Okay - Your Favorite Tiny Bits, And Talk About Why.

Not whole songs whatsoever - though the rest of the song may be brdrdrdilliant!* But that's not what we're on about.

*Does that transcribe the sound of a pompously-rolled "r"?

Anyway - not whole songs, but just those indelible snippets where the song just triumphantly and suddenly came together/blew your mind/turned itself inside out, and/or.

You know. Arrested your attention.

Kia Kaha, the Enz - "we used to laugh / at the words of the old school song"

What a heart-skip melodic lapel grabber! The whole tone turns, like whooshing through a tunnel. Love that. Plus it always made me want there to be a song called "The Old School Song". It would have to be done right. Old School.

Back in Black, AC/DC - that stompingly syncopated crazy riff that immediately follows the guitar solo/third chorus and immediately precedes the fourth chorus (with the extra "I'M BACK!" backup vocals!). Good Lord that riff rules. It's unspellable. I'd make a fool of me to try.

You know, I was wrong to put "Shook Me" as my #6 fave. This one shoulda been my #3 at least.

Okay, a couple others, because I feel like I'm picking bad or maybe, too-personal-to-me examples.

I Can't Change My Name, Dave Dobbyn - the very opening moments. That piano line - mournful, resigned, Lennonesque.

The Only One I Know, Charlatans UK - right after "everybody knows the pain" where that unstoppable beat drops away leaving naked hi-hat in its place, you have to sort of stop-pause-cycle whatever dance move you were doing for a second as the 2-chord riff hits until - UH!! Rescued. Bring that beat back!!

Yeah, like those were better examples.

i have 2
Discotheque-U2 i AM a fan of U2 I DO think their over-rated its just that i like their music.I love the start everything up to the whole band come in.Its got an amazing riff in it that i love.theres also some wierd lyrics i like "you know your chewing bubblegum,you know what it is but you still want some,you just cant get enough of that lovey dovey stuff"then the riff comes in

Where the streets have no name-U2 has a cool start when it all leads up into a big anthem kinda thing but i dont like the rest

Oo, here's a good one - "Lightning Crashes", Live - the first time it goes "I can feeel it, commin' baack agaain..."

Congrats on the Life Membership, Signore Italian Plastic2.

this is my ultimate "tiny bit". Last Goodbye, Jeffrey Scott Buckley, starts with guitar and drum build up towards the end, and the the beautiful wail "arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, did u say, no this can't happen to me ...."

pure bliss ......

quote:

Originally posted by italianplastic2:
Discotheque-U2

This is one of mine too - I don't like all U2 but this song is a killer. Especially love the bit where Bono sings really high and then there's this massive bass at the "boom-cha!" bit.

Also love the transition from War on War to Jesus, etc on Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album.

The chorus of Tim's song Big Canoe is just so massive I got chills the first time I heard it.

The segue from Questions to Heaven Sent on INXS's "Welcome to Wherever You Are" album.

The wierd noisy intro to Elliott Smith's King's Crossing

The high strings towards the end of Her Floor is My Ceiling by The Whitlams.

The line "says I haven't gone too faaaaaaar" from the live version of Wilco's Via Chicago from their Kicking Television Live In Chicago live album.

There's quite a few there.
I'm sure I've got more too.

quote:

Also love the transition from War on War to Jesus, etc on Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album.

i totally agree!
one of my other favourites is the start of
"I'm trying to break your heart" by wilco
when it goes "i am an american aquarium drinker"
and theres also the start of It Dont Come Easy by Ringo Starr(solo)with the guitar riff(george harrison) and the line "you gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues"

The middle eight synth solo out of Commercial Breakup has always been one of my fave "tiny bits". This live clip is a bad version of the song, but gives you the general gist.

Also like that cheap casio keyboard bit in the chorus of Hey Ya! by Outcast. & the word Start from the chorus of Don't Let's Start by They Might Be Giants.

Of course the first time i heard scratching, i always loved those dj scratch bits like on M.A.R.S. , Grandmaster Flash, & Malcolm Mclaren, although the "scratch" that made me itch, was originally invented by Grand Wizard Theodore in 1975!!!

Does Björk count as a tiny bit?

quote:

Originally posted by Seany.:
& the word Start from the chorus of Don't Let's Start by They Might Be Giants.

Now THAT is a TINY BIT!

I'm more partial to the second "Don't" m'self.

quote:

Does Björk count as a tiny bit?

Bits of her do, I think. Everything but the head!

No I apologize, that's just baseless. She's not any sort of egotist so far as I've been able to tell. She's just doin' her own thing, heedless of the ways and means of others!

Another one I love love is in AC/DC's "Riff Raff" where at the beginning, they switch the emphasis on the main riff and suddenly it's like - a whole different riff! But if you listen real close, it's not. It's the same exact riff, only your ears hear it "starting" on the lickety-quick note progression, where before it seemed to "start" on the triple-hit chord barrage.

Another one I love is Beethoven's 7th, 3rd movement, where they completely fake you out at the end by making you think they're going to play the whole slow part again (that they already played twice) - but they don't, they just tease you with a bit of it, and then they end the movement with a few brutal strokes.

That bit is even more effective for being followed by the whole 4th movement - such a powerful stomping monster of classical goodness!

Bars 53-63 of the second movement of Bruch's violin concerto number one in G minor. It's all fast running notes and very beautiful (but not when I'm playing it; then it sounds like cats dying).

Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll has the best beginning... the two measures of drumbeat just kill me. At the end of the second measure Bonzo moves off the time so perfectly...

I also love the resolution of the guitar solo. I've been iPod crazy for this song on the bus lately.

Do you agree with me Mr "Zep" Sadly?

The very end notes of Stray Cat Blues by The Rolling Stones. Great blues notes from the two guitars, turn it up loud.

The bit in Gudbuy To Jane by Slade when the guitars come in-great riffing!

In Goin' Home by the Stones (off Aftermath, there's this great bit towards the end when jagger sings 'C'mon' and Keith's guitar starts to chime in. Pure class!

quote:

Originally posted by double-H:
Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll has the best beginning... the two measures of drumbeat just kill me. At the end of the second measure Bonzo moves off the time so perfectly...

I also love the resolution of the guitar solo. I've been iPod crazy for this song on the bus lately.

Do you agree with me Mr "Zep" Sadly?

You know it's funny, but the only Zep I have is II. And while I've heard "Rock and Roll" any number of times (at least), I can't bring the solo resolve to mind offhand. I'll have to check it out!

Appreciate it.

Ah... Led Zeppelin is a bit like the Beatles for me (in my blood)... I think my sister had almost all the albums through Physical Graffiti on vinyl... I saw them live when I was 17...

quote:

Originally posted by double-H:
... I think my sister had almost all the albums through Physical Graffiti on vinyl... ...

Yeah, mine too...I think that's probably why I never bought my own!

But I did steep in it, plenty! One of the best rock bands there is and/or was.