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Line 1: {{trope}} So you're listening to a nice, pleasant song about bunnies and rainbows and running in the rain with your best girl by your side. Then the final note of the song falls and, instead of a nice soft, resolution, it's a heavily played [[Sting (music)\|Sting]] note in a minor [[Scare Chord]]. Then the music fades into a series of dissonant arpeggios with a creepy mechanical voice muttering some nonsensical gibberish that sounds like Satan reciting an [[Edgar Allan Poe]] story. It's surely not the ending you expected this particular song to ~~have -- and~~have—and if you happen to be ''really'' unlucky, it'll [[Ear Worm\|burrow into your mind playing itself over and over]] like some self-regenerating [[Nightmare Fuel]]. Musicians most likely put these kinds of stingers at the ends of their songs to make them memorable, (although they'll more than likely just scare people from listening to the song again, or cause them to listen with a finger hovering over the "change track" button during the song's final stretch.) Last Note Nightmare can be very comparable to a [[Jump Scare]], especially of the [[Screamer Prank]] variety. The opposite of a Last Note Nightmare is [[Last Note Hilarity]]. (Music geeks might be interested to [[Incredibly Lame Pun\|note]] that there is an opposite technique, the "Picardy third," or "Tierce de Picardie" in which when a song that has been in minor the whole time goes into major on the very last chord.) ~~----~~ {{examples}} == Music == Line 33: * George Harrison in particular seemed to like this a lot. ("One more time...") The final chord of "A Day in the Life" fades out so long you can almost (?) hear the air conditioner. * And then, seconds after the last vibrations of the chord have faded, there's the sudden discordant loop of distorted, randomly-spliced-together studio chatter. In the original British LP pressings, this was placed in the record's "run-out" groove so that listeners with manual turntables would hear it indefinitely until they lifted the needle. (If you're a dog, you'll experience your [[Last-Note Nightmare]] a few seconds before this, as Lennon added a 15  kHz tone, inaudible to most humans, specifically to annoy you.) Actually, ~~15kHz~~15 kHz is audible to nearly all children and most teens and younger 20-somethings. Humans with good hearing are born with the ability to hear up to ~~20kHz~~20 kHz; they only ''begin'' to lose that upper range starting at age 8. The reason people who should know better (from having heard the album as a kid/teen) buy into this is because the note just sounds like high-pitched static, so it's easy to mistake for a simple pause in the recording. It helps to know that this loop, played backwards, sounds remarkably like, "I'll fuck you like Superman! I'll fuck you like Superman! etc." Paul McCartney said in his autobiography ''Many Years from Now'' that he never knew this (they certainly didn't plan it) until someone played it backwards for him and he yelled, "Gaaaawwwwd!" The end of "I Am the Walrus," complete with buried ''[[King Lear]]''. This one helped fuel the "Paul Is Dead" rumors... "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a dark and heavy song in itself, but its ominous ending with the bass chords and static is still a [[Last-Note Nightmare]], even compared to ~~that -- especially~~that—especially since it cuts off in the middle of that last note. Said last note appears at the beginning of "Her Majesty", which starts a full minute after "The End" and was unlisted on the original vinyl. This means that the first note of "Her Majesty" is a reverse example as well as being a [[Brick Joke]]. * "Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite" (which was already rather eerie to begin with) suddenly cut into "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on the LOVE album. The whole "song" became a [[Last-Note Nightmare]]. AND it has the creepy organ from "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite", AAAAND snippets of the vocals from "Helter Skelter". And creepy laughing, which seems to be a theme in love. PLUS after the infamous cutoff, there are weird swirly wind sounds. Then it cuts to "Help!" and [[Scare Chord\|scares the piss out of you]]. * ''The Beatles: [[Rock Band]]'' actually visualizes the nightmare by blacking out your TV just as the song ends. Line 64: * Would you believe "Wonderwall" by [[Oasis]]? After the vocals are done, the song segues into a beautiful lush strings-and-piano piece and ends with a few acoustic guitar chords with birds chirping in the background. But between these two pleasant interludes, the piano fades, leaving the violin and bass viol to hold one last note. And then even the bass stops, leaving a single violin note which gets less and less melodic until it finally climaxes with a hideous, almost voice-like "BLLLLLEEEEEAAAAAGGHHHH" sound. If you're not expecting it, it's a real Penultimate Note Nightmare. * The nightmarish strings at the end of Supertramp's "If Everyone Was Listening", from ''Crime Of The Century''. * "Metal Machine Music" by [[Velvet Underground\|Lou Reed]] is 64 minutes of nothing ''but'' a [[Last-Note Nightmare]]. The track "The Bed" from album ''Berlin'' is a dream-like song with a final moment of pure nightmare. What about "The Kids", also from Berlin, another quiet song that in this case ends with the voices of children hollering for their mother, sounding for all the world like they have just been told she is not coming home ... ever. Line 97: [[The Dark Side of the Moon\|"Speak to Me"]] closes with screams ([[Fading Into the Next Song\|which then segues into the opening of "Breathe"]]). Pink Floyd tends to really like this trope. There's the creepy bridge toward the end of the jolly folksy "The Gnome" ("look at the sky, look at the river, isn't it gooooooood?") and then the maniacal screaming at the end of the somewhat calm "Careful With That Axe, Eugine." * The old Cog song "Just Visiting" spools up into increasingly discordant machine noise at the end, culminating in a sound like the [[Futurama\|Hypnotoad]] squared. Thirty-odd seconds of silence