Board 8 > Johnbobb ranks 113 User-nominated Villain Songs [THE RANKING]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Uglyface2 posted...

If they're down now, Pink Floyd can't be far behind. That will all come down to whether Johnbobb has any sympathy for Pink or whether he lets him have it in the villainy score.

There's nothing really sympathetic about Pink in that song, though. You could argue that he's in the middle of a mental breakdown, but that excuse only goes so far and the stuff Pink is saying is pretty evil.
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It sure is a mystery!

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15. XaaaCi
Source: Ar tonelico Qoga
Villain: The Wills of Ar Ciel
Nominator: Zyxyz (ELIMINATED)
Favorite lyric: My children that have separated yourselves from my own feelings, body and life / I'll now paint my own self with your blood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcn-y6ZTthQ

Villainy: 9
Characterization: 9
Melody: 5
Total: 23/30

I went into this project knowing literally nothing about Ar Tonelico. Now, after ranking three songs... well, I still know barely anything about Art Tonelico beyond the fact that it's really fuckin complex to an outsider and has some really interesting musical lore. All three of the songs nominated from the series ended up scoring 9-10 on characterization because this series is shockingly good at fitting a lot of intriguing exposition and emotional depth into a single song. XaaaCi is no different. As far as I can tell, this song is essentially being sung from the perspective of the manifested consciousness of the earth itself. Kind of like the movie Mother! but with more synth and less Kristen Wiig. And Ar Ciel has a LOT of feelings happening at once. The Wills seem to have decided to full on eliminate all life on earth and reduce all beings to nothing but bloodshed, which almost earned this song the easiest 10/10 villainy score of the contest, if only it had stopped there. But the Wills are also deeply saddened, and seem to believe that this act is less so one of revenge and terror and moreso one of compassion, returning humanity back to where it came from and where they feel it belongs. I mean the lyrics are so conflicted that clearly there is that little bit of good intention there behind what is literally mass genocide. "That's why I'll return you all to nothing. That's why I'll annihilate you all. So there may be rebirth for the life, so we may have a future." Goddamn dude, that's heavy. Unfortunately this song didn't click with me musically as much as the other two from this series, though this strikes me much more as a song that belongs in a final boss fight as opposed to just on its own.

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14. My Lullaby
Source: The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
Villain: Zira
Nominator: Toxtricity (ELIMINATED)
Favorite lyric: The sound of Simba's dying gasp / His daughter squealing in my grasp / His lionesses' mournful cry / That's my lullaby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx_G4TfC3Sk

Villainy: 9
Characterization: 8
Melody: 6
Total: 23/30

Disney really needs to just let their villains have their songs without constantly interrupting them with side characters for humor. It's like just when dramatic tension is hitting its peak, just as Suzanne Pleshette is really stealing the moment and sending chills down our spine, WHOOP HERE COMES ANDY DICK because we can't just have a single serious moment. And no, Andy Dick can't really sing, even in brief moments like this, and he brings down what is otherwise, for the most part, an excellent villain song. The fact that this came from a direct-to-video Disney sequel is wild, because it's easily one of the better Disney villain songs overall. It's interesting to compare this with Scar's "Be Prepared." While Scar had an actual plan in place for his view of the kingdom, Zira doesn't seem to care much at all about ruling or establishing order. Scar wanted to establish himself as king and was willing to do the dirty work to get there, whereas for Zira, the dirty work IS the goal. If Scar is Lex Luthor, Zira is the Joker, wanting nothing more than to inflict chaos and pain onto Simba's family by whatever means necessary. She's not doing this herself, however, she plans on raising her innocent son with the express goal of being her weapon of mass destruction, and that shit is evil.

