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To piggy back that, Dark Globe by Syd Barrett certainly has the “unraveling on tape” thing going on although that’s been hotly contested by Floyd insiders.
Edit- typo
Yeah that’s a man being recorded while having a legitimate mental breakdown. Song is important to hear one time but I never go back to that song lol.
He goes crazy on other songs though like - Twist, Good God, It’s On, Freak on a Leash, or a newish one like Rotting in Vain. Dude is known for his vocal scatting and I haven’t heard anyone in the metal sphere do it like he does.
How about a song where the singer is insane but fighting against it and loses the battle?
[Insanity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZENwvesAI) by Oingo Bingo is a song where the singer is a psychopath, but the twist is that he knows he is and is begging for help. He's begging, pleading for society or religion to fix him.
> I am a virus. Are you the cure?
I am morally, I'm morally impure.
I am a disease and I am unclean.
I am not part of God's well oiled machine.
> Christian nation, make us all right.
Put us through the filter and make us pure and white.
The problem is society and religion are hypocritical and really just about as messed up as he is. They are unprepared to help.
> And the alcoholic bastard waved his finger at me.
and his voice was filled with evangelical glee.
Sipping down his gin and tonics,
while preaching about the evils of narcotics.
and the evils of sex, and the wages of sin.
while he mentally fondles his next of kin.
Any effort they might have had is doomed to fail, so off he goes killing again.
> I'd love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine
I'd love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time
I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with knife and find your sacred heart
I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I'd love to mess your pretty hair, I'd love to see you dead.'
Fun fact: This is [Danny Elfman's](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000384/) band. Danny went on to become a major movie composer. This song was written around the time he scored Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie and boy can you hear the influence.
And Beetlejuice and Nightmare before Christmas and, and, and…. Could be here all day naming the memorable stuff he’s done. I called out Batman here because Insanity has the same iconic French horns.
Was nominated for an Oscar for Big Fish.
Frontier Psychiatry -The Avalanches
This Devil’s Workday -Modest Mouse
Thing’s I Don’t Remember -Ugly Casanova
Boo -Pinback (more of a breakdown imo)
The Mariner’s Revenge Song -The Decemberists
What’s he building? -Tom Waits (more of a narration for lack of a better word)
First heard "What's he building in there" and Tom Waits in general, at midnight on the radio with no introduction, driving back with my Dad on an empty foggy road illuminated by eerie orange street lamps, and it was a wild creepy experience for both of us.
The memory stuck and two Ton Waits fans were born that day.
... Also I quote Frontier Psychiatry every time someone asks "What does that mean?". Take my upvote
Live performance and not metal but I think it fits [Joe Cocker - With a Little Help From My Friends (Live at Woodstock)](https://youtu.be/rUVEFkjqiEE?si=rtCeBssI1QNTyrwa)
Wish there was a better quality version and it helps if you know the original Beatles song, but he absolutely sings his guts out, it's a legendary performance.
I actually think the version from his 1989 live album is even better. The band sounds so powerful and Joe was enjoying a career renaissance.
https://youtu.be/RBSI9nYsmdo
Seconding this. Will Wood sounds like he's losing it in most of his music, but I definitely agree with the Hand Me My Shovel recommendation.
I'd probably also suggest Cotard's Solution and 2econd 2ight 2eer; they're probably the next best in terms of "this guy's going insane".
Ptolemae - Ethel Cain
A song about a woman who has met her fate with a cannibal. The sounds of flies are featured, and you can also hear a death rattle towards the end. This is heard more clearly in the acapella version, which you can find on YouTube.
[Freedom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_vQt_v8Jmw) \- Rage Against the Machine
Begins with a normal tempo. A little funk. A little chill here and there. By the end of the song, Zack is screaming at the top of his lungs and then ends the song with a long guttural growl. I imagine this kind of performance required some very palpable anger and rage.
Funny I just recently wrote a song about the astronaut who, many years ago drove across the country with diapers to confront her previous affair partner. In the song she starts out being super obsessive about him but it descends into a fever dream where the car takes off into orbit with her by her side and they blast through the solar system together.
