9. The Cure | "Disintegration"

"Disintegration" by The Cure from the album Disintegration (1989)

Following a short time of trying to craft the perfect pop song, Robert Smith returned to his gothic roots and decidedly got his sad on with Disintegration. Girls and boys in high schools around the world rejoiced — on the inside, of course — rushing to their notebooks to write about their feelings and how no one understood them, save for Smith. The ghoulish singer pleads for understanding at his falling to pieces and begs for sympathy regarding his actions on the title track, an eight-minute-plus epic. The gloomy affair works on so many levels mainly because of its honesty; there’s no doubt that Smith truly was this tortured soul “breaking apart like I’m made up of glass.”
 Michael Christopher