Which rock songs climax at the very end?
January 28, 2010 6:03 PM   Subscribe

Which rock songs climax at the very end?
posted by Joe Beese to Media & Arts (59 answers total) 17 users marked this as a favorite

 
"Stairway to Heaven" builds and builds, although the very last line is kind of quiet.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:04 PM on January 28, 2010


"Cherub Rock" - Smashing Pumpkins
posted by Jaltcoh at 6:08 PM on January 28, 2010


Suffragette City by David Bowie.
posted by piratebowling at 6:10 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


Beatles - "A Day in the Life"
Live Grateful Dead - I'm partial to the 9/3/77 (Dick's Picks 15) Terrapin Station
posted by caminovereda at 6:11 PM on January 28, 2010 [2 favorites]


The President's Desk - Okkervil River
posted by kdern at 6:16 PM on January 28, 2010


The President's Desk - Okkervil River

That should be "The President's Dead", which I just came in here to recommend.
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 6:17 PM on January 28, 2010


Journey - "Don't Stop Believin'" ?
posted by dayspteh at 6:25 PM on January 28, 2010


In The Flesh? by Pink Floyd.
posted by usonian at 6:28 PM on January 28, 2010


Xanadu by Rush
posted by jockc at 6:33 PM on January 28, 2010


Styx - Come Sail Away
posted by amyms at 6:36 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


Songs From the Wood ,Hunting Girl.

Saw Tull perform that song at Carnegie Hall. On quality LSD. Changed pants when I got home.

Ian Anderson...

::sigh::
posted by Splunge at 6:37 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


Freebird!
posted by tristeza at 6:40 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


Anthrax's Dallabnikufesin reaches its lyrical climax right at the end, particularly the last line. It's kind of a parody song, though, and arguably the solo in the middle is the musical climax.

So did you mainly want songs that reach their musical climax right at the end?

It's a little far afield, maybe, but Wir sind Helden's Echolot basically builds up to the end.
posted by jedicus at 6:41 PM on January 28, 2010


Also a lot of Hawkwind has the build up to explosion kind of thing one might call a true climax.
posted by Splunge at 6:42 PM on January 28, 2010


Karn Evil 9 but it takes a while.
posted by Splunge at 6:46 PM on January 28, 2010


For me, the ultimate build-up-to-a-climax-at-the-very-end song is Peter Gabriel's The Rhythm of the Heat.
posted by Flunkie at 6:48 PM on January 28, 2010


Painkiller; Judas Priest. Keeps up-ing the intensity till ... BLAM!
posted by bebrave! at 6:53 PM on January 28, 2010 [2 favorites]


The best LCD Soundsystem songs do this:

Losing My Edge
Someone Great
New York I Love You

and especially

All My Friends
posted by eggplantplacebo at 7:01 PM on January 28, 2010


It all began when they took me from my home, and put me on death row...

The Mercy Seat, Johnny Cash's version.

It's originally by Nick Cave, but I personally prefer Cash's version, and I think it suits your requirement better anyway.
posted by Flunkie at 7:07 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit?
posted by carter at 7:09 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


Radiohead, Sit Down Stand Up.
Zeppelin, What Is and Should Never Be.
Michael Jackson, Got To Be Starting Something.
posted by Lutoslawski at 7:13 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


Talk Talk - Ascension Day
posted by rxrfrx at 7:13 PM on January 28, 2010


Rock and Roll by Velvet Underground
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:13 PM on January 28, 2010


"Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins
posted by sarahsynonymous at 7:23 PM on January 28, 2010


Zeppelin, The Rain Song.
Paul Simon, The Obvious Child.
Radiohead, How to Disappear Completely.
Radiohead, Paranoid Android.
Queen, Somebody to Love.

Joe - stop me if I've got the wrong idea.
posted by Lutoslawski at 7:25 PM on January 28, 2010


An obscure, but great example, of this genre: "Excuse Me While I Drink Myself to Death" by the sorely underrated 90's indie band Spent.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 7:38 PM on January 28, 2010


Any number of Guided by Voices songs, including "The Enemy," "The Closets of Henry", "Big Boring Wedding", "Drag Days"...
posted by Ike_Arumba at 7:49 PM on January 28, 2010


Devendra Banhart's Seahorse, oh my god.
posted by oinopaponton at 8:01 PM on January 28, 2010


Arcade Fire, "Antichrist Television Blues"
posted by sallybrown at 8:06 PM on January 28, 2010


The Beatles, Happiness is a Warm Gun
XTC, Dear God

and I can't agree more with eggplantplacebo, this is done expertly by LCD Soundsytem in "All My Friends" and, like the aforementioned Day in the Life, packs an emotional punch that i have rarely come across in my adventures with pop/rock music.
posted by holdkris99 at 8:09 PM on January 28, 2010


Tool - Jerkoff
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:15 PM on January 28, 2010