later, the drummer screams '''FUCK!''' as if from the end of a long corridor. And then continues incoherently screaming curses of the "Fucking fuck! Who the fuck? What the fuck? Where the fuck?!" variety, sending the whole thing into possibly-intentional [[Narm~~\|Narmsville~~]]sville. Good song though. * Inverted in Todd Rundgren's "Saving Grace", in a similar manner to the Gorillaz example: It's an optimistic slightly jazzy soft-rock song that incongruously starts off with a low bass note and a short burst of slowed down unintelligible [[Black Speech]]. * [[The Mars Volta]]'s song "Asilos Magdalena" begins with a loud, high pitched guitar and keyboard combo, then segues into a quiet, mournful acoustic ballad. Then in the song's final two minutes, the last verse is sung over and over again while the vocals become increasingly and disturbingly distorted until they're nearly incomprehensible. The general creepiness of the lyrics themselves don't help much, either. There are a number of Mars Volta songs which could fall into this category, especially the first three tracks off of Frances the Mute: "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus," "The Widow," and "L'Via L'Viaquez." All of these tracks degenerate into creepy distortions at their end, degeneration which involves unnecessary slow-downs of the otherwise pleasant rhythms of the songs while throwing in a few distorted and incomprehensible voices (sometimes speaking in Spanish) for good measure. But the worst is at the end of "L'Via L'Viaquez" when there's nothing left but an electronic distortion where the strong rhythms once were and the demonically-distorted voice of the singer over top, repeating the chorus of the song. Granted, it's not like the Mars Volta normally sings about anything bright and happy or even that understandable. TMV just ''loves'' this trope. "Goliath", "Illyena", "Ouroboros", and "Wax Simulacra" all end with noisy freakouts. (Though the last one is a bit more mild, it's just an unexpected sax solo) * "The Talking Drum" (or its pale copy "Dangerous Curves") by [[King Crimson]] ~~-- each~~—each builds up tension for about seven minutes and releases it in a startling, dissonant blast. ** Most of King Crimson's work qualifies for this trope- they were well known for it. "Lark's Tongues In Aspic (Part 1)", "21st Century Shizoid Man", "Lament", "Starless", etc. King Crimon improvs (live or recorded) pretty much always did this. * [[Peter Gabriel]]'s "Moribund the Burgermeister" tells the story of [[The Virus\|a mysterious and disastrous plague]] taking a medieval city by storm. The song is pretty creepy to begin with, but the last few seconds have Gabriel repeating "I WILL FIND OUT" in a [[Evil Sounds Deep\|deep, echoing voice]] over a ''very'' strange, minimal melody. As the song begins to fade out, he begins to address his mother, telling her "when I say I will, I '''will'''!" and "You'll be sorry. I'll make sure of it!" When you consider that plague can be interpreted to transform its victims into [[Zombie Apocalypse\|zombies]]... Line 114: The last song on Entropia has a bit of a Last Note Nightmare as well... in an otherwise upbeat song that encourages the listener to practice non-violence, act on their conscience, and overall be a good person, finishing with the line "if death is but a dream, then don't let me... fall asleep..." is pretty jarring, especially considering the fact that Daniel whispers the last two words in an almost fearful tone. There's also two occurrences at the end of Be-one where {{spoiler\|the last man on Earth shoots himself,}} at the end of an otherwise upbeat and hopeful song, and another occurrence similar to the one listed above where, after a good amount of silence, there's a sudden burst of sound right at the end of the last song. However, this is offset by a fairly cutesy recording of a little girl saying "There's room for all of god's creatures... right next to the mashed potatoes," while a bunch of people, possibly the band members, laugh hysterically like the terrible human beings they are. * Another song with no "nice" parts is [[Elvis Costello]] and the Attractions' "Night Rally", from their 1978 album ''This Year's Model''. Between its lyrical subject (the then-contemporary rise of the neo-fascist National Front in English politics) and tense arrangement, the song is ominous ~~throughout -- but~~throughout—but at the end, Costello starts chanting the title over and over and some sort of weird, high-pitched warbling sound is added the mix. And then the song cuts off suddenly, just like [[The Beatles (band)\|The Beatles]]' aforementioned "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". For added nightmarishness, "Night Rally" was the last track on the original vinyl album's British pressing. * Kaleidoscope's "(Further Reflections) In The Room Of Percussion" is a fairly whimsical, lighthearted number like the rest of the band's psychedelic catalog... until it abruptly ends in the middle of what would normally be a verse. The effect of leaving the melody hanging and unfinished is rather disorienting, and the lyrics it ends with only make things worse: [[Spiders Are Scary\|"My God, the spiders are everywhere"]]. * Both "Religion Song (Put Away The Gun)" and "Untitled" by [[Everything Else]] feature such endings. Line 136: Also, "Children of the Grave" ends with a quivering note that fades in and out that lasts for a good forty-five seconds and is accompanied by an echoing whisper. "Am I Going Insane (Radio)", which is otherwise one of their poppier songs, has multi-tracked psychotic laughter slowly fade in as the song fades out - and then demonic growls can be heard in the distance. . * "Eyes of a Stranger" by [[~~Queensryche~~Queensrÿche]]. It ends with some chaotic, strange-sounding, nightmare inducing technological noise, about 15 seconds of silence, and finally a man saying "I remember now". The end of "Anybody Listening?" off of the album ''Empire'' is the sound of rain, and you can hear in the background the sounds of some people arguing. Then, BAM! A door slams, and the song, and album, end. The transition from "Breaking the Silence" to "I Don't Believe