Board 8 > Johnbobb ranks user-nominated Villain Songs: Requiem - The Ranking

(+) Yeah! (+)

Uta is a movie villain so there actually isn't as much lore for her compared to main series antagonists.

Johnbobb posted...

Her actual plan beyond "punishing them for the their love" isn't entirely clear within the song itself, but it certainly sounds violent.

Would you believe me if I told you her plan is similar to Maruki's? Basically she hosts the largest livestream ever, uses her devil fruit to bring everyone that tunes in to her Sing Sing World, and then plans to let herself die IRL so that everyone is trapped there forever, creating a dream world that is an endless concert. She actually describes her plan in the opening song, New Genesis, but that's a much less villainous song and it's more meant to be foreshadowing than her actually saying the plan outright.

Anyway Backlight plays when the Straw Hats don't want to go along with that and first come into conflict with Uta.

I'll always find a way to plug Razia's Shadow when I can. It's such an odd collaborative project that is just great all around.

I debated back and forth on nominating this one (which is just a banger and more straightforward world ending) or "Doctor, Doctor" (which is weirder and a bit rapey).

And yeah, big Say Anything fan too, so that helped sway me.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a60e044e.jpg

26. Room of Angel
Source: Silent Hill 4
Villain: Walter Sullivan
Nominator: FFDragon (1 remaining)

https://youtu.be/y0yvkmgy9B4

Villainy: 3
Characterization: 9
Melody: 9
Total: 21/30

"Here's a lullaby to close your eyes, goodbye / It was always you that I despised / I don't feel enough for you to cry, oh well"

Sorry again FFD! Went the whole contest without dropping any only to lose 2/3 just short of the top 25.

You all really went hard on nominating tragic villain songs this time around. I mean I'm not complaining, but damn it seems to be a trend. I know that outside of this song, Walter Sullivan is a serial killer, but I don't really think it's fair to say that this song portrays that at all really. I mean even knowing that going in, you have to really squint for the context. Lines like "You lie, silent there before me / your tears, they mean nothing to me" could be taken in the context of referring to one of his victims, and that's really the only reason I bumped it even that high in villainy, but that's as far as I can do.

The song is all about Walter's fucked up relationship with his mother, and that comes through pretty brilliantly. Writing the song as a sort of macabre lullaby is a great move and one of the few cases where the style of the song in itself actually adds to the characterization. This feels like a better take on Psycho than the actual 2 Psycho-themed songs we got! Overall the song is simple, but it's pretty perfect for a twisted horror setting and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's vocals really cemented this as a winner for me.

Big fan of Backlight. Never even thought of it being in this but it does work as a villain song for her.

Tot Musica is the real villain song imo, though I like Backlight more.

Maniac64 posted...

Tot Musica is the real villain song imo

Tot Musica is definitely the big one, but I figured Backlight was better for characterization

Yeah it definitely is, you made the right choice for the ranking.

big oofs

but yeah I nommed Room of Angel more for the melody/characterization anyway

my last one should nail all three though, high hopes

Mother Knows Best is really a master class in gaslighting. And it's doubly sinister since she's Rapunzel's maternal figure. But yeah the melody IMO is not as iconic as other Disney villain songs.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/36acfff1.png

25. I'm Just Ken
Source: Barbie
Villain: Ken
Nominator: ScareChan (eliminated)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwux9KiBMjE

Villainy: 2
Characterization: 9
Melody: 10
Total: 21/30

"I wanna know what's like to love, to be the real thing / Is it a crime? Am I not hot when I'm in my feelings?"

Man, I hate to see it drop, but this is as high as I can possibly justify putting it. Yes, I'm one of the millions that fell in love with this song pretty much instantly. I mean the way Gosling lays out that "the real thing" line just sounds so good. The song bounces between genres and tempos, and nails each one of them as it goes. It's likely the catchiest song of the last year. It's just an absolute joy to listen to.

But is it a villain song? I mean... barely. Ken's antagonist role in the movie is born mostly out of ignorance, and if anything this song is meant to explain why he is the way he is. He whole purpose is to love Barbie, who doesn't love him back. The only reason it gets bumped up to misguided level is because the whole "All my life, been so polite / But I'll sleep alone tonight" and "Where I see love, she sees a friend" aspect of the song is a little incel-y. But he's not really expressing anything negative toward anyone, just sadness at his position in life, his desire to be something more than what he is, and how he finds confidence in the support of other men. It tells you quite literally all there is to know about Ken and does a pretty excellent job at fleshing out a character that is quite literally a piece of plastic.

