Song Recommendations: Fast and Under One Minute
August 8, 2007 12:12 PM   Subscribe

Song recommendations that are fast-paced and under one minute in length, start to finish. A few seconds over is ok, but around one minute (or less) would be ideal. I'm looking for something that could go well with a super sped-up movie or animation (think guy walking down the street, but at 5x normal speed).
posted by avoision to Media & Arts (38 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Amnesia Vivace by Frank Zappa, from Absolutely Free.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:17 PM on August 8, 2007


Annie by Elastica.
posted by chunking express at 12:18 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]


Chopin's Minute Waltz.

I remember the day I timed myself and I was able to play it under a minute. I was around 14 years old. Underwhelming. I think I was expecting something to spontaneously combust when I finished, but I digress...
posted by spec80 at 12:18 PM on August 8, 2007


I don't have a specific recommendation, but you might want to check out Short Music for Short People. 101 punk bands each doing a 30 second song. Probably something in there that fits you face paced feel.
posted by yellowbinder at 12:20 PM on August 8, 2007


Red Hot by the Red Hot Chili Peppers off of Blood Sugar Sex Magic is fast paced and under a minute I believe.
posted by any major dude at 12:21 PM on August 8, 2007


Interesting side note on that album, I remember when my friend had it in highschool, the last 3 songs where crammed onto one track, because CD players couldn't compute more than 99 tracks.
posted by yellowbinder at 12:22 PM on August 8, 2007


The Magnetic Fields - Punk Love (0:58)
posted by ludwig_van at 12:22 PM on August 8, 2007


Haha one more comment... "fast paced" not face paced.
posted by yellowbinder at 12:22 PM on August 8, 2007


Wire Greyhounds by Guided By Voices

You could look through this thread about one minute songs. In the thread someone suggests hitting 'time' in iTunes and seeing what's under 60 seconds (just in case that didn't occur to someone - I don't have iTunes so it's not blindingly obvious to me). Here's another thread. Neither specifically mention just fast songs, but they're good threads to trawl for ideas.
posted by iconomy at 12:27 PM on August 8, 2007


The Thermals, "Top of the Earth," is 58 seconds, and is a great song too.
posted by jacobm at 12:36 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]


Could you add a little more about what you're looking for? Mood? Vocals or instrumental? Style of music? There are tons of short punk songs. (See esp. The Minutemen.)

Komeda - In Orbit (:26)
The Eternals - With Wings and Chariot (:47)
Clinic - C.Q. (1:11)
Be Your Own Pet - Fun (1:19)

Lotsa short songs on Guided By Voices' Alien Lanes and Wire's Pink Flag
posted by hydrophonic at 12:37 PM on August 8, 2007


And if you want extremely fast paced instumentals, there are half a dozen songs off of John Zorn's Spy vs. Spy that fit the bill.
posted by hydrophonic at 12:43 PM on August 8, 2007


You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You! by Black Flag
posted by Bookhouse at 12:52 PM on August 8, 2007


Cee Cee Beaumont's album Prestressed has a few instrumentals that would fit the bill. Here's a low-fi 30-second QT preview of Wormhole (57 seconds long).
posted by Armitage Shanks at 12:56 PM on August 8, 2007


Haven't listened to it in a long time so I'm sure if it fits your "fast paced" requirement, but The Residents' Commercial Album is nothing but very short, very weird songs
posted by InfidelZombie at 1:00 PM on August 8, 2007


"One Minute of Love" by Fantastic Plastic Machine. Lots of weird tempo changes. Lots of fun.
posted by Shecky at 1:05 PM on August 8, 2007


Energy by Operation Ivy contains 4 or 5 songs that are just over one minute long.
posted by peep at 1:08 PM on August 8, 2007


Just Before The News by Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina is exactly what you're looking for. 1:09 of inspired up tempo musical cliche that was originally written as an homage to all those "segue" themes and "bridges" that used to introduce the "news" on Top 40 radio stations back in the day. Funnily enough, a number of radio stations actually adopted it as their new news segue!
posted by paulsc at 1:13 PM on August 8, 2007


Nobody has mentioned the Ramones yet?
posted by emd3737 at 1:14 PM on August 8, 2007


Elvis Costello's "Welcome to the working week" is 1:22. The first section is slow. Edit that part out and it might come in under a minute.
posted by DarkForest at 1:15 PM on August 8, 2007


The Muffs - Happening (0:57)
Misfits - Braineaters (0:59)
Rocket From the Crypt - Middle (1:00)
posted by puritycontrol at 1:38 PM on August 8, 2007


Tenacious D - Lee is 1:02.