In Love" features whispered, "We know you did it? Why'd you do it?" overlapping with Nickie screaming, "No! No! [[Big No\|NOOOOOOOOO!]]" Line 144: "Faaip de Oiad" ('Voice of God', in Enochian) is the 'last note' of [[Tool]]'s ''Lateralus'' album, and consists of mad, inspired drumming overlaid by a sample of a caller to Art Bell's talk-radio show. He's panicked, and describes things, hints and rumors, he's discovered while working at an Air Force base near Groom Lake, Nevada (Area 51). If you do your homework, you might find out that it's (most likely) a hoax, but before you do, or if you doubt the hoax story, the fear in the man's voice is genuinely terrifying. "Lost Keys (Blame Hoffmann)" is an odd song, but not hideous. Then, on the way out, it takes a turn for the... suggestive. The track "Intermission" from ''Aenima'' is a sort of peppy organ ~~instrumental--which~~instrumental—which immediately transforms into the heavy, distorted guitar riff of the next track, "Jimmy". ''10,000 Days''' song "Viginti Tres". * [[System of a Down]]'s "Temper," which goes from a laidback funky groove in the verses to a grindcore chorus. And more notably, their song Mind which starts off in a very creepy fashion with quiet instruments and subdued vocals before the music fades out and a few seconds later Serj screams "GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" and the music goes into what is easily the heaviest part of the album. Later in the song, the song returns to the quiet section that began the song. This section fades out. Line 172: At the end of "Finally Free," the last track on the story album ''Scenes from a Memory,'' {{spoiler\|Nicholas, the main character, arrives at his house, satisfied with the apparent end to the mystery of his past life. He plays some triumphant music when his hypnotherapist, the reincarnation of his past murderer, barges in and murders him... the song ends to the sound of the record player's static.}} The live rendition of the song-at least, the "Scenes from NY 2000" version-cuts this section out and, instead, plays a reprise of an earlier song's epic opening bridge, only to end it with a pair of nice, long [[Scare Chord\|Scare Chords.]] Similarly, "In the Presence of Enemies Part 2" ends with a long sequence of Scare Chords. (It's also fun to listen to the latter song live, because the lead singer repeatedly yells "come on" as the sequence starts, lightly lessening its impact.) * Also notable is that the static that ends "Finally Free" is the ''very same static'' that begins "The Glass Prison", the first track on the following album, ''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence''. So, if you lined those songs up, the creepy chimes in the opening of "The Glass Prison" would complete the effect. ** "Pull Me Under", much like "I Want You" above, just seems to cut off at the last note (Not in the middle of a note, but you get the gist of it). <ref> But actually, it ''does'' have an ending. The song is played in 4/4 time, and bars 3 and 4 in the final bar are emphasized, followed by abrupt silence. The band would use the same technique in a later song, "Raw Dog".</ref> * Nevermore's "This Godless Endeavor" is actually more of a "Last verse nightmare", but Dane sings most of the song in his general mid-range - until the very last line, when he unexpectedly belts a blood-curling "THE SKY...HAS OPENED!" shriek in a hateful, shrill voice. Given the tense mood of the entire song, it's just the thing to send shivers down your spine. * Devin Townsend, famous for being the frontman of extreme metal group Strapping Young Lad, released more albums as a solo artist that, for the most part, contrasted the sound of his band. His first album Ocean Machine ends with a calm and tranquil acoustic song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j--lwDc0DY\] that sounds much like the ocean itself. At the end, it fades out, and then after about 10 seconds of silence, Devin comes back with a BLOODCURDLING, distorted scream, sure to [[Jerkass\|punish]] anyone who falls asleep with headphones on. Line 195: * Calibretto's "American Psycho" is a pretty energetic horror-punk song. Then the last organ note holds and turns into an ominous drone, and then one of [[American Psycho\|Patrick Bateman]]'s confessions is played over it. It then segues into the [[For Doom the Bell Tolls\|ominous bell]] that begins the next song. The result is far creepier than it has any right to be. * "Death Sex" by The Distillers does this, ending with manic laughter and even more distortion than normal, of course this is pretty much par for course. * Most of [[They Might Be Giants]]' song, "S-E-X-X-Y" is played out like a 70's-era funkadelic groove ~~song -- until~~song—until the ending stinger, which features creepily arpeggioing classical violins that totally kill the mood, likely in tribute to "Glass Onion" by [[The Beatles]]. There's also "Fibber Island", a gentle folk-rock song from one of their kids albums, which after a false ending, jumps into an outro with some jarringly dissonant flutes, possibly as a nod to "Strawberry Fields". And then there's "Employee of the Month", an upbeat song about making crumbs at (what else?) a crumb factory. In and out, fun nonsense, the end. But one instrument keeps going on in a haunting, almost [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ot4uLkYvI droning whistle]. Line 256: ** At the end of [[Coheed and Cambria]]'s "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)", the sound of rain and a vaguely creepy piano are punctuated by sobbing and an absolutely terrifying scream. * [[Electric Six]]'s "It Ain't Punk Rock" is a playful new wave/surf rock song that ends in about 2 minutes of feedback and distant, rumbling drums. Which is fairly long for a last note nightmare to go on for, especially considering that the whole track is 4 minutes long. * Double-subverted in Spacehog's "In The Meantime". The song begins to grind to a halt in a spiraling flurry of ominous, spacey synth and guitar feedback...which fades away to reveal a pleasant, quiet piano interlude. The final chord of this interlude, however, is played against a thundering piano