The two I can think of are:
- It’s Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
You are my sunshine
Lots of mentions of The Boss, but not those other cheery Jerseyites. Bon Jovi with “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
Brown Sugar
A lot of that album was pretty subversive but hidden behind upbeat rock. The olds didn’t realize what the kids were listening to because they just heard pop rock.
- OutKast - Hey Ya!
- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
- Tones and I - Dance Monkey
- NENA - 99 Red Balloons
- The 88 - At Least It Was Here
- The Beatles - Help!
- R.A. the Rugged Man - Legendary Loser
- Theory of a Deadman - Bitch Came Back
- Atmosphere - The Best Day
- Atmosphere - Yesterday
- Gorillaz - DoYaThing (Full-Length)
- Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
- Foster The People - Best Friend
- The Offspring - The Kids Aren’t Alright
- Tyler, The Creator - 48
- Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A
- KISS - Detroit Rock City
- Scissor Sisters - Laura
- The Dead South - In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company
The Motown hit Keep Me Hanging On by the Supremes is the classic example of this.
It was even recognized for its pathos and turned into a sadder slow version by psychedelic band Vanilla Fudge
Club America by The Cure
HEALTH - everything from the band is banger after banger but with lyrics that’ll leave you feeling a certain type of sad
Sad lyrics and fast tempo :
Kazim Koyuncu - Narino
Bagpipe song with the lyrics “I lost my sanity”, “I sat down and cried”, and “I wish someone knew my pain” especially. Can find longer versions on youtube.French Gal - Poupèe de cire
Lyrics are about feeling more like a doll than human. TRIGGER WARNING FOR FRENCH LANGUAGEKazim Koyuncu - Fadime
Kemençe song with lyrics along same lines. Takes a bit before beat changes.Sad lyrics and happy music/tone :
Danny Gonzales - Downhill
Song argues with a young adult on how rest of their life will suck.Istanbul12 Orkestrasi - Bile Bile
Song about being unable to accept rejection.Ayase/YAOSABI - Into the night
I am 70% sure “upbeat sounding song about suicide” is a genre in Japanese music.Pumped up kicks
Under the bridge Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Came here to post pumped up kicks
Has anybody mentioned Joy Division yet?
Ring around the rosey
And
Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear
Semi-charmed Life
Mmmmbop
Bullet by Hollywood undead.
Singing about killing himself in a super upbeat song, even has kids at the end going “I wish that I could fly, way up in the sky”, the part where he was singing about jumping off a skyscraper.
I think I have the best answer here: Gwar - Rock N Roll Never Felt So Good
