Last-Note Nightmare: Difference between revisions

 

== Pop ==

** The singles "Dirty Diana" and the much more well-known "Smooth Criminal" begin with similar noises. The video for the former ends with the same noise, which acts as a very effective soundtrack to the video's [[Downer Ending]].

** "Stranger In Moscow", a slow, moody ballad, ends with a man whispering menacingly in Russian over the end. Chills right up the spine. Allegedly this is a KGB agent interrogating us, but ''why'' is he whispering? ''Why???''

* Inverted with the extended mix of Simple Minds song "Jungleland". It starts out with heavy breathing, with starts getting louder, and louder, AND LOUDER! The rest of the song is just awesome though.

* "Somehow" by Drake Bell is ostensibly about a battered wife who eventually decides she's had enough, weighs her husband down and throws him into the lake, and is now pondering how to cover it all up. This is creepy enough, but the slow, dark, acoustic guitar-y song ends with a snippet off cheerful piano music, which suggested that the woman snapped entirely and is now in a state of cheerful, giggling insanity.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi9sLkyhhlE "Spinning Wheel"] by Blood, Sweat and Tears is a fairly mellow jazz-rock fusion song, often used as an example of the genre. However, after the lyrics end comes a Last Note Nightmare that spans a ''quarter'' of the song. The music continues repetitively, but is interrupted - twice - by some frankly demented carnival music. On the third interruption, the carnival music mixes with the "normal" music and slowly overwhelms it before grinding to a halt (at which point the band members can be heard chuckling and admitting that "That wasn't too good.") Can also lead to [[Fridge Brilliance]] if one only then realizes that the 'spinning wheel' is {{spoiler|a merry-go-round. Duh}}.

* Dave "Not The One From Eurythmics" Stewart and Barbara Gaskin have two notable examples.

 

== Rock ==

** Upon hearing it on take 7 of the song (from volume 2 of ''Anthology''), John says "I'm very bored" twice.

** The best (or worst?) example would have to be from their White Album song "Long Long Long." It ''really'' doesn't help that the song itself is played at a lethargic pace that makes it seem as though it's slightly disconnected from the real world in the first place...

* The [[Rolling Stones]]' "She's A Rainbow" has a good driving beat, Mick sings the praises of a girl who dresses up in colors, underlined with a cheerfully inane 'la la la' chorus, he alternates verses with a sprightly Baroque piano playing the tune...then it ends with strings in a shrill chittering discord with a low-end chord of doom under it bursting through everything else! Gives me chills to this day.

** "Cool, Calm, and Collected" on their "Between the Buttons" album has a jolly, jaunty music-hall vibe to it - then after the last verse, the beat starts quickening, slowly at first, getting more and more reckless as the piano gets more and more frantic, until it all collapses into a big reverberating noise.

** With ''Release'', around the six-minute mark, the song segues into a reprise of the album's cacophonic intro.

* The CD release of Patti Smith's ''Horses'' ends with a cover of "My Generation." It's loud, all right, but it appears to stop... only to end on a note a good twenty decibels louder than anything else on the album.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a82arE0JSQ "The Bewlay Brothers"] by [[David Bowie]], starting at 4:09.

** The cacophonic ending of "Space Oddity".

** "They come here every night...I see them, don't you see them? Hm, that's ''odd'', isn't it? You seem tired...winding down...''YOU HAVE TO GO NOW IT'S BEDTIME''"

*** "[[Creepy Child|Steven...]]"

* 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''.

** Also, "Wild Thing" on ''Jimi Plays Monterey''. The song ends with Hendrix setting his guitar on fire and smashing it to pieces - cue howl of feedback as the bits o' Strat burn merrily. Eventually it fades out and goes quiet for a few seconds... and then just when you start relaxing there's a last, impossibly loud shriek as (presumably) someone unplugs what's left of the guitar.

* "Mystic Rhythms" by Rush. A final deep, long, eerie synthesizer note can be heard right at the very end of the song. Chilling.

