History Music / TheMountainGoats

* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: In "Alpha Desperation March" and "Orange Ball of Peace" - after [[spoiler: one member of the Alpha Couple leaves]], the other [[spoiler: tries to hurt the one that left and take eight thousand dollars from him/her in the former song, and sets his/her house on fire in the latter.]]

* DownerEnding: It's heavily implied that at least one member of the Alpha couple will eventually burn to death in a fire started by the other.

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Tallahassee''

** "Going to Georgia" has been disowned its [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking misogyny, glorification of gun violence, and inappropriately upbeat tone]]. John Darnielle had to be bribed last time he played that one live, and he still ripped the song apart as he performed it...[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52qFvPyiJ3c#t=59m16s Behold]]

* AutoErotica: "So Desperate"

* DepartmentofRedundancyDepartment: Frequently invoked by John when introducing songs

* MessyHair: The less said about his ''Get Lonely''-era hair, the better.

* ShowerOfAngst: "Maybe Sprout Wings"

* DownerEnding: It's heavily implied that at least one member of the Alpha couple eventually will eventually burn to death in a fire started by the other.

* BreakupSong: Some of the most cathartic ever written. Take "Baboon:"

* LongTitle: "If England Were What England Seems, Then We Would Only Have Our Dreams." "Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph of." "Thank You Mario, But Our Princess Is in Another Castle." "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton."
* LostEpisode: Dissatisfied with the way ''Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg'' turned out, John never released it -- and was less than pleased when it turned up online a few years later. More recently, the ''West Texas Orphans'' EP was cancelled and the master tapes destroyed because of non-stop demands for pirated versions of ''Moon Colony Bloodbath'' on the band's own forum. This is why we can't have nice things.

* LyricalDissonance: "No Children" is a jaunty, upbeat song about being trapped in an abusive (or at least, loveless) marriage. And the bouncy "Dance Music" starts with him running away from his stepfather, who's throwing a glass at his mother.

* MurderBallad: "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace". "Against Pollution", though it's in self-defense.
* MusicForCourage: "Dance Music" and "Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod" on ''The Sunset Tree'':
--> ''" Held under these smothering waves by your strong and thick-veined hand"''
--> ''" But one of these days, I'm gonna wriggle up on dry land"''
** "Sax Rohmer Pt. 1" fits pretty well. ''"I am coming home to you/If it's the last thing that I do."''
** This is a fairly common real-life use of "This Year", particularly around New Year's Day, due to its refrain: ''"I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me."''

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Tallahassee''.

* OdeToIntoxication: Plenty on ''The Sunset Tree''.
** "You're in Maya" and much of ''Tallahassee'' as well.
* TheOner: The video for "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace"
** Also, the entirety of the film version of "The Life Of The World To Come", which features Darnielle playing songs from the album in an empty auditorium, directed by Creator/RianJohnson.

* ProtestSong: "Down to the Ark" characterizes the primary voting process in the United States as a Satanic ritual. Yes, really.
** "Fall of the Star High School Running Back" protests Texas's justice system for giving seventeen year-olds federal time.

* SanitySlippageSong: "Wild Sage" is a breakup song between a guy and his mind.
** "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" and "In the Craters on the Moon", too.
* {{Satan}}: The serpent in the Garden of Eden mourns his lot in "Supergenesis." While both "How To Embrace A Swamp Creature" and "Cobra Tattoo" relate the protagonists to the same serpent.
** "The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton"

* ShoutOut: The chorus of "Enoch 18:14" is cutscene dialogue from ''VideoGame/OdinSphere''.

* SlapSlapKiss: Some songs involving the Alpha couple you can't quite tell whether the lyrics are describing them trying to kill eachother, or having a vicious love session, or both. Seen most notably in "Oceanographer's Choice".
* SomethingBlues: "Dutch Orchestra Blues," "International Small Arms Traffic Blues," "Jam Eater Blues," "Jeff Davis County Blues," "New World Emerging Blues," "Transjordanian Blues."
* SpokenWordInMusic: Some of the older songs like "Prana Ferox" and "Going to Bolivia" include recordings at the beginning of people speaking.

* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: From "The Cow Song":

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth
** Lampshaped in "You Were Cool"
-->''These are the same four chords''
-->''I use most of the time''
-->''When I've got something on my mind''
* TitleTrack: "Tallahassee", "Transcendental Youth", "The Hot Garden Stomp", "The Coroner's Gambit", "Get Lonely", "Heretic Pride", "Nine Black Poppies", "Yam, the King of Crops", "Jam Eaters Blues".

* TheSomethingSong: "Anti-Music Song." "The Black Ice Cream Song." "California Song." "Chinese Rifle Song." "Island Garden Song." "The Monkey Song." "Neon Orange Glimmer Song." "Pseudothyrum Song." "Shadow Song." "Song for an Old Friend." "Stable Boy Song." "Standard Bitter Love Song" #1-8. "Song for Cleomenes," "Song for Dana Plato," "Song for Dennis Brown," "Song for Lonely Giants," "Song for My Stepfather," "Song for the Julian Calendar," "Song for Tura Santana"...
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Refered to in "Game Shows Touch Our Lives." ''"They say that friends don't destroy one another. What do they know about friends?"''