I expected a 1/10/10

He's not -evil- , but could be the villain of the movie due to being an antagonist

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c06965a6.jpg

24. Farewell II Flesh
Source: Ice Nine Kills
Villain: Candyman
Nominator: Bane_of_Despair (1 remaining)

https://youtu.be/mmL8YpVFbqQ

Villainy: 8
Characterization: 9
Melody: 5
Total: 22/30

"Slave to a mob, ignorant and mad / That bled all the good from my soul and only left the bad"

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Kinda shocked Farewell II Flesh is still in, the Villainy and Characterization must be carrying it hard because I know most wouldn't give it a high Melody score lol

Man it was hard not to comment on this one, because you kind of nailed it. Although, in fairness, I didn't actively dislike this song, which is a kind of high bar for INK for me. For comparison, IT Is The End (their song about Pennywise) landed 55th last contest with a melody score of 2 and a villainy score of 10. Also fun fact (that I might have mentioned last time) I did see Ice Nine Kills as a teenager, mostly because my friend wanted to. I didn't like their music much but I did more moshing than I have at pretty much any other concert. I like the opening, and I like the instrumentals (the Flight of the Bumblebee was a nice touch), but the vocals do hurt it for me. Also the Jason Statham level of bee references.

It helped it that I'm a big Candyman fan to begin with, and I appreciate their attempts to combine both the identifying aspects of Candyman (mirrors, bees, the hook, repeating the name five times) with actual elements of his backstory. They really make an attempt to cover every aspect of Candyman without it feeling too forced or like they're reading off a Wikipedia page. Also, yeah, he's killing people, so obviously villainous. Not quite a 10 there though as it does put more emphasis on him being killed more than on his own killings, and he doesn't come across as overally sadistic beyond just the "Die!" line.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/478eb16a.jpg

23. Go Tell Aunt Rhody
Source: Resident Evil 7
Villain: Eveline
Nominator: Dancedreamer (eliminated)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzCyF0lrioc

Villainy: 7
Characterization: 7
Melody: 8
Total: 22/30

"I was raised in a deep dark hole / A prisoner with no parole / They locked me up and took my soul / Ashamed of what they'd made"

I am always a sucker for the dark heavy-bass industrial sound, especially with the glitch effects worked in there. It just almost always clicks with me, so even though the song itself was fairly simple (it's literally a cover of a folk song) it's such a cool experience listening to it. Like it absolutely nails the industrial folk horror aesthetic that Resident Evil 7 as a whole is going for.

It's an interesting case here trying to break down the characterization and villainy, because ultimately, there's only so much to disect, just two short verses and a repetitive chorus. But in that little bit of space, it still manages to find the time to depict the terrible treatment and forced transformation Eveline went through to get to this point, her manipulation of Mia to make her kill Ethan (literally "he'll be torn apart"), and ultimately "everybody's dead." Now, she's pretty clearly evil, but it's hard to go much higher than this because of the vagueness and minimalism of the lyrics. "Everybody's dead" isn't objectively like a celebration of the deaths or even an admission that Eveline caused them (or why, if so, or even who "everybody" is referring to), even if we can infer that.

Ken may not have won the contest, but he was Kenough to handily beat the other viral movie song of 2023. Now I'm wondering what if Lewis Strauss had a song and how it would have compared.

