All the rumors and legends romanticize the hidden messages in some of rocks hardest tunes. People conspiring that bands like Black Sabbath and AC/DC were sending out subliminal devil worshipping messages. Get real folks, we all know those were only found on albums by Boston! The real treat is when bands go to great lengths to hide tracks on their albums. By sticking them all the way at the end, after several minutes of silence, artists got away with a lot. Dodging parental advisory stickers, or scaring fans who forget to turn the album off. Either way there have been some great hidden tunes over the course rock's history, here are the ten best. As always, feel free to chime in on what you think I left out, missed completely, or totally fucked up on.
10. Alanis Morissette - "Your House"; This one's for the ladies! Yeah, in case you couldn't guess I'm not the biggest Alanis fan in the world but as hidden tracks go this one is pretty huge. It fits with the rest of her music and she actually performed it on MTV, so hurrah it's on the list.
9. The Beatles - "Her Majesty"; Like everything else in the rock universe, a lot of people credit The Beatles with inventing the hidden track. The tune surprised listeners of Abbey Road way back in 1969 and has since become a pretty famous Beatles tune. Impressive considering it's only 23-seconds long.
8. Lauryn Hill - "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"; This version of this song is probably more famous then its original. Having been on the soundtrack for Conspiracy Theater, and blasted in dorm rooms throughout the country when it was released, this tune dominated the summer of '99. Then again Frankie Valli definitely did a fine job with it as well.
7. Dr. Dre - "Bitches Ain't Shit"; To truly gage the strength of the last song on The Chronic you have to realize that Ben Folds covered it and wound up taking the song into the Billboard 100. Yeah, Ben Folds. But this version is not campy like Folds' was, no this was a hardcore way to end one of the great rap albums of all-time.
6. They Might Be Giants - "Token Back to Brooklyn"; Most hidden tracks come at the end of albums, but with the creation of CD's a few artists figured out a way to hide tunes at the beginning of albums. One is this great ditty by the two Johns of They Might Be Giants. Coming at the beginning of Factory Showroom you had to rewind your CD players in order to hear this tune. It was pretty wild, but in the long run it probably fucked up your CD player.
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Poor Song"; The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' first full length was a brilliant record. Full of emotional lyrics, fantastic riffs, and Karen O's wailing voice Fever to Tell served as the breakout point for the band. But that album doesn't really end until the final note has been sung on "Poor Song". The tune has become a staple of the band, used in the encore at countless shows, and easily a fan favorite. People still piss themselves over it every chance they get.
4. Green Day - "All By Myself"; So this tune doesn't sound like Green Day at all, but this secondary ode to masturbation is a brilliant last track. Most of us won't ever jerk off in one of our crushes bedrooms so this will have to do for all of us.
3. Nirvana - "Endless, Nameless"; Nevermind changed the face of rock music in the early 90's, and sure enough it also brought back the idea of hiding tracks within the album. You see a lot of albums from the 90's on this list and the big reason why is Nevermind. This tune rages beyond a lot of what was found on Nirvana's breakthrough album, hearkening back to the Bleach days of the band. It is a kick ass tune though.
2. Minor Threat - "Cashing In"; At this point most folks only know of Minor Threat they way their complete discography portrays them, but prior to that the band release on kick ass LP. On 1983's Out of Step, Minor Threat blistered through 8-song that would kill their own mothers if given the chance. But as the needle should be stopping another tune kicks in. "How do you do, I don't think we've met" Ian MacKaye starts, "my name is Ian, I'm from Minor Threat", a solid introduction for the last song of an album and then they start threatening to steal your money and your shows! Yeah, this hidden track absolutely kills even if it is track 23 on the one Minor Threat album you own.
1. The Clash - "Train In Vain"; "Train In Vain", the last tune off The Clash's amazing London Calling, is only on this list because of timing. The tune was added on at the very last minute, after the sleeves and labels had been printed. It would of course be added on later printings, but that doesn't change the fact that this brilliant song was originally just a hidden track.
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5 comments:
I hadn't realized TMBG did the secret song at the beginning. I remember Less Than Jake had done that & had some contest for the first so many who figured it out.
Also, while not a secret song per se, I loved how Nine Inch Nails' "Broken" album jumped from something like 4 to 98.....it always made it look like yr cd player was freaking out.
I prefer secret songs that are set as a different track rather than being combined with the previous one. Saul Williams' "Wine" has a secret part two to it which is really good, but it's annoying to have to wait through the break
What about Euro-trash girl? One of Cracker's best songs wasn't even listed on the album.
Less than Jake has a hidden track before for the first track on Loosing Streak as well. Its a spoken word/interview with a guy that lived near the band. I recall hearing the Nirvana tune for the first time. My cd doesn't have the track and a buddy said "let it play" and i did..but it ended. I thought he was lying till I heard it.
Robert Plant and The Strange Sensation left a good one on Mighty ReArranger just after the Brother Ray track. Wow!
You are forgetting your hometown roots... 1) The Urge - Brainless Remix 2) Brookroyal - Rizzuto and Jeff
Chris
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