On the other hand, I'd be tempted to say The Final Cut was a flop precisely because it was so relentlessly bleak. It's not even sad so much as hopeless, like Th

On the other hand, I'd be tempted to say The Final Cut was a flop precisely because it was so relentlessly bleak. It's not even sad so much as hopeless, like The Wall with all the angry and optimistic parts distilled away. Two Suns in the Sunset is so desolate that it's tough to follow with any other music at all. The mood where that's relatable is way out past sad, which does it no favors selling copies or landing on playlists I agree that it's not really a generational thing, though. Timbuk3 landed one big hit (The Future's So Bright), and it was a sarcastic song about nuclear war that landed unironic play on graduation playlists. Their other, overtly depressing stuff got no traction at all. Rap, punk, and most any other genre has similarly hopeless, unromantic sad songs - they're just not approachable enough to top charts or endure in people's memories.