The great thing about Go Tell Aunt Rhody is honestly how much more sense it makes after RE8

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c712511f.jpg

22. Oogie Boogie's Song
Source: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Villain: Oogie Boogie
Nominator: azuarc (eliminated)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU8ja3QceHU

Villainy: 6
Characterization: 7
Melody: 9
Total: 22/30

"It's much more fun, I must confess / When lives are on the line / Not mine, of course, but yours, old boy / Now that'd be just fine"

We're only at spot 22 and we've already dropped the last Disney song to actually be included in a movie! For fun, here's where Disney movies have landed so far:

#1 - Hunchback of Notre Dame - Hellfire
#14 - The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride - My Lullaby
#19 - Moana - Shiny
#?? - The Emperor's New Groove (cut) - Snuff Out The Light
#22 - The Nightmare Before Christmas - Oogie Boogie's Song
#24 - Princess and the Frog - Friend on the Other Side
#28 - Tangled - Mother Knows Best
#31 - Beauty and the Beast (2017) - The Mob Song
#37 - The Little Mermaid - Poor Unfortunate Souls
#40 - The Lion King - Be Prepared
#47 - Beauty and the Beast - Gaston
#91 - Robin Hood - The Phony King of England
#93 - Aladdin: The Return of Jafar - You're Only Second Rate

Definitely a lot less Disney nominated this time around, assumedly because so many of the big ones made the first contest. Still no Cruella de Vil somehow! Oogie Boogie's Song is legitimately one of my favorite Disney songs, and the one that I can personally do the best impression of (at least from how accurate it sounds singing along in my car). It's jazzy, fun, and frankly the only thing keeping it from being a 10 is that asshole Santa Claus interrupting constantly.

Ranking it for villainy is a little harder, because Oogie isn't actually doing much here beyond being intimidating. Like he's holding Santa captive, for sure, which puts him into evil territory (anything 6 and up is pretty distinctly in true villainous territory) but beyond that, it's mostly just vague threats of "you ain't going nowhere" and "this may be the last time you hear the Boogie song." But it's all flashy intimidation. Oogie is a showman more than anything else, determined to assert himself as scary more than to actually do harm. He's cruel and dark-humored, but his big spooky appearance is all a facade.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/33951609.jpg

21. The Phantom the Opera
Source: The Phantom the Opera
Villain: The Phantom
Nominator: wallmasterz (eliminated)

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

Villainy: 3
Characterization: 9
Melody: 10
Total: 22/30

"And though you turn from me to glance behind / The Phantom of the Opera is the inside your mind"

Speaking of songs I sing to myself way too often, The Phantom of the Opera stands out as one of my all time favorite Broadway songs (I know this is from the film version but same thing really). Like what is that electric guitar doing there? It doesn't match the aesthetic of the musical at all, but somehow it not only works but elevates the song. This definitely makes the Mount Rushmore for organ songs too. And what a duet! Honestly, looking back at the first contest, I think I underrated Music of the Night too.

Music of the Night did beat this one by a bit though, placing 11th last time around, and I think I mentioned as much last time around that while this is really The Phantom's key song, Music of the Night establishes his villainy more. Here, it can be argued that the Phantom is manipulating Christine, effectively acting as a reverse siren, quite literally getting inside her mind. It's a song more about the Phantom tempting Christine to come to him and sing for him, which is pretty low on the totem pole as far as evil goes here. But that only adds to the complexity of the Phantom, one of Broadway's favorite tragic figures, who wants badly to be heard but not seen, and who maintains his aura of mystery for everyone except Christine, who he is quite literally letting in here as he summons her to his lair.

Nice writeup. I nominated songs without aiming to win per se but I did figure this song was likely to rank the highest. Really good song, I need to listen to more Andrew Lloyd Webber music.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d9c1f050.jpg

20. Twisted
Source: Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier
Villain: Jafar and Scheherazade's Disney Villains
Nominator: jcgamer108 (eliminated)

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

Villainy: 2
Characterization: 10
Melody: 10
Total: 22/30

"The question then is whether 'tis nobler in the mind / To be well-liked but ineffectual, or moral but maligned?"

We've officially hit the point of the contest where the remaining villains have to be actual villains, misguided is no longer going to cut it after this. All it took was this motherfucker getting a perfect score in both other categories to make it this far! In fact, this feels weirdly familiar? Oh, remember that time in the last contest where Defying Gravity was nominated from Wicked, and even though it placed high off of the characterization and just being a great song, LITERALLY THE ENTIRE POINT OF WICKED IS ABOUT HOW ELPHABA ISN'T THE VILLAIN. And that brings us to Twisted, a parody of Wicked and Aladdin, where LITERALLY THE ENTIRE POINT IS ABOUT HOW JAFAR ISN'T THE VILLAIN! Look, I'm not complaining, because if I'm completely honest this might be my favorite song in the whole contest, and probably my favorite Starkid song as well, and I've got a lot to say about it. But I'm really surprised it got nominated! Especially given that there are two other much more clear cut villain songs in this same musical, "I Steal Everything" (a song about Aladdin being a dirtbag and overall terrible person) and "No One Remembers Achmed" (a song about the rival prince threatening genocide on Agrabah so people will stop mocking him).