Video of some kid dancing to it, but at least you can hear it.
posted by ALongDecember at 1:47 PM on August 8, 2007


Most of the tracks on Aglio E Olio by the Beasties Boys are short and sharp
posted by zemblamatic at 2:06 PM on August 8, 2007


One idea you might try (which I just did) is to create a Smart Playlist in iTunes, using the parameters "if Time is in the range of 0:53 to 1:15" (I also added "and is not Comedy, is not Spoken Word")

I came up with 246 songs (out of about 10,000)

You can e-mail me (check profile) if you want me to send you the list of songs that came up, but others have suggested some pretty good tracks already.
posted by revmitcz at 2:17 PM on August 8, 2007


Also John Zorn's Naked City. Lots of super-short, super-intense songs, sort of like bite-sized death metal. I've used them in movies. Same kind of stuff on a couple of the Fantomas albums, too.
posted by jga at 2:25 PM on August 8, 2007


Die Ärzte–Yoko Ono (:30)
posted by oaf at 2:42 PM on August 8, 2007


Kickstand by Soundgarden off Superunknown (1:33)
posted by erikgrande at 2:53 PM on August 8, 2007


"We've Got A File On You" by Blur
"Mayday" by The Libertines
"Little Room" by The White Stripes

Also, check out this great album (downloadable for free!) of 100 songs in 72 minutes, with most of them obviously being under a minute. Or the sequel!
posted by so_necessary at 3:40 PM on August 8, 2007


A lot of stuff by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes comes in under two minutes, and if you trim off the leadout portions, a few one-minute edits might be easy enough to pull off.

One thing to consider is that most of the songs are covers of classics (they do Stairway to Heaven in 3:17), so the comic value of hearing the punk take on the song you already know might distract from the visual.
posted by Myself at 3:55 PM on August 8, 2007


Coffee Mug by the Descendents
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:13 PM on August 8, 2007


I'd be surprised (and, in fact, delighted) if it came anywherre close to fitting your needs, but I'd be remiss if I did not mention Fear's Fuck Christmas (:42)
posted by fishfucker at 4:15 PM on August 8, 2007


"Ray" - The Ataris
posted by SisterHavana at 4:25 PM on August 8, 2007


Cat Stevens -- Tea for the Tillerman
posted by lunchbox at 4:47 PM on August 8, 2007


I HAVE THE SONG FOR YOU.

"Portals" by the totally brilliant les Angles Morts.

It's 1:18 but I am CONVINCED that this would be perfect for what you have described. They even wrote their stuff to be played live to short films.

I am emailing you a link to an mp3 via the address in your profile, STAT. I am putting "Metafilter" in the subject line.
posted by loiseau at 5:31 PM on August 8, 2007


Women Tied up in Knots, by Bongwater is 49 seconds, and resonably jaunty.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:39 PM on August 8, 2007


The correct answer is Yakety Sax.

Seriously. Trust me. I got a stupid internet video displayed in a museum through the magical powers of a Yakety Sax soundtrack.
posted by anildash at 12:33 AM on August 9, 2007


I'm looking for something that could go well with a super sped-up movie or animation (think guy walking down the street, but at 5x normal speed).

The best and, really, only choice is to stick with the beautiful time-honored tradition of "Yakety Sax."
posted by booksandlibretti at 12:38 AM on August 9, 2007




« Older What is a good team outing in Ottawa, Ontario?   |   What? Dude spends a lot of cash. Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.