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thats a really negative writeup for something this high lol. personally i kinda like comedic interruptions in musicals and stuff but even with that said i'd probably like this particular one more without them. but I'm glad 2 of my picks did extremely well even if the first two went out early. and I'm glad you liked Exiled and Other Friends musically especially at least!

honestly I expected My Lullaby/Other Friends to be the top two, they're the most tradiationally "villain songs" songs i picked, which is more what you were looking for, but I didn't expect them to be way above my other picks by that far a margin haha

I'd say spinel/glados/saavedro are all 3 of my favorite characters of all time, so I'm glad they got to be represented here in a list about villains like this. and My Lullaby's probably just my #1 favorite disney song or even just favorite 'musical film' song of all time. so thanks for listening : )
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13. I'm the Bad Guy
Source: Wander Over Yonder
Villain: Lord Dominator
Nominator: Player 0 (1 left)
Favorite lyric: I've always had a weakness/ For barrenness and bleakness. / I crush all your hopes and then I watch you cry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiPX-Rcv5ls

Villainy: 10
Characterization: 7
Melody: 6
Total: 23/30

"Oh my grop! She's not trying to conquer the galaxy so she can rule it! She wants to destroy it! Man, that's evil!

Gotta admit, of all things, I never expected to be giving a 10 villainy score to a song from a Disney XD show. Wander Over Yonder seems like it's made primarily for kids, but then here we go with this Thanos-level universal threat. Remember two rankings ago, when Ar Ciel just barely missed the 10 because despite wanting to destroy all life, the Wills at least had somewhat of a sympathetic side, even if it was tiny and drastically misguided. That's not the case here! As the main character says himself, Lord Dominator is just straight evil. It once again falls into the weakspot of interrupting the song to be goofy, but overall the song is still fun and Lord Dominator has a surprisingly pleasant voice without the helmet on. I also had to give a slight bonus for characterization as she opens the song by tearing down sexist misconceptions of herself.

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Toxtricity posted...

thats a really negative writeup for something this high lol. personally i kinda like comedic interruptions in musicals and stuff but even with that said i'd probably like this particular one more without them. but I'm glad 2 of my picks did extremely well even if the first two went out early. and I'm glad you liked Exiled and Other Friends musically especially at least!

honestly I expected My Lullaby/Other Friends to be the top two, they're the most tradiationally "villain songs" songs i picked, which is more what you were looking for, but I didn't expect them to be way above my other picks by that far a margin haha

I'd say spinel/glados/saavedro are all 3 of my favorite characters of all time, so I'm glad they got to be represented here in a list about villains like this. and My Lullaby's probably just my #1 favorite disney song or even just favorite 'musical film' song of all time. so thanks for listening : )

Eh, I mostly just had to harsh on that one thing, because it was like the one thing that brought down an otherwise excellent song. We're also at the point of the ranking where everything remaining is pretty top notch as a villain song, so it's easier to focus on what kept the songs from reaching the very very top.

While I admittedly didn't care for Victims of Science, all the rest of your nominations were super enjoyable, and I still get the chorus from Exiled stuck in my head all the time.

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How would https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BywGBJDXQ0c rank?

(there's also a more villainous version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZkaiM12KN4 but that's less good)

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Also thinking I might just make a new topic for the top 10 after the next two rankings, since we're currently so close to 500. I could possibly squeeze the rest in before we hit 500 but it'll be real dumb if it ends up closing with like 2 left.

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God, My Lullaby is an unknown treasure, I've always thought it was one of the best Disney Villain Songs.

well that's good to know you liked all of those three then really, even with the qualms that drag My Lullaby down lol. I mean listening to My Lullaby just now, that one thing is actually dragging it down more than normal for me too; but yeah it's my favorite song from whats...honestly my favorite musical movie technically probably lol (mostly because i love its music so much). Lion King 2 is just one of my favorite soundtracks of all time and My Lullaby's my favorite song from it...but i think because it has that mental status in my mind it's like really easy for me to filter out all the goofy interruptions because I'm so used to hearing them. but behind all that is a wonderfully dark, imposing and interesting composition, with instrumentation i love, really everything i like most in music all on display in one song

and i'm glad you get Exile in your head all the time haha; it's actually not in-game, just a bonus track on the game soundtrack album which is kind of a shame, it'd be perfect credits music or something. admittedly its references to saavedro's villainy are pretty sparse; and honestly it's probably told from the perspective of his wife talking about him (it's ambiguous imo, could be interpreted either way tbh which might be intentional) and his wife is not villainous at all lol. really was just desperate to think of something for one of my favorite villain characters from a game i love, and the one realistic option happened to be something quite catchy~!

