Story of the Hurricane - Bob Dylan

The kids aren't alright, The Offspring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iNbnineUCI

I listen it as a teen without understanding the lyrics (I'm French). Just figured out what it means a few years ago.

Dance With The Devil by Immortal Technique fits this theme perfectly imo

Going for three from Against Me!

Thrash Unreal

Borne in the FM Waves of the Heart

I Was a Teenage Anarchist

And one from Rise Against

Help is on the Way

A Better Place, A Better Time by Streetlight Manifesto

You'll never know by immortal technique

Have you heard 1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson? The story is simple and sad, but the way it's sung makes it especially emotional (at least for me).

The Crane Wife by the Decemberists. Parts 1&2, and Part 3 - based on a Japanese folk tale.

The willow maid, by Erutan fits perfectly

Mary, by Cécile Corbel also a very good fit

Also, don't know if you cold be interested in but fields of sorrow by orden ogan, the chorus gets new parts each time (the lyrics is not exactly a story like you find in a novel, but still narrates something)

For one song, I'd say "The Downward Spiral."

For an album, I'd say The Downward Spiral.

Under the Red Hot Moon by Rancid

Timothy by The Buoys comes to mind.

https://youtu.be/AXn0uIF60iU

Basically the entire discography of la dispute. But this was the first one that came to mind

King's Park https://youtu.be/H8IT-xrQRqk

Alone Again, Naturally by Gilbert O'Sullivan.
A small twist, but a very devastating song

Ryan Stevenson - When We Fall Apart

Beauty is Within Us by Scott Matthew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LKBoFra5YA

I'm cheating a little bit, because this song is tied to the second episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It's a standalone story, by the way, so if you want context, you don't have to watch the whole show, just that episode. The episode's title is Runaway Evidence - Testation, for those curious.

But anyway, slight spoilers for that episode: it's about a man with medical issues that could easily be solved, but his parents won't let him take the medical procedure that would alleviate those problems due to their religious beliefs, so he lives life in anguish. If you just listen to the chorus, it might seem like a beautiful, feel-good song, but it's so, so far from that. Just... read the lyrics.

Taylor Swift - Ronan