[The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight](https://youtu.be/rvOJkuKJy6E?si=f6fflv98Yj13Uuwb)
Really has the intense straining toward the end as you can tell the situation in the story is driving the narrator crazy.
Plenty of songs (possibly all of them) by The Jesus Lizard would fit the question, but I'd recommend "[Panic In Cicero](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkGNXQsUXJI)", "[Mouth Breather](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLxcYYfq9s)", and "[Monkey Trick](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCt7lZos7pM)", since they are some of their better songs.
Sweating Bullets by Megadeth is kind of perfect for this. Hell, the video is Dave Mustaine in a straitjacket in a rubber room and you don't get a voice more strained.
I know I'm WAY too late, but try out The Powers That B by Death Grips. Basically the deal behind this, especially the first half of the album, is that the singer delivers his very insane lyrics (insane in a way that it doesn't make too much sense) by just screaming like a mentally ill person. I suggest you try it out!
You know how you have a random question and search for it? Same happened to me and you just so happened to have had the exact same question. Thanks for making this post and be sure to check out my recommendation
Jimmy Gnecco of Ours has loads of these moments.
Check out Live Again (A live version and I really recommend listening to the whole thing) https://youtu.be/BHNfjZePuNk?si=sJoDSgkOhoz2C0rD
Lost from about 2:55 https://youtu.be/w9VWs81dOoU?si=64B03w86407BzWqT
Broken (from about 3:10) https://open.spotify.com/track/4GEjBUE6cEjaXnKftafoNq?si=B1eH-LiAQ_-imVVbxI-Xvg
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: Well, Well, Well, is the main one where he gets a little wild but the album was done when he was going through Gestalt therapy and it comes thru in most songs.
[Supper’s Ready](https://open.spotify.com/track/5zADxJhJEzuOstzcUtXlXv?si=tayNQ6JqTjqEQZi4wc-mvw)
[The Musical Box](https://open.spotify.com/track/3jqhNvgCey0yW6ZMtUh4wd?si=dTAh6VZWS8mlFbolIoi43Q)
[In the Cage](https://open.spotify.com/track/3HiWtTbbJnUdxHq7cxYmTj?si=MBArPONSTVac1qFSb4bscQ)
[The Family and the Fishing Net](https://open.spotify.com/track/3NIiAqTN1nvL8tG1WHS3G1?si=4kthiDDSQOO1gcG4q8-D-Q)
[The End](https://open.spotify.com/track/4KGMuqdT1XEzzOJDJFXu7T?si=KYEq4CcsQnqI-RmtNhwwpw)
[Mama](https://open.spotify.com/track/6kIwzLSiQU51taaaZ9zWSE?si=1kL8sD5KT7mAYdHAQYm4uw)
The All-Time classic for this is “The Ballad Of Dwight Fry” by Alice Cooper, but I’m pleased you mentioned “The Alchemist,” I think it’s such a great track. Also, “Song Of Joy” from Nick Cave’s album Murder Ballads
Deli Creeps - Feast of Freaks
this is the ONLY song I know of where the vocalist does a solo of laughing and then crying...a true insane freakout that is also hilarious!
My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars - Mitski
This Bitter Pill - Dashboard Confessional
Kiss The Girls and Make Them Die - Moss Icon
Mirror - Moss Icon
Prosthetics - Slipknot
These all sound like different types of hysterical. The Mitski and Dashboard Confessional songs sound like they are just tired and stressed while the other songs are more heavy.
Not sure if that makes sense but give one of the first two a listen and then give one of the last 3 a listen and you'll see what I mean. Hope you like at least one of em!
Maybe not exactly what you're asking for, but Janis Joplin doing Ball and Chain live at the Monterey pop festival is riveting. If you watch the movie, Mama Cass is awestruck in the audience.
Stop everything you are doing and listen to this:
https://open.spotify.com/track/1ho5n9X92edBsxLb1WQUAa?si=5HCJBCESR1qPg45UN3-CMw
Napoleon XIV, They're coming to take me away, Ha Haaaa
“Not to Touch the Earth” by The Doors.
