Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum What's your favorite apocalypse music?

I know I'm pretty late posting this, and there might not be enough time for a lot of responses in light of the looming events scheduled for later today.
But I wondered, as the end of the world comes rolling in, what music would expect to hear blaring from the empyrean?
Here's one I'd vote for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDFFHaz9GsY

Remember to respond quickly, or don't bother.

This is the obvious choice, after yours:

Hier kommt die Sonne...



..Sechs, sieben, acht, neun, Aus.

My favourite kind is the kind I get to play. Because I'm still here.

Well, I think I'd go with Flight of the Valkyries myself.....

In light of the situation we decided to watch our War of the Worlds DVD tonight. Awful film, really......

11.25 and all is still well in our time zone

Bad to the bone!!!

Oh, you have touched a theme that is near and dear to my heart. Believe it or not, I actually have a "post-apocalyptic songs" playlist on my iPod, including the following:


“Nothing but Flowers” by The Talking Heads http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3t5nmgRVMs

"We will become silhouettes" by The Postal Service. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEILFf2XSrM

"Five Years" by David Bowie

"Do Over" by Get Set Go

"The Earth Dies Screaming" by UB40

“Idioteque” by Radiohead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWtn4Kt05_Y

“A smart kid” by Porcupine Tree. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6aF7u-oe40

"End of the World" by Blackfield

"Emergency/Apocalypse Please" by Muse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFrl01aPPkA

"The Day the World Went Away" by Nine Inch Nails

"The End of Everything" by Trivium

"Armageddon" by Darkwell

"Rise and Fall" by Daargaard

“Dead Flag Blues” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The whole song is 16 minutes long, but here’s an excerpt set to a stunning film showing scenes taken from the Chernobyl exclusion zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAgRDScygic

"East Hastings" also by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

"Postnuclear Winterscenario No. 1" by Wim Mertens


Err... do you get the feeling I can be a little doom & gloom at times?

OMG! Monica that's awesome!

Jeesh Monica, and there I thought you were such a happy person...

Great choices.

I'll vote for The End of the World as We Know It" by REM. Then again it could be Echoes by Pink Floyd.

Actually, I thought it was a little bit scary........

well, that's easy for me:

Tom Lehrer's We will All go together when We go!

I was mildly surprised to wake up this morning. Did the world end anywhere else? Just wondering

No, no, no.... It should be "We are Off To See the Wizard"!! I don't know why I didn't think of that before.

Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter

I think Hotel California could be considered apocalyptic. At the very least it's about plain old death.

Another one is The Weight, by The Band. "I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' 'bout half past dead...." There's lots of religious imagery and a general sense of death and the division of people into different fates following the apocalypse.

Finally, I would add Fire Lake by Bob Seeger. I think that's about a guy ("Uncle Joe") going to heck because he was a biker who "played those 8's and aces", "braved the bronze beauties lying in the sun" and so forth. The whole pleasures of the flesh and lake of fire thing is pretty apocalyptic and pretty much cut and pasted from Revelations. Of course, by that definition half the songs in rock and roll history could be considered apocalyptic.

Some others come to mind but I don't have time to list them, as I'm using a borrowed computer now that I've given away all my worldly possessions in anticipation of being lifted bodily into heaven yesterday. Hope it doesn't get too cold tonight.

Finale of Mahler's eighth or the whole of Mahler's second.

Of course, Mahler's second is rather obvious given it's nickname (Resurrection). For me, though, the finale of his eighth is total heaven. Which, again, shouldn't be a surprise since it's based on Goethe's Faust.

But when the soprano's voice sours up over the massed orchestra and choir - pure, total, unadulterated bliss. In this recording that clocks in just about the three minute mark:

Mahler 8 Finale (Rattle)

(To be honest, the above performance doesn't quite get my bones tingling at that part - check out Michael Tilson Thomas's recording).

I think that's what I'd have to go with too.