* Subverted by ''Lucifer'' by The Alan Parsons Project, which begins with a nightmarish sounding string ditty, followed by rapid morse code. Then the song fades I to a typical APP instrumental.

* "Nights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues ends with a series of ominous string and brass chords, followed by a loud gong. The album version also includes keyboardist Mike Pinder reading a short, somewhat eerie poem by drummer Graeme Edge near the end of the song.

** Makes sense in context, although the context is often lost these days. The song and poem was originally the final track on the ''Days of Future Passed'' album, and the ending serves as a coda to the entire album. Since only a couple of songs from the album receive any significant airplay now, most people don't know about this.

** Don't forget "Man-Erg"! Probably ''the'' example of a [[Vd GG]] song that exemplifies this trope more than any other - starts with a calm, soothing simple piano & organ progression, that suddenly descends into honking cacophonous Saxophone blasts, with Hammil shrieking "HOW CAN I BE FREE? HOW CAN I GET HELP? AM I REALLY ME, OR AM I SOMEONE ELSE??". It soon abruptly changes back to the simple piano, not before long doing pretty much the same thing again. "Lemmings" from the same album (''Pawn Hearts'') is similar, to a lesser degree. And "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers"?, well...

** From the same album, the track "After The Flood", after veering from pastoral reflection to skronky jazz-rock, climaxes with Peter Hammill screaming 'Total Annihilatiiiiiiioooooooooon!' through a [[Doctor Who|Dalek]] voice filter. Beyond nightmarish.

* The Fall of Troy's song "Chapter V: The Walls Bled Lust" consists of [[Epic Rocking]] for approximately the first five minutes. Then the instruments start playing without any rhythm at all, then the music completely cuts out except for some guitar feedback, then you get a ridiculously exaggerated breakdown where every third note is so high it literally brings pain to your ears.

* "Radio" by the Dutch group Supersister is a classic bait-and-switch. The first half is a disarmingly cute and upbeat piano/celeste pop tune with soft, low-key vocals. Then it shifts gears suddenly and transforms into a frantic circus music section comprised of discordant fuzz-organ chords and wordless baritone choral singing over which flute player Sacha van Geest narrates a surrealistic tale.

* "Abandoner" by Steven Wilson. A mellow (if not exactly cheerful) ballad ending in a series of dissonant chords.

** "Get All You Deserve" ends similarly. In the album booklet, Wilson is credited with "vocals, piano, electric guitars, mellotron, glockenspiel, bass, [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|total]] [[Precision F-Strike|fucking]] [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|noise.]]"

** 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.

* 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.

* "November Rain" from [[Guns N' Roses]] has one of these, and it's also made worse by the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbUC-UaAxE&ob=av3e music video], but in more of a [[Tear Jerker]] way then a scary way.

 

== Metal / Alt-Metal ==

* The last second of [[Slipknot]]'s "Disasterpiece". The song ends with the sound of a telephone receiver being hooked up...which implies that Corey Taylor had spent the last five minutes screaming the lyrics down the phone line. It's either oddly hilarious, rather creepy, or the crowning moment of [[Narm]]. [[Your Mileage May Vary]].

** "The Memory Remains" has a creepy old-lady voice singing wordlessly over the music, which cuts out at the end as the old lady sings "ladadada-dada, ladada-dadada over and over while everything else is completely silent...''*shudder*''

*** Worse still, as that sequence ends, you hear another voice say "Say yes, at least say hello" over it. TWICE.

{{quote| "''Look in my face / Stare into my soul / I begin to stupify...''<br />

'''RAAAH!!'''." }}

** ''Enough'' follows a standard progression (opening verse, chorus, second verse, chorus, bridge etc.) and appears to fade out with the tune it'd been following: fast drum beat and bass/guitar riff ending in a power chord. Until at the last second after fully quieting down, the band threw the power chord in at full volume, then an abrupt end. Even when expected this one isn't easy to go unnerved to.

* Subverted by Blaze Bayley's tune "Waiting For My Life Begin", which begins with an alarm clock and then segues into a metal tune.