Matthew Good - Born to Kill
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 8:20 PM on January 28, 2010


Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Angel of Repose. (this, imo, is an especially good one)
posted by Lutoslawski at 8:43 PM on January 28, 2010


*angle

ok, that's extremely embarrassing.
posted by Lutoslawski at 8:44 PM on January 28, 2010


Tool, "Flood"
posted by squorch at 8:57 PM on January 28, 2010


Sammy Hagar, Heavy Metal
posted by Meatbomb at 9:01 PM on January 28, 2010


Stone Roses' "I Am The Resurrection"

(and every good Sigur Rós song)
posted by nicwolff at 9:04 PM on January 28, 2010


The Secret Machines - First Wave Intact

It starts loud and gets louder. For nine minutes.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 9:12 PM on January 28, 2010


The Eagles - Hotel California

Really, though, so so many songs from the 70s and 80s do this.
posted by hiteleven at 9:20 PM on January 28, 2010


Good Morning, Captain -- Slint
posted by whiskeyspider at 9:31 PM on January 28, 2010


The Soft Boys, "I Wanna Destroy You"
posted by koeselitz at 9:36 PM on January 28, 2010


"Love Reign O'er Me" - The Who
posted by SisterHavana at 10:04 PM on January 28, 2010


Foo Fighters' "New Way Home", "All My Life," "Have It All," "Best of You," "The Pretender," and "Let It Die."

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "American Girl" and "Runnin' Down a Dream"

Weezer's "Undone," "No One Else," and "El Scorcho"

The Beatles' "Revolution"? And I guess you gotta throw in "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 10:11 PM on January 28, 2010


Guns'n'Roses - November Rain
posted by madeinitaly at 10:57 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]


What about Bohemian Rhapsody?

(can't do the video thing right now, so can't view the example, and don't remember it)
posted by klanawa at 10:59 PM on January 28, 2010


Lots of early Genesis, as well -- for example, "Can-Utility and the Coastliners."
posted by Rash at 11:05 PM on January 28, 2010


The Who - The Real Me.

Pretty amazing bass solo, too.
posted by santaliqueur at 11:19 PM on January 28, 2010


The Wedding Present - Dalliance
posted by melorama at 2:30 AM on January 29, 2010


Disintegration
posted by K.P. at 4:37 AM on January 29, 2010


The Stranglers have many.

Tank. One of the best--an incredible accelerating/ascending oscillating synth tone over a decelerating beat, followed by the crunchiest chord ever.

The Raven. Ascending synth tones.

See also Genetix, no good version available. A synth ascending/vocoded voice descending: "Gene regulatioooooooooooooooon."

Wire perfected the climactic ending. They have many.

106 Beats That.

Drill. Five minutes of heightening dugga-dugga-dugga to get to "Could this be a DRILL".

Even better thirty years later:

Underwater Experiences

"To free my mind and break my neck To free my mind and break my neck To free my mind and break my NECK."
posted by supremefiction at 5:29 AM on January 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


How about Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"? (Literally.)
posted by booth at 7:06 AM on January 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


Mogwai, "New Paths to Helicon, pt. 1", "Christmas Steps", "Two Rights make One Wrong", among many others.
posted by harlan at 7:58 AM on January 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Rolling Stones - "You Got the Silver" -- soft and quiet love song that turns into an explosive plea at the end. And by that token, also consider their "Moonlight Mile."

Santana - "Taboo" -- Slinky, Latin-tinged tune with a great crescendo at the end.
posted by DeWalt_Russ at 8:31 AM on January 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


"Golden Star" by My Brightest Diamond

"Secretly Minnesotan" by Tullycraft

"The Reflecting God" by Marilyn Manson

"Pyrite Pedestal" by Pretty Girls Make Graves
posted by PunkSoTawny at 10:07 AM on January 29, 2010


"Don't Stop Believin'" and "Sultans of Swing" fade out.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:38 AM on January 29, 2010


A lot of Grateful Dead songs, especially their live material, feature a closing climax but the strongest example would be Morning Dew, particularly 1977 versions. I like the version from May 8, 1977 the best.

"Rocket Queen" by Guns'n'Roses has a hard-rocking opening section, a weird porny bridge, and then ends with an incredibly cathartic climax that is completely unlike the opening section. The last 2 minutes or so of that song just blows me away.

U2 did this a lot, too, from "Elvis Presley and America" through "All I Want Is You" and "One" and many more. It was a formula that worked pretty well for them.
posted by Mendl at 12:17 PM on January 29, 2010


This is not a rock song, but I think it's fair to say that whole chunks of rock would never have existed without it. Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness" is an excellent example of a song that builds to a climax at the end.
posted by koeselitz at 2:11 PM on January 29, 2010


"Sing me no more hymns" by Lucero.
posted by ws at 8:34 PM on January 29, 2010


Still Loving You - Scorpions
posted by Witty at 8:41 PM on January 30, 2010


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