Other Friends is pretty powerful to me for kinda specific reasons. like...10 minutes before the steven universe movie aired, I'd actually gone on like a long rant to my brother about how it's one of the shows I like most that had like no examples of a character i could think of as like "this is my favorite character, the one that is 'me', the one that i'd cosplay as or make my avatar or whatever" like the characters are well-developed and interesting but they never fall into the archtypes I wind up excited about, never ones with quite the right vibe for me to get obsessed with. The kinds of characters I feel that way about tend to be erratic chaotic evil (especially vengeful, impulsive, unpredictable, but also implike and playful characters like spinel). There was no character even close to that except maaaybe amethyst; and even other unrelated traits I look for in chraracters were hard to find, then this movie came out and spinel's instantly a top 10 character for me ever for exactly all of these reasons haha. I was disappointed in the song being electroswing at first, because I haven't typically liked any electroswing I'd heard, but the more times I listened and listened...the more I realized it was the one electroswing song I've heard that i not only like, but LOVE. and it's perfect that it's the key song for a character I love so much! it's actually a lot deeper than just that why i love spinel- so many unrelated factors converging in her being like a perfect character to me, simultaneous contradictory personality traits cool visual design/etc...it's near impossible to make a character I like as much as her lol

myst 3 & steven universe spoilers: also i just realized spinel/saavedro have a LOT of parallels as characters, both with motivation being "went insane from being isolated/abandoned for 9000000 years" and as a result being quite similarly strange and sadistic behaviorally. Vengeful of course, but also clearly warped, twisted, psychologically distorted and irrational, unpredictable, traits I love. Actually this applies to Zira too obviously and that is definitely a factor in why I like My Lullaby/her/lion king 2 a lot. Just really love characters like that (even glados is comparable to that in a bunch of ways arguably haha. I guess i just really like that particular brand of evil)
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wow didn't expect that to go out before Stan, I'm still expecting there to be a huge difference in their Villainy scores...

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12. In the Dark of the Night
Source: Anastasia
Villain: Rasputin
Nominator: Bane (1 left)
Favorite lyric:In the dark of the night terror will strike her! Terror's the least I can do! / In the dark of the night evil will brew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocm8QdNR_d8

Villainy: 9
Characterization: 7
Melody: 7
Total: 23/30

I love Jim Cummings. He's one of the best things to happen to animated film, up there with Sterling Holloway, Jodi Benson, Robin Williams, John Fielder, etc. While the melody of the song itself is decent, it's really Cummings' iconic voice that sells it. I've still never seen Anastasia, but honestly this song (in combination with the visual style and Christopher Lloyd) definitely make me compelled to check it out. Everything about this just screams classic Disney, despite the fact that it's technically not Disney (although now Disney owns Fox so it IS Disney, go figure). Rasputin is pretty much the definition of over-the-top evil, going to every length to terrorize and assumedy kill Anastasia to the point of obsession. Thankfully he even gives a little bit of backstory at the beginning to catch up people like me! It's just a catchy, dark song that would easily stand against the best of the Disney rennaissance.

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oooo just barely held out for last person with multiple songs left I think, I'll take it! Yea Anastasia is great and this song is super super fun

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11. Music of the Night
Source: Phantom of the Opera
Villain: The Phantom
Nominator: azuarc (ELIMINATED)
Favorite lyric: Floating, falling, sweet intoxication / Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation / Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in / To the power of the music that I write

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCAdkACAH78

Villainy: 6
Characterization: 9
Melody: 8
Total: 23/30

I do love Phantom of the Opera, and it ultimately hurts me to leave it just outside of the top 10, because this, like most songs in this musical, is quite good (though admittedly the quality varies version to version of course, the songwriting is consistently excellent). Norm Lewis (one of the like 50 people to play the Phantom) does an incredible job here, showing off amazing range in just over two minutes. It's not my favorite song from the musical, though it is quite good. While Music of the Night does a great job of showing off the Phantom's lust, darkness, and flare for the dramatic, ranking it in terms of villainy is much more difficult given that most of the dark themes are implied. One of the best thigns about the songwriting is in fact that it's not clear what exactly the Phantom's intentions are. He's trying to seduce her, yes, but how and for what purpose is up for interpretation. Lines like "Only then can you belong to me" and "Floating, falling, sweet intoxication" draw into question just how consensual this seduction is. As a listener, part of you sympathizes with The Phantom and wants to take the lure he's dropped, but another part feels as though this is just a trap, and questions whether Christine will actually be free if she doesn't accept The Phantom's proposal. Really just a fantastic song.

