Music for recovery

[HellaQueerKindaCrazy]

I relate so hard to the song "For You" by Staind.  Definite trigger warning for emotional abuse.  I sang it at a therapy group once and the leader thought I wrote it at first because it matches my experiences so well.

(Also, first post!  Hi!)

[Three Roses]

(Hi! Glad you're here!)

[kaji]

Hi everyone!  I'm new here but would like to say that over all these years the best music for me is always upbeat & optimistic (like Earth, Wind & Fire) or instrumental (like Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow) or tons of songs by Led Zeppelin.  Music that makes you feel happy & confident, makes you wanna dance or "takes you away" is what has helped me the most out of anything!  It doesn't make you sad or re-live break-ups, or remind you of abusive person/people!  Alot of other kinds of music seems to only keep my symptoms in the foreground and then I end up worse off...  sometimes for days on end until I force my self to do my style of "music therapy".

[samantha19]

I was actually thinking of starting a thread like this music has helped me so much. The songs that help when I'm going through a bad time are:

Safe & Sound by Electric President <3
The Death of Me (rock mix) by Asking Alexandria
Little Talks - Of Mice and Men or Julia Sheer cover <3
The Middle - Jimmy Eats World

I also really like Silk by Wolf Alice. It's probably my favorite song but it's pretty depressing lol. Really relatable for co-dependency, addiction and just generally living with a mental illness. Wary that it could be triggering. Personally I find it kind of validating, hearing a song that speaks how I feel when I'm having a bad moment, so it works well for me.

[Candid]

I enjoy Everybody Loves Me, Baby by Don McLean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGWz1sKV6j8, and I'm The Coolest by Alice Cooper.

[songbirdrosa]

I've got three that really hit me right where I live:

Because of You by Kelly Clarkson
Crossroads by Don McLean
A Million Years Ago by Adele

Edit:
Also, Magnolia by Gang of Youths, if I'm in a more volatile/contemptuous mood. There's a bit of swearing in it though, for anyone who may be sensitive to that kind of thing.

[writetolife]

Relatable music is interesting because it can be so helpful to find something that understands me and, on some days, incredibly triggering, too.  Surprisingly a lot of my music is by Goo Goo Dolls, which is not normally a band I would listen to for anything else.  They capture confusion, pain, and identity difficulty like no other band I've come across.     

"Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman because it captures, in hints, the sense of trapped-ness that I felt while I was living with my parents.

"Name" by Goo Goo dolls because it seems to understands my ambivalence about identity - wanting to be known and understood, but being afraid, and not really knowing who you are, on top of it all. 

"Iris" also by Goo Goo dolls.

"I'm Still Here" by John Rzeeznik (main singer for Goo Goo Dolls), which is a lot about identity and your significance.

"One Last Breath" by Creed (suicide trigger warning) 

[Bungle]

Devin Townsend's Deconstruction is incredible, as is his album Terria (although Terria has its' own embedded emotional memories for me, being something I started listening to as a teenager...)
Deconstruction seems to be about his mental health and addiction recovery process, it's overwhelming, technically brilliant and... Just huge really

I have managed to develop a positive association with Craig Pruess' (sp?) Sacred Chants of Shiva, despite the loose association with a new religious movement I was involved with until recently.
It's some seeeeerious meditation music, whenever I put it on I am reminded of one of my first conscious moments of self-care; listening to it whilst making myself dinner despite being completely overwhelmed and 'not there.'

It's hard not to confuse 'music for recovery' with 'music that got me through my childhood/adolescence...'

In the latter category, however... Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral opened me up to the realisation that other people felt as horrible as I did.
Strapping Young Lad's City.
Fear Factory's Demanufacture (which was introduced to me by one of my abusers funnily enough,) communicated pain to me on such an intense level; something I needed. It's tiring to remember that I was 10 or 11 when I first heard it... I read these lyrics and think, god, not only was I into the music but this was SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO ME even before adolescence... I remember things like that when I start to doubt whether anything actually happened. Healthy pre-teens don't vibe with lyrics like this:

(Zero Signal)
So withdrawn and feeling numb
Watching life come all undone
Growing fear, a human grace
A drowning mind in a dark
Embrace

My life
A disarray
And I
Fade away

I am down on my knees
Praying beyond belief
The silence deafens my ears
And welds the shackless
Onto my tears

Lost
All faith
Lost
All trust
Lost
All faith
Lost
All trust

So withdrawn and feeling numb
Watching life come all undone

My life
A disarray
And I
Fade away

I am down on my knees
Praying beyond belief
The silence deafens my ears
And welds the shackless
Onto my tears

I have lost all faith
I have lost all trust
A sordid mesh turning to
Dust

I am lost
I am so numb
I am so numb...



Onto more positive things... New music that I have discovered which is awesome, and helping me bolster my personality as an adult, as an autonomous being:

Kartikeya - Mahayuga (technical death metal with hindu influences)
Cult of Fire - मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (Translates to 'Ascetic Meditation of Death') - Black metal a la Hindu philosophy, freaking AWESOME if you're into that kind of thing...
Wormlust - The Feral Wisdom (Black metal solo project, I've been listening to a lot of that genre lately... Don't confuse it with satanism, only a small portion of black metal artists are actually pushing that agenda... The heart of the music to me is reverence for nature, a desire to be subsumed into the forest, and for absolute solitude; all concepts which had worked their way into my own music before really delving into the arcane metal side of things...)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Little Birds
Neutral Milk Hotel - Ferris Wheel on Fire EP (Both of the above being releases I hadn't heard previously from that band, psychedelic fuzzy folk/noise/acoustic, with the most heart-wrenchingly emotional subject matter and delivery I have EVER heard. The singer/songwriter is apparently quite reclusive, and has definitely experienced a lot of pain. Their main albums, On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,  come very very highly recommended by me, though they can be triggering in the most beautiful way.)

I could continue for some time, but that will do for now

Very happy to have found this forum, thanks for posting etc. as I deleted my Facebook account a few years ago (for conspiritorial and self-care reasons,) which has turned out to be an incredibly positive move, but also a little isolating as a lot of support/special interest groups are entirely based on there these days!

[Blueberry]

I see you're new on here Bungle! Welcome 

I love mantra chanting myself, it does me a lot of good.

[Bungle]

Thank you!

Mantra/meditation may well be the most important part of my self-care initiative, aside from the basics (eating, getting to work on time, showering and such )
It can also be quite fun when ones' brain throws in some kind of neurotransmitter release for their troubles (the most appropriate emoticon metaphor for this phenomenon being )

More recovery music: Tesseract - Altered State... Progressive rock and metal with a beautiful sound and truly impressive song structures, and the vocals are just incredible. I waited 3/4 of the way through the album for the screaming to kick in before realising that it's all 'clean' falsetto harmonies and prettiness 

[salto]

Music is such a great tool in many situations! And it really helps to be mindful about what kind of music you need right now. I have several list and favorite albums for different situations. Right now I'm listening to the soundtracks from the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film. Lots of power and it makes me smile

[PaulB]

Has anyone checked out Grace Vanderwaal's latest single "Clearly ("http://smarturl.it/Clearly)"?  It is a remake of Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" with additional lyrics.  The song is heartfelt and the video is great as well.  I find her new song inspirational and just the thing I need at the moment. 

[Rainagain]

I assume everyone is aware of 'if it be your will' sung by Anthony and the Johnsons.

Live version on utube.

[FrillyFarmGirl]

Joanne and One Million Reasons by Lady Gaga, as well as Be Kind To Yourself by Andrew Peterson.

[Laura90]

Truth is a beautiful thing by London Grammar