** 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. .

** 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!]]"

* [[X Japan]]'s "Jade". It's a loud song to begin with, but the chorus is quite uplifting and melodious, and at the end it sounds like it's going to fade out gently. And then the guitars come crashing back in and Toshi goes for a giant ''screeching'' high note. Yikes.

* The song "Disgustipated", on Tool's ''Undertow'' has an extended version of this. After about 10 minutes of nothing but chirping crickets, a recorded message that may or may not be about a serial killer plays, cutting off just before the end. Said message was alleged to have been [[Throw It In|left on the band's answering machine]] by someone called 'Bill the Landlord'. Let the speculation commence.

** "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.

* On the subject of first note nightmares, grindcore band Pig Destroyer have a lovely little song called "Towering Flesh". The whole song is heavy, but the instantaneous, ear-splitting scream in the first second will seriously scare the shit out of you if you accidentally have the volume up full. In fact the same song has a last note nightmare about halfway through. Things become calmer and the singer is no longer screaming and is singing in an echoed lullaby tone. "Her lips are wet with venom. Her posture serpentine. She touched my arm and flowers grow, they're hideous and OBSCEEEEEEEEEEENE."

** Not to mention the album's intro. First track is about a minute of quiet echoing footsteps ending in a sudden inhumane scream, which abruptly opens the next track. Pig Destroyer's music is mostly like this, there are many examples, among which the end of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmJVXFA9cQQ Hyperviolet] (which bleeds away into a wailing siren-like drone), but their creepiest closing ever has to be the end of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koWAEe-B4FM Piss Angel], where a computer-generated voice recites a disturbing story about two girls, and an extremely distorted woman voice starts to sing (but not on tune with the already creepy music, it also sounds like she's crying while singing).

* "VITRIOL" by Eths. A few seconds after the song fades out, a woman starts screaming.

** Happens again in "Samantha". And "Bulemiarexia" ends with the sound of someone being violently sick. Eths like this trope.

* "Event Horizon" by [[Stratovarius]] combines this with [[Talky Bookends]]— alarms go off as an automated voice warns about approaching a black hole, and in the end, the last seconds before entering the event horizon itself are counted.

* [[Opeth]]'s "Burden" ends with a mellow acoustic guitar outro, during which, {{spoiler|the guitar slowly '''untunes'''}} and then you hear {{spoiler|a looped laughter which transforms into some mechanical knocking}}, which finishes the song. "Black Rose Immortal" also shows a very good example by ending with a whisper ''"At night I always dream of you..."'' after which there is a {{spoiler|'''EEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH''' growl and scary echoing riffs which then dissolve.}}

** The iTunes version cuts the sing off at the last piano note, as does the live version.

** 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.)

== Punk / Alternative / Indie ==

* "Pink Flag" by the late-70s punk/post-punk group Wire actually has two Last Note Nightmares. After about three minutes of a song that's already a bit morose, the band erupts into a painful minute-long cacophony highlighted by repeated screams of "How many?" Then, just when you think it's over, there's one more stinger.

*** "Indirect Enquiries" on ''154'' takes this to the border of [[Narm]]. "You've been defaced..."

** See also Dome and Colin Newman.

** Playground Twist is already a pretty scary song, but this is [[Captain Obvious|Siouxsie and the Banshees for cryin' out loud!]]. However, the song ends with the sound of children in a playground as the rest of the song fades out. The B-side of the single is called "Pulled to Bits", which is easily one of the most wrong things ever recorded has this looped throughout the whole. Friggin. Song.

* "L.A. Blues", the closing number from [[The Stooges]] 1970 classic ''Fun House'', consists of screeching guitar and saxophone and [[Iggy Pop]] screaming unintelligibly like a madman. Ironically, the most eerie part is in the last couple of seconds with Iggy mumbling over a brief feedback loop.

** The song "Vices" from the album "Daisy" is a perfect example. It starts out with an old hymnal sung by a soft female voice. The vocals trail off and seconds later you're hit with wailing guitars and screaming lyrics for the remainder of the track. (The album closes with the rest of that hymn).