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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

oooo just barely held out for last person with multiple songs left I think, I'll take it!

Yup! Every song in the top 10 was nominated by a different person.

It should also be noted that the minimum total for any song in the top 10 is 24/30, meaning that every song remaining had to have at least an average of 8/10 per category.

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With that

Your Top 10

Great Paul - Hunchback of Notre Dame - Hellfire

Uglyface2 - Pink Floyd - Waiting for the Worms

Snake5555555555 - Slayer - Dead Skin Mask

Xeybozn - Hamilton - You'll Be Back

BetrayedTangy - Starship - Kick It Up a Notch

Bane - clipping. - Run for Your Life

TheArkOfTurus - The Mountain Goats - Werewolf Gimmick

Jesse Custer - Talking Heads - Psycho Killer

Player 0 - Eminem - Stan

UF8 - Umineko - Egurite


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Never would have guessed Werewolf Gimmick would make the top 10. Nice surprise.

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Woop woop Top 10! Let's go!

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What is you favorite song from phantom? All I Ask Of You?

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This is a real competetive top ten, anyone can win I feel!

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Mad props to see Stan in the top 10. I wretch every time I see someone use the term like its a good thing nowadays clearly these people never learned the source.

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trdl23 posted...

Mad props to see Stan in the top 10. I wretch every time I see someone use the term like its a good thing nowadays clearly these people never learned the source.

Its his biggest fan
Hit him back just to chat

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Also very glad to see Stan make it this far. When I saw it was nominated, I was disappointed in myself for not thinking of it sooner.

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trdl23 posted...

I wretch every time I see someone use the term like its a good thing nowadays clearly these people never learned the source.

this just makes you sound old and out of touch tbh, language can tweak and evolve meaning even when acknowledging its original source

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wallmasterz posted...

What is you favorite song from phantom? All I Ask Of You?

oof, that's a tough one. I really want to say the self-titled song because I just really fuckin love that opening organ. Music of the Night is definitely up there, as is All I Ask of You. Masquerade/Why So Silent also gets an HM for being the best to see performed

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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

this just makes you sound old and out of touch tbh, language can tweak and evolve meaning even when acknowledging its original source

https://thornygames.com/pages/dialect

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Actually it's kind of fitting considering Eminem is kind of old and out of touch himself nowadays

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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

this just makes you sound old and out of touch tbh, language can tweak and evolve meaning even when acknowledging its original source

I acknowledge this, but that doesnt mean my stance will evolve on it (just like I remain squicky about Lolita in anime circles). It just means I am going to complain about it on a niche video game message board instead of irl or in dedicated communities.

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Johnbobb posted...

oof, that's a tough one. I really want to say the self-titled song because I just really fuckin love that opening organ. Music of the Night is definitely up there, as is All I Ask of You. Masquerade/Why So Silent also gets an HM for being the best to see performed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVkvJM6yVGs

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Just missed the top 10. Considering I only had 2 songs, I ought to be happy with that. When MotN didn't go out sooner, I thought maybe it just clicked for Johnbobb, but as I predicted, the villainy was ultimately the weak point. Am I correct in assuming this probably fared better in your score system than the title track would have?

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trdl23 posted...

I acknowledge this, but that doesnt mean my stance will evolve on it (just like I remain squicky about Lolita in anime circles). It just means I am going to complain about it on a niche video game message board instead of irl or in dedicated communities.

I cannot imagine anything less fun than trying to argue about "lolita" irl

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azuarc posted...

Just missed the top 10. Considering I only had 2 songs, I ought to be happy with that. When MotN didn't go out sooner, I thought maybe it just clicked for Johnbobb, but as I predicted, the villainy was ultimately the weak point. Am I correct in assuming this probably fared better in your score system than the title track would have?

Probably, yeah. The Phantom of the Opera is probably an easy 10/10 on melody, but it's also scores lower on villainy than Music of the Night. Overall it'd still do very good I think, but I'd have to read over the lyrics again.

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Johnbobb posted...

The Phantom of the Opera is probably an easy 10/10 on melody

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TOP 10 IN A NEW TOPIC

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78917259

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