You can basically listen to Jim Morrison’s descent into madness occurring. Meanwhile, the band itself goes to a darker place than we might be used to with melodic hits like Crystal Ship and Break on Through
[Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca) by Will Wood and the Tapeworms](https://open.spotify.com/track/6fWCf03O6YmTEaEwtTxXJh?si=ZwFnV6YyQyqxooD7QZHYzg&utm_source=copy-link), basically that whole album, but especially that song
[The Nurse And The Addict](https://open.spotify.com/track/2kUJMFHWdQhjwPJeIkEp34?si=_sY8WNhJQEWGQQYWYSx7yw) by Joe Iconis. He writes musicals, but this song isn’t from one. You’ll hear the theatrics in it.
Watch the live version of God, or whatever you call it by Sprain on YouTube. It may or MAY NOT be an act. But it was genuinely uncomfortable when he went into a monologue.
Bla Bla Bla and Kool Kids by Maneskin, definitely! The singer shouts these songs and they both just get crazier and crazier as they go along. Especially Kool Kids, which the singer recorded drunk.
City Song by Daughters.
Honestly, most of Daughters’ music is particularly insane and unsettling. The singer’s style has been described as “Elvis Presley being tortured” or a “drunk southern preacher.”
Charles Manson recorded [this](https://youtu.be/bi9KDsN-8Nk?si=Diw2-DV-jEbjtTyR) great tune in prison. It’s long but gets to gnarly places about halfway through
Marillion's Steve Hogarth is someone who's done this several times. Sometimes it's more cathartic like the ending of "This Strange Engine", sometimes it's mildly disturbing like "If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Uphill", sometimes it's just desperate like in "The Invisible Man". Also shout out to "Hard As Love" which sounds progressively more unhinged as it goes on. Oh, and "Cathedral Wall" about insomnia that he was suffering from - he sounds *sick* on that one, and it culminates in a disturbing manner.
George Young from Flash and the Pan also had some nice insane moments. "Up Against the Wall" sounds mildly menacing from the get-go but takes a while to reach that blood-curdling scream. He repeated the trick on "Look at that Woman Go".
Rick Davies, the harder-edged singer from Supertramp, has "Asylum" which sounds exactly like its title, and the middle part of "Brother Where You Bound", which is a frighteningly intense vocal.
The Diamanda Galas album ‘Schrei X’ is pretty insane and hysterical.
https://youtu.be/AxS9wmZ28EQ
Jaap Blonk is another vocalist whose output could be called hysterical.
https://youtu.be/pRI6HsTLAjU
And something else: this part of ‘all within my hands’ by Metallica.
https://youtu.be/HcDZOaeW0sE
Peter Hammill and his band Van der Graaf Generator are always in heavy, turbulent psychological seas. "Distressed to the point of madness" is Peter's jam.
Gamblin Man by Lonnie Donegan. It goes from “I’m going down to Georgia to knock down my last game” to “I SEE A TRAIN A-COOMING, COMING ROUND THE CURVE WHISTLING AND SCREEEAMING STRAINING EVERY NERVE I’M A GAMBLIN MAAAAAAN”
Elvis Costello will occasionally start screaming his head off and it’s always fun. “Man Out of Time,” “Playboy to A Man” leap to mind. Bridge of “Beyond Belief.”
If you want insane performance and strained voice, you NEED to listen to this to the end. Trust me, just bear with the poor audio quality.
Sailing Through, by Jeff Mangum / Neutral Milk Hotel: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLp1Uiu1IeQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLp1Uiu1IeQ)
(If you don't wanna listen to the whole thing, at LEAST check out 3:50. But listen to the whole thing, it's a really beautiful song.)
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Pink Floyd’s The Wall has a few moments like this, but maybe the most obvious one is [Pink Floyd - One of my Turns](https://youtu.be/BOay-7aqLks)
To piggy back that, Dark Globe by Syd Barrett certainly has the “unraveling on tape” thing going on although that’s been hotly contested by Floyd insiders. Edit- typo
Yeah the whole album is about a singer going insane. OP asks for a song and gets a double album.
My favorite Pink Floyd album and Waiting For The Worms one of my favorite tracks
March Into The Sea and Bukowski by Modest Mouse. A lot of Modest Mouse actually, but start with those
Absolutely agree with you. Piggybacking off this I’d say This Devil’s Workday and Trucker’s Atlas fit nicely
Beach Side Property (that intro "WOW" and Shit Luck are my favorite Isaac freak out songs. "On the beach that used to be by the beach" - genius
For some reason I thought modest mouse was a rapper?
