Help me find songs that start slow and then rock out.
August 3, 2018 9:40 PM Subscribe
Inspired by a tweet about "Come Sail Away" by Styx, I'm trying to come up with songs that start out slow but become rocking. It's okay if they switch back and forth, and they don't needs to start super slow. Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone" is a good example of both. Longer songs, like “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” by Elon John are also okay!
Any genre is good, but extra points for older songs 70s-80s or songs that are really fun to sing along with. If this is too broad a question I’ll pop back in to narrow it down. (Yes, I’ve got Stairway to Heaven!)
Any genre is good, but extra points for older songs 70s-80s or songs that are really fun to sing along with. If this is too broad a question I’ll pop back in to narrow it down. (Yes, I’ve got Stairway to Heaven!)
The New Pornographers' "The Bleeding Heart Show" does this twice -- each step kicks the tempo & energy up a notch, until the end when the whole band is just shouting Hey La while the drummer Keith Moons all over the place.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:57 PM on August 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:57 PM on August 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
The Velvet Underground's Heroin is one of the first ones I think of.
And many ,many years ago there was a band here in Vancouver called the Beans who excelled at this sort of thing. Unfortunately, almost none of their music can be found online, but if you are up for a 16+ minute listen, here's... Alpaca Llama.
posted by kmkrebs at 10:12 PM on August 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
And many ,many years ago there was a band here in Vancouver called the Beans who excelled at this sort of thing. Unfortunately, almost none of their music can be found online, but if you are up for a 16+ minute listen, here's... Alpaca Llama.
posted by kmkrebs at 10:12 PM on August 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Led Zeppelin, Over the Hills and Far Away
Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody
posted by holborne at 10:12 PM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody
posted by holborne at 10:12 PM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
“Loveless Love” by the Feelies spends if first two minutes getting faster and faster until it’s a breakneck tempo. I feel like they did another this way, but that’s the one I found.
posted by argybarg at 10:22 PM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by argybarg at 10:22 PM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
SO excited to get here early enough to say Proud Mary
posted by peppercorn at 10:22 PM on August 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by peppercorn at 10:22 PM on August 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
There are a lot of songs people are citing that just go quiet to loud without changing tempo. “Behind Blue Eyes” or “Over the Hills and Far Away” are the same tempo throughout each, they just get louder.
posted by argybarg at 10:26 PM on August 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by argybarg at 10:26 PM on August 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Joe Walsh, The confessor.
Certain live versions of certain Foo Fighters songs, Times like These in particular, at the reading festival. No links right now cuz it is late and I worked all day and I can't risk getting all ramped up. More tomorrow, I promise. Start wearing purple by Gogol Bordello, I promise.
posted by vrakatar at 10:31 PM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Certain live versions of certain Foo Fighters songs, Times like These in particular, at the reading festival. No links right now cuz it is late and I worked all day and I can't risk getting all ramped up. More tomorrow, I promise. Start wearing purple by Gogol Bordello, I promise.
posted by vrakatar at 10:31 PM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Does Faith by George Michael count?