Ok, so I'll just start with Jafar's parts specifically because on their own, they'd be enough to place this song probably at the same ranking or very close. I mean the song is a lyrical masterpiece. It's a rapidly sung philosophical debate of inner turmoil that never misses a fucking beat. I mean, come on:

"What remains of a man when that man is dead and gone? / Only memories and stories of his deeds will linger on / But if a man's accomplishments aren't in the tale they tell / Are the deeds that go unheralded his legacy as well?"

"I'll never be a hero who all the citizens adore / But if I hide to save my life, what has my life been for?"

Just as a reminder, this is coming from an amateur theater company's expletive-laden parody of a Disney movie, whose opening song features the line "May the rats ejaculate upon you." This song is essentially the definition of misguided, although it's really more in seek of guidance than anything else. And ultimately, he makes what is the right choice, choosing to become the villain in the eyes of the people in order to save their lives! I was half tempted to nominate it for paulg235's Hero Songs Ranking. And I mean goddamn, Dylan Saunders can sing. Probably the most vocally talented of all the Starkid regulars, though he's not without competition. (Fun fact: for those unfamiliar with Starkid, this is the same guy that was Scarecrow in the Batman Rogues Gallery song ranked a few dozen spots back).

And then we get to the section that really made the song a hit with fans, the Disney villain monologues. I didn't list out all those previous rankings two spots back just for Oogie's benefit; three of the previous nominees are in this song! Ursula, Scar and Gaston each get their chance to display why they weren't actually the villains of their own stories, but were simply making the difficult choices to do what they thought was right for the people they swore to protect. And the tempo and style of the song changes for each character! Captain Hook, Maleficent and Cruella de Vil all get cameo appearances as well, and the characters all prove that they're not truly evil by recognizing Cruella as the one Disney villain whose actions truly couldn't be justified, because there is no interpretation of events that can make killing and skinning puppies not evil.

Anyway, this is easily the longest write-up, but honestly just go watch Twisted, the whole thing is on Youtube and it's fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-77cUxba-aA

Johnbobb posted...

Oh, remember that time in the last contest where Defying Gravity was nominated from Wicked, and even though it placed high off of the characterization and just being a great song, LITERALLY THE ENTIRE POINT OF WICKED IS ABOUT HOW ELPHABA ISN'T THE VILLAIN

Okay I gotta take cover from these strays like damn

But I really should watch Twisted some day

Snake5555555555 posted...

Okay I gotta take cover from these strays like damn

But I really should watch Twisted some day

the fact that the same thing happened twice with two different musicals just broke me

and today is some day!

Maybe one of these days I'll run a mini Board 8 Ranks Starkid Musicals in between movie lists, there's only 13 so far (although the first few are pretty terrible camera/sound quality)

Excuse me, his name is Ja'far, making him a legally distinct character from Walt Disney Animation's character of similar name. :p

As for Phantom... it's so iconic, but it's so grandiose that I can't listen to it too often lol.

Johnbobb posted...

I'll steal clothing and shelter, whatever I lack / Candy from babies, the shirt off your back
Credit, identities, thunder, and scenes / Intellectual property, whatever that means

I just finished a mini YouTube binge before coming back to this topic. Upon finishing this post, I instinctively tried reaching for the like button.

redrocket posted...

I just finished a mini YouTube binge before coming back to this topic. Upon finishing this post, I instinctively tried reaching for the like button.

I appreciate the thought

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19. The Rake's Song
Source: The Decemberists
Villain: The Rake
Nominator: TheArkOfTurus (remaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD1Aj7EYDog

Villainy: 20
Characterization: 9
Melody: 4
Total: 23/30

"Charlotte, I buried after feeding her foxglove / Dawn was easy, she was drowned in the bath / Isaiah fought but was easily bested / Burned his body for incurring my wrath"

Was TheArkOfTurus the last left that hadn't dropped any? Only 3 nominations but all 3 made the top 20!

