great moments in pop history

The one that always gets me (and that very few people remember) is the false start of the chorus in the middle of "I Saw Her Again Last Night" by The Mamas and The Pappas. To wit:

*orchestra swells*

I saw her...

*pause, orchestra continues to swell*

I saw her agaiiiiiinnnnnnn...

The Hammond and Moogs on 'Telstar' should probably be on there at some point.

Mine: The ragged backup vocals on "You Really Got A Hold On Me" Also, from The Buzzcocks, the way the vocal line breaks singing "There is no love in this world anymore". The backup vocals on "Debaser" by tha Pixies (who are a real moments band -- opening verse to "I been tired" being another one). "I saw her walking on down the line. You know I saw her for the very first time." And many many more.

Back with more later.

The way 'Lola' by The Raincoats speeds up mid-song.

"I've kissed mermiads, rode the El Niño", the way the guitar riff rolls under it and makes you feel exactly that big (it's 'Wave of Mutilation' by Zee Pixies, who had a handful of those moments).

In 'Strings of Life' there is a brilliant drum roll the just takes you higher.

When the fuzzed-up guitar hits in Primal Scream's 'Loaded'.

Total Science - 'Champion Sound', long intro, quiets down and then suddenly it's there, The Rebirth of Rave: wheeenghg, whaawhaaa, wheeenggg, whaaaaawhaaaa.

Brian Eno's 'Baby's on Fire', mid-song turns into crazy feed-back heaven after which Eno return's with his wry voice and so brilliantly sings "Juanita and Juannnnnn, very clever with maracas" (erm I think ;) It just fits so perfectly.

That moment in Lynard Skynard's 'Freebird' after soloing for what 4 minutes they start winding up the song. The guitar starts to "pull" by playing a repeating riff for what seems an impossibly long time...and then they let go :)

Which reminds me of Roxy Music's 'Virignia Plain', the way the song breaks down and the pulls back for the last verse, esp those 2 seconds when the guitar crashes in after which the whole band let loose.

etc.etc.

that was a bit gushy but I think sums it up...

"BABY BABY YOU SHO' LIKE TO FUCK! (FUCK!)

BABY BABY BABY OH YEAH! (FUCK!)

ROCK 'N' ROLL! I'M TALKIN' BOUT ROCK 'N' ROLL!!!!!!!!"

Or am I just projecting?

For intense feelings that ARE healthy, I'll take the bassline to Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing." That sense of wonder, overflowing w/ powerful feelings, etc.

Also, the Dave Clark Fives wall of sound in "Anyway you Want it".

i could go on...... . ...

the crashing fuzz chords on the mary chain's "something's wrong."

the riff of "you made me realise."

the howl at the beginning of "immigrant song."

the howl that introduces pil's _flowers of romance_.

the harmonica riff of "hand in glove."

the feedback blip under the lines "it's so soothing to hear that you'll sue me" in nirvana's "frances farmer will have her revenge on seattle."

"black steel in the hour of chaos."

the falsetto chorus of goodie mob's "black ice."

the noise at the start of fugazi's _red medicine_.

the riff of rush's "temples of syrinx."

more later. i have to go home.

the chord changes *between* the repetitions of the title (I'm sure you know what I mean) in the chorus of Donna Summer's "Love's Unkind".

About two minutes into the KLF's "Last Train To Trancentral": the same MC's self-aggrandisement as before, but the chord sequence is widening, the sheer sound is becoming fuller and fuller, and then the breakdown: a wide-open chasm, Hollywood's western relocated in, I dunno, Castlemorton or somewhere (but cooler, obviously). Then the song returns ... if there is one precise moment when I discovered pop's transcendence, that is it. And the samples from "What Time Is Love" and "3AM Eternal" on the song's last lap, as it were, are pretty awesome as well; the KLF had remade pop as one glorious self- mythologisation, and the rules were rewritten within each five-second sequence.

The jump from the mock-Cossack "hey-hey-hey" sequence (pissing on the history books and loving every minute of it; it renders most things that could be called plastic folk utterly unnecessary) into the song proper in Boney M's "Rasputin" (radio usually starts after this, therefore removing the only truly classic element of the song).

