Villain Songs

It's been awhile since I wrote something about villains, so I figured that it would be fun to dedicate my first post of the year to that very subject. In any media featuring musical numbers, the ones sung by the villain tend to be the most memorable. Below are some of my favorite villain songs, in random order.

No post like this is complete without at least one song performed by a Disney-villain and this one is my personal favorite. Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, may have been a kiddyfied adaptation of Hugo's book, but it was still a pretty dark movie, as evidenced by the Hellfire sequence.In it, the hypocritical and corrupt Judge Claude Frollo, sings about his lust for Esmeralda and how, if he can't have her, he'll kill her (you know, for kids). Probably the darkest scene in a Disney-movie and definitely the best one in the entire movie. I miss you, Tony Jay.

For a show which frequently has its characters bursting into song, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has been quite stingy with songs for its villains. Out of the major villains, the only one to get a her own song is Chrysalis, the Changeling-Queen (yes. I know that Discord got a song in season 4, but he wasn't really a villain in that episode, just a dick), This Day is divided into two parts, the first has Chrysalis - disguised as Princess Cadance - singing about her evil plans while Twilight Sparkle and the real Cadance rush to stop her. In the second part, Chrysalis, now in her true form, gloats over the invasion of Canterlot by her army. Taking both parts as a whole this is a great song, easily one of my favorites in the show. Plus, I find Chrysalis' evil laughter at the end to be absolutely adorable.

I'm not really familiar with Mefistofele, Arrigo Boito's Opera-adaption of the Faust legend, but this is a great song. It's pretty much the titular character singing about how he's going to destroy/corrupt God's creation and the joy he gets from doing that. It's pretty much the perfect song for the Devil (or one of the Devil's minions) to sing.

Like many children who grew up in the 90's, I was a huge fan of Pokemon, at least for awhile. However, I had no idea until recently that a Pokemon musical existed. Now, I haven't seen the musical (I think the entire thing is available on YouTube, for those who are interested), so I can't vouch for its quality. That said, It Will All be Mine is pretty awesome. The song has Giovanni singing about how he's going to take over the World and destroy all who oppose him. You know, typical villain-stuff. What I like the most about this song is how triumphant it sounds. Giovanni is so excited about this whole world-domination thing that it becomes infectious. One almost wants the guy to come out at the top in the end.

Unlike the other songs in this post, this one is not sung by a villain, but about him. The Rains of Castamere tells the story of how a young Tywin Lannister put down the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion. Without mentioning his name, the song pretty much tells you a very important thing about Tywin; That he's a ruthless bastard whose wrath you'd best not incur. Of course, you already knew that, right?

To round out the list, here's another opera-villain; Namely, Claggart from Benjamin Britten's adaption of Herman Melville's novella, Billy Budd. Claggart's aria is one of those songs that opens itself up to different interpretations. Why does Claggart want to destroy Billy? Well, the most obvious answer is that its because he represents evil and Billy represents good. However, one can also view Claggart as a repressed/latent homosexual who can't deal with the fact that he's attracted to another guy. Regardless, this is a great, chilling song, possibly my favorite and the perfect song to end this list with.