chord ''in reverse'' ~~-- it~~—it gets progressively '''louder''' and then cuts off abruptly. * The last song on [[Silversun Pickups]]' album Carnavas is "Common Reactor", which is a kind of light-hearted [[Ear Worm]] until you hit the outro, where all calm is suddenly sucked out and replaced by a good minute and a half of discordant whirring and sputtering. * How about "Rubber Ring" by [[The Smiths]], it's a cool, upbeat tune with an awesome bassline and nice relaxed vocals, but comes to an abrupt end, leaving us with a woman repeating "You are sleeping, you do not want to believe" If you read the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100203074004/http://www.last.fm/group/The+Smiths/forum/137/_/199401 origin of those words], [[It Got Worse\|it gets worse]]. ** That's because "Rubber Ring" leads into "Asleep" on the original "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" 12", on every other release the songs were divided in two. * The unearthly wailing and echoing bodhran drum that end [[The Cranberries]]' "Dreams". * Anyone ever listen to the [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]]' album ''One Hot Minute'' when you're ''really'' listening to the music? The title track comes in towards the end of the album, and is arguably one of the most hardcore songs that the Chilis have ever written. But after the already very dissonant end, you can hear someone yelling in pain. It's presumed to be their bassist, Flea. But still after a really heavy song like that, it's a little more than unsettling. * "Wraith Pinned To The Mist (and other games)" by [[Of Montreal]] features a stinger note that sounds like muffled audio recorded from a construction site. (The song itself is pretty weird though, so it doesn't sound all that out of place.) ** A much better example is "Id Engager," an otherwise uncomplicated dance song about a one-night ~~stand -- it~~stand—it cuts out mid-measure, all the instruments come in at once and all settle on a single legato note, except for a fiddle that loops two ominous notes. Both then rise in volume until the song (the last on the album) abruptly ends. * The song "Slide" by the [[Dresden Dolls]] is mostly just a very quiet piano piece with a couple drum flourishes, then just before the end is an UNHOLY SCREAM. Granted, the entire song is full of creepy double entendres and it feels like it's building up to a bad ending, but nothing prepared me for "THE ORANGE MAN'S GOT YOOOOOOOOOOU." ** In the official songbook, Amanda has scribbled "saddest note in the world" with an arrow pointing to the final note. Line 285: * "Lighthouse" by The Hush Sound is a sad, slow melodic piece with slightly creepy yet not outright scary lyrics. Then you reach the end {{spoiler\|and it says "The door locked from the outside / Three ghosts in a lighthouse" -- and it abruptly ends. Pretty much, it suggests that the narrator and the person they're with are also ghosts along with the one ghost they've been talking about.}} * Kate Nash's "Skeleton Song" has a verse right before the end of a fairly poppy song where she dreams of smashing her skeleton in with a hammer, complete with screeching violins as her speech gets more guttural. * [[Mazzy Star]]'s "Into Dust" is a haunting, five-and-a-half-minute [[Drone of Dread]] in itself, but it ends with a discordant string riff that doesn't ~~resolve -- truly~~resolve—truly unsettling. * [[Bis]]' already creepy song "Two Million" has a fake-out-ending. But then, a slow beat starts and a new song-within-a-song starts with no resemblance to the song that preceded it. The effect makes you feel like waking up from a dream, but then realizing the dream is real. * [[The Zutons]]' ''Oh Stacey (Look What You've Done)'' has this. It's a fairly cheerful-sounding song, albeit one about a willful girl who drives her father into an early grave and blows her inheritance on drink. And then it suddenly slows down at the end and ends in a minor key, with Dave [[Mc Cabe]] singing 'Oh Stacey, look...what you've done', followed by a drawn-out, distorted chord. Line 314: ** Similarly, halfway through "Wahnfried 1883", the tune slowly morphs into a cacophony of [[Drone of Dread\|eerie distorted organ drones]], building up to a final climax with the wind and space sound effects. * For a [[Stupid Statement Dance Mix]], "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs65S-1o-Os One-Winged Scout]". The start is what you'd expect, ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'''s Scout "bonking" over [[Final Fantasy VII\|Sephiroth's (in)famous theme]], then after some time the Scout's [[Man On Fire]] soundbites start playing. * [[Portishead]]'s "Silence" brings together [[Last-Note Nightmare]] and [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: It cuts off abruptly in mid-note. No last note, no fade out, not even some weird sound. Just spontaneous silence. Yikes. * "Encoder" by [[Pendulum]] fades out while the sound of Water splashing can be heard, and a man can be heard breathing heavily as if he just swam a long distance. Then a wham noise begins to fade , but before it does, the song abruptly cuts out. Bam, album over. Similar to it is the upbeat song "I'm Talking 'Bout Me" by Admiral Twin. The chorus is building up at the end and after the second to last word, cuts off abruptly. Line 352: * The last couple notes are played much clearer, however, which adds to the atmosphere. ''The Fragile'' taken as a whole. Granted, it's not the happiest album, but it's energetic and has tones of working towards something great. Then comes "Ripe". "A Warm Place" has a literal [[Last-Note Nightmare]] if played on repeat. The piece begins with a brief burst of static ~~noise -- an~~noise—an intentional artifact from the previous song in the ~~album -- which~~album—which is quickly forgotten about as the sounds develop into a soothing melody that can only be described as "womb-like". You're practically asleep by the time it ends... [[Fridge Brilliance\|at which point you're suddenly startled awake by that damned burst of static]]. ** "Twist" ends with someone who may be Trent screaming. * "Laser Fear" by Laserdance, from ''Future