Songs that actually, like, stop when the singer says 'stop.'

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Whether completely or for a brief little cleversmuggy pause before starting up again.

Girl Singing in the Wreckage by Black Box Recorder, Sixteen by the Buzzcocks. Others?

Also: classic or dud?

Ferg (Ferg), Sunday, 12 January 2003 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

ahem. Jane's Addiction, "Stop!"

gabbneb, Sunday, 12 January 2003 21:05 (twenty-two years ago)

MC Hammer - 'You Can't Touch This'
The Pixies - 'Where Is My Mind?'

James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Sunday, 12 January 2003 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Built to Spill - "In The Morning." Classic.

Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 12 January 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

"Ranking Full Stop," The (English) Beat

Michael White, Sunday, 12 January 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

"Like Dylan in the movies" by Belle & Sebastian

Sami (Sami), Sunday, 12 January 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Elvis Costello - "Alison"
Obv. classic.

weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Sunday, 12 January 2003 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Akufen - "Deck the House (Herbert Stops Like This mix)"

The bit in "Alison" will never get old, no.

Adam A. (Keiko), Sunday, 12 January 2003 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Where is my mind starts when Frank yells STOP.

Callum (Callum), Sunday, 12 January 2003 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

King Crimson's "When I Say Stop, Continue" doesn't stop when the singer says stop.

Joe (Joe), Sunday, 12 January 2003 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Britney Spears - (You Drive Me) Crazy

My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Sunday, 12 January 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

King Crimson's "When I Say Stop, Continue" doesn't stop when the singer says stop.

..because they play for themselves and lack the ability to listen to anyone else.

bahtology, Sunday, 12 January 2003 23:17 (twenty-two years ago)

EC also used it to great effect in "King Horse"

Busta - "Break Ya Neck"

Al (sitcom), Sunday, 12 January 2003 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a Pulp song which ends with Jarvis whispering "stop", but I can't remember what it is.

Chriddof (Chriddof), Monday, 13 January 2003 00:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Gino Vanelli, "For Your Love" (as in "I just want to stop ..." -- and, accordingly, the song stops for a few seconds ... then "for your love!")

where is Dave Q when you need him?

Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 13 January 2003 00:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm pretty sure Pulp's "Styloroc - Nites Of Suburbia" ends like that.

Charlie (Charlie), Monday, 13 January 2003 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I think it's "She's A Lady".

edward o (edwardo), Monday, 13 January 2003 02:16 (twenty-two years ago)

holding on for you

naked as sin (naked as sin), Monday, 13 January 2003 02:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The (very) short version of 'A Forest' which The Cure performed on that Re:Covered show.

Paz, Monday, 13 January 2003 04:10 (twenty-two years ago)

The Chameleons UK - Tears

Melissa W (Melissa W), Monday, 13 January 2003 05:13 (twenty-two years ago)

James Brown owns this thread.

webcrack (music=crack), Monday, 13 January 2003 05:50 (twenty-two years ago)

the Smashing Pumpkins - X.Y.U.

Damian (Damian), Monday, 13 January 2003 08:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Stan Freberg - 'I've Got You Under My Skin'

(not quite the same thing, but on Golden Boy's '1,2,3,4', when Miss Kittin says "and I think I'd better shut up now", the track immediately ends)

Jeff W, Monday, 13 January 2003 09:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Royal Trux 'Stop'

dave q, Monday, 13 January 2003 09:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Garbage - Queer.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 13 January 2003 09:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe no-one's mentioned Fugazi.

Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Monday, 13 January 2003 09:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"Can't Stop" by That Petrol Emotion, from the wonderful "Manic Pop Thrill" album.

Darren, Monday, 13 January 2003 12:01 (twenty-two years ago)

King Crimson's "When I Say Stop, Continue" doesn't stop when the singer says stop

.. ahh - but Robert Fripp & David Byrne did a song called "Under Heavy Manners" .. David says "Stop" and the song stops. Then he says "Continue" and, guess what it does ...

dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 13 January 2003 13:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Gun Club - Fire Spirit

pauls00, Monday, 13 January 2003 13:10 (twenty-two years ago)

colourblind james experience - dance critters

"the music stopped............and then it started again"

joni, Monday, 13 January 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

then there's that "Start Button" thing at the end of as heard on radio soulwax pt.2

zebedee, Monday, 13 January 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Uh, Gino Vannelli ... "I Just Wanna Stop"

zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 13 January 2003 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Giorgio Moroder-"Stop"

Arthur (Arthur), Monday, 13 January 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Cornelius: "Another View Point" and "Nowhere" ("Point! Stop the music...").

Orange, Monday, 13 January 2003 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, Belle & Sebastian have the "when the music stops...." STOPS... "da da da da da" in Me and the Major! HAHA! Look I can contribute to these useless threads as well - apologies if you said it upthread anyone...

Sarah (starry), Monday, 13 January 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

"Another Song", Swell Maps

duane (doorag), Monday, 13 January 2003 17:08 (twenty-two years ago)

King Horse doesn't actually stop when he says stop, just your heart.

