A new academic study from Michigan's Lawrence Technical University claims that pop music is getting sadder and angrier.

The "Quantitative Sentiment Analysis of Lyrics in Popular Music" paper by Kathleen Napier and Lior Shamir examined more than 6,000 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1951 and 2016 and "found that the average scores for fear, disgust, anger, and sadness in each year's chart-topping singles rose gradually over the decades, while joyfulness declined".

So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs do you want to hear - regardless of how they sound - that express fear, disgust, anger, or sadness?

Respond with your song ideas in the comments below.

Have an idea for a Coffee Break topic? Submit your idea for a future theme and browse past Coffee Breaks in our archive. Or, when you register for a Minnesota Public Radio account, you can send requests via Alexa, too Just say "Alexa, ask The Current to play Song by Artist" e.g. "Alexa, ask The Current to play Left of the Dial by The Replacements."

Songs played

Fiona Apple - Criminal
The Replacements - Unsatisfied
Martha Wainwright - You Cheated Me
R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
Bjork - Army of Me
Nine Inch Nails - Hurt