Britney's voice sounding like a post-human creature invented to define having reached a low point but wanting to jump back from it, on the "I used to go with the flow" line from "Stronger".

There are many others, I know.

The first 15 seconds or so of Born to Run

Sarah Cracknell moaning "Someday...someday..." on He's On The Phone

The spoken word part of Vogue

"I am / Stronger than Mensa / Miller and Mailer / I spat out Plath and Pinter"

The way people got so offended when Instant Karma was used in a Nike ad (does this count? It's not part of the song, but in light of, say, Moby selling every song he's done, ever, it's funny)

Roger Daltrey's entire performance on Baba O'Riley

Alternately, we can use Keith Moon's manic drumming on Happy Jack as our token Who moment

"No, no, no, no, I don't (audible sniff sound) no more, I'm tired of wakin' up on the floor" - comedy records at their best

The opening of Train in Vain

Sid Vicious's version of My Way

The spitting, audible, barely-contained rage on the last chorus of Common People

The chorus of Goody Two Shoes

The bizarrely bored way Brett Anderson says "Ohhh, well, it's for my brother" on The Drowners

The entirety of The Safety Dance

"Oh / Your hair is beautiful / Oh tonight / Tonight"

The chorus of You're So Vain (and Mick's backing vocals)

The entire opening of California Love, plus the line "I'm looking like I robbed Liberace"

"Yo, Humpty, you look like MC Hammer on CRACK"

The bass of You Sexy Thing

"Awwww, ya think you're so pretty-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

The chorus of Money Ain't A Thing

The fact that Right Said Fred are apparently too sexy for cats

To Sir With Love

The guitars on How Soon Is Now

And, of course, the All Your Base Are Belong To Us song. Duh. Seriously, these are just random moments that came off the top of my head - I think ANY song you enjoy should have a moment like this. I mean, give me another day and I'll give you a pile more. Hell, give me 5 artists I like and I'll give you ten moments each. If a song doesn't have a moment in it, it's useless. Nature of pop.

the oral sex lesson in odb's "don't u know"

the riff of "aqualung."

the bit in wire's "a touching display" that begins "i bought a ticket/you took a walk/so much to say/we're unable to talk."

the introduction to yes's "heart of the sunrise."

i'm with bw re the bits from "anarchy in the uk" and "when doves cry."

"gangsta gangsta."

tom keifer's voice.

the moment ian curtis starts screaming in "new dawn fades."

the ending of "good morning captain" nearly justifies the rest of the record.

the orgasm in "love to love you baby."

the introduction to new order's "the village."

the outro of the magnetic fields' "the desperate things you made me do."

the chorus of boston's "peace of mind."

hendrix's take on "the star-spangled banner."

(just for tom): "like a rolling stone."

the french horn on the beatles' "for no one."

teenage jesus and the jerks -- "orphans."

siouxsie sioux's performance on "playground twist."

the yelps right after the chorus of the dismemberment plan's "what do you want me to say?"

the moment "heroin" gets noisy.

the introduction to the birthday party's "the friend catcher."

the moment where team dresch's "screwing yer courage" gets heavy.

"paranoid" (the song).

"bela lugosi's dead."

the chorus of "never let you go."

the chorus of pulp's "the fear."

"wonderful tonight" came on the radio at work the other day and i daydreamed of breaking eric clapton's fingers.

The swell of the vocals on the word "paint-boxxxx" on XTC's "Ballet For A Rainy Day".

The shouts on "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuttin' Ta Fuck Wit'".

"I don't have a problem with you fucking me / But I got a little problem with you NOT fucking me"

A better lyric has never been written, and I am not taking the piss.

P.E.'s "Welcome to the Terrordome" the whole freaking thing is one extended pop moment.

LTJ Bukem's "Atlantis", after the last "I need you/I want you" sample when the drums suddenly crash in.

The one-instrument-at-a-time build-up of Magazine's 'The Light Pours Out Of Me', topped off with Devoto's "Time flies/Time crawls/Like an insect..."

"And when you want to live/How do you start?/Where do you go?/Who do you need to know?" plus coda. The Smiths, 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side'.

The second verse/chorus transition in Nilsson's 'Without You'.

