Your Favorite 20 Seconds in Rock

rock
ARTIST: Bob Dylan
SONG: "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again"
MOMENT: I can never remember which iteration of the chorus this is, but they get progressively loopier until he sounds like total liquid around the fourth or fifth time. So that.

non-rock
ARTIST: Augustus Pablo
SONG: "King Tubby's Meets Rockers Uptown"
MOMENT: the part where the drumroll sounds like like a conga crossed with a tin drum and the echo turns "baby I-I-I-i" into the most frightening and thrilling thing ever, followed by melodica splashes.

Second verse of Debaser w the no drum part. Last bit of Conjugate \The Verbs by Enon with the electro squelch shit.

these three moments together consume way less than 20 seconds, so i enter them as a package.

ARTIST: Husker Du
SONG: "New Day Rising"
MOMENT: The opening drum hits.

ARTIST: Shangri-Las
SONG: "The Train From Kansas City"
MOMENT: The impossibly huge thwacks of the snare as the drums return on the second half of the last verse, after cutting out for the first half of the verse.

ARTIST: Madonna
SONG: "Holiday"
MOMENT: The melodic release of the line "It would be so nice."

ARTIST: Talk Talk
SONG: After the Flood
MOMENT: (well, about 50 seconds really) about 2 minutes in where Mark Hollis lets loose the feedback over the rhythm section. Absolutely sublime in terms of contrast and context.

90 seconds. All one note!

The end of the sung part of Wire's "Too Late" and beginning of the instrumental part: "too too too too too too too too too too too too too too TOO LATE!" nanananananananana! nanananananananana! etc.

on that "same" "note"

neil young = cinnamon girl guitar solo... yep.

Lifter Puller, "Let's Get Incredible"
Starting "this one goes out to the heavy-weight hangers-on" and ending "ask the club kids as they crowded around us", where the keyboard-sounding thing goes wild

The chorus of Boredoms "Super Shine"

Well I don't know if it's the chorus but when the voices come in and go "Awww bom bah doombye wah yie/ duu shine"

2 minutes 50 into "John Cope" by Talk Talk, when the organ comes in.

3.49 into "Feel The Pain" by Dino Jr.

The last 20 seconds of Spoon's "Not Turning Off". The dual-sliding-guitar-noise bridge in The Dismemberment Plan's "That's When The Party Started", right when the drums come in. Any 20 seconds of any Andrew W.K. song (but no more than that). Any 20 seconds of Chavez's "You Must Be Stopped". "I don't want to be defeated" into the best guitar riff ever from Fugazi's "Bed For The Scraping". "My girlfriend's got / sodium laureth sulf / sodium laureth sulf / aaaaaaaate / haaaaaair" from The Loud Family's "Sodium Laureth Sulfate". The first 20 seconds (after the drums kick in) of Pretty Girls Make Graves' "Speakers Push The Air". Any 20 seconds that includes the line "My love is bigger than your love" from McLusky's "To Hell With Good Intentions". The handclaps at the end of Q And Not U's "A Line In The Sand". "Give us a kiss" from Hot Snakes' "Salton City". The opening of Brainiac's "Sexual Frustration". "Can I get a witness?" from the Constantines' "Young Offenders".

Mirov in the house like paint chips! This big D.
How have circumstances been handling you? Well, I hope.

But you're wrong about Salton City: it's the gurgling generator followed by the drums-up-your-ass bit in the beginning, and you know this, maaaan!

Oh god. Has to be the opening notes to "Sweet Child O' Mine." Even small animals lift their heads during it.

the first verse of joanie's "crimson and clover" clocks in at even twenty seconds.

nice to see someone else mention the great loud family, who, as it happens, have a live dvd available, which rules.

So hard to choose, but:

Artist: Queen/David Bowie
Song: Under Pressure. Yeah, I know everyone says this, but the 20 seconds where they go

This is our last dance (x3)/
This is our selves/
Under pressure (x2)/
Pressure..../

Classic, I say!

Can we agree on "any 20 seconds of 'Salton City'"? Because really, what's not to love about every single part of that song...

oh shit, i almost forgot these five additional seconds:

The Kinks, "Death of a Clown," the "la la la la la la la la la la" part.