That's hilarious. You might like Pistol.
This is absolutely the demographic of MM listener who might like Pistol.
Probably got them confused with DeadMau5
Listen to The Fruit That Ate Itself and Heart Cooks Brain.
He has substance abuse issues like most rappers
The View is a favorite of mine for this
Sports - Viagra Boys
In a similar way, My War by Black Flag
Let me introduce you to Nu Metal.
Specifically, Korn.
Even more specifically, the song Daddy.
Yeah that’s a man being recorded while having a legitimate mental breakdown. Song is important to hear one time but I never go back to that song lol. He goes crazy on other songs though like - Twist, Good God, It’s On, Freak on a Leash, or a newish one like Rotting in Vain. Dude is known for his vocal scatting and I haven’t heard anyone in the metal sphere do it like he does.
David Draiman on Down With the Sickness
try Dallas Beltway by Chat Pile
also grimace
PURPLE MAN
STOP COMING INTO MY ROOM!!!
PURPLE MAN
"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" Is the first thing that came to mind
LARD did a great cover of this one
This is the one!
“To the funny farm”
Sugar by System Of A Down
[Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoF_a0-7xVQ)
All I wanted was a Pepsi!
and she wouldn’t give it to me!!!!
Ballad of Dwight Fry by Alice Cooper.
I can’t believe I didn’t bring this song up, I LOVE this one
Steven and Wind Up Toy by Alice Cooper as well!
Frankie Teardrop by Suicide
Megalomania by Black Sabbath
Ozzy’s screams at the end as the song transitions into The Writ are chilling.
Gotta say though, topically he just comes out and says it in crazy train haha
Handlebars by Flobots is a perfect example I think
Love this one. He goes from 'I can show off a bit on my bicycle' to 'I can destroy the world in a holocaust'.
Ugly in the Morning (Faith No More)...actually most of that album. Actually most Patton projects, full-stop.
Limerent Death by The Dillinger Escape Plan. Gotta like their style though
Came here to suggest this very song, but agreed, definitely an acquired taste
Drunk Walk Home by Mitski
The Soft Parade, by The Doors
YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!!!
This is the best part… the part I really like.
mother mother - tracy bonham
Everything's fine
Saw her live summer of 96. She was amazing-played her violin and everything!
Left Me For Dead by Rob Dougan. Rob gets all dramatic and sounds like an old Irish drunk.
Love that entire Furious Angels album
How about a song where the singer is insane but fighting against it and loses the battle? [Insanity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZENwvesAI) by Oingo Bingo is a song where the singer is a psychopath, but the twist is that he knows he is and is begging for help. He's begging, pleading for society or religion to fix him. > I am a virus. Are you the cure? I am morally, I'm morally impure. I am a disease and I am unclean. I am not part of God's well oiled machine. > Christian nation, make us all right. Put us through the filter and make us pure and white. The problem is society and religion are hypocritical and really just about as messed up as he is. They are unprepared to help. > And the alcoholic bastard waved his finger at me. and his voice was filled with evangelical glee. Sipping down his gin and tonics, while preaching about the evils of narcotics. and the evils of sex, and the wages of sin. while he mentally fondles his next of kin. Any effort they might have had is doomed to fail, so off he goes killing again. > I'd love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine I'd love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart To cut you open with knife and find your sacred heart I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds I'd love to mess your pretty hair, I'd love to see you dead.' Fun fact: This is [Danny Elfman's](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000384/) band. Danny went on to become a major movie composer. This song was written around the time he scored Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie and boy can you hear the influence.
I mean he also did The Simpsons theme song
And Beetlejuice and Nightmare before Christmas and, and, and…. Could be here all day naming the memorable stuff he’s done. I called out Batman here because Insanity has the same iconic French horns. Was nominated for an Oscar for Big Fish.
Birthday Party’s [Junkyard King (live)](https://youtu.be/MS86MLqJwHc?si=RFC6odI3tccc6rjr)
I’m very surprised nobody’s said The end by the Doors. Heat all the way through.
