Top 100 fade-outs

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autechre's "Flutter" -- the way it so slowly and more importantly so microscopically fades out is simply beautiful

― Leee (Leee), Saturday, 22 February 2003 05:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the way the Endless Summer Version of "Help Me Ronda" fades out and them back in a couple times, on beat.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 22 February 2003 06:02 (twenty-two years ago)

The Fall "Various Times" (from the "Live at the Witch Trials" U.S. LP)
Kitchens of Distinction "Mad as Snow" (or most of their songs)

― donut bitch (donut), Saturday, 22 February 2003 06:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I love those Buzzcocks songs that fade out and then start up again.All their original albums had one good song like that.Sorry,I'm too sleepy to think of titles.But you all no what ones I'm thinking of.

― Scott Seward, Saturday, 22 February 2003 06:09 (twenty-two years ago)

KNOW what ones I'm thinking of.(very sleepy)

― Scott Seward, Saturday, 22 February 2003 06:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Bee Gees, "Gotta Get A Message To You" or Beatles "Hey Jude" - longer than the songs.

― nickn (nickn), Saturday, 22 February 2003 09:10 (twenty-two years ago)

The fade out on "Beyond Belief" by Elvis Costello & the Attractions always fuckin' kills me as they're positively cookin' when the fade begins (right during the "iiiii've gotta feelin'/I'm gonna get alot of grief/once this seemed so appealin'/now I am beyoooond beleeeeef!").

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 22 February 2003 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the greatest End-of-Song/Fade-out is Velvet Underground "What Goes On".

I mean, the way that organ slowly creeps up in loudness in the mix during the second verse, then stays there... and that beautiful, simple E-D-A chord progession just goes on and on and on .. it fades out far too soon..

Stereolab's whole career is sort of that fadeout writ large. I would love a remix of this track w/ a 10 minute fadeout. It's 3:30 AM CST, and right now I can't think of a more fitting song..

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Saturday, 22 February 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home A Heartache" <--- Best fade out ever.

First it fades out, then comes fading back with eno's spazzy phasing fx... Awesummm!

― Jack Battery-Pack (Jack Battery-Pack), Saturday, 22 February 2003 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Radiohead's "Black Star", with extra points for the fade-in. Lots of soul songs where do pull this "just-moan-towards-the-end-of-the-song-we'll-fade-it-out-it'll-be-great" maneuver.

― Adam A. (Keiko), Saturday, 22 February 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

massive attack - one love - that issac hayes piano comes in right at the last minute and it's so frustrating that it leaves again so soon but frustration -->addiction - i rewound and replayed that bit of the $1 pirated thai tape i had of blue lines til it broke. i've heard the same loop used much more liberally in other songs and the magic is lost. it's like how ankles aren't as special as they used to be in victorian times

― minna (minna), Saturday, 22 February 2003 17:16 (twenty-two years ago)

New Radicals - You Get What You Give

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 February 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I often don't like fading out then back in. It seems to awkward.

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 22 February 2003 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

"Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others"

― Adam A. (Keiko), Saturday, 22 February 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

"Rods and Cones" by Blue Man Group -- near the end the hi-hats hit a disco pattern and the bass drums go ballistic.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 22 February 2003 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

The View From A Hill on Script of the Bridge by the Chameleons is a reaaaal good ending to the album. I second Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others.

― Ferg (Ferg), Saturday, 22 February 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

obligatroy pavement reference...
the end of "fin.", solo fade...

― eedd, Saturday, 22 February 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I often don't like fading out then back in. It seems to awkward.

Actually, this gives me an idea for a new thread.

― donut bitch (donut), Saturday, 22 February 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

On the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" they start talking about how you make a dead man come as it fades out. Also, the version of "If I Was Your Girlfriend" on Prince Hits 2 fades out on his naughty talk about orgasms and stuff, making it sound like it was intentionally a secret if you haven't heard the full version.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 22 February 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Metallica - Fade To Black. (the soloing!!)