posted by freethefeet at 10:38 PM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by freethefeet at 10:38 PM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Little Black Submarines by the Black Keys
posted by acidnova at 10:42 PM on August 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by acidnova at 10:42 PM on August 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Mumford & Sons, "Sigh No More"
posted by praemunire at 10:50 PM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 10:50 PM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding =)
posted by Merinda at 10:54 PM on August 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Merinda at 10:54 PM on August 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
see previously
but also, the Greek sirtaki just kind of keeps accelerating
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 10:55 PM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
but also, the Greek sirtaki just kind of keeps accelerating
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 10:55 PM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Gut Feeling, Devo
posted by luckynerd at 11:06 PM on August 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by luckynerd at 11:06 PM on August 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I am Your Captain/Closer to Home - Grand Funk Railroad.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:44 PM on August 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by humboldt32 at 11:44 PM on August 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight
Radiohead - Creep
The Beatles - Hey Jude
Alabama Shakes - Hold On
posted by Rhaomi at 11:46 PM on August 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Radiohead - Creep
The Beatles - Hey Jude
Alabama Shakes - Hold On
posted by Rhaomi at 11:46 PM on August 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
five that come to mind:
David Bowie - Rock N Roll Suicide
Prince - the Beautiful Ones
Led Zeppelin - in my time of dying
Deep Purple - child in time
Aphrodite's Child - the four horsemen
posted by philip-random at 12:05 AM on August 4, 2018
David Bowie - Rock N Roll Suicide
Prince - the Beautiful Ones
Led Zeppelin - in my time of dying
Deep Purple - child in time
Aphrodite's Child - the four horsemen
posted by philip-random at 12:05 AM on August 4, 2018
Metallica - One
posted by crocomancer at 2:36 AM on August 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by crocomancer at 2:36 AM on August 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
'70s is okay? Boston: More than a feeling.
posted by goofyfoot at 2:42 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by goofyfoot at 2:42 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark
posted by booooooze at 3:05 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by booooooze at 3:05 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Foo Fighters -The Pretender
Bruce - Candy's Room
Queen, Bowie - Under Pressure
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 4:38 AM on August 4, 2018
Bruce - Candy's Room
Queen, Bowie - Under Pressure
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 4:38 AM on August 4, 2018
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen’s not on the list yet? Wow!
Close to the Edge by Yes
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 4:55 AM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Close to the Edge by Yes
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 4:55 AM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Heart’s Crazy on You fits too.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 4:56 AM on August 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 4:56 AM on August 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
On review, holborne beat me to Queen. But Bohemian Rhapsody’s worth being on the list twice!
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 4:58 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 4:58 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
B-52’s Roam. Slow intro is really short, but it’s super fun to sing along.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 5:00 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 5:00 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I thought that Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart was the canonical genre-defining exemplar of power ballads.
Evanescence - My Immortal
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:14 AM on August 4, 2018
Evanescence - My Immortal
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:14 AM on August 4, 2018
If you've never heard it, don't do anything else until you've listened to Aztec Camera's version of Jump.
Sweet Gene Vincent by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
Plan B by Dexy's Midnight Runners
posted by Beverley Westwood at 5:22 AM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Sweet Gene Vincent by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
Plan B by Dexy's Midnight Runners
posted by Beverley Westwood at 5:22 AM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Exit movie for a film - Radiohead
Fix You - Cold Play
posted by seebee at 5:50 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Fix You - Cold Play
posted by seebee at 5:50 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Basia Bulat’s Tall Tall Shadow becomes steadily more driven as it goes on
Brandi Carlile upshifts dramatically a verse and a half into The Story
Sloan has a bit of such ramping-up in their infidelity ballad People of the Sky
posted by armeowda at 5:56 AM on August 4, 2018
Brandi Carlile upshifts dramatically a verse and a half into The Story
Sloan has a bit of such ramping-up in their infidelity ballad People of the Sky
posted by armeowda at 5:56 AM on August 4, 2018
Several mentions of Led Zepplin above, but none include Stairway to Heaven.
Jethro Tull's Aqualung.
posted by yclipse at 6:17 AM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Jethro Tull's Aqualung.
posted by yclipse at 6:17 AM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Silos, I'm Over You
The Tragically Hip, Nautical Disaster
posted by wps98 at 6:27 AM on August 4, 2018
The Tragically Hip, Nautical Disaster
posted by wps98 at 6:27 AM on August 4, 2018
"Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns" - Mother Love Bone
"Leave" - R.E.M.
"The Prophet's Song" - Queen (IMO, the overlooked gem on A Night at the Opera.) This one starts slow, builds, goes slow again, has an a cappella interlude, and then all hell breaks loose. Then slows down again.
"Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" - Journey (Should be immediately followed by "City of the Angels")
"Liar" - Henry Rollins (perhaps a parody of the format...)