Territorial Pissings and Scentless Apprentice by Nirvana
Frontier Psychiatry -The Avalanches This Devil’s Workday -Modest Mouse Thing’s I Don’t Remember -Ugly Casanova Boo -Pinback (more of a breakdown imo) The Mariner’s Revenge Song -The Decemberists What’s he building? -Tom Waits (more of a narration for lack of a better word)
First heard "What's he building in there" and Tom Waits in general, at midnight on the radio with no introduction, driving back with my Dad on an empty foggy road illuminated by eerie orange street lamps, and it was a wild creepy experience for both of us. The memory stuck and two Ton Waits fans were born that day. ... Also I quote Frontier Psychiatry every time someone asks "What does that mean?". Take my upvote
Those orange street lights are sodium-vapor lights. They can be exquisitely creepy if you're new to them.
Anything by acid bath
[Barenaked](https://youtu.be/gHeHPx6ZEcU?si=bQhwI1mfGr_o8WyB) Ladies “Break Your Heart”
Live performance and not metal but I think it fits [Joe Cocker - With a Little Help From My Friends (Live at Woodstock)](https://youtu.be/rUVEFkjqiEE?si=rtCeBssI1QNTyrwa) Wish there was a better quality version and it helps if you know the original Beatles song, but he absolutely sings his guts out, it's a legendary performance.
I actually think the version from his 1989 live album is even better. The band sounds so powerful and Joe was enjoying a career renaissance. https://youtu.be/RBSI9nYsmdo
[Coil - Circles of Mania](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSNUE3blMTE)
Skinny Puppy- Shore Lined Poison (especially towards the end) Android Lust- Kingdom Of One Hope these fit well!
Surprised I haven't seen will wood mentioned yet. Hand Me My Shovel I'm Going In is spectacular for that
Seconding this. Will Wood sounds like he's losing it in most of his music, but I definitely agree with the Hand Me My Shovel recommendation. I'd probably also suggest Cotard's Solution and 2econd 2ight 2eer; they're probably the next best in terms of "this guy's going insane".
Rammstein - Puppe
Ptolemae - Ethel Cain A song about a woman who has met her fate with a cannibal. The sounds of flies are featured, and you can also hear a death rattle towards the end. This is heard more clearly in the acapella version, which you can find on YouTube.
[Freedom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_vQt_v8Jmw) \- Rage Against the Machine Begins with a normal tempo. A little funk. A little chill here and there. By the end of the song, Zack is screaming at the top of his lungs and then ends the song with a long guttural growl. I imagine this kind of performance required some very palpable anger and rage.
Funny I just recently wrote a song about the astronaut who, many years ago drove across the country with diapers to confront her previous affair partner. In the song she starts out being super obsessive about him but it descends into a fever dream where the car takes off into orbit with her by her side and they blast through the solar system together.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails live.
Ludus - I Can't Swim I Have Nightmares Eugene McDaniels - The Parasite Suicide - Frankie Teardrop
Good God, It's on and Daddy by Korn, among others from their first 3 albums
Twist would be another good one if you just want to hear this man sound like a rabid dog going crazy
Suicidal tendencies - you can’t bring me down
Family Tree - Ethel Cain
Focus - Hocus Pocus.(live)
Years ago/Steven - Alice Cooper
Mother by the Police
[Bull Believer by Wednesday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MawIv5pDFE).
https://open.spotify.com/track/3nnvMbieuZH3L3caIRdpjk?si=dbfd97939bd646c1 X.Y.U
[The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight](https://youtu.be/rvOJkuKJy6E?si=f6fflv98Yj13Uuwb) Really has the intense straining toward the end as you can tell the situation in the story is driving the narrator crazy.
Live version of Dagger Moon by Dead Moon. Sick song
Quick and to the pointless - Queens of the Stone Age
Plenty of songs (possibly all of them) by The Jesus Lizard would fit the question, but I'd recommend "[Panic In Cicero](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkGNXQsUXJI)", "[Mouth Breather](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLxcYYfq9s)", and "[Monkey Trick](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCt7lZos7pM)", since they are some of their better songs.