Goddamn, I love Elvis Costello.

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 13 January 2003 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

U2, "God, Part 2."

Don't hate me.

TMFTML
http://intonation.blogspot.com

TMFTML (TMFTML), Monday, 13 January 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

the Smashing Pumpkins - X.Y.U.

When does he say "stop"?

Curtis Stephens, Monday, 13 January 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Buzzcocks - "How I hate modern music: disco, boogie and pop, it goes on and on and on and on and on how I wish it would stop"

Genius.

wiseblood, Monday, 13 January 2003 21:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Pretty sure there's a Momus song with such a stop. Journey To The Center Of Me?

Jacob Barss-Bailey, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Nobody's mentioned Erasure's "Stop!" yet so I will.

Charlie (Charlie), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Buzzcocks also have "Until the razor cuts" - Love You More, which is pretty bloody final -B.Fawlty(wrong thread)

Steve Munro (Steve Munro), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

"I Hate The Kids" by S.O.A.

Mark Groves (ujaku), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Ween: "Awesome Sound"

Ernest P. (ernestp), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 04:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Curtis - he doesn't say stop in X.Y.U. so much as scream it near the end of the song.

Damian (Damian), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 06:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Debbie Harry's "Backfired"

Tony (TK-Irl), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Better than Ranking Full Stop has to be Click Click off the Beat's first album, which ends faster faster faster faster / faster faster faster faster / faster faster faster faster STOP. It's very abrupt and works well.

Daniel (dancity), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Austin - "Unity In Dub"

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...
dB's - "Black And White"

... which I'm listening to right now and when he did the stop thing I said to myself "there's gotta be a thread about this on ilm!"

zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Oren Ambarchi Hubris Pt 3

badg, Sunday, 1 October 2017 23:35 (eight years ago)

Does don't come around here no more count?

I Love You, Fancybear (symsymsym), Thursday, 5 October 2017 06:37 (eight years ago)

"Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" - of Montreal

flappy bird, Thursday, 5 October 2017 06:39 (eight years ago)

The Mercury Rev song wherein this happens annoyed me so much that I never paid any attention to them anymore.

Valentijn, Thursday, 5 October 2017 11:48 (eight years ago)

two weeks pass...

jessie ware - slow me down

Week of Wonders (Ross), Monday, 23 October 2017 02:03 (eight years ago)

Percy Sledge "Sudden Stop"

Ρεμπετολογια, Monday, 23 October 2017 04:02 (eight years ago)

"waitin" by kelela!

joshywinty (josh), Monday, 23 October 2017 05:51 (eight years ago)

THe Birthday party Deep In The Woods ends with the word End dunnit?

Stevolende, Monday, 23 October 2017 08:21 (eight years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKh1Tbq62Lc

2:04

Lee626, Monday, 23 October 2017 09:49 (eight years ago)

For some reason this thread got a bassline and little guitar jingle stuck in my head and I couldn't work out what it was. I first thought it might be by LFO (Summer Girls variety), then after ruling that out I was stumped. An hour or so later I realised it was Half Man Half Biscuit, with their song Took Problem Chimp To Ideal Home Show...but this song doesn't say 'stop' at all! It stops, then says 'go' as it restarts. For some reason I got the two muddled. Anyway, I bet there aren't so many examples of 'go'. That Boredoms one I guess...

imago, Monday, 23 October 2017 11:55 (eight years ago)

can't believe "Don't Come Around Here No More" hasn't been mentioned

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 October 2017 12:56 (eight years ago)

it has

imago, Monday, 23 October 2017 13:46 (eight years ago)

just saw it, whoops

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 October 2017 13:52 (eight years ago)

To my ears the music doesn't seem to stop after singing "stop" in that song

Lee626, Monday, 23 October 2017 14:12 (eight years ago)

yeah it doesn't

imago, Monday, 23 October 2017 14:15 (eight years ago)

James - Skullduggery does the 'and then the music stopped...." thing at the end.

MaresNest, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 15:56 (eight years ago)

I think google is spying on me. This was a recommended video on my feed:

https://youtu.be/hWdQPOjTk4g

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 24 October 2017 16:14 (eight years ago)

five months pass...

Taylor Swift, “Dress” (the final time she says, “...everything just stops”).

absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Monday, 26 March 2018 02:58 (seven years ago)

Stan Freberg - "I've got you under my skin"

Mark G, Monday, 26 March 2018 08:08 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l9fmKnEKis

PaulTMA, Monday, 26 March 2018 11:12 (seven years ago)

five months pass...

The Beths, Uptown Girl (at about 20 seconds in)
https://thebethsnz.bandcamp.com/track/uptown-girl

enochroot, Thursday, 20 September 2018 12:16 (seven years ago)

Ha, I never noticed that before.

The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 20 September 2018 13:27 (seven years ago)

one year passes...

"Ranking Full Stop," The (English) Beat
― Michael White, Sunday, January 12, 2003 4:30 PM (sixteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

came here to post this

flappy bird, Wednesday, 25 September 2019 16:22 (six years ago)

three months pass...

