Edit: I think this goes without saying, but just to be clear, some of these songs could be triggers.


Just curious. Music can work wonders sometimes.
For anxiety or insomnia I'll try Pachelbel's Canon in D, stuff like that. But depression requires something else altogether.

I'm probably not alone in this, but shamelessly cheery music just makes me feel worse. What makes me feel better, or at least more okay with feeling bad, are the melancholy songs.
"Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones. "Helpless" by Neil Young. "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers. "Misty Blue", by various artists.
Sometimes it feels good to see what beauty people have created from their pain. One song I keep listening to over and over lately is "Ain't No Reason" by Brett Dennen. Soulful, sad, and the video is just heartbreaking, and so real. I recommend it if you feel like you need a good cry, but not otherwise, because no matter how many times I watch it I can't get through it without shedding a tear.
Another amazing song if you want to cry is Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" by NIN. Absolutely amazing. It'll make you sad, but at the same time, I always feel like I could never feel as much pain as he conveys in this song, looking back on his life.
"Sound of Silence" and "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel I like to sing along to when I'm blue.
And if you think Elton John and "sad", you'd probably think of "Candle in the Wind", but there's another song of his that isn't well known that I think is even sadder. It's called "The Last Song". Sounds sad already right? Well if you or anyone you loved have been diagnosed with HIV, don't listen. It's about a man dying of AIDS, who receives a surprise visit from his father who disowned him because of his lifestyle. "I guess I misjudged love/Between a father and his son" is a heartbreaking line. I first heard this song at the end of And The Band Played On, a docu-drama about the early days of AIDS in America, and how most people were inclined to ignore it because it was seen as a "gay problem." Sad movie as it is (with a superstar cast including Steve Martin, Alan Alda, and Phil Collins), but the montage at the end, set to this song, got me bawling.
But every once in a while I get really really angsty and have to turn to something stronger. "Scars" by Papa Roach seems to be the story of my life, and songs like "I Don't Care" by Apocalyptica (electric cellos are amazing) give me a sort of savage pleasure in my pain.

What about you guys?