This is inspired by a @kaisfatdad post. Just to clarify what I mean:
“A sting, sometimes called a sounder, is a short musical phrase, primarily used in broadcasting and films as a form of punctuation. For example, a sting might be used to introduce a regular section of a show, indicate the end of a scene, or indicate that a dramatic climax is imminent.”
Like the slap bass piece in Seinfeld between scenes.
I think an AW theme tune is too hard to agree on but a sting might be achievable, you never know. This could played between posts (in one’s mind) or to bookend the viagra ads in a monetised AW podcast.
My suggestions :
Opening chord of A Hard Days Night
A giggle from the Laughing Gnome
Baker Street sax tootle
Music for Chameleons bass line*
*largely for its memorable inclusion in the I’m Alan Partridge series. Could also consider OMD’s Georgia for similar reasons.
There are many more, I’m sure. If this idea attracts hamper-esque interest, it may be worth putting it to a public vote. That usually sorts things out once and for all.
Rigid Digit says
The introduction of Teenage Kicks
The rimshot crack opening Like A Rolling Stone
A prog rock backwards drum roll (as heard in the works of King Crimson, ELP and Steven Wilson)
Black Celebration says
Here is the clip referred to in the OP
Moose the Mooche says
Nice to see Alan in Hull FC strip.
Black Type says
No it isn’t.
Moose the Mooche says
Curse! I was hoping for someone to come along and say “but he’s not wearing black and amber” so that the likes of us could scoff and mock.
Kaisfatdad says
Nifty bit of recycling there, Black.
Come to think of it, Alan”Fluff” Freeman, was very good at this sort of thing.
I think the first 15 seconds of this may do the trick.
Or the guitar riff at the start of this Steely Dan classic?
The Good Doctor says
The great Kerry Shale, the voice you hear announcing the The Word/Word in Your Ear Podcast kindly did some little idents for us when we first started the site. Here they are:
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks, Black.
I have now checked the Wikipedia entry for sting and it is indeed the word I was looking for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_(musical_phrase)
We all probably hear a few every day, but it is only now that I thought to ask what it was called.
How about the Smoke on the water riff played on marimba?
It’s about 9 seconds in on this Senor Coconut classic.
attackdog says
I love that. Absolute shite, but I love it.
Pajp says
“Ghost Town” has been voted as being pretty popular around here*.
How about the ghostly “la, la-la, la-la, la-la, la” as our sting?
* I checked. “Ghost Town” was officially proclaimed the OTTTRTA (One True Tune To Rule Them All) in February 2017. Here’s the link: https://theafterword.co.uk/the-one-true-tune-to-rule-them-all-results/ (Sorry, can’t do those nice inserts that others seem to be able to manage.)
retropath2 says
I like those dubby guitar echoes in the original Norman Greenbaum Spirit in the Sky, one of them.
retropath2 says
About 1.21.
Moose the Mooche says
“Norman Greenbaum – The Definitive Anthology” – do you think the compilers considered leaving SITS off for a laugh?
Lemonhope says
Well, if it’s a sting you’re after then surely you need to consider Sting?
I vote for the first ten seconds of this*
*Minus the first four ‘pips’ of course
Tiggerlion says
The ‘pips’ are the best bit.
😉
Moose the Mooche says
That Sting clip survived on here for eight hour before somebody bit. It must be summer.
Pajp says
Of course it’s Sumner!
Moose the Mooche says
Sumner is icumen in (about 12 hours, reputedly)
Timbar says
Could just play this.
Moose the Mooche says
Crazy in Love played on a crumhorn?
Kaisfatdad says
Not found that yet, Moose, but this will keep us stinging until I do.
atcf says
Some good picks here. My slightly leftfield idea is the opening bars here:
Black Celebration says
A Sting sting has a nice synchronicity to it. ( Geddit?!)
I think all of these would be good. If we were Afterword FM we could use all of them.
An Important sounding one for the News could be the PSB Always on my Mind (dur dur dur dur dur DUR) – the glissando from Atmosphere for the Weather, something from Dazzle Ships for the Shipping Forecast. Come to think of it, the Shipping Forecast itself would fit quite nicely as a track on side 2 of Dazzle Ships.
Twang says
What was the song no one disliked that we identified a few years ago?
Black Celebration says
It was mentioned a bit earlier – Ghost Town was the one nobody disliked. Until of course the decision had been made. At that point, the really interesting and eclectic people decided that actually, it was crap.
Twang says
Well it’s the Jim Hacker song isn’t it. The one no one has strong feelings about other than that it’s ok. Actually I could take it or leave it.
Pajp says
“Why must the youth fight against themselves?”
Freddy Steady says
I like Ghost Town but I do prefer their earlier stuff….
Kaisfatdad says
I have only ever been to one ice-hockey match. It was up in Sundsvall a few years back.
Along with the extraordinary speed and excitement of the game, I was struck by how brief snippets of loud music were used to keep the crowd’s adrenaline pumping. I now know that there were stings and that they are very popular in the world of sport.
According to the article, every venue at the rugby world cup has its own producer whose job it is to build up the excitement.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-world-cup-organisers-pump-up-the-volume-with-music-stings-a2945306.html
Moose the Mooche says
I went to a fight once and a game of ice hockey broke out.
I’ll get me puck.
Black Celebration says
Whipping up the crowd with snippets of loud pop music is an awful development. The brilliant rugby game between Australia and the All Blacks over the weekend needed no such ridiculousness.
If the game on the pitch is a snorefest in front of a sparse crowd…the booming music makes it all the more bleak. Like a clown with a car horn and a spinning bow tie at a funeral.
Moose the Mooche says
I swear that that bloody irritating four-note thing they play at baseball is about 90% of the reason Americans are so angry and are always killing each other.
Mike_H says
Yep. That plus the God-bothering and the vast amounts of coffee they drink.
Then of course there are the flag-saluting and the guns, too.
fishface says
The multitracked and slightly phased car airhorns that herald guitar god Eddie Van Halens superb riff intro to Running With The Devil.
The reverb drenched slap guitar intro that feeds into the superb intro riff of Fair Warnings Mean Street.
I like Van Halen.
Moose the Mooche says
…or the feedback hum from a Trio KD 1055.
GCU Grey Area says
I’ve thought of one or two (tell us, tell us both of them).
Kraftwerk – Aerodynamik. The very start of it, with just one synth playing – dit-di-dit-di-di-di-dit-dit.
XTC – Stupidly Happy. The riff at the start. Ok, the whole song’s one glorious riff.
Steely Dan – Babylon Sisters. Again, the intro, as it descends into the drums coming in.
Beezer says
It would have to be John Lennon intoning ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’.
Because:
– It’s The Beatles
– We’ve all heard it
– The civilians haven’t