"Welcome to the Black Parade" - My Chemical Romance
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" - Green Day
"The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac
"Goodbye Stranger" - Supertramp
"Bloody Well Right" - Supertramp
"Maybe I'm Amazed" - Paul McCartney & Wings (live version)
"Dream On" - Aerosmith
"Tom Sawyer" - Rush
posted by jzb at 6:39 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Leave" - R.E.M.
"The Prophet's Song" - Queen (IMO, the overlooked gem on A Night at the Opera.) This one starts slow, builds, goes slow again, has an a cappella interlude, and then all hell breaks loose. Then slows down again.
"Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" - Journey (Should be immediately followed by "City of the Angels")
"Liar" - Henry Rollins (perhaps a parody of the format...)
"Welcome to the Black Parade" - My Chemical Romance
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" - Green Day
"The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac
"Goodbye Stranger" - Supertramp
"Bloody Well Right" - Supertramp
"Maybe I'm Amazed" - Paul McCartney & Wings (live version)
"Dream On" - Aerosmith
"Tom Sawyer" - Rush
posted by jzb at 6:39 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
This is one of my favorite type of song and I can't believe nobody has mentioned Arcade Fire's Wake Up.
posted by youcancallmeal at 6:49 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by youcancallmeal at 6:49 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
A Single Explosion, Matthew Good. Too new for your 70s-80s criteria but what the heck.
posted by Alterscape at 7:10 AM on August 4, 2018
posted by Alterscape at 7:10 AM on August 4, 2018
Weezer "Tired of Sex"
I love how coming out of the guitar solo the tempo increases ever so slightly.
posted by alidarbac at 7:41 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love how coming out of the guitar solo the tempo increases ever so slightly.
posted by alidarbac at 7:41 AM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
For varying values of slow and rockin:
Lightning crashes by Live
Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel
Band on the Run by Wings
War pigs by Black Sabbath
Fernando by ABBA
Atlantis by Donovan
In a gadda da vida by Iron Butterfly
American Trilogy by Elvis
It's Oh So Quiet by Bjork.
I am what I am from La Cage aux Folles
posted by Hal Mumkin at 7:56 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Lightning crashes by Live
Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel
Band on the Run by Wings
War pigs by Black Sabbath
Fernando by ABBA
Atlantis by Donovan
In a gadda da vida by Iron Butterfly
American Trilogy by Elvis
It's Oh So Quiet by Bjork.
I am what I am from La Cage aux Folles
posted by Hal Mumkin at 7:56 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
On review, "Whirring" is more of a slow-build kind of song: from strident and jangly to heavy and crashing, which is more evident on the CD version instead of the "single" version I linked to above. Double-plus sorry.
posted by baseballpajamas at 7:57 AM on August 4, 2018
posted by baseballpajamas at 7:57 AM on August 4, 2018
We watched Jersey Boys last night, and I was thinking that this song was just like that--Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
This is the clip from the film, but the Four Seasons do it great too.
posted by chocolatetiara at 8:16 AM on August 4, 2018
This is the clip from the film, but the Four Seasons do it great too.
posted by chocolatetiara at 8:16 AM on August 4, 2018
Joe Jackson, “A Slow Song” — especially the live version on his double album called “Live 1980-86”
posted by wenestvedt at 9:02 AM on August 4, 2018
posted by wenestvedt at 9:02 AM on August 4, 2018
Live and Let Die. I prefer the original Wings version, but whatever if GnR is your jam!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:05 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:05 AM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ian Hunter, with the amazing Mick Ronson on lead guitar: Once Bitten, Twice Shy
(and please, please ignore that execrable cover version by Phat White, or White Shark, or whatever that band was called)
Humble Pie - Rollin' Stone (There's also a 16 minute live version, if you're a bit of a masochist into excessive 70's hard rock jams; the ending is positively cathartic, tho)
posted by Bron at 9:31 AM on August 4, 2018
(and please, please ignore that execrable cover version by Phat White, or White Shark, or whatever that band was called)
Humble Pie - Rollin' Stone (There's also a 16 minute live version, if you're a bit of a masochist into excessive 70's hard rock jams; the ending is positively cathartic, tho)
posted by Bron at 9:31 AM on August 4, 2018
"Dance Yrself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem springs to mind.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:13 AM on August 4, 2018
posted by Pronoiac at 10:13 AM on August 4, 2018
This was Candlebox’s raison d'être.
