There I am, burbling along through the weeds of the interwebby when I stumble across something some whippersnapper blerk writes which cheekily informs me that some snotty band with a name they ignorantly stole from an earlier UK band actually invented the idea of the loud/quiet dynamic. Well I never! I almost fainted with derision.
Here are one of the bands who really perfected that dynamic, decades before the upstarts decided they had something new, playing years after said upstarts fizzled to a tragic close:
Let’s have some more (or even better) examples of the LOUD/quiet dynamic from days of yore.
Beethoven be like, you invented the loud/quiet thing? Is this thing on?…. (wait, how do I know?)
This is the correct riposte.
Alice Cooper was doing it back in 71
(see also Ballad of Dwight Fry for more quiet/loud/quiet/loud shenanigans)
Led Zep often went for a bit of quiet / loud texturing too
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
Also: What Is And What Should Never Be
And Ramble On. I think I prefer the first two albums for the dynamics. Later there is more loud and loud which is less interesting to me on the whole. Loud is louder when placed in contrast to quiet. So it is.
We don’t need no clips.
Paperback Writer
Hocus Pocus
Paperback writer doesn’t go quiet, it stops and starts again. Not the same thing at all.
Ok. I’ll check with you first next time.
I should hope so.
It’s more than stopping and starting clearly. There is also a softer vocal harmony versus a heavier riff that I pick up on. I say yes you say no.
One of the most exhilarating extant exponents of the dynamic these days are this lot:
Pixies, Nirvana, Radiohead
Gabriel-era Genesis produced some fine acoustic-quiet / electric-loud contrasts in fan favourite “The Musical Box”.
Not to be confused with quiet bit, shouty bit, quiet bit, shouty bit, chorus. (Order may vary…..)