― Wyndham Earl, Saturday, 22 February 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Autechre - Piezo, Stud

Both have this breathing, or slowly pulsing sound that I could listen to for hours. Actually in both cases I usually just skip through the track to the fade-outs, especially for Stud which has that really high frequency sound throughout the entire track that actually hurts my ears. On the upside, it just makes the end part all the more refreshing...

― Elliot (Elliot), Saturday, 22 February 2003 23:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Komputer - "Looking Down on London"

the clincher is the way that the ultra-straight euro-trash male vocal comes in, speaking the title of the song, and i'm not a huge synthpop fan or anything.

― ryansupak, Sunday, 23 February 2003 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

"Hey Jude"

― dleone (dleone), Sunday, 23 February 2003 00:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Metallica - Fade To Black. (the soloing!!)

Actually I thought it was a bit of a copout because Kirk REALLY starts to wail just as the song ends, which makes live versions somewhat better in that respect so that he can finish what he started.

― Leee (Leee), Sunday, 23 February 2003 00:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes - "Perpetual Change"
Gary Numan - "Cars"

― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 23 February 2003 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

i like the spooky way "ashes to ashes" ends, which "cars" reminds me of
the way "beyond belief" ends leaves me wanting/imagining more, as the rhythym keeps changing until the fade when they kind of lock in, which sets you up for the rest of the album perfectly, so i think it fades perfectly

"i am the walrus" is my favourite fade out -- john cale's "graham greene" is interesting too, and ".. every home .." is really good, a trick eno repeated all over another green world, but especially "over fire island"

― george gosset (gegoss), Sunday, 23 February 2003 01:53 (twenty-two years ago)

i think eno ended sides of records really well with tracks like "taking tiger mountain", "great pretender", "spider and i", "the beaut fadeout of ".. warm jets" and "driving me backwards"

does ".. in every home .." have roughly the same rpm/bpm as the sound of a record clicking away at the end of a side ? i'd like to think so ..

― george gosset (gegoss), Sunday, 23 February 2003 02:14 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was sixteen and obsessed with garage rock to the point of thinking that all other music sucked, I dismissed fade-outs at the end of songs as "studio trickery" that perverted the "realness" of the music. Now it seems that the more manufactured-sounding the better (been listening to Toktok all day), but I still have to fight this vestigal, garage days reaction to the fade-out. "Just finish the damn song!"

I suppose I should contribute to the list. Does that weird echoey thing that happens at the end of "Happy Together" by the Turtles count?

― flightsatdusk (flightsatdusk), Sunday, 23 February 2003 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Bungle's "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz", where it fades out as though it's ending, as though it will just fade out like all other fade-outs do, and just when the silence has completely settled in...

BLAUGHWR!!!! The whole thing comes screaming back in at full volume just long enough for the whole jam to crumble apart into total squawking chaos.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Sunday, 23 February 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Can - future days

― rex jr., Sunday, 23 February 2003 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Brian Eno's "The Great Pretender"--that long slow crossfade to the cricket noises and then the fadeout--wow. I ended my final radio show in college with it.

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 23 February 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

i always thought the weirdest fade-out was on steppenwolf's 'magic carpet ride'. it was so forced and in the middle of chorus. like the mix guy was staring at his watch with one hand on the master volume knob saying 'alrighty, it's 2:30 min., out you go'. or maybe they just didn't know how to end it.

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Monday, 24 February 2003 00:35 (twenty-two years ago)

St. Etienne, Aspects Of Lambert. It's all buildup, waiting for a consistent beat, and right when one falls into place the track fades out. A lovely touch.

― derrick (derrick), Monday, 24 February 2003 05:12 (twenty-two years ago)

At the end of, I think, the 1st song on Bone Machine by Tom Waits, the song fades out and this really great organ part fades in. That's a hell of a fade out part, but it only works well when the organ comes in louder than usual on certain stereos.

― sammartin13, Monday, 24 February 2003 05:18 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

WORST: Clapton's 'Layla', perhaps the worst ending of a song, period.

