Last-Note Nightmare: Difference between revisions
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{{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 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 ==
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** 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 [[
** 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!]]"
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* 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 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".
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* 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 Chamber of Secrets
* The opening to ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' (while you watch the [[Vanity Plate]]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 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.
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* "528491" from the ''[[Inception]]'' soundtrack has a 'kick' at the end of the song, followed by the sound of a train.
▲=== 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 ''[[
* 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.
=== Opera / Theatre ===
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** 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]] ===
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* ''[[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.
* ''[[
* 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.
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* 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 ''[[
* [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.
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** 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]] ===
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* 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.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Music Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Last-Note Nightmare]]
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