You know, while this is obviously about as villainous as villain songs can really be, I didn't care for the song itself too much. Like I didn't hate it, but ultimately it was just fine. It was The simpe guitar and vocals felt like they were going to build up into something more thrilling, but they never did. It just stayed pretty monotone and repetitive for the entire length of the song. Not even a bridge or anything!

But as a villain song, 100% absolutely. The song opens pretty neutral, a man reflecting on getting married fairly young, and that lasts all of about 15 seconds before the cracks begin to show. He immediately acts as though he's been robbed of his chance to be a bachelor, and as soon as he referred to his wife giving birth as "her womb spilling out babies," it became instantly clear that this guy was a scumbag, and it only got progressively worse throughout the song. He hates his wife and he hates all of his children. The only line his newborn daughter Myfanwy gets is to be called ugly as she dies upon being born. He then murders his three living children and returns to his life as a bachelor, not only getting away with it all but not feeling even a hint at remorse.

Johnbobb posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6a52f5df.png

19. The Rake's Song
Source: The Decemberists
Villain: The Rake
Nominator: TheArkOfTurus (remaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD1Aj7EYDog

Villainy: 20
Characterization: 9
Melody: 4
Total: 23/30

A nomination that broke the Villainy scoring system!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b1624f12.png

18. Confrontation
Source: Jekyll & Hyde
Villain: Edward Hyde
Nominator: redrocket (1 remaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D6g_74SF9I

Villainy: 4
Characterization: 10
Melody: 9
Total: 23/30

"All that you are is a face in the mirror / I close my eyes and you'll disappear / I'm what you face when you face in the mirror/ Long as you live, I will still be here"

Dramatic horror musicals are always going to be a great source for top tier villain songs, as noted by the two different Jekyll and Hyde songs in the top 20. And a Repo song too, plus a high-ranking Phantom of the Opera song in each contest! Frankly I'm surprised we didn't get any Sweeney Todd nominations so far in either ranking.

This one's interesting from a villain song perspective, because here we have the classic protagonist/antagonist back-and-forth, only with them essentially being the same person. The characterization score here was super easy to justify; the song is a quite literally a moral dillema taken physical form, with these two distinct personalities fighting for what is essentially their right to exist within their shared body. I mean everyone knows the story of Jekyll and Hyde at this point, but even if you'd somehow never heard of it, the delicate balance here would be fascinating.

Villainy is harder to call, as yes, Hyde is evil, but that's not really what this song is about. This song is about Jekyll being overwhelmed with regret at Hyde's actions committed by his own hands. This is Jekyll making every attempt to rid himself of Hyde, and Hyde taunting him that they'll never be rid of each other. The most evil thing we see from Hyde here is his insistence on remaining and ruining Jekyll's life from inside. But given that the song is more about Jekyll's great than anything, it's hard to consider it strictly a villain song in the same way that Alive is.

paulg235 posted...

A nomination that broke the Villainy scoring system!

lol whoops! Not uncalled for though

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f7ba2cd6.jpg

17. Say My Name
Source: Beetlejuice: The Musical
Villain: Betelgeuse
Nominator: Raka_Putra (eliminated)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL0WNrFGrlQ

Villainy: 4
Characterization: 9
Melody: 10
Total: 23/30

"Hold up, girl, I'm your pal / They're sweet, but I'm a demon straight from Hell / I know, I went a little hard on the sell / But we're BF-F-F-F's forever!"

Hey, this is one of the few musicals I've seen live on Broadway! Highly, highly recommend it, the whole thing is hilarious and I absolutely love the soundtrack from start to finish. I'm impressed by how much they managed to cram into this one song without it feeling overly exposition heavy. Like even when they're talk-singing, it's still pretty clearly singing, as the spoken words are still on beat and in tune. And in one song they manage to have a full game of charades without it ever really feeling unnatural. Alex Brightman is a joy to watch and listen to and Sophia Anne Caruso killed the vocals in every one of her songs.

