When all the instruments cut out and you have gang vocals for a bit
Always love it when a song starts with a riff and you start mentally counting what you think the time signature is, and then it completely flips when the beat kicks in:
Yes! This one gets me every time
Hip hop where instead of verses they are trading back and forth on lines or even words:
Oh that’s cool, extra points for when it’s not the beat but another instrument that straightens things out!
This still blows my mind:
The fake out drop
Extra distortion. Bonus marks for coming in off the beat.
I like it when a song’s an album closer that keeps building in intensity.
I did not know that about Videotape. I can’t unhear it unsyncopated though.
Ha, yeah, that’s a good one. I like seeing how long I can pretend Napoleon Solo by ATDI is in 3/4. I can usually make it through those opening vocals
When the second or third chorus kicks in a few bars earlier than expected
When an already-manic song somehow finds an extra gear and gets even more manic
When both of these things happen at once
Janet Weiss’s drumming in general is one of my favourite things to happen in songs.
When John Otto is told to take them to the Matthews Bridge.
When there’s a gap between the first verse and chorus but there’s no gap between the second verse and chorus.
Drawing a blank on other examples right now, so have some Silverchair.
A simple one, but when there’s a sustained note in the background in a verse or chorus later in the song. It really helps escalate things and/or ratchet up the tension.
When the singer screams at the start of a guitar solo or distortion blast.
last verse of Teen Spirit is a primo example
When most of the lyrics to a song are vaguely poetic / abstract / metaphorical, but then the singer suddenly hits you with something brutally direct and blunt.
When a lead instrument plays the same, repeating melody line over a changing chord sequence such as in the outro section to Coldplay’s Fix You.