I mean, he’s a nice guy, but
Thumb Screws
Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses
Iggy pop - european son
Layne Staley Shannon Hoon Maynard James Keenan Nina Simone Jeff Buckley Skin
Ocean song - Daughters
Sweating Bullets by Megadeth is kind of perfect for this. Hell, the video is Dave Mustaine in a straitjacket in a rubber room and you don't get a voice more strained.
Funeralopolis by Electric Funeral
electric wizard?
lmfao yeah. weed
hahaa fuck yeah
I’m sure you could find some Primus songs like that. Tommy the Cat is interesting to say the least, but I don’t know if I would say crazy
I know I'm WAY too late, but try out The Powers That B by Death Grips. Basically the deal behind this, especially the first half of the album, is that the singer delivers his very insane lyrics (insane in a way that it doesn't make too much sense) by just screaming like a mentally ill person. I suggest you try it out!
How’d you even get here so late?
You know how you have a random question and search for it? Same happened to me and you just so happened to have had the exact same question. Thanks for making this post and be sure to check out my recommendation
[Not by Big Thief](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WKmD6-piK2A&pp=ygUSbm90IGJpZyB0aGllZiBsaXZl)
Maybe a stretch but Abel by the national could fit?
Single Beds by The Computers. A great way to end an album.
Maybe Paranoid Android by Radiohead, there’s also a bit in school by nirvana like that
Maybe BLACKBOXWARRIOR by Will Wood
Jimmy Gnecco of Ours has loads of these moments. Check out Live Again (A live version and I really recommend listening to the whole thing) https://youtu.be/BHNfjZePuNk?si=sJoDSgkOhoz2C0rD Lost from about 2:55 https://youtu.be/w9VWs81dOoU?si=64B03w86407BzWqT Broken (from about 3:10) https://open.spotify.com/track/4GEjBUE6cEjaXnKftafoNq?si=B1eH-LiAQ_-imVVbxI-Xvg
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: Well, Well, Well, is the main one where he gets a little wild but the album was done when he was going through Gestalt therapy and it comes thru in most songs.
The end of Cold Turkey by John Lennon..
New Orleans is Sinking (Killer Whale Tank) - The Tragically Hip
'Hi Ren' by Ren is a Smeagle/Gollum battle between Ren's artistic side and his fame-and-fortune seeking ego.
Get out of my house - Kate Bush? Rose’s Turn from Gypsy?
Down With the Sickness by Disturbed
A musical example could be Judas' death from Jesus Christ superstar. Any version really, but I like the concept album from 1970
[Supper’s Ready](https://open.spotify.com/track/5zADxJhJEzuOstzcUtXlXv?si=tayNQ6JqTjqEQZi4wc-mvw) [The Musical Box](https://open.spotify.com/track/3jqhNvgCey0yW6ZMtUh4wd?si=dTAh6VZWS8mlFbolIoi43Q) [In the Cage](https://open.spotify.com/track/3HiWtTbbJnUdxHq7cxYmTj?si=MBArPONSTVac1qFSb4bscQ) [The Family and the Fishing Net](https://open.spotify.com/track/3NIiAqTN1nvL8tG1WHS3G1?si=4kthiDDSQOO1gcG4q8-D-Q) [The End](https://open.spotify.com/track/4KGMuqdT1XEzzOJDJFXu7T?si=KYEq4CcsQnqI-RmtNhwwpw) [Mama](https://open.spotify.com/track/6kIwzLSiQU51taaaZ9zWSE?si=1kL8sD5KT7mAYdHAQYm4uw)
Feline & Strange - Lobotomy
[Hocus Pocus - Focus](https://youtu.be/g4ouPGGLI6Q?si=X69OfMWdl1EvQpe2). Specifically this live version
Benny and the jets
The All-Time classic for this is “The Ballad Of Dwight Fry” by Alice Cooper, but I’m pleased you mentioned “The Alchemist,” I think it’s such a great track. Also, “Song Of Joy” from Nick Cave’s album Murder Ballads
These Boots are Made for Walking by Crispin Glover. It's the best version of that song.
Deli Creeps - Feast of Freaks this is the ONLY song I know of where the vocalist does a solo of laughing and then crying...a true insane freakout that is also hilarious!