Is Betelgeuse himself really evil though? He's more mischievous than anything here. I mean, he's manipulating a child, and mind controls ghosts and jokes about killing Lydia's dad, but he never really seems to legitimately wish harm on anyone. He wants the chance to become real, but everything else he does is pretty much in jest. The most villainous he gets is probably in That Beautiful Sound or Creepy Old Guy, though those is the one that probably makes the most sense as his villain song (The Whole Being Dead Thing is the most him song but it's also not villainous at all really). I'll give Say My Name a lot of credit for pretty much locking down the dynamic that Betelgeuse and Lydia have for basically the entire show, while also containing major plot development.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/783bc67f.png

16. Shia LaBeouf
Source: Rob Cantor
Villain: Shia LaBeouf
Nominator: TheArkOfTurus (1 remaining)

https://youtu.be/o0u4M6vppCI

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

"Wait! He isn't dead! Shia Surprise! / There's a gun to your head, and death in his eyes / But you can do Jiu Jitsu / Body Slam superstar Shia LaBeouf"

There are only a small handful of songs left that didn't score a 10 in at least one category; we're really in the big leagues here. In fact, no song in the top 15 scored less than a 7 in any category! The biggest weakness here for Shia LaBeouf is that the characterization of him is pretty slim, at least for this late in the game. We know that Shia is not some other mysterious being, but actual Hollywood Superstar Shia LaBeouf (good to confirm). We also know that he's a serial killer and cannibal that lives in the woods. But that's about all we really get!

That being said, he's a serial killer cannibal that lives in the woods. His villainy is obvious. It's hard to say how many he's killed, or why he's killing beyond the fact that he likes eating people, but we do know he actives wants to murder you in particular.

Really great song overall, managing to sound both sinister and goofy, while also legitimately impressive from an orchestral standpoint. It's not easy to pull off flat narration while still making for a catchy song (unless you're Cake). It's worth noting that I didn't take into account the interpretive dance for this contest, but if I had, this song easily would've been a top contender, because goddamn the dedication to the bit here is umatched.

Extra bonus, for those who liked Cantor's depictions of Christian Bale and Shia LaBeouf, I'd recommend Scroobius Pip's The Struggle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3HCXh9WQSo

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/cb50341d.jpg

15. Lord of Nothing
Source: The Last Trial
Villain: Raistlin Majere
Nominator: redrocket (eliminated)

https://youtu.be/p3g0OcmkTjY

Villainy: 7
Characterization: 10
Melody: 7
Total: 24/30

"They were nothing but stairs you shamelessly climbed / Well, Step up to the throne and rule what survived / God, the land that you see is ashes and fire / It's all you truly deserve - claim your empire!"

We only have one 24/30, and Lord of Nothing takes the surprisingly rare slot. Some of you decided to make things easy for me, nominating easy-to-understand Disney songs or popular music. SOME OF YOU decided to nominate songs from obscure Russian musicals based on a book series about FANTASY TIME TRAVEL spun off of Dungeons & Dragons without even a wiki page for me to reference! Note: I did end up finding the Dragonlance wiki, but it definitely took some work to infer what events from the books the musical was referencing.

So researching this for context was particularly tough, but I can give credit to the song for being so rife with characterization that even without context, there was still a powerful story being told here, both about and from the perspective of Raistlin. In short (and forgive me if anything isn't 1:1 to the real story), Raistlin is a mighty sorceror who succeeded the Tests of Sorcery, failing only the Test of Compassion. He's ultimately driven by his desire for power (and other things, this is several books worth of backstory), ends up cataclysmically reshaping the world, and finally has his chance to rule, though it is over nothing as a result of his own action. Takhisis, a rival goddess, mocks him for the ruin he brought to everything, including himself, but he's filled with regret and believes that he can go back and rewrite history to prevent his own errors.

Anyway, kind of ruining the world in your own quest for power is a pretty evil thing to do, but given that he lives in eternal regret and actively seeks a way to fix it all (which maybe he achieves because time travel?) definitely knocks him down a few points in the villain department.

Also, the song bangs and I'd love to see the actual musical if I understood Russian.

Whoa, that one's pretty cool. I think I've heard that very specific musical mentioned before but not listened to it properly.

Johnbobb posted...