― chris andrews (fraew), Friday, 30 April 2004 03:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Totally agree Chris - I never knew what the hell that piano coda had to do with "Layla" the song. Different feel, different tempo, and even the transition is sloppy, with an obvious edit. At least "Hey Jude" had that string of six ascending "Better"s to make a nice bridge between the two halves of the song.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The piano coda is the only thing I like about "Layla". It was used awesomely as a backdrop for some really gritty shit in some gangster movie but I can't remember which at the moment.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

The fade out of "Prototype" where it dissolves into nothing but these really warm string synth pads -> "She Lives In My Lap" might be the best moment on The Love Below. It sure does sound purdy.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

gritty shit in some gangster movie
GoodFellas! Can't listen to that song or "Sunshine of Your Life" the same way again.

(Or "Atlantis" or "Jump Into the Fire" or "What is Life?" or ...)

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

ha ha of course it was Goodfellas. That scene was totally fucking astounding.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

wow how did no one mention "Suspicious Minds" in this ancient thread.

― dieblucasdie (dieblucasdie), Friday, 30 April 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

"Sunshine of Your Love", of course. Sheesh.

Though that scene (the camera revolves around DeNiro sitting at the bar, meditating on killing the wig guy) would certainly have a different vibe to it if Scorsese had used "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" instead.

Fade-outs? Um, "Longview" ain't bad.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 30 April 2004 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Not only "Suspicious Minds," but the single version of "What's Going On," as I was reminded yesterday.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Sticky" by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the last song on Now I Got Worry. This song had so much more depth than anything in their entire catalog. Under the faint tail end of fadeout you can hear all the noise and screaming finally reach its climax. It's actually really affecting. I can remember it giving me goosebumps last time I listened to it.

― Famous Athlete, Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"Midnight Train to Georgia"

I've got to go, I've got to go, I've got to go, hey!
I've got to go, I've got to go, I've got to go,
My love! My world! My man! His girl!

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Following up on Alex's post on "Beyond Belief": I think "Accidents Will Happen" was the first Elvis Costello song I fell in love with, in part thanks to the creepy feel to its fade-out: "I know what I've done, I know, I know, I know..." Not to mention those great bass thrusts.

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Years ago, my friends and I did a song called Fade You Out - about a guy ending a relationship. The chorus was "I'm going to fade you out" (fading) "fade you in" (rising) about six times. It cracked us up everytime we heard it.

But I always enjoyed Strawberry Fields Forever's fade & comeback which probably was the first of its kind.

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

m.e.a. otm. It's too bad about Costello and Bruce Thomas; I think Davey Faragher is a worthy bassist for E.C., but Bruce was truly the Jamerson-/McCartney-esque shit for the Attractions . . .

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 1 May 2004 08:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Worst: Fear of Music version of Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime" -- it fades out while he's singing, with a verse and a half to go! They include the lyrics with the album but never sing them. Best: I'm not sure if this counts, but what about the abrupt ending of "She's so heavy"?

― (Truman Capote), Saturday, 1 May 2004 08:26 (twenty-one years ago)

aaliyah - "one in a million" (THIS CAN NOT BE OVERSTATED)

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 1 May 2004 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"That Joke Isn't Funny Any More" - The Smiths.

If I remember right, it does the fade out/fade back in thing, and then slowly fades back out on that gorgeous looping coda where Johnny Marr renders the rest of his career unnecessary.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 1 May 2004 11:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Saint Etienne - She's the one
The song fades just aftes after a new chord sequence starts to kink in. It leaves you wanting more!

― daavid (daavid), Sunday, 2 May 2004 00:17 (twenty-one years ago)

'don't just do something'...

― Aaron A., Sunday, 2 May 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't so many Prince fades imply that there was so much more to come? Sometimes it did ("I Wish You Heaven" 12-inch), sometimes it didn't. . . .

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 2 May 2004 08:22 (twenty-one years ago)

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