* A few seconds after pop-punk band Goldfinger's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko8SDv0CsiM cover] of the [[Cold War]] anthem "99 Red Balloons" seems to fade out at the end (at about 3:28 to be exact), a man with a deep, eerie voice can be heard saying [[Nightmare Fuel|"Goodnight children, everywhere."]]

** Someone commenting on the video above noted that, at the 2:10 mark, it sounds like the woman says "Bundy," making the song that much creepier...

** Same could be said of the last minutes of "Space Dementia" and (much, much more so) "Megalomania" on one of their earlier albums. "Megalomania"... The circus-style keyboard line could not possibly be any more sinister, and just when you think "Space" is over, it kicks back in with this monstrous, threatening coda. Still, "Megalomania" is the best closing song on any of their albums, by far. Even the first chorus transition is tremendously startling.

** Their early B Side "Host" starts off with some creepy ringing chords and a generally eerie feel, and moves into mid tempo minor chord ballad feel. After its bridge, the tone of the song suddenly shifts into speed metal at around 45 seconds from the end. This is guaranteed to shock people hearing it for the first time, though it is an extremely satisfying solo.

** "Razorblade" by the same band ends with about twenty seconds of increasingly-desperate yelling over demonic distorted screaming and heavy breathing, which then cuts off rather abruptly. It's not particularly jarring in context, though, because the song is ''made'' of [[Nightmare Fuel]].

* The transition between "Falls Apart" and "Forever" on Hurt's Vol. 1 album. "Falls Apart" is a pretty standard rock song, but at the very end the song ends suddenly, and is instantly replaced by static, which leads into the next song.

** Played more straight with the [[B Side]] "Alcohol", a gentle, slightly eerie folk song that ends with about a minute of tribal drumming and harsh feedback. And while "Fume" is a bit noisy and queasy-sounding to begin with, it's sudden mock-death-metal coda is pretty jarring.

* Modest Mouse's song "Parting of the Sensory" ends with what sounds like someone trying to spit something up.

** In the official songbook, Amanda has scribbled "saddest note in the world" with an arrow pointing to the final note.

** Similarly, "The Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner" is obviously not a happy song, but it is fast paced and intense. The natural ending of the song is followed by crashing drums and a scream, after which there's a little "dun dun dun" on the keyboard.

** That leads into [[Epileptic Trees|epic]] [[Fridge Brilliance]] - the song is actually about {{spoiler|a rapist and a little girl}}.

** On Panic! At the Disco's earlier album, ''A Fever You Can't Sweat Out'', there is the track "Intermission". It begins with some techno music, which abruptly cuts into static, and a voice akin to a radio announcer telling that due to uncontrolled circumstances, the dance music would have to be replaced with a piano song. Pretty normal, as the piano keeps playing. Toward the end, however, the music begins to break down, and become rather loud and very discordant, and quite a bit unsettling.

* "Brighter Day", the last tune on the Jellyfish album ''Spilt Milk'', has a tuneful, circus-like atmosphere reminiscent of an oompah band, until {{spoiler|it breaks down into a Parisian-sounding, carousel-like melody on flutes, followed by accordions and strings, followed by a raucous, dissonant, nightmarish jumble of ringing telephones, crashing drums and cymbals, orchestral cacophony, and sound effects. It leads to an ominous high drone of arco strings (similar to that which begins the album) and outdoor noises, like birds twittering, cars passing by and dogs barking. It seems like you can verrrrry faintly hear near-inaudible female whispering, too. Sounds like waking up from a dream, which is appropriate as the first song is a lullabye.}}

* [[Starflyer 59]]'s "First Heart Attack", the final track on the album ''Old'', is an indie rock song with a space-prog guitar solo in the bridge; then the final chorus is followed by 15 seconds of a drum simulating a heartbeat, while an audio clip of a doctor operating plays over it. ''"How's the blood pressure?" "Not good... falling."'' (If you listen closely, you can hear one of the musicians say "Stop," just as the track ends.)