Generation'', has both a first and last-note high-octane nightmare consisting of slowed-down [[Stock Sound Effects\|baby cry samples]]. Line 385: * "Russian Roulette" by [[Rihanna]] ends with the sound of a loud gunshot. Not creepy, though, just annoying as all heck. * [[Steely Dan]]'s "Josie" has an oddly menacing fade-out. * Bill Withers' "Better Off Dead," a mournful but relatively smooth R&B song, has not so much a Last Note Nightmare as a sound effect nightmare: the final iteration of the chorus -- "she's better off without me/and I'm better off dead now that she's gone" ~~-- is~~—is interrupted after the titular phrase... by a ''gunshot''. One of the great shock endings in pop music. Line 408: === Country / Folk === * Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead" tells the story of an abused wife waiting in ambush with a shotgun for her husband, who is freshly out on bail. The song seems to trail off normally, only to be punctuated by a shotgun blast, followed by the metallic ring of an ejected shell hitting the ground. Somehow the merry little "ting!" of the shell just makes it worse. * The Pete Seeger anti-nuclear song "Odds on Favorite" is creepy to start with, talking about how God designed a universe with built-in obsolescence, then gets more ~~cheerful--for~~cheerful—for a while. {{quote\|''Thank God this great combustion day Is several billion years away Line 477: * ''[[.hack\|.hack//Legend]]'' plays background music normally and then as the Corrupted Mook is about to be summoned from the Chaos Gate, the music begins to slip. * In ''[[Soul Eater]]'', the soundtrack 'So Scandalous' has a creepy piano playing in between the techno/hip pop/jazz number. * "Reborn," the first ending song from ''[[Baki the Grappler]],'' is a mellow guitar song with lyrics about love and happiness, while images of the various cast members who are clearly ''not'' thinking about love and happiness float by in the ~~background--for~~background—for example, Ando is gritting his teeth and swinging an axe. And then as a coup de grace, the song ends with a slightly eerie echo and an image of [[Complete Monster\|Yujiro]] looming over Baki. * "Amusement Park", from the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' boxed set. The song is a creepy carnival theme that fades out into a rather loud eerie note. * There's a version of Pachelbel's Canon in D on disc 2 of the "[[Neon Genesis Evangelion\|Evangelion]] Symphony" album that is completely normal. Considering the popularity of the piece, your mind tunes it out as background music... until about five seconds before where it ''should'' end, there is a noise like a gunshot and all of the string instruments screech to a halt. Line 484: * ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' has lots of character songs that start out happy, then turn... disturbing. The best example of Last Note Nightmare is Keiichi's song, ''Cool ni Nare! [[Keep On Our Love]]'', which is a [[Hot-Blooded]] appeal to [[Screw Destiny]], the final line being {{spoiler\|Keiichi abruptly saying "Oops, I screwed up" (and, since this is ''Higurashi'', presumably dying).}} Actually, the line before that is "Yes, Hinamizawa", which is a reference to ''another'' character song that featured Keiichi (and Mr. Delicious). So, it was probably more of an "Ah crap, wrong lyrics" thing. * ... and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hZyoSjTPfw that song] has it's own [[Last-Note Nightmare]]. It's a silly nonsensical rap mainly consisting of phrases from the anime... {{spoiler\|until Keiichi starts scratching out his throat.}} [[Dead Baby Comedy\|And it's played for laughs.]] ** At the very end, you can hear Keiichi over the phone saying very quietly {{spoiler\|"Please, someone end this case", with the last word being cut off as soon as he says it. Then you hear a quiet scream. It's a goofy scream, but...}} The anime gives us its own soundtrack and the track "Oyashiro Sama". It's already creepy on it's own, but its creepiness has a musical pattern... and then the final note is not what you musically expect, it goes ''lower'' instead of higher and the percussion ''vanishes'' as if it wasn't even there in the first place. Absolutely nightmarish and fits the anime incredibly well. Line 493: * ''[[School Days]]'': ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caZRiXmO5AU Kanashimi no Mukou e]'' is hardly a happy song; it's moody, depressive, almost heartbreaking. But when it's almost over, a very ominous and slightly out-of-place drum music starts playing... and you suddenly get the feeling that something has gone [[Break the Cutie\|very]], [[Murder the Hypotenuse\|very]] wrong. ** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VbCm3iTHbU&feature=channel_video_title This song] is inspired by [[School Days]]. I mean, the song is entitled "Nice Boat." Watch till the ending and be spooked. * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZNvLf4kDh8 Misa's song] from [[Death Note]]. It starts out [[Paranoia Fuel\|slightly]] creepy, then evolves into a [[Heartwarming Moments\|very heart warming song]], only at the end, the piano begins playing ~~[[Last-Note Nightmare\|~~a goosebump inducing minor chord]]. The lyrics also hint at {{spoiler\|Misa's suicide at the end of the series}}. * Every episode of ''[[Ghost Hunt]]'' ends with a last note nightmare. After the slow, eerie ending song, a sudden burst of maniacal piano starts playing, then a voiceover Mai warns us about the next episode. Line 505: ** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cdi_bKjg1U Anakin's Theme] is sweet, soft and innocent except in the last part which [[Foreshadowing\|we hear the notes of the Imperial March]]. * In ''[[Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory]]'', one of the many variations of "Pure Imagination" plays as the boat starts down the chocolate river, then when it enters the psychedelic tunnel, the music appropriately turns ominous. ** Also occurs earlier in the ~~film -- the~~film—the final note of the upbeat "Candyman" is off key. * A milder, but still significant example: At the end of ''[[West Side Story]]'', there is a touching reprise of the song "Somewhere," but just as the scene is ending and the music is calming down, dissonant, deep chords start playing in the background... * The soundtrack to ''[[The Wicker Man]]'' is a great find as it includes all the Celtic folk songs featured in the movie, including the classic round "Sumer Is Icumen In," which is sung by the townsfolk at the film's climax. It takes a turn for the horror however when that track on the album ends with Sargent Howie {{spoiler\|screaming, "Oh, God! Oh, Jesus Christ!" in absolute terror as he sees the wicker man.