We also know that he's a serial killer and cannibal that lives in the woods. But that's about all we really get!

idk man he's killing at least once a week if that's just another tuesday for shia laboeuf

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/900c50fe.jpg

14. Polly
Source: Nirvana
Villain: Gerald Friend
Nominator: MarkS2222222224 (2 remaining)

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

Villainy: 10
Characterization: 8
Melody: 7
Total: 24/30

"Polly wants a cracker / Maybe she would like some food / She asked me to untie her / A chase would be nice for a few"

I've listened to this song maybe 4 dozen times prior to this list, and never put together what the song was about. I just never really thought about the lyrics at all. Part of me wishes I could go back to that time of just thinking it was the harmless little track from Nevermind and nothing more, but you took that from me.

This song is dark, even by a villain song list's standards. Largely because it's one of the very few on the list about a real villain, one who is still alive today. Gonna keep this one censored in case you don't want to know, and you probably don't, but Gerald raped and tortured a 12-year-old girl, was sentenced to 75 years in prison, only served 20 of them before be given early release, only to immediately rape and torture another 14-year-old girl. This song is about the second one.

I don't want to get too much into how ethical it is to write a song about a disgusting real life horror, but before knowing what the song was actually about, I always liked it. Not one of Nirvana's best, but simple and effective. It tells you mostly as much as you need to know about Gerald Friend even without ever addressing him directly; it seems to keep things intentionally just a little bit vague (likely that's the only way the song would ever have gotten produced) but while alluding to many of the individual things he did and the dynamic between him and his victim ("Polly" in this song).

Anyway, gonna go take a shower.

Johnbobb posted...

Some of you decided to make things easy for me, nominating easy-to-understand Disney songs or popular music. SOME OF YOU decided to nominate songs from obscure Russian musicals based on a book series about FANTASY TIME TRAVEL spun off of Dungeons & Dragons without even a wiki page for me to reference! Note: I did end up finding the Dragonlance wiki, but it definitely took some work to infer what events from the books the musical was referencing.

https://youtu.be/b5KeINX86yM?si=yMR6bK3ZdHgXOgCC



Note: you could have asked for help, you know

I was determined to power through!

although I did ultimately ask for context for one song

*JB drops my last song*

"Johnbobb!"

"What? He's already eliminated!"

Aww, I'm out. But Top 20 is pretty good! I really like Say My Name due to how catchy it is and the banter between Beetlejuice and Lydia is just so juicy. And I'm jealous you got to see it on Broadway! Was it with the original cast?

Raka_Putra posted...

*JB drops my last song*

"Johnbobb!"

"What? He's already eliminated!"

Aww, I'm out. But Top 20 is pretty good! I really like Say My Name due to how catchy it is and the banter between Beetlejuice and Lydia is just so juicy. And I'm jealous you got to see it on Broadway! Was it with the original cast?

It was! Might legitimately be the best show I've seen live

For only nominating 2 songs, I'm pretty happy with how things turned out.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f4d9f4f0.png

13. Alive
Source: Jekyll & Hyde
Villain: Edward Hyde
Nominator: Pirateking2001 (eliminated)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn9YFeSnmUo

Villainy: 8
Characterization: 9
Melody: 8
Total: 25/30

"Animals trapped behind bars at the zoo / Need to run rampant and free! / Predators live on the prey they pursue / This time the predator's me!"

And the second Hyde song drops not too long after the first, though both did great overall, in no small part due to Warlow absolutely killing it here. It does lose like a point at most for its lull in the middle, but otherwise I like this one for largely the same reasons I liked Confrontation (though Confrontation's back and forth did help it as well).

Now that we're at the point where everyone left is pretty obviously evil, it feels more necessary to justify the smaller things, like why I only gave Hyde an 8/10 for villain here. At this high of a ranking, the vagueness is ultimately what's going to keep it from hitting those top scores. Singing about how evil you are simply by saying "I'm filled with evil" isn't enough anymore! Now, he does really toe the border of going higher, particularly in the way he refers to himself as a predator and threatens that "you will pay dear." That sounds very evil, but compared to the 9s and 10s that make their intentions perfectly clear, that vaguely sinister language falls just short. It does tell us plenty about Hyde himself though, basically the embodiment of id at its most dangerous. Again, credit to Warlow for really helping to bring the characterization to life with his growling and laughing mid-lyric.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/02c1317e.jpg

12. Hell Is Forever
Source: Hazbin Hotel
Villain: Adam
Nominator: hombad48 (eliminated)

https://youtu.be/kMy8W0j-Slw

Villainy: 9
Characterization: 7
Melody: 9
Total: 25/30

"When all's said and done / There's the question of fun / And for those of us with divine ordainment / Extermination is entertainment"

So let me preface this by saying I've had prety much no interest in Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss since the pilot first premiered on YouTube. Some combination of the animation style, the character design, and the way online fanbases seemed to lose their minds for it pretty much immediately kinda shut me off of it. In a way it kind of has the vibe that Homestuck had in the 2000s. That being said, I liked this clip a lot.