The breath-catching moment (about two-thirds of the way through) in Curd Duca's 'Touch' where, for a second, you expect the sample to play out and reveal its source (is it Doris Day?).

The rising-then-falling melodic motif that appears in Scott Walker's 'Boychild' (what is it? Plucked violin? Guitar? Harp?).

2. The 5 seconds of backwards keyboard halfway (starts at 2:37) through nand's 'sonic primrose'.

3. The line about the trouts (1:26) in the second verse of Paul McCartney's 'Gone Fishin''.

4. The way Dudley sings the line about the ball (0:25 and repeated at 1:59) on the Magnetic Fields' 'I Fell For A Fourth-Rate Football Star'.

5. The way Bono croons 'So, this is America / America...' (2:05) in U2's 'Gambling In Las Vegas, Nevada'.

6. The bit where the bouncy drums suddenly appear below Mark's voice as he sings 'I am gay and nor are you / Let's go for an interview' (0:32) in 'Ungay World' by Rocazza.

7. The strange industrial sounds, something like a spinning jenny, halfway (2:20, till 2:28) through the Jacobite Screenprinters' 'Keelhauling'.

8. When 'I'll Stand By You (Though You're A Motorway)' by les Troussés seems to end, and to fade into the infinity of an A-road night, and suddenly (3:47) the strings start to swirl again, and the bells and keyboards all converge for one last finale which is vast yet delicate.

9. The way Stephin Merritt sings the not-really-rhyming couplet about 'tulle' and 'alcool' (0:36-0:42) on the Pines' 'Des Aventures a Calais'.

10. The way that, for one second only (1:19), the guitar solo seems to go ineptly out of tune on 'Glasgow I Love Ye' by the Care Bears.

11. The piano break (1:38) in the Five Aegis' 'Your Bottomless Whimsy'.

12. The way that Alasdair MacLean's voice goes all breathy (0:45 to 0:56) on the Clientele's 'Rainy Sunday Afternoon'.

Another classic moment is the interplay between the two lead synth parts in Orbital's "Adnan's". It's an extraordinarily beautiful moment, particularly before the beat comes back in.

The false ending of "Invasion Of The Gabber Robots" is classic, as well. Good call, Ally.

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned the building mania of "Common People" by Pulp yet.

Still, great song...

"rappenin' is what's happenin'" from tha mystery of chessboxin' the screams during the chorus of "baby i got your money" any time he's singing opera in the background

The intro of "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor. Rubbish song but what an intro.

'here i go, deep type flow, jacques cousteau could never get this low' - one of the best battle rhymes on the album. the pseudo- soul part ('gotta get up and BEEEE somebody!') is stuck in my head for eternity. and then the vocal-fanfare (dah- dah-DAH! enter the wu-tang zone!'). the breathless shoutout and passing-of- microphone to ghostface ('introducing the...ghost...face...KILLLLLLAHHH!!!..never getttin' iller'). oh man. great.

although, meth's line on 'shame on a nigga' ('i'm better, than my competor, you mean competitor? whatever!') is, on a good day, the best line ever recorded. so it's nice too.

there are soooo many, but ones that first come to mind are the drum break in the middle of "September Gurls", the way Elvis says "I could talk all ni-i-i-ight" at the beginning of "Oliver's Army", the whole of "Bring the Noise" (don't get me started on PE, way too many moments there), the buildup in between the repeated riff of "Monkey Gone to Heaven" (Pixies -- also too many to list), the way the sample starts and stops in the second verse of "Can I Kick it", when Paul Westerberg goes "come on!" before the second chorus of "I Will Dare"...ahhh...

Anyhow, some more stuff:

"Set the con-trols for the heart of the pelvis / Haven'tcha heard? My name rhymes with Elllllviissss..."

The "choir" singing on Like a Prayer

YMCA

The opening of Smells Like Teen Spirit (but nothing else from the song)

The spoken word snippets interjected into Unworthy

The chorus of Hungry Like the Wolf

"I wouldn't mind the rain / I wouldn't feel this pain"

James Bradfield going from girl to HERO ROCKER in .05 seconds on La Tristesse Durera

The monologue ending of For Tomorrow

The guitar riff on Age of Consent

No Diggity (although it almost loses it for the creepy video)

The breakdown in Rosa Parks

the guitar solo in "stairway to heaven." seriously.

the locked groove on _metal machine music_. (listened to side c last night. maybe it should get more than 6/10.)