}} Line 515: * The famous ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' [[Theme Tune]] ends suddenly loud with a jarring chord. * The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhoa7oWPPhk opening theme] for ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'' is a warm, slow and dramatic one. Then as it fades into silence...'''WHAM'''. * After the credits of ''[[Harry Potter and ~~The~~the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)\|Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', Harry says "Mischief Managed... Nox." The map parchment folds and we see the film's title, and the seven iconic notes of the Potter theme. The screen fades to black, an after 20 seconds of silence, Peter Pettigrew's eerie theme can be heard. Sure to scare a few. ** ''The Chamber of Secrets~~<nowiki>~~'~~</nowiki>~~'{{'}} theme ends with no less than ''four'' [[Scare Chord~~\|Scare Chords~~]]s, each when you think that the piece is ending. * The opening to ''[[Star Trek (film)\|Star Trek]]'' (while you watch the [[Vanity Plate~~\|Vanity Plates~~]]s) starts with a warm horn-and-strings combo (a slow variation on the main theme). Roughly 40 seconds in, you see the Bad Robot vanity plate (which is a bit creepy) while the music lets a little dissonance pop in. About 55 seconds in, the music just ''slams'' and cuts ~~off--right~~off—right as the movie begins. * "Furious Angels" by Rob Dougan (from ''[[The Matrix]] Reloaded'') ends with unsettlingly loud and distorted violins. The fact that Rob sounds a lot like Tom Waites doesn't help. * The end credits piece from the ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' soundtrack. It starts out with the epic Island theme, then transitions into a soft, gentle version of the main theme. However, it ends on a rendition of the rather unsettling Raptor theme. Line 524: * "528491" from the ''[[Inception]]'' soundtrack has a 'kick' at the end of the song, followed by the sound of a train. === Live -Action TV ===▼ ▲=== Live Action TV === * ''[[Doctor Who]]'' had this in "The Pandorica Opens", when {{spoiler\|The Doctor is sealed in the pandorica, a beautiful score begins playing and swooping, then the camera zooms out and shows the universe exploding.. And the music suddenly stops... Mid-Note... }} ** Just as {{spoiler\|the Master and the Time Lords disappear back into the Time War}} in ''The End of Time'', and the Tenth Doctor thinks he's somehow managed to avoid his own prophesied demise, we hear four knocks, and the chords played by the strings appropriately fall apart and gliss down with tons of dissonance, mirroring the Doctor's own sinking realization. * Happens in ''[[Lost]]'' a few times, most notably at the end of the episode where Aaron is born. ** ''[[Lost]]'''s soundtrack is full of these. They can be rather jarring when you're listening to an emotional piano piece, only for it to end with some creepy twinkling followed by a loud brass note. * In the ''[[~~MASH\|~~M* A* SH (television)\|MASH]]'' episode "Dear Uncle Abdul", Father Mulcahy tries to compose a rousing, patriotic, "Over There"-style war song; eventually he comes up with something that has one of these downbeat endings, musically and lyrically * BBC's ''[[Sea Monsters]]'' ends with an epic credits theme on each episode... when suddenly the final credits pop up with a loud shocking theme. * The ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDr742MGZJ8 Bub-Bubs]'' music video from the "''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!''" kind of has this more for the video than for the music itself, because {{spoiler\|the part dancing fetuses at the end can be very disturbing, especially since the music already ended at that part, so the only noise being made was from the dancing fetuses and the woman's man dancing in the open womb.}} === Opera / Theatre === Line 548 ⟶ 545: === Software === * The [[Vocaloid]] song "Alice Human Sacrifice" is a rather creepy parody of carnival music - which ends with the music getting slower and slower, and then just one note that is creepily off key. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBgUhO-V__A See what I mean?] And don't forget the Nico Nico Chorus version of "Daughter of Evil". At the song's end, a few bars start to play from the sequel song, "Servant of Evil", until they're brutally cut off by a terrifying, realistic guillotine sound. ''Literal'' [[Last-Note Nightmare]], there. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LciylndQPu8 DYE] by AVTechNO! is at its loudest and busiest near the end, and then the song [[Nothing Is Scarier\|ends abruptly]]. It's not as bad in this upload because of the ending credits, but on the version that can be found on ''[DYE] -synthesis-'', the sudden stop is the last thing you hear on the track. === [[Video Games]] === * ''[[Cave Story]]'''s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrK2S5m5o44 main theme] manages to do this, even though it's used as looping level theme music in the Plantation area. It plays the very upbeat main melody twice in a row, to trick the listener into thinking the entire song's just a 44-second loop. As it starts to play for the third time, a dissonant counter-melody ~~emerges--the~~emerges—the song gets as dark as the [[Retraux]] soundcard lets it, eventually grinding to a halt before restarting. * 111.mp3, "Good Morning" from ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' starts off as a peaceful and upbeat piano tune, then at 1:06 onwards starts to slip. It makes more sense when you consider the place where this song plays in-game... * ''[[Eversion]]'''s World X-8 theme is very