underoath}} are usually placed around Level 7-8 on the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness. But of course, being a Christian band, have a good number of these spread across their discography. Most notably, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZOwB_gaJ1A "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63EetspU6Is&ob=av3n "Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear"]]. These were sung almost entirely by former drummer and [[SopranoAndGravel clean vocalist]] [[FieryRedhead Aaron Gillespie]], with occasional peppering in by [[MetalScream screamer]] Spencer Chamberlain.

* [[Music/DreamTheater Dream Theater's]] "Vacant" is the Surprisingly Gentle Song off of ''Train of Thought,'' which is an 8+ on the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness , since it's slow and melancholy, and just piano, cello, and vocals.

* Pretty much all of The Misfits songs from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}' are arrogant tunes about how cool they are, how strong-willed they are, and how they don't care what others think. "Lovesick" is an AntiLoveSong about how Pizzazz is acting [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness completely off]] because she's head over heels for Riot.

* The Music/RedHotChiliPeppers have quite a few of these."If", "Tear," "Slow Cheetah," and "Dosed" are just a few of their newer examples.

* Music/TheUsed have quite a few, and write damn good slow, sensitive songs when they're not writing agressive, fast punk rock songs. To name a few: "Smother Me", "All That I've Got", "Kissing You Goodbye", "Tunnel", "Yesterday Feelings" and "Blue And Yellow".

* "Heal" by Buzzov-en from ''At a Loss''. They're a Sludge Metal group. This is probably the only non-angry song in their entire discography. (If the WikiMagic could cough up a link, that'd be great.)

Wait, what? A slow, quiet, gentle piece? Beautiful and soft, it may be SugarWiki/{{heartwarming|Moments}} or [[TearJerker heartbreaking]], but the defining characteristic is that it is far less aggressive a piece than you would ''ever'' expect from this band. May be a BlackSheepHit, but differs from that trope in that it's not necessarily a hit, and ''only'' applies to normally aggressive bands. Many {{Power Ballad}}s also prove to be examples of this trope. Compare PlayingAgainstType, RatedGForGangsta (for rap musicians specifically) and ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic.

[[folder: Prog Rock]]

* Synthpunk/proto-industrial band {{Suicide}} of "Frankie Teardrop" fame produced the synthpop ballad "[[https://youtu.be/mwMjhWn3OQ4 Surrender]]" in 1988.

* [[Music/DevinTownsend Strapping Young Lad]] were mostly known for super-heavy [[DeathMetal Death]] [[IndustrialMetal Industrial]] [[ThrashMetal Thrash]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly Metal]], but then there are "Two Weeks", "Almost Again", and "Polyphony", which basically qualify as straight-up ballads.

%% Examples have been alphebetized, please add yours in the correct order.

* Music/DollSkin is normally a punk rock/pop punk band with fast, energetic songs about topics ranging from misogyny to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUAeEiiQP48 fascism]]. "Sweet Pea", by contrast, is a slower song about missing a loved one while on the road. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments "This is just a song about how I love you..."]]

* Music/{{NWA}} had "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u31FO_4d9TY‎ Express Yourself]]" from ''Music/StraightOuttaCompton''. Hell, Wiki/ThisVeryWiki considers it SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel.

* Music/SmashingPumpkins's "Stumbeline" off of ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' is a wistful, acoustic song sandwiched between two much louder and guitar-heavy songs, "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" and "XYU", which is the hardest song on the album.

[[folder:Noise Pop]]

** "Swimming Home" is this to their SelfTitledAlbum and "Good Enough" is this for The Open Door.

* The Christian Hard Rock Band Music/{{Red}} tends to have at least two per album, beginning with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uw8mIcQJn8&feature=related 'Pieces']], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZPjiUimhck 'Already Over (part 2)']] in "End of Silence," [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAHCsyOb3Rc 'Take it all away']] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptwYUp-sJ8&feature=related 'Nothing and Everything']] (Which is an alternate version of the opening song 'Fight Inside') on Innocence and Instinct, "Not Alone" and "Hymn for the Missing" on Until We Have Faces, and "Coming Apart" and "Still Alive (Looking for a Reason)" on Gone. While they aren't as intensely loud or grating as bands such as Devil Wears Prada, RED is loud enough to warrant these songs being Surprsingly Gentle.