ARTIST: Slint
SONG: "Good Morning, Captain"
MOMENT: "And I swear, I'll make it up to you. I'll make it up to you. I'll make it up to you. I'll make it up to you. I MISS YOU."

artist: Aerosmith
song: "Back in the Saddle"
moment: opening of song, building drums and evil riff, right before "I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYCCCCKKKK!"

ARTIST: Cat Power
SONG: "Nude As the News"
MOMENT: toward the end as Chan starts repeating the song's title and then repeats "all over, all over, all over..."

The ear-splitting crescendo to "Luau!" by Drive Like Jehu, yes.

Artist: Yes
Song: First 20 seconds of Starship Trooper.

Artist: Superchunk
Moment: the last 20 seconds of "From the Curve"

the boredoms for me too, some 20secs in the middle (closer to the end) of the "Cory & The Mandara Suicide Pyramid Action or Gas Satori"

ARTIST : Joy Division
TRACK : Shadowplay (live at Les Bains Douche)- the first 20 seconds :

Rumbling bass...tapping cymbals...the crackling of jack plugs...the PA buzzing...a half-struck chord...a feedback howl...then....
THE FUCKING WORLD IS RIPPED APART as the guitar and drums lock into the dance of death.

"Echo Head" by the Melvins can't be more than about 20 secs in its entirety. That kills pretty much everythink.

Guitar solo in Dinosaur's "Kracked" - sums up rock & roll nicely.

-the outro on "Slow Down" by Blur
-the intro to "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" by Yes
-the quiet part in the middle of "Through the Eyes of Ruby" by the Pumpkins, including the "youth is wasted on the young" bit

The middle of My Red Hot Car, the bit in This Room when they cut up his voice and the guitar solo of Tilted. Squarepusher, Notwist, Sugar.

When the bridge guitar riff (the one Public Enemy and KMFDM sampled) comes in on Slayer's "Angel Of Death." You've got to see its effect on a live audience to really appreciate it, though.

ARTIST: Killing Joke
SONG: "Eighties"
MOMENT: The opening six seconds alone trounce all others as Geordie coaxes that sinister riff from his golden harp, before Raven and Big Paul kick proceedings into full-throttled full speed ahead.

ARTIST: Devo
SONG: "Jocko Homo"
MOMENT: 1:44 to 2:17. Right as this anthem devolves into its simian exit refrain, activity is stripped down to a solitary pulse beat, over which the Spuds alternately intone "jock-jock-jock-jock" and "joCKO-HOmo" until a sound I've never been able to fully identify amps this bizarre chorus-of-sorts into the sort've sound that could induce, as William S. Burroughs predicted, involuntary loss of muscle control. Sheer gorgeous genius.

ARTIST: The Stranglers
SONG: "Five Minutes"
MOMENT: The opening salvo wherein over Jet Black's ominous bass drum, Dave Greenfield drops a series of synth notes, while Hugh Cornwell's doubled guitars spar like cobra and mongoose.

ARTIST: The Clash
SONG: White Man in Hammersmith Palais
MOMENT: The entire last three verses, from "The new groups are not concerned..." to "lookin' for fun." A bit longer than 20 seconds, probably: once it starts I never notice the clock.

ARTIST: Patti Smith
SONG: Land
MOMENT: The way the entire opening rises from a whisper to a scream; the turning point is the first hint of menace: "the boy looked at Johnny..."

ARTIST: Teddy Bears
SONG: To Know Him Is To Love Him
MOMENT: "WHYYYYYYYYYYY CAN'T SHE SEEEEEE..."

Artist The Ronettes
Song Be My Baby
The DRUM BREAK

― ModJ (ModJ), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Artist Beck
Song "Novocaine" (the break & come-back-in-screaming "NOVOCAINE!" bit)

ARTIST Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
SONG "Dig" (right after the "I got the horn, all early in the morning" bit where Zorn kicks in AAAARRRGGGGH GOD THAT SHIT ROCKS SO FUCKING HARD!)