"it does not matter if we all die."

the opening lines of deep purple's "highway star."

"i think i fucked your girlfriend once, maybe twice. i can't remember. then i fucked all your friends' girlfriends. now they hate you" on big black's _songs about fucking_.

grace slick's performance on "white rabbit."

the riff of iron maiden's "hallowed be thy name."

"and i'm so happy i could cry" in the magnetic fields' "how to say goodbye."

the stooges' "1979."

the beat of swans' "mother, my body disgusts me."

the chorus of r.e.m.'s "carnival of sorts (boxcars)."

the chorus of "shut up (and sleep with me)."

the chorus of the misfits' "where eagles dare."

And, uh, the breakdown in "One More Time" by D*ft P*nk

The way 'He's on the phone' and 'Music for girls' stop suddenly near the start then explode. Perfect for dancing like a fool.

The horns on 'Baby Love'.

"One smile from you I'm sure could cure the whole world's ills/I couldn't wait to dream about you so I overdosed on sleeping pills" - Flat On My Back, The Visitors.

The opening of REM's 'Carnival of Sorts'; "Hey!", like a sudden release of breath.

The way Robert Forster goes from "We'll show the world" to "Just not sure.." in the space of 3 lines in 'Before Hollywood'. I could pick almost any moment from the album, actually.

On a similar note, I was thinking about weird/unusual/comedy moments in pop which come off as charming or original. Examples might be Lindy Morrison's strange drum solo in the middle of The Go- Betweens' 'Eight Pictures' (the rest of the song has virtually no drums), the honking horn in the Vaselines' 'Molly's Lips' or the whistling on Glo-Worm's cover of 'Downtown'. Any other examples which are great or just rubbish?

And yes, 'How Soon Is Now?' is possibly the most overrated song in history. And I don't say that very often.

On Tues, March 13, news emerged from Glasgow (Scotland) that there was a possibility that the Smiths' 'How Soon Is Now?' was the most overrated record ever.

There was speculation overnight that Smiths prices would tumble, leaps of despair would be taken, Western plans shelved. Whole aesthetics could be wiped out.

On Weds 14 March news arrived from London (England) that the scare had been false. There was in fact no danger, said a spokesperson for the University of London, that 'How Soon Is Now?' was the most overrated record ever.

Reuters [Stephan]

I must say, the number one in that list came as a bit of a surprise.

ok.

the "well so could anyone" rejoinder in "fairytale of new york"

Spit it out Cozen, we can't wait all day

for the twunts who were dissing side 2 of Disintegration:

the final two cymbal crashes in "Homesick"

this thread should’ve been longer.

each time Sarah Cracknell sings "yes!" in Saint Etienne's He's On the Phone

the little gasp Nina Persson does after the chorus of The Cardigans' "Erase & Rewind"

whenever Sophie Ellis Bextor asks "why does it feel so good?" on Groovejet

the sound of a finger being popped in someone's cheek in "Groove Is In The Heart"

the guitar solo in "Buffalo Stance"

the first vocal notes in Robyn S' "Show Me Love"

each time Sarah Cracknell sings "yes!" in Saint Etienne's He's On the Phone

― boxedjoy, Friday, January 18, 2019 9:26 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You'll like the remix, then...

the excessive and camp Motiv8 one? that is a favourite yes

The crack in Merry Clayton's voice on the final "Rape, murder!" in "Gimme Shelter", and Mick's(?) "whoo!" right after.

The organ solo on Deep Purple's "Fireball".

James Brown to saxophonist Robert McCullough on "Super Bad, part 2": "Blow me some TRANE, brother!"

the bit in Strike's "U Sure Do" when she sings the big "whoaaaaah" note

the pause in Propaganda's P-Machinery before she sings "...installed by the machine..."

the power chords in the middle of the Prisoners' Thinking of You (Broken Pieces)

the introduction to Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke

the backward instrumental section in Pink Floyd's See Emily Play

Van Morrison's scatting on You Don't Pull No Punches but You Don't Push the River