* YourCheatingHeart: "Alibi." "Houseguest." "Going To Maine." the Mountain Goats are a special case in that infidelity is rarely directly condoned or condemned.

* AngryMobSong: Inverted by "If You See Light," where the narrator is ''hiding'' from a mob, and in "Heretic Pride," in which the narrator is being killed by an angry mob.
* AntiLoveSong: Any song concerning the Alpha Couple, and plenty of the rest too.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Subverted in "Oceanographer's Choice". The Alpha Couple's reconciliation is an example of their dangerous codependency and is one of the most violent songs in the series. Played somewhat straight in "Old College Try".
** Used with a heavy [[NostalgiaFilter dose of nostalgia]] for the dysfunction of their (ostensibly ended) relationship in Design Your Own Container Garden.

* AudienceParticipationSong: "No Children" (''"I hope we ALL die!"''), "Hand Ball," "Carmen Cicero," "Terror Song", "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton".

* BittersweetEnding: ''The Sunset Tree'' closes with "Pale Green Things", which examines ambivalent memories of the album's antagonist.

* BreakupSong: Some of the most cathartic ever written. Take "Baboon": ''"I'd be grateful my children aren't here to see this / Had you ever seen fit to give me children."''
** Woke Up New is a soft-voiced, intimate examination of the immediate aftermath.

** Examples from the Alpha Couple series include No Children, Alpha Omega, & Design Your Own Container Garden.

* ConceptAlbum: ''Sweden'', ''All Hail West Texas'', ''Tallahassee'', ''We Shall All Be Healed'', ''The Sunset Tree'', ''The Life of the World to Come'', ''Beat The Champ'', and John Darnielle with John Vanderslice's "Moon Colony Bloodbath,"

* TheCoverChangesTheGender: ''"One fine day, you're gonna want me for your [[strike: girl]] own!"''

* CoverVersion: "The Sign" by Ace of Base. John legitimately loved the song, and loved to perform it, but stopped because he believed his audience thought he was covering it ironically.
** Also "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon, on the officially unreleased yet illegally leaked album ''Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg''.

* TheDeterminator : "Up the Wolves." "Alpha Desperation March." "Damn These Vampires." "Sax Rohmer #1." "This Year."

* DrivenToSuicide: At the end of ''Get Lonely'', the narrator of "In Corolla" [[spoiler: walks into the Atlantic Ocean]].

* DrowningMySorrows: "You're in Maya." "Gameshows Touch Our Lives."

* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Oceanographer's Choice" on ''Tallahassee'', "Love, Love, Love" on ''The Sunset Tree'', and "Going to Georgia" on ''Zopilote Machine.''

--> ''I'm gonna jab you in the eye, with foreign object. I will personally stab you in the eye with a foreign object.''

* FormerChildStar: Seems to be a fascination of John Darnielle. "Song for Dana Plato", "The Autopsy Garland", "Tyler Lambert's Grave", "Harlem Roulette"...

* GriefSong: "Matthew 25:21," "Shadow Song," "Mole," "Your Belgian Things," "Cobscook Bay," "Philippians 2:20-21"

* IconicSongRequest: "No Children!" "Going to Georgia!" "Best Ever Death Metal Band!" "GOLDEN BOY!!!!"

* LonelyPianoPiece: "1 John 4:16", "Deuteronomy 2:10", the piano version of "Steal Smoked Fish".

* IAmSong: "Hand Ball." ''"I am the dry meat that fills the mouth. I am the fire that burns without wood. I am Evil Forest. Kill a man on the day that his life seems sweetest to him."''

* GodIsEvil: In "Supergenesis" , the banished snake in the Garden of Eden is motivated by his perceived mistreatment at the hands of God
* GriefSong: "Matthew 25:21," "Shadow Song," "Mole,' "Your Belgian Things." "Cobscook Bay," "Philippians 2:20-21,"

* EarnYourHappyEnding: ''We Shall All Be Healed'' makes it clear that the protagonist's eventual triumph over addiction was a Pyrrhic victory.

* DestructoNookie: "Oceanographer's Choice." ''"And then we fell down / And we locked arms / We knocked the dresser over as we rolled across the floor..."''

--> "I'm gonna jab you in the eye, with foreign object. I will personally stab you in the eye with a foreign object."

* FreudianExcuse: "Pseudothyrum Song"; ''I think someone was mean to you when you were little, that's what I think.''

* EyeScream:During the chorus of "Foreign Object:
--> "I'm gonna jab you in the eye, with Foreign Object. I will personally stab you in the eye with a Foreign Object. "

* DrowningMySorrows: "You're in Maya." "Gameshows Touch Our Lives.'

** Inverted, or at least played with, in Alpha Incipiens.

** Used with a heavy [[NostalgiaFilter dose of nostalgia]] for the dysfunction in Design Your Own Container Garden.