* The Christian Hard Rock Band Music/{{Red}} tends to have at least two per album, beginning with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uw8mIcQJn8&feature=related 'Pieces']], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZPjiUimhck 'Already Over (part 2)']] in "End of Silence," [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAHCsyOb3Rc 'Take it all away']] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptwYUp-sJ8&feature=related 'Nothing and Everything']] (Which is an alternate version of the opening song 'Fight Inside') on Innocence and Instinct. While they aren't as intensely loud or grating as bands such as Devil Wears Prada, RED is loud enough to warrant these songs being Surprsingly Gentle.

** Following this was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlahvvymkxc The Day that Never Comes]] and don't "Low Man's Lyric".

* Future of the Left, a band known for their aggressive post-hardcore sound and singer Andy Falkous' often darkly funny lyrics, has "French Lessons", a quiet song about love and unhappy marriage. The band's playing is much more subdued on this one, and while Falkous' lyrics are still humorous, the tone much bleaker than it is on their usual songs.

* Early on, gentle Music/FaithNoMore songs were pretty rare. The early acoustic instrumental "Jim" seemed to have been included for the sake of this trope. Ditto "Edge of the World", a piano ballad written from the point of view of a [[ComedicSociopathy paedophile]]. Later on they got pretty eclectic and juxtaposed heavy rock numbers such as "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" and "Cuckoo for Caca" with gentle numbers such as "Take This Bottle" and "Just a Man". The band also [[TrollingCreator loved to mess with their audience's expectations]] of what style of music they were supposed to perform, and they regularly played completely straight-forward covers of pop ballads at their concerts. Among their favorites were The Commodores' "Easy", The Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke" and Herb Albert's "This Guy's in Love with You", and they even released the latter two as singles.

* Early on, gentle Music/FaithNoMore songs were pretty rare. The early acoustic instrumental "Jim" seemed to have been included for the sake of this trope. Ditto "Edge of the World", a piano ballad written from the point of view of a [[ComedicSociopathy paedophile]]. Later on they got pretty eclectic and juxtaposed heavy rock numbers such as "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" and "Cuckoo for Caca" with gentle numbers such as "Take This Bottle" and "Just a Man". The band also [[TrollingCreator loved to mess with their audience's expectations]] of what they are supposed to perform, and they regularly played completely straight-forward covers of pop ballads at their concerts. Among their favorites were The Commodores' "Easy", The Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke" and Herb Albert's "This Guy's in Love with You", and they even released the latter two as singles.

* Early on, gentle Music/FaithNoMore songs were pretty rare. The early acoustic instrumental "Jim" seemed to have been included for the sake of this trope. Ditto "Edge of the World", a piano ballad written from the point of view of a [[ComedicSociopathy paedophile]]. Later on they got pretty eclectic and juxtaposed heavy rock numbers such as "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" and "Cuckoo for Caca" with gentle numbers such as "Take This Bottle" and "Just a Man". They even had a hit with a cover of Lionel Ritchie and the Commodores' "Easy".

Wait, what? A slow, quiet, gentle piece? Beautiful and soft, it may be [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming heartwarming]] or [[TearJerker heartbreaking]], but the defining characteristic is that it is far less aggressive a piece than you would ''ever'' expect from this band. May be a BlackSheepHit, but differs from that trope in that it's not necessarily a hit, and ''only'' applies to normally aggressive bands. Many {{Power Ballad}}s also prove to be examples of this trope. Compare PlayingAgainstType, RatedGForGangsta (for rap musicians specifically) and ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic.

* Music/DollSkin is normally a punk rock/pop punk band with fast, energetic songs about topics ranging from misogyny to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUAeEiiQP48 fascism]]. "Sweet Pea", by contrast, is a slower song about missing a loved one while on the road. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "This is just a song about how I love you..."]]

* Music/{{NWA}} had "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u31FO_4d9TY‎ Express Yourself]]" from ''Music/StraightOuttaCompton''. Hell, Wiki/ThisVeryWiki considers it SweetDreamsFuel.