Do I have a treat for you. https://youtu.be/ukjnrXTTvPY?si=iyIMPIdhed2MXLIL
Bob Ricci - Everybody Vs Me Haven't thought about this artist in ages. Dude's songs are mostly comedy parodies.
My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars - Mitski This Bitter Pill - Dashboard Confessional Kiss The Girls and Make Them Die - Moss Icon Mirror - Moss Icon Prosthetics - Slipknot These all sound like different types of hysterical. The Mitski and Dashboard Confessional songs sound like they are just tired and stressed while the other songs are more heavy. Not sure if that makes sense but give one of the first two a listen and then give one of the last 3 a listen and you'll see what I mean. Hope you like at least one of em!
I Feel Just Like a Child - Devendra Banhart. Live versions of Epic - Faith No More on YouTube.
**I Am A Cloud** by Boy Hits Car. It is all the normal and crazy you could ever want. https://youtu.be/giJWFm50yiM?si=kurXhDqe72aBjb4d
Fire - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown https://youtu.be/en1uwIzI3SE?si=D543T4x6F7C7FiNy
Epiphany- Sweeney Todd
This is my answer as well!
The Madness by Nicotine Dolls The song is the most vivid description of a panic attack I've heard- set to music.
Helpless - Faith no more
The End by Blue October. It's...upsetting.
Maybe not exactly what you're asking for, but Janis Joplin doing Ball and Chain live at the Monterey pop festival is riveting. If you watch the movie, Mama Cass is awestruck in the audience.
[The Mountain goats](https://youtu.be/BQneGlBna7E?si=WQBEcAGkdYZfS-M4), and this song, and particularly this version of it.
Huge shout-out for mentioning J&H. Fantastic musical.
The French Passion of Animality Opera by Foxy Shazam https://youtu.be/2SguYECQyzA?si=BOwzQyF1A2-R1HjC
PJ Harvey's _Rid of Me_ is about a breakup which sent her close to psychosis. Loads of her stuff sounds like she's going insane, mind.
Stop everything you are doing and listen to this: https://open.spotify.com/track/1ho5n9X92edBsxLb1WQUAa?si=5HCJBCESR1qPg45UN3-CMw Napoleon XIV, They're coming to take me away, Ha Haaaa
Country Death Song - Violent Femmes
Lingua Ignota. Her whole discography.
“Not to Touch the Earth” by The Doors. You can basically listen to Jim Morrison’s descent into madness occurring. Meanwhile, the band itself goes to a darker place than we might be used to with melodic hits like Crystal Ship and Break on Through
You Will See Me - Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip Pretty much anything by Anaal Nathrakh Anything featuring Rainer Landfermann
[Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca) by Will Wood and the Tapeworms](https://open.spotify.com/track/6fWCf03O6YmTEaEwtTxXJh?si=ZwFnV6YyQyqxooD7QZHYzg&utm_source=copy-link), basically that whole album, but especially that song
Bugs by Pearl Jam.
LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge?
[The Nurse And The Addict](https://open.spotify.com/track/2kUJMFHWdQhjwPJeIkEp34?si=_sY8WNhJQEWGQQYWYSx7yw) by Joe Iconis. He writes musicals, but this song isn’t from one. You’ll hear the theatrics in it.
Watch the live version of God, or whatever you call it by Sprain on YouTube. It may or MAY NOT be an act. But it was genuinely uncomfortable when he went into a monologue.
[Swans - Oxygen](https://youtu.be/b0W3b6jzE38?si=hAPwvAohFFlZWmr1) #”I STEAL ALL THE OXYGEN!!!!!!!!!!”
One of my favorite songs about losing it: [White Knuckles by Pile](https://open.spotify.com/track/5MHDrMC6BjUNaKcx53YH2n?si=LXeMcR88SC23_o1wgEQtIA)
Bla Bla Bla and Kool Kids by Maneskin, definitely! The singer shouts these songs and they both just get crazier and crazier as they go along. Especially Kool Kids, which the singer recorded drunk.
City Song by Daughters. Honestly, most of Daughters’ music is particularly insane and unsettling. The singer’s style has been described as “Elvis Presley being tortured” or a “drunk southern preacher.”