** Made even more stinging once you realize that the fading main guitar sounds like a typical hospital heart machine flat-lining. Of course, as mentioned above, the story going with the song's liner notes proves that this is because {{spoiler|Joe accidentally blew himself off the top of the radio tower after he placed the explosives at the end of his heroic climb.}}

* "I Was Meant For The Stage" by [[The Decemberists]] begins pleasantly enough, with an upbeat tune, and sweet, if a little depressing, lyrics...and then at about 5:37, the tune starts becoming more and more dissonant, and it gets worse and worse and worse until you're left wondering why the hell you decided to listen to this song at 1 in them morning.

* The 30-minute piece "Bayreuth Return" from Klaus Schulze's ''Timewind'' album speeds up slightly for the final few minutes, then finally, an explosion abruptly ends the piece.

** 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.

* [[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.

* Portishead's ''Third'': the ending track, "Threads." The whole song is already a nightmare, but if the end of the world doesn't sound like the blasts of noise at the end of the song, I'm going to be disappointed.

** Inverted with a later track on the same album, "We Carry On". Weird oscillating, then the conga-ish beat starts.

* The Black Bag Project's "Electric Swine" does this. The song itself is horrifiyng enough, and then you get to the last minute or so, where it disintegrates into hollow-sounding echoing harmonics and faint laughing, with unsettling chords playing... Needless to say, it really isn't something to listen to at night.

* The 1981 album ''Claro que si'' by the band [[Yello]] featured a hypnotizing instrumental track "Take It All". At the end, while the song was slowly fading away, a strange noise was growing in the background, kind of a nonsensical robot rambling, really creepy as if a weird and unpredictable robot was closing on to the listener. This immediately segued into the next song, "The Evening's Young", with the robot voice still around. A few second into the song, the robot voice started coughing and shut up.

* After the first movement of the long (28-minute) version of Orbital's "The Box", it delves into horror territory, with creaking noises, dissonant guitars and piano, ominous harpsichord, etc.

** The Diversions remix of "Impact (The Earth is Burning)" starts out mostly the same as the original, but then halfway through, an ominous buzzing 303 riff takes over the melody, emphasizing the "the earth is burning" subtitle.

** Not the first time they've done this, either. Their track [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AbtwUpURB0 "Short Circuit"] has an extended Last Note Nightmare too.

** And less than some of the other examples here, but the last note of the light & happy One More Time is [[For Doom the Bell Tolls]]. Somehow, it's put there as the song ending upruptly in the music video would be stupid.

* Vladislav Delay's album-length piece "Anima" starts with a conversation: "Danny, are you awake yet?" "No, are you"? before slipping into 60 minutes of ambiance and random, sometimes scary synthesizer noises, which finally ends with a splash and the words "I may never go to sleep again, I might stay awake forever". Try listening to it in the dark.

* [[Patrick Wolf]]'s "Wolf Song" is a folk song performed with traditional acoustic instruments. The last chord, however (together with a wolf-like howl), is digitally mutilated to be a glitchy stutter. Someone who doesn't know Mr. Wolf's other work might think there's a playback error.

** Then there's the song right after "Reise, Reise", called "Mein Teil", which starts loudly and suddenly after "Reise, Reise" ends, being a last-note AND first-note nightmare at the same time.

* [[Nine Inch Nails]]' "Hurt" is a quiet, melancholy song that morphs into a strangely uplifting ballad...then looks like it's going to taper off quietly. Instead, the last line is accompanied by a crashing, detuned guitar. It fades out for over a minute, followed by an ominous wind/static sound (on the album version).

* "Stepfather Factory" by El-P is a song which is highly unsettling and depressing in itself all about domestic abuse. It only gets worse when all you hear at the end is silence and a robotic, [[Creepy Monotone]] voice repeating over and over, "Why are you making me hurt you? I love you. Why are you making me hurt you? I love you."