The bridge of Crowded House's "Four Seasons In One Day"

The conclusion of New Order's "Regret."

The start of Regret. And I'm not just saying it to link up with Ned!

ARTIST: King Crimson
SONG: "Sleepless"
MOMENT Tony Levin's thumpathumpathumpa-DIGGA-DIGGA-DIGGA-DANG bass intro. God I fuckin' love that.

That precise bassline was what first made me go "who is this Tony Levin fella anyway?" at age 14. Totally great jam.

Weird, I was just thinking about "Man With an Open Heart" and even though it's a shmarmy pop song, I love the whammy.

So the Sleppless thing is a bit coincindental, and a better choice.

Sleppless = Schlepless, obviously.

ARTIST: Bad Brains
SONG: "Soul Craft"
MOMENT: The opening moment when, after Dr.Know skats the riff, the band knocks down the fuckin' wall right over your unsuspecting little head like the unzipping of God's Holy Trousers!

ha ha ha

ARTIST: System of a Down
SONG: "War?"...after the synth-pad speak/singing lament breakdown the riffs and "we will fight the heathens!" vocal line and the drums DEAR SWEET JESUS THE DRUMS and it's just so volatile you can picture Mother Teresa elbowing toddlers in the jugular in a mosh pit to it

ARTIST: Radiohead
SONG: "Just"
MOMENT: Johnny on the guitar. Climactic incarnate. You know which part.

Indeed, it's like the big burly fist of Lucifer squashing down on a picnic table of oblivious cherubim.

right now it's the first 20 seconds of "dracula mountain" on Lightning Bolt's wonderful rainbow

Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Song: "Breaking the Girl"
Moment: the spine-tingling percussion-heavy middle-eight (this break might possibly be the exact thing for which I still consider myself a Chili Peppers 'fan')

Artist: The Beatles
Song: ?
Moment: that big distorted sound right between "Piggies" & "Rocky Raccoon" (barely 3 seconds actually) = MONSTROUS greatness

Artist: Fishbone
Song: "Sunless Saturday"
Moment: when (drummer) Fish stands up behind his kit playing the pocket trumpet to Kendall's acoustic guitar in the outro, after so much tension (especially if you've just listened through the whole album [this is the closing track]) this is such a wonderful release

Artist: Primus
Song: "Kalamazoo"
Moment: Ler's shooting-misquitos-out-of-a-cannon-up-someone's-urethra guitar solo (the final note of which = one of the best last-notes-of-a-guitar-solo this quarter-century)

(xpost I was just thinking of "Dracula Mountain" but for me it's the last couple minutes that really fuck me up; between that and the big euphoric ending to "Crown of Swords", listening to that album once a week fills my entire rocking out quota for the month)

Dr. C, Alex in NYC, Ned, Johnny Jarvis, and Nickalicious* get much wub from me on this thread.

ARTIST: Radiohead
TITLE: "Let Down"
WHY: The whole song is unbelievably gorgeous, but the total breakdown-inducingly grandiose beauty of the bridge on into the last chorus is what pushes it over the top. "You know...you know where you are with..." Thom's falsetto wavering and soaring up into the stratosphere...ooh.

ARTIST: Daft Punk
TITLE: "Digital Love"
WHY: Middle-eight bit with the synthtar soaring up and up and up with seemingly no way to come down, then imploding on itself. solos that don't seem like wankery are automatically magic, and even moreso if they make you come over with an inexplicable urge to dance your ass off. i also enjoy the whole "is it a synth? is it a real guitar? is it arrrrrrrgh?!?!?" feeling that bit always generates.

ARTIST: Pixies
TITLE: "Head On"
WHY: tough choice between this and the original J*A*M*C version, really. i'll vote this just cos of the complete difference the franticness of Black Francis' voice makes. right around the second "and the way I feel tonight...I could die and I wouldn't mind...and there's something going on inside..." would be the start.

whoops, forgot...

* = mostly for describing that guitar solo as being akin to "shooting mosquitos out of a cannon up someone's urethra." :D

Second almost every one of Nickalicious's choices... I really have to get some Fishbone myself!