Image via Complex Original
Whether evoking the villains and creatures of sci-fi and fantasy entertainment or presenting something dark within humanity as a whole, the word “monster” has powerful connotations in art. Songwriters have long been drawn to the word and the imagery that it conjures—but never as much as in the years since 2009.
In that time, several artists (many of them multi-platinum superstars) have released songs titled “Monster” or “The Monster.” In fact, so many songs discussed monster culture that we thought it was necessary to rank them all. Honorable mentions go out to hits with longer titles, like Ne-Yo’s “Beautiful Monster” or Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.” From Kanye to Gaga to Eminem, you decide whose “Monster” mash was the biggest graveyard smash.
Imagine Dragons “Monster”
Year: 2013
Album: Infinity Blade III soundtrack
Producer: Alex da Kid and Imagine Dragons
“I’ve turned into a monster, a monster, a monster/And it keeps getting stronger”
On the heels of their blockbuster 2012 debut album Night Visions, the Nevada alt-rock quartet Imagine Dragons submitted new songs across the board, to the soundtracks of several movies and even an iPhone app. Infinity Blade III, the third in a highly successful iOS game series, eventually featured “Monster,” a new Imagine Dragons track co-produced by their mentor, Alex da Kid, a British pop producer responsible for rap hits like B.o.B’s “Airplanes” and Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie.” “Monster” follows through with the “indietronica” formula of “Radioactive” and other Imagine Dragons hits, while making a minor blip on rock radio.
Michael Jackson f/ 50 Cent “Monster”
Year: 2010
Album: Michael
Producer: Teddy Riley, Eddie “Angelikson”Cascio, and Michael Jackson
“They’re gunning for the money so they fake it/Everywhere you seem to turn there’s a monster”
Just a year and change after Michael Jackson’s tragic 2009 death, his label began the process of opening the King of Pop’s substantial vault to release his first posthumous album. The album featured several collaborations with younger artists who Jackson had hoped would help put him back on the charts, including “Monster” with 50 Cent. The song mines the horror movie vibe of past MJ classics like “Thriller,” which 50 references in his “Monster” verse. But, as was often the case with Jackson, the paranoia of fame and wealth was the real beast lurking in the song’s lyrics. After Jackson’s passing, “Monster” took on a much more haunting tone.
Yung Lean “Monster”
Year: 2014
Album: Unknown Memory
Producer: Yung Sherman
“Roses in my bathtub, leave your blood in a black mug/Used to be a hobby, now it’s all I think about”
Last year, Yung Lean capitalized on his burgeoning fame as the strange Swedish cloud rap sensation by launching a tour and his first retail album. The album, Unknown Memory, featured a song titled “Monster,” the only song on our list to not actually contain the word “monster” in its lyrics. Not so much scary as debauched and eccentric, Yung Lean’s odd accent gives “Monster” a spooky ambiance nonetheless.
Paramore “Monster”
Year: 2011
Album: Transformers: Dark of the Moon – The Album
Producer: Rob Cavallo and Paramore
“I’ll stop the world/From turning into a monster and eating us alive”
In 2010, Paramore was nearly pulled apart by internal turmoil that resulted in two founding members, brothers Zac and Josh Farro, leaving the band. “Monster” was the first song released a few months later by the newly restructured Paramore, on the soundtrack for Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third installment of the series. This ominous, defiant “Monster” seemed to reflect what the band was going through at the time, although the song now contrasts sharply with more upbeat hits like “Ain’t It Fun,” for which the band is better known.
Lady Gaga “Monster”
Year: 2009
Album: The Fame Monster
Producer: RedOne and Lady Gaga
“I want to just dance, but he took me home instead/Uh oh, there was a monster in my bed”
If you want to know how the word “monster” managed to infest pop music over the last few years, one needs to look no further than costume aficionado Lady Gaga. After her 2008 debut album, The Fame, launched her into superstardom, Lady Gaga decided to reboot the album in 2009 as The Fame Monster with eight new songs, including “Monster.” Gaga’s “Monster” has a touch of playfully campy, monster movie imagery mixed with her trademark sexual innuendo. It’s been open season for monsters on the pop charts ever since.
Future “Monster”
Year: 2014
Album: Monster
Producer: Metro Boomin’ and Southside
“These b**** switchin’, tryin’ to get my d*** a hickey/I’m a monster on these h***, I’m a monster”
Shortly after Future released 2014’s Honest, his polished and star-studded sophomore major label album, he released a banger that sounded closer to his Atlanta trap rap roots. “Monster,” as it turned out later that year, became the title track to an entire mixtape of harder, darker new Future music produced by Metro Boomin’. Other than a reference to Freddy Krueger, Future’s idea of getting monstrous on this track had more to do with his behavior toward the ladies than any supernatural activities.
Eminem f/ Rihanna “The Monster”
Year: 2013
Album: The Marshall Mathers LP 2
Producer: Frequency
“I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed/Get along with the voices inside of my head”
For the sequel to his classic 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem reunited with “Love the Way You Lie” duet partner Rihanna for yet another chart-topping single. Once again exploring the dark side of Em’s imagination with Ri’s melodic hooks, “The Monster” has fun exploring where Eminem gets all those strange, twisted lyrics. After the song ruled the radio for most of 2014, the pair used the track as inspiration for The Monster Tour, which co-headlined arena shows that summer.
Kanye West f/ Rick Ross, Jay Z, and Nicki Minaj “Monster”
Year: 2010
Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Producer: Kanye West, Mike Dean, and Plain Pat
“Now look at what you just saw, this is what you live for/Ahhhhh! I’m a m************ monster!”
One of the weekly G.O.O.D. Friday giveaways that Kanye West unveiled in 2010, “Monster” was so freakishly great that it wound up as one of the singles for his universally acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. Although Rick Ross and Jay Z rap about bloodsuckers and Godzilla, and indie darling Bon Iver even sings the song’s foreboding intro and outro, there’s only one guest that truly steals the show on the posse cut. Over the course of dozens of bars and at least five different voices, Nicki Minaj gives a legendary performance, sounding possessed by some monstrous spirit without even having to reference The Exorcist.
