Top 5: Songs About the End of the World

It’s no mix tape, but it will have to do.  If it was a mix tape, it would just as likely lead to a suicide as it would to you diving headfirst into 3rd base.  I’m going to partially spoil the list by telling you that I didn’t include “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith, even though it was on the soundtrack to Armageddon.  I was tempted though.  Here’s your list.

1. “Your Love” by The Outfield: “Josie’s on a vacation far away.”  Okay, so it’s not about the end of the world, but it is the greatest song ever written by humans and any Top 5 song list would be remiss to omit it.

2. “No One Would Riot for Less” by Bright Eyes: “Death may come invisible, or in the holy wall of fire.”  Connor Oberst’s angsty, minimalist, fatalist stylings are right at home in this end of the world epic ballad (using the term ballad lightly here).  It’s about a couple falling in love in the face of Armageddon.  Sad scary romantic depressing stuff.

3. “Streets on Fire” by Lupe Fiasco: “Sickness some are still in doubt of its existence, some call it forgiveness and some call it the vengeance.”  Lupe, a Kanye-approved cure to the oft gangsta-obsessed doldrums of hip hop, tears the verses over this haunting beat.  His end of the world comes from a spreading virus, and he captures the paranoia and finger-pointing that the apocalypse is sure to bring.

4. “Grapevine Fires” by Death Cab for Cutie: “And the firemen worked in double shifts, with prayers for rain on their lips.  And they new it was only a matter of time.” A complex little drum beat drives this track, with specks of keys punctuating the lyrics.  The song is really about California fires, but the Death Cab-y chorus’ give it the epic span of the end of days.

5. “It’s the End of the World as we Know it” by R.E.M.: “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” While the rest of the songs on this list proclaim doom (or are called “Your Love”), R.E.M. finds whimsy in the apocalypse.  The song plays on the apathy of modern man, where it’s tough to care about much, even when the world is coming to an end.

-Anthony