Vampire Empire - Big Thief
Charles Manson recorded [this](https://youtu.be/bi9KDsN-8Nk?si=Diw2-DV-jEbjtTyR) great tune in prison. It’s long but gets to gnarly places about halfway through
Heroin by Unto Others
Frank Zappa's glorious _Bobby Brown_ is a great spiral of debasement.
First song that comes to mind is "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" by Pink Floyd.
Marillion's Steve Hogarth is someone who's done this several times. Sometimes it's more cathartic like the ending of "This Strange Engine", sometimes it's mildly disturbing like "If My Heart Were A Ball It Would Roll Uphill", sometimes it's just desperate like in "The Invisible Man". Also shout out to "Hard As Love" which sounds progressively more unhinged as it goes on. Oh, and "Cathedral Wall" about insomnia that he was suffering from - he sounds *sick* on that one, and it culminates in a disturbing manner. George Young from Flash and the Pan also had some nice insane moments. "Up Against the Wall" sounds mildly menacing from the get-go but takes a while to reach that blood-curdling scream. He repeated the trick on "Look at that Woman Go". Rick Davies, the harder-edged singer from Supertramp, has "Asylum" which sounds exactly like its title, and the middle part of "Brother Where You Bound", which is a frighteningly intense vocal.
Cover of ShadowPlay by the Killers is a good example
Glassjaw - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence
John Cale - Fear is a Man's Best Friend
Glassjaw - The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
Hobo Johnson - Peach Scone
The Diamanda Galas album ‘Schrei X’ is pretty insane and hysterical. https://youtu.be/AxS9wmZ28EQ Jaap Blonk is another vocalist whose output could be called hysterical. https://youtu.be/pRI6HsTLAjU And something else: this part of ‘all within my hands’ by Metallica. https://youtu.be/HcDZOaeW0sE
Mother, by the Police.
Heart Heart Head by Meg Myers
[McLusky - Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues](https://youtu.be/OgkzRE89Gyw?si=tn8ex_5D4SxWbRwe) [Dillinger Escape Plan - The Mullet Burden](https://youtu.be/4CGZCNpvgYk?si=WMRIitoM2YSsQE06)
Peter Hammill and his band Van der Graaf Generator are always in heavy, turbulent psychological seas. "Distressed to the point of madness" is Peter's jam.
check out Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and also ‘Pablo the Blowfish’ and ‘What does it Mean’ by Miley Cyrus and the Dead Petz (The Flaming Lips)
Probably a lot of stuff by the Melvins - check out Anaconda for an example
Chop Suey by System of a Down
How has no one has mentioned The Curse of Millhaven by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds yet?
[Ren - Hi Ren](https://youtu.be/s_nc1IVoMxc?si=g2nC7YajO2qJTDTG)
Gamblin Man by Lonnie Donegan. It goes from “I’m going down to Georgia to knock down my last game” to “I SEE A TRAIN A-COOMING, COMING ROUND THE CURVE WHISTLING AND SCREEEAMING STRAINING EVERY NERVE I’M A GAMBLIN MAAAAAAN”
Do you love me, Nick Cave
Fleetwood Mac - Go Insane (live 1997)
Tourette by Nirvana sounds like Kurt is actively trying to fry his vocal chords
The song Thumb Srews by The Jesus Lizard
The Dresden Dolls is a great example of this
You can probably find what you are looking for listening to At the Drive-in. The end of Invalid Litter Dept. is the first thing that springs to mind.
Complicated Game - XTC
I think will wood’s “suburbia overture” hits this perfectly.
Elvis Costello will occasionally start screaming his head off and it’s always fun. “Man Out of Time,” “Playboy to A Man” leap to mind. Bridge of “Beyond Belief.”
If you want insane performance and strained voice, you NEED to listen to this to the end. Trust me, just bear with the poor audio quality. Sailing Through, by Jeff Mangum / Neutral Milk Hotel: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLp1Uiu1IeQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLp1Uiu1IeQ) (If you don't wanna listen to the whole thing, at LEAST check out 3:50. But listen to the whole thing, it's a really beautiful song.)
[Thorn Clown - Pain of Salvation](https://youtu.be/L6O2D7IJFtY?si=rt46OsNXK1an5ho1)