And Lynyrd Skynyrd had a little song that did okay.
posted by MexicanYenta at 12:54 PM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
And Lynyrd Skynyrd had a little song that did okay.
posted by MexicanYenta at 12:54 PM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Funny, a lot of classical pieces fit this description. Guess those composers liked to rock out as well. Some examples:
Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns
Bolero by Ravel might be too slow of a transition from slow to 'rock out' but man does it rock out in the end
Other songs that might fit
Hyperballad- Björk
New York I Love You - LCD Soundsystem
I will always love you - Whitney Houston
Common people - Pulp
posted by BeHereNow at 2:37 PM on August 4, 2018
Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns
Bolero by Ravel might be too slow of a transition from slow to 'rock out' but man does it rock out in the end
Other songs that might fit
Hyperballad- Björk
New York I Love You - LCD Soundsystem
I will always love you - Whitney Houston
Common people - Pulp
posted by BeHereNow at 2:37 PM on August 4, 2018
Weezer - Say It Ain’t So
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:04 PM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:04 PM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Kinks - The First Time We Fall In Love (from the Schoolboys in Disgrace album)
posted by tomjoadsghost at 5:19 PM on August 4, 2018
posted by tomjoadsghost at 5:19 PM on August 4, 2018
Keep the glove, Dinosaur Jr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYE8Vjih2cs, Gogol Bordello. All your sanity and wits, they will all vanish, I promise.
Telephone call from Istanbul, Tom Waits. The album track has a hammond B3 kick in in the last bit.
Blue, Yoko Kano and probably the Seatbelts, from the Cowboy Beebop anime.
Last exit for the lost, Fields Of The Nephilim. Nine and a half minutes of proto-goth goodness.
Bivouac, Jawbreaker. Meet me at Coney Island in Sept. for a reunion show.
I might come up with more but I gots to have some dinner and 7 more drinks.
posted by vrakatar at 6:47 PM on August 4, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYE8Vjih2cs, Gogol Bordello. All your sanity and wits, they will all vanish, I promise.
Telephone call from Istanbul, Tom Waits. The album track has a hammond B3 kick in in the last bit.
Blue, Yoko Kano and probably the Seatbelts, from the Cowboy Beebop anime.
Last exit for the lost, Fields Of The Nephilim. Nine and a half minutes of proto-goth goodness.
Bivouac, Jawbreaker. Meet me at Coney Island in Sept. for a reunion show.
I might come up with more but I gots to have some dinner and 7 more drinks.
posted by vrakatar at 6:47 PM on August 4, 2018
The Velvet Underground's Rock N’ Roll and Sweet Jane both build a lot as they go along
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:56 PM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:56 PM on August 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant - Billy Joel
posted by lagomorphius at 9:01 PM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 9:01 PM on August 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
“Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Sweet Jane” build a lot but do not get faster.
posted by argybarg at 12:37 PM on August 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by argybarg at 12:37 PM on August 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Starla by Smashing Pumpkins is 1991. I like singing to it, but ymmv. and when it picks up there's no vocals but it does rock out.
posted by evening at 4:15 PM on August 5, 2018
posted by evening at 4:15 PM on August 5, 2018
Don't see Coming Home by The Scorpions listed yet.
posted by wittgenstein at 4:43 PM on August 5, 2018
posted by wittgenstein at 4:43 PM on August 5, 2018
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Led Zeppelin - What is and What Should Never Be
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 9:56 PM on August 3, 2018 [5 favorites]