MJ & Siedah Garrett’s “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”.

Not in any big, like, show-stopping fashion, but still...

breastcrawl, Friday, 27 December 2019 20:33 (six years ago)

five months pass...

"Summertime Rolls", Jane's Addiction

Soz (Not Soz) (Vast Halo), Tuesday, 23 June 2020 00:12 (five years ago)

Señor Coconut's cover of "Radioactivity": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_K2FasB02A

ernestp, Tuesday, 23 June 2020 06:14 (five years ago)

Vice Versa - New Girls Neutrons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qOO6KRZ8CM

Stop the tape I got spittle all over my moustache. (Talcum Mucker), Tuesday, 23 June 2020 13:49 (five years ago)

Charlie Puth's new single "Girlfriend" does this, within the first 30 seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXRI0vr_zPQ

No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Thursday, 25 June 2020 20:49 (five years ago)

bowie, Up the Hill Backwards, though TBF he yells "Shut up" not "Stop"

akm, Thursday, 25 June 2020 21:26 (five years ago)

one year passes...

K-Pop theme song to new cartoon We Baby Bears does this several times - though the music doesn't stop *every* time they do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f4J75lmkO0

gjoon1, Friday, 7 January 2022 21:25 (three years ago)

Did anybody mention "Gerry and the Holograms" ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUOBJ7vEAQ4

Mark G, Friday, 7 January 2022 22:29 (three years ago)

one year passes...

bad idea right? does it.

gjoon1, Thursday, 21 September 2023 02:05 (two years ago)

Mel Wynn and the Rhythm Aces - Stop Sign

you can see me from westbury white horse, Thursday, 21 September 2023 02:13 (two years ago)

Can't believe it took so long for someone to make a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I1OaNrphk0

Hideous Lump, Saturday, 30 September 2023 05:26 (two years ago)

Should have remembered Take That - Shine

you can see me from westbury white horse, Saturday, 30 September 2023 13:05 (two years ago)

he also made an old video on the same topic years ago and explicitly cited this thread for it

dyl, Saturday, 30 September 2023 14:54 (two years ago)

seven months pass...

kendrick lamar - “euphoria”

the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Thursday, 2 May 2024 02:57 (one year ago)

In the Art of Stopping is a typically smartass Wire take on this kinda thing

Xgau Murder Spa (nikola), Saturday, 4 May 2024 02:15 (one year ago)

Does 'cut' count? Because Linton Kwesi Johnson/Poet and the Roots - Five Nights of Bleeding:

And suddenly the music *cut*...
Steelblade drinkin' blood in darkness

I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Saturday, 4 May 2024 08:13 (one year ago)

two months pass...

XTC - Neon Shuffle

Hideous Lump, Monday, 29 July 2024 23:22 (one year ago)

Can't believe it took so long for someone to make a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I1OaNrphk0

― Hideous Lump, sábado 30 de septiembre de 2023 06:26 AM (ten months ago)

I think google is spying on me. This was a recommended video on my feed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWdQPOjTk4g

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), martes 24 de octubre de 2017 05:14 PM (six years ago)

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 30 July 2024 14:08 (one year ago)

The music stops when Ray Davies says "stop the music" in "Scum of the Earth" from Preservation Act 2 by the Kinks.

The music does not stop when the Bee Gees sing "Somebody Stop the Music" from Trafalgar.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 30 July 2024 14:32 (one year ago)

Unicorn - "Keep on Going"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Ok0F4qMlE

j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Tuesday, 30 July 2024 15:24 (one year ago)

three months pass...

A new one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85PeF_yBlt4

ArchCarrier, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 08:53 (one year ago)

This is "Stop" by Bert, from Bert's Blockbusters, which doesn't - brrr! - quite fit the bill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be_o4Sv6uho

Because Bert doesn't stop after saying "stop", he just pauses a bit. Brrr! It is however one of the few records in this thread that could conceivably have been used as an instrument of torture by the CIA during the latter stages of the Vietnam War. Brrr!

Now, I admit I have no evidence of that. But isn't that suspicious? No evidence at all? Not a single piece of evidence? Not a single piece? None?

I ask you, is that likely? Is it?

Ashley Pomeroy, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 20:42 (one year ago)

five months pass...

Chicks on Speed - Wordy Rappinghood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_1kziD6Lec

Dan Worsley, Saturday, 12 April 2025 08:32 (eight months ago)

four months pass...

Cibo Matto - "Spoon"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oveep8Rt8RA

If you choose too long a name, your new display name will be trunc (SlimAndSlam), Saturday, 6 September 2025 18:21 (three months ago)

Ctrl-F "breathe" - 0 results!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8omE8XPeYE
Q-Tip - Breathe & Stop

Tracer Hand, Monday, 8 September 2025 09:29 (three months ago)

Classics IV - Spooky

c u (crüt), Monday, 8 September 2025 14:22 (three months ago)

three months pass...

Wolf Alice - Safe in the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50fr2DfLvcA

peace, man, Wednesday, 10 December 2025 18:53 (two weeks ago)


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