* "M1 A1" by [[Gorillaz]] is a strange reverse example. The song starts out with a brief clip of a heartbeat, followed by weird, dissonant tones and a creepy-sounding, crescendoing baseline while an echoing voice repeatedly (and increasingly desperately) shouts "Hello? Is anyone there?", sampled from ''Day of the Dead'', but after the first minute and a half or so, the song transitions into something more conventional and upbeat in sound.

* ''Slenderman: The Album'' is already full of pretty creepy instrumental hip-hop, but two tracks, "Fighting Back" and "The Library is Flooded", stand out the most. The former is a much more upbeat, triumphant rock-style song than the rest of the album, but near the end, switches to a minor key and then finally slows down into distorted, low-pitched noise before an equally-distorted voice mumles something about "dark forces". In the latter, the song seems to end about halfway through before returning with distorted, frantic drums and threatening bursts of static and distortion.

* [[Imogen Heap]] ends ''and'' begins "Leave Me To Love" with some heavy screeching.

* The [[Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band]] number "Slush" is a variant on this. Another gentle instrumental, it is interrupted about halfway through by a manic laugh. This laugh then repeats at precise intervals for the rest of the tune to the fade-out, and beyond...and beyond...and BEYOND. Genuinely un-nerving.

** They also had "11 Mustachioed Daughters", rather unnerving all the way through, but ending with some...extremely creepy dialogue accompanied by instrumentals, creepy because it's just so strange and leaves you the impression something's really seriously ''wrong'' with the talkers. "Worship for [[Satan]]! ''(giggle)'' Glad that's over with..." "I don't remember too good, but I think [[John Wayne]] is here." "Oh yeah?" "I don't remember too good, but I think John Wayne is here." "Oh no." "I don't remember too good, but I think John Wayne is here..." "Oh my..."

* "Kingdom in the Sky" by Da Vinci's Notebook ends with the guys' harmonies breaking down terribly on the final "sky" lyric, some late, some early, some just too high for their normal singing range... the lead tenor sing-says quickly at the end "We'll redo that ending."

* While it's got a little bit of a creepy undercurrent throughout, Mr. Bungle's "Pink Cigarette" is an uncharacteristically pretty, doo-wop influenced ballad... then, as it seems to be winding up to a climax, the beep of a heart monitor creeps into the mix, and the song gets abruptly cut off by said heart monitor flat-lining. Of course, the lyrics seem to be a husband's suicide note to his cheating wife, so...

** Mr. Bungle's music being nightmarish as is, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GalDgSwQrBY After School Special] is an only somewhat eerie song about a kid talking about his abusive parents. The track ends with a horrifying metallic rustling sound and a distorted mutant child-like voice giggling repeatedly saying "Stop tickling me" and then "Why are you touching me?"

* [[William Shatner]] yelling "Mister Tambourine MAAAAAAAAAAAN" at the end of his cover of that song.

 

** The track "Honeymoon with Anxiety" (Fuan to no Mitsugetsu) from the ''End of Evangelion'' soundtrack is a cool bit of music that ends with an unsettling... violin... thing.

** And then from Rebuild 2.0, there's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a_Rv3zzdKw Kyou no Hi wa Sayounara] (Farewell for Today). You know, that wonderfully sweet little song that was playing {{spoiler|[[Soundtrack Dissonance|when EVA 01 ripped 03 apart with Asuka inside while Shinji begged his father to turn off the Dummy System.]]}} It's wonderful and sweet, but on the soundtrack, we get a weird little... thing at the end, which consists of a somewhat distorted repeat of part of the song... which then gets some absolutely chilling violin chords and echo effects.

** 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.

* Russia's version of [[Axis Powers Hetalia|Marukaite Chikyuu]] appropriately has the character singing the chorus cute as anything until his "Kolkolkol" chant comes out of nowhere, and then ''just goes right back into being cute again'' before you have the chance to process the horror of what you just heard. It also didn't help this was the first time the fans actually ''heard'' the chant.

** Then of course, there's the part where his voice dips to a deeper, not-so-much-cute-as-menacing tone as the end of the third repetition of the chorus.