creepy and filled with [[Psycho Strings]], but there are no surprises and it's actally quite calm. Then the music slowly fades out... All of a sudden, there's this really loud, startling drum. It's hard to describe, but really creepy. Line 565 ⟶ 561: * ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask]]'': The title demo sequence. It originally shows various scenes of Clock Town and its inhabitants, with a peaceful-sounding rendition of the Clock Town theme playing in the background. But at the last 30 seconds, the scene shifts toward the Skull Kid and the falling moon in the night sky, and at this point the Clock Town theme starts to blend into the ominous theme of the Skull Kid, before transforming into it completely. A definite change from the simplistic yet cheery demo of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time\|Ocarina of Time]]'' (the previous N64 Zelda title), reflecting this game's comparatively darker atmosphere. ** Even worse is this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6NPqt2866E&feature=related remix] of the Final Hours theme, which takes an already Nightmarish piece and, somehow, turns into [[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)\|Awesome Music]]. Despite that, it does revert back to its hellish origins during its last few moments, wherein the music ([[Hell Is That Noise\|and the Clock Tower bell in the background]]) suddenly shifts into grainy, distorted feedback, then gradually grind to a halt, simulating the moons imminent impact with Termina. * ''[[~~Earthbound~~EarthBound]]'''s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4z82byt5mA "Pokey Means Business"]/ Sounds like a fairly epic 8-bit final boss music, and then... * From ''[[Mother 3]]'', we have Tazmily Village's two themes from Chapter 4: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOIej1AMqIQ "A Railway Through Our Village?"] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-P1HnqR8wE "Happy Town?"]. Their final notes really capture the [[Uncanny Atmosphere]] the village now has... * ''[[Animal Crossing]] Wild World'': One of the many songs you can play in your house is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F3PyZTpJb0 "K.K. Lullaby"] which is basically what it sounds like - a calm music box tune. The version you hear sung in the coffee shop is normal, but then when you bring the CD home it's a case of Last Note Nightmare; the song goes for about 2 minutes before suddenly devolving into four screechy notes and then abruptly cuts off. Then starts looping the pretty music box tune again like nothing happened. Line 579 ⟶ 575: * ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' has final boss theme, which last note is similiar to trope [[Hell Is That Noise]]. * [[IOSYS]]'s (the fellows who brought you "Marisa Stole The Precious Thing") [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ia38dvaZuQ "Blue Cirno"] is an extremely jovial song that sounds like a mix of upbeat Latin music and happy Christmas music. That is, until it ends off with a Last Note Nightmare that makes people think their souls are being sucked out. Speaking of ''[[Touhou]]'', two particular remixes of "U.N. Owen Was Her?" included (1) gradually overlapping lines followed by a somewhat sudden cutoff of the voices, with the music slowing down to normal after the overlapping voices have been building to a more and more frenetic pace, and (2) putting in an increasingly less subtle creepy laugh. Then you remember that this is [[Tyke Bomb\|Flandre's ]][[Creepy Child\|theme...]] "Marisa Stole The Precious Thing" also features a nasty bit near the end, where the song pauses for a moment so loud static can be played. It's all technopopping along and suddenly DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. ** [[The Enigma of Amigara Fault\|DRR you say?]] Line 610 ⟶ 606: * The last few seconds of "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l26RYMtD6U Alexander's Suicide]" in ''[[King's Quest VI Heir Today Gone Tomorrow]]''. It gets coupled up with [[Heartbeat Soundtrack]], as it is incurred by {{spoiler\|Alex}}'s heartbeat slowing down to a stop {{spoiler\|via "Drink Me" potion}}. * In [[The Path]], "forest theme" sounds perfectly soothing and calm in-game. But when you listen to it in the soundtrack, the last two minutes end with a rasping screeching echoey voice screaming repeatedly "and I will eat you!" for the rest of the track without any music playing. Also the in-game version of "the girl in red" ends with a disconcerting staticy scream overtake the whole song. === [[Web Comics]] === * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140219030505/http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/let-the-squiddles-sleep-end-theme "Let The Squiddles Sleep (End Theme)"], from the "Squiddles!" album, a collection of songs meant to be the soundtrack to [[Show Within a Show\|a made-up kid's TV show]] that exists in the ''[[Homestuck]]'' universe. Listening to it after the rest of the [[Tastes Like Diabetes\|sickeningly adorable songs]] multiplies the effect to [[Serial Escalation]] levels. And yet it somehow becomes [[It Got Worse\|even worse]] when used for the [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004748 "Jade: Wake Up"] Flash update. From Volume 5 of the music for Homestuck itself, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130922015458/http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/savior-of-the-waking-world Savior of the Waking World] plays like a grand, orchestrated version of the theme for the Land of Wind and Shade. Even if not totally upbeat, it's at least somewhat hopeful sounding, especially with the title. And the song gets to its end, the melody becomes the same as the original song, except heavily distorted by static, and it fades into nothing as a deep gong sounds three times. While not whiplash-tastic, Midnight Calliope from the Alterniabound soundtrack (also used in one of the flashes) may also qualify for this, as what starts out as a vaguely-spooky carnival tune descends into a low, menacing drone. And just as the track fades out... HONK. Also on Alterniabound, the track "Killed by [[BR 8 K]] Spider!!!!!!!!" is an awesome-sounding tune that gives a healthy serving of Vriska's cocky badassery. However at around twenty seconds from the end the notes turn sharp, the guitar playing gets sloppy, the tempo slows, and it ends with one last, faltering note that echoes into silence. Given the title of the song, Vriska's current plan in-story, and Hussie's tendency to use music with sudden stops and tone-switches during {{spoiler\|character death sequences,}} this does not bode well. *** {{spoiler\|Indeed it does not...