I was fully not expecting Alex Brightman to show up, and as I rambled about earlier I'm already a big fan of him as Beetlejuice. The song starts off like it's coming out of a Disney... well maybe not a canon Disney movie, but a Disney sequel or something. I do like that instead of going the back and forth route, Adam just absolutely shuts Charlie down everytime she tries to sing back at him.

Portraying Adam as the first man and angelic leader who actually just really loves to slaughter sinners is admittedly a really interesting approach. He starts to act like they deserve it before almost immediately admitting that he really just does it because he wants to, guitar solo, fuck yeah. Though we don't really learn much more about him here beyond the fact that, yeah, he really loves to kill sinners. It's a very fun song and a neat dynamic I'll admit I'm curious about. Curious enough to actually watch the show though? Probably not.

shit I was about to do the 11th but just realized I never finished banners hold on

Darn, dropped right outside the top 10. Oh well, still pretty high

Johnbobb posted...

Curious enough to actually watch the show though? Probably not.

tbh the song that got me curious enough to watch the show was You Didn't Know

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5a56f2d8.png

11. Creeping Death
Source: Metallica
Villain: Angel of Death
Nominator: MarkS2222222222 (1 remaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaMySFc-Rec

Villainy: 8
Characterization: 7
Melody: 10
Total: 25/30

"I rule the midnight air, the destroyer / Born, I shall soon be there, deadly mass / I creep the steps and floor, final darkness / Blood, lamb's blood-painted door I shall pass"

MarkS2222222222 seems to have gone with the strategy of nominating great rock songs that just happen to also be about compelling and evil villains, and it's been working out for him! But Creeping Death falls just short of the top 10, making Bitto the only nominator to get two entries in the coveted top spots.

Honestly, nominating one of my favorite Metallica songs (or really any Metallica song) for a song ranking almost feels like cheating. I remember actually hoping someone would nominate Creeping Death the first time around, because it's one of the first I think of when I think of popular songs that can be interpreted as villain songs, and also because it fuckin rules. Metallica took a well-known story from the Old Testament, retold it from the perspective of Death itself being commanded to kill by God, and added some guitar solos. Perfect formula, no notes.

Ok, some notes. I feel like Death as an emodiment is usually portrayed as one of two ways: 1. A faceless and haunting being, possibly sinister but mostly mysterious or 2. As misunderstood, someone simply doing the role they serve in the universe but sympathetic as a being. This goes a third route, where Death is just hyped as fuck to kill some first-born sons. It is hard to figure out where the line is drawn between him doing it because it's his job and he's following orders and him doing it because excited to finally be set free to kill, but the backing vocal chants of Die! Die! Die! Die!" I think push it a little toward the latter.

And with that, your top 10

Black Sabbath - Iron Man - Iron Man (Mark)
Flobots - The Narrator - Handlebars (Bitto)
Granblue Fantasy - Lucilius - Zero (ArkofTurus)
Heathers: The Musical - Jason Dean - Meant to Be Yours (Vis)
Killer Mike - Ronald Reagan - Reagan (Bane)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Gila Monster - Gila Monster (Snake)
Repo: The Genetic Opera - Nathan, Rotti, Luigi & Pavi - Night Surgeon (FFD)
Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX - Carol Malus Dienheim - Senkin Dur da Bl (Sceptile)
The Emperor's New Groove - Yzma - Snuff Out the Light (Place)
The Rolling Stones - Lucifer - Sympathy for the Devil (Bitto)

Woohoo! Top ten! Also big surprise for Snuff Out the Light, but not undeserved.

Top ten! Woooooo!

And fucking damn Creeping Death rules