Songs that repeatedly swing between loud and quiet 'moods'
January 16, 2022 11:39 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for more songs like the Three Trapped Tiger's song: 1. It doesn't have to be metal vs. soothing, it can be any song that repeatedly transitions back and forth between two different moods, one relatively loud and the other relatively much more quiet. The song just needs to have at least two separate instances of each mood. Thanks in advance! :)
posted by ch3cooh to Media & Arts (30 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Immediate one that came to me was Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet"
posted by potrzebie at 11:59 PM on January 16, 2022 [6 favorites]


Came here to say Björk too. "Dance Yrself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem might fit the bill. And Wye Oak's "For Prayer."
posted by Ryon at 12:17 AM on January 17, 2022


Mogwai are (in)famous for doing this. A couple that spring to mind:
Mogwai Fear Satan
Like Herod
My Father, My King
posted by dudekiller at 12:48 AM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thanks for sharing that song!

I think of the Pixies as one of the quintessential bands that likes to alternate between quiet and loud or chaotic and harmonious. Tame is very quiet / loud. The Happening has two distinct sounds going on. U-Mass arguably. Lotta stuff on the Doolittle album to some extent.

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes to some extent.
posted by slidell at 12:57 AM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


Mogwai - Summer
posted by mani at 1:45 AM on January 17, 2022




So What
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:06 AM on January 17, 2022


This article about the "1990s quiet-loud phenomenon" has quite a few suggestions - The Pixies originally - but from them many others including Nirvana (Smells like Teen Spirit for example), Better than Ezra, Radiohead, Weezer and many others. - link includes a quiet load playlist.
posted by rongorongo at 3:15 AM on January 17, 2022 [4 favorites]


Terry Allen's The Radio... and Real Life
posted by niicholas at 3:24 AM on January 17, 2022


Best answer: I Hate Myself - This Isn't the Tenka-ichi-Budokai
posted by saladin at 3:48 AM on January 17, 2022


Best answer: System of a Down did this a lot.
Chop Suey
Toxicity
posted by doctord at 4:11 AM on January 17, 2022 [2 favorites]


"I've Gown Accustomed To Her Face" from My Fair Lady.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:13 AM on January 17, 2022


Toy Dolls, Nellie the Elephant, 1984 (at Whitby goth festival they traditionally slam dance during the refrains)
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:37 AM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


Bubblegum on my boots by the Springbok Nude girls (definitely worth a listen for those who don't know them!)
Song 2 by Blur
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 5:53 AM on January 17, 2022


Best answer: Classical:

Handel, Messiah: But who may abide the day of his coming?
Tempo markings alternate between Larghetto and Prestissimo (literally "somewhat broad" and "as fast as possible").

George Butterworth/ AE Housman: Is my team ploughing?
Dialogue between a ghost and a living man. Tempo remains constant but volume alternates between pp and f. Link is to the Bryn Terfel recording from the late 90s where he goes more like ppp to fff. It probably worked really well in concert, but was a bit much for CD. My singing teacher at the time hated it because he had to keep getting up to adjust the volume knob on the stereo.
posted by Pallas Athena at 6:16 AM on January 17, 2022


Classic of the genre: Live and let die
posted by freya_lamb at 6:20 AM on January 17, 2022 [2 favorites]




Best answer: Ricky Gervais singing Elmo a lullaby on Sesame Street.
posted by ewan at 6:54 AM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


Deep Purple - Child in Time
King Crimson - Starless
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Mike Oldfield - Amarok
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother Suite
Yes - Close to the Edge
The Bevis Frond - What Did For The Dinosaurs/Dustbins In The Rain

Four o'clock one morning I was woken from a dream in which I saw myself distorted into twice my normal beam, and from the window I identified the source of this disturbance was in fact an urban fox, circling the dustbins in the rain.

And so it passed last night when I was similarly roused: I saw no cause to be alarmed and almost casually I browsed the street and there, to my amazement, caught a figure in the quarter-light dismantling my locks; today we won't be in-car entertained.
posted by flabdablet at 7:14 AM on January 17, 2022


The Moody Blues' "Question" fits the bill.
posted by neilbert at 8:24 AM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


PJ Harvey - “Rid of Me.” Very quiet when it’s quiet, very loud when it’s loud.
posted by ejs at 8:37 AM on January 17, 2022


Hocus Pocus by Focus (you really have to see this live version) - follows quiet/loud I think.
posted by rongorongo at 8:46 AM on January 17, 2022


Mirah - Cold Cold Water
posted by skunk pig at 9:22 AM on January 17, 2022


Alchemilla by Regal Lilly
posted by evilDoug at 9:56 AM on January 17, 2022


Depending on how heavy you want your heavy bits:

The Armed - "Polarizer"
Dillinger Escape Plan - "43% Burnt"
Smashing Pumpkins - "Silverfuck"
My Bloody Valentine - "Only Shallow"
Don Caballero - "Repeat Defender"
Rodan - "Gauge"
posted by el_lupino at 11:34 AM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]








Ben folds five:
boxing
and the other one is
lullaby.

Depeche mode : Pimpf

Doubleplusgood
by the Eurythmics
posted by markbrendanawitzmissesus at 6:54 PM on January 17, 2022




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