** Then there's the ending of his character song Winter, where there's chanting for the last roughly 40 seconds, and grows louder when the music itself ends. His Hatafutte Parade starts to be this trope too with some surreal echoing, but he stops and screams about Belarus at the last second, acting as [[Nightmare Retardant]].

 

 

== Film ==

** Repeated with ''[[Alien vs. Predator]] Requiem''.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhEhuixplXs Something similar] happens in ''[[Speed 2 Cruise Control]]''.

* "The Hunt Builds" from the soundtrack to ''Bram Stoker's Dracula''. Not only does it end with 4 scare chords, sad music can simultaneously be heard playing as well.

* The famous ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' [[Theme Tune]] ends suddenly loud with a jarring chord.

* After the credits of ''[[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' Theme ends with no less than 4 [[Scare Chord|Scare Chords]], each when you think that the piece is ending.

* "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.

* The song "Three-Five-Zero-Zero" from the musical ''[[Hair]]'' is a Last/First VERSE Nightmare, combined with [[Lyrical Dissonance]]. It begins with a melancholy and gory description of war-wounds, switches to an upbeat tune about "beginning to kill", then reprises the first verse.

* The last number from ''[[A Chorus Line]]'', "One", is a [[Sarcasm Mode|joyful and optimistic song throughout]], but the final four shrieks of the word "one" over a ''terrifying'' major chord take the cake.

 

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* 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.

* ''[[Spelunky]]'' has the moderately cheerful background music trick you into thinking it's just an endless loop like the title and boss music. Then, at the 2 minute mark, the music plays backwards for a second or two and then proceeds to play normally again, except that it's much lower, much slower, and bizarrely warped. You WILL jump five feet into the air the first time you hear it. With such an utterly bizarre warning music, it makes you wonder why they need an ultimate invincible enemy coming in at 2:30 to encourage you to hurry up.

* The song from the End Credits of ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' springs to mind. As the song starts, it's a pleasant recap of how village life used to be when everything was pleasant. . . . . And then the Plagas show up . . .

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ofFFio-Y_g You mean this one.] Oddly enough, while most of the [[Game Over]] themes (in general) are horror, this one [[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)|starts off pretty well]], regardless of how melancholy it is.

** 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.

** A certain note from the normally calm and quiet song that plays at 11 PM in the original (''Wild World'' for the DS and ''City Folk'' for the Wii use a different soundtrack) has a similar effect, as well as the unexpected (during the first time hearing it) and bizarre sneezing sound effect in K.K. Cruisin' (though the latter [[Your Mileage May Vary|doesn't have this effect for everyone]]).

* ''[[Pac-Man World]] 2'' features a boss fight called "Pinky's Revenge." The BGM starts out as a very upbeat piece meant to evoke happy feelings about the [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World|snowy surroundings]] ... but then a dissonant chord strikes, followed by a couple more ... then it gets back into the happy groove again. But at 0:53, it totally breaks down, with blaring [[Psycho Strings]] and sudden hard percussion as the whole thing turns absolutely horrifying. It gets a little [[Narm]]-y when it starts using [[Stock Sound Effect]] muted-trumpet hits later on, but overall it's quite scary.

** It also starts with that same whistle; the ending is the first few seconds of the song, slowly fading out.

** The lyrics are actually an attempt at Latin, [[Canis Latinicus|not done all that well]]. They're something about "lighting a torch in this darkest of hours."

* [[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...]]

** Similarly, "Roll Call" begins with a triumphant remake of the Halo title theme, followed by a medley of "Farthest Outpost" and "Under Cover of Night", but the last movement is a sad piano and strings tune, similar to the [[Easter Egg]] music "Siege of Madrigal". Apparently to underscore Master Chief's absence from the "roll call", and his presumed death.

** Then last, but not least, there's "Legend", the Legendary bonus cutscene music, which starts off the a peaceful drifting music similar to the opening scene, transitioning into [[Psycho Strings]] before abruptly ending with this.