}} * The ''[[VG Cats]]'' comic [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=275 "A Magical Wonderland".] Taken [[Up to Eleven]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHHoFcZ-iaA here] (6:08) === [[Web Original]] === * From ''[[~~Doctor~~Dr. ~~Horribles~~Horrible's Sing -Along Blog]]'', the ending of {{spoiler\|"Everything you Ever"}} goes from {{spoiler\|bold and triumphant to [[Tear Jerker]].}} [[Gainax Ending\|And then it ends]]. * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqToFk7ZYEM Slender Man's rendition of "Still Alive"] from [[Portal (series)\|Portal]]. He sings the last bit normally, going: {{quote\|And believe me I am still alive. Line 634 ⟶ 628: The very last "STILL ALIVE" gives the impression that he's right behind you. Nico Nico Douga's first medley. Everything is fast, upbeat, and happy, but then a little bit of silence, and following that is a '''very''' off-key, '''very''' off-beat, 8-bit rendition of Sakura Sakura. * The ending of ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140218161213/http://tarbyrocks.bandcamp.com/album/something-broke-the-continuing-tale-of-pinkie-pie-ponycide Something Broke]'' (a fan-made rock opera based on ''[[Cupcakes]]''). A mellow reprise of the "All is Normal" section suddenly becomes {{spoiler\|"[[Ironic Echo\|HELP ME CHASE AWAY MY FEARS!!!]]"}} painfully screamed over a series of loud, dissonant [[Scare Chord\|scare chords]] before cutting off abruptly after the fourth "my". * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C_HReR_McQ Dont Hug Me I'm Scared]. The worst part is not the sudden switch in the animation (though that is just as terrifying), but the continuous, soul crushing minor chord that somehow carries with you for several days where ever you go... * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vPRu1bR5fc This protest video] against BP's greenwashing at the 2012 Olympics. The music starts out with peaceful piano, but when the BP cyclist shows his true colors and starts turning the environment into a [[Crapsack World]], the music changes to a dark [[Industrial]] tune accompanied by dissonant 8-bit-style jingles reminiscent of "game over" music. === [[Western Animation]] === Line 652 ⟶ 645: * The song "A Girl Worth Fighting For" from ''[[Mulan]]'' is a rather optimistic ditty sung by the soldiers during their march across the Chinese countryside about how they're trying ''not'' to go to war. The song ends with said soldiers arriving at the mountain village they're supposed to protect from the Huns, {{spoiler\|only to find out that said village was already burned to the ground}}. * Happens at the end of the closing sequence in [[The Flintstones]], just after the "WIIIIIIIILLLLLLMAAAAAAAAAA", while Fred continues to pound the door. * A "three note nightmare" happens in [[Jem]]. It occurs right after the end of the PSA's,<ref> "Doing the right thing makes you a superstar"</ref>, and before the "JEM!" at the end. * "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiytkIXTkAo The 'O' Song]", an old animation from ''[[Sesame Street]]'', ends with one of these. * [[Rupert Bear\|''Rupert and the Frog Song'']], which is a cartoon about a little bear cub and several cute singing frogs, actually ends with [[Owl Be Damned\|a demonic-looking owl]] swooping down and scaring away all of the singing frogs. Line 659 ⟶ 652: * The short version Season 1 theme for ''[[Young Justice (animation)\|Young Justice]]'' was a triumphant and brash brass-led flourish. The Season 2 theme is the same until it suddenly switches to a somber dirge for the [[Title In]] of the "Invasion" subtitle. === Other Media ===▼ ▲=== Other === * At the end of his "Guitar Fever" review, Ashens puts a monstrous sound of 8-bit terror. It's actually [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbgHr_9-7E code for a ZX Spectrum computer], so he didn't put it there to be mean. * Maybe this doesn't count as a last note, but look on [[YouTube]] for video people have taken of the US analog TV switchoff. It's just creepy, as most of them went from everything as normal, to static. As if all of civilization had just suddenly collapsed. ** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTUDSG8L5Jw Goodbye.]* tsssssssss[[Nothing Is Scarier\|sssssssssssssh* ]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OK3qDWxAjQ&feature=related#movie_player Can we make a] [[Incredibly Lame Pun\|lame pun]] without mentioning [[Metallica\|"Fade To Black"]] here? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CI-TWWrwLg&NR=1 "Let's flip the switch right now--] <big>[[Killed Mid-Sentence\|WHAM]]</big> Line 671 ⟶ 663: * The [[Blue Öyster Cult\|Blue Oyster Cult]] use this with telling effect on the LP ''Secret Treaties'', where eight progressively sinister and moody tracks (ranging from the Lovecraftian ''Astronomy'' and ''[[Sub Human]]'', through the suspected paedophilia of ''Dominance and Submission'' and the teen-on-the-edge-of-going-Columbine ''Cagey Cretin'') are linked with keyboard effects made to sound like a nursery room music box - together with distortion... * The "Blue Mountain" Paramount TV logo (which was first used in a later version of the "Closet Killer" logo) {{quote\|"DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA, DA-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"<ref> Although in some versions, a harp glissando plays, making less of a nightmare than usual.</ref>}} * The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txln02o16DQ Morgan Creek DVD] logo. {{reflist}} [[Category:~~Last-Note Nightmare~~{{PAGENAME}}]]▼ [[Category:Music Tropes]] ▲[[Category:Last-Note Nightmare]]