* Tsukiko Amano's "ZERO no Chouritsu" from ''[[Fatal Frame]] 4'' does this. It opens with a gorgeous piano solo, then it goes into awesome Amano rock. Then it makes out like it's going to end on a repeat of the piano solo...before playing a sudden crashing jumble of notes.

** Not to forget halfway through, after a quiet bit, you hear GLADOS say "Please proceed to ''android HELL.'' '''''BLARGGGHH'''''

** Speaking of which, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBW_R61WGYU "Sweet Dead Little Bunny"] is the infamous ''definition'' of this trope, giving a real "[[Cerebus Ending]]" feel (or rather, an "[[Earn Your Happy Ending]] In The Sequel" feel).

* The [[Step Mania|J-core]] song "to luv me I *** for you" by t+ Pazolite starts off with a sorrowful, gentle melody, then kicks into an extremely fast tune that borders on scary, and ends with the same melody, only playing at a slower tempo and [[Nothing Is Scarier|stopping one measure before it were to completely finish playing]].

* In ''[[Scratches]]'', when quitting the game before finishing it, you are taken to a rolling credits screen with a soft piano music, at the end of it there's a very unsettling [[Scare Chord]].

* The [[Donkey Kong Country]] series' Nightmare Fuel page cites the death-against-K-Rool music [[Dummied Out|to have been cut]] (from a game with so much Nightmare Fuel, no less) because it was ''too scary''. The Last Note Nightmare trope is the exact reason behind that.

* The final boss music for [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] 2. The song looping comes with blaring klaxons.

** In the mirror section of Amy's Twinkle Park stage, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP6Yg1fCEik the music] initially starts out as cute, quiet, and innocent... Then the music seems to take a darker turn, becoming much more tense, you can also hear a child laughing for a brief moment.

* "The Rowhouses" from ''[[Medal of Honor]]: Frontline'' starts with a continuation of the "Nijmegen Bridge" theme, adding a jaunty oboe motif to it a third of the way through, but then the ominous Panzer [[Leitmotif]] starts to creep in, completely taking over in the last third.

* The Mars Maze theme in ''[[The Journeyman Project]]'' slows down as your [[Oxygen Meter]] depletes, decaying to a [[Heartbeat Soundtrack]] and heavy breathing.

== [[Web Original]] ==

* From ''[[Doctor Horribles 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]].

{{quote| And believe me I am still alive.<br />

I'm doing Science and I'm still alive.<br />

* Oddly enough, ''[[Muppet Babies]]'' features one of these in its ending credits theme: the very last part where [http://youtube.com/watch?v=RBLZ4VEBIy8 Spider-Man jumps down onto the Marvel logo] segues from the cheery instrumental theme to a dissonant, screechy horn.

** Only in the second season onwards. Originally, it was just a straightforward instrumental version of the theme song, which faded out (during the "I got my computer..." part) when it reached the logo (which then was the standard "static blue background" version).

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ybo3Z8k3aE Here's the song.] Just so you can hear first hand how creepy it is. (Probably best not to turn the volume up too loud.)

* On the DVD of Disney's ''[[Fantasia]]'', the background music that plays on the Title Menu is the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Seeing as the last peice of the film is Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria", having the DVD cut straight back to the Toccata is rather jarring.

* Some of the BGM from [[Ren and Stimpy]] can come across as this. Notable examples include "Maniac Pursuit" and "Terror".

* For your consideration, [[Inspector Gadget]]. Wonderful cartoon, [[Ear Worm]] of a theme song, but that last low note always sounded ominous to me. Even more frightening with the end credits variation with Dr. Claw's booming voice saying, "I'll get you next time, Gadget, next time.

 

 

* 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=_CI-TWWrwLg&NR=1 "Let's flip the switch right now--] <big>[[Killed Mid-Sentence|WHAM]]</big>

** [[Clumsy Copyright Censorship|The]] [[The Jimmy Hart Version|DVD]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xad-StH-7BY version], however, ends normally, followed by a less startling clang.

* Music boxes, especially older ones that have been played many times, will often distort the sound as they wind down. No matter how cheerful the song, the final notes will often sound creepily off key.

* 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>}}