Letting the Air Out of the Band: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Things are going great for the heroes! They are being lauded as the greatest thing since sliced bread, people are throwing them parties and giving them medals, and nothing can knock them down now! But then—something goes wrong. The background music, which had been sounding triumphantly along suddenly falters and peters out. Sometimes the music slows from its normal upswing to a bass line and finally silence. Other times, the various members of the band seem to realize something is going on, and one by one randomly stop playing until
'''Letting
Ostensibly, this trope shouldn't be played straight anymore because most (if not all) music players these days are digital, and when you pull the plug on a digital player, the music just stops abruptly rather than just fading. Yet it persists due to [[The Coconut Effect]].
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See also [[Musicalis Interruptus]], for the instant version.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_iWajvrZns This AT&T commercial] inspired by "[[Hansel and Gretel]]" pulls off the live-musicians variation of this.
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* Happens in ''[[Amagami]]'' at the end of Kaoru's arc.
* Happens in an episode preview for [[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]] when it gets hijacked by EVA-Beatrice.
* Happens in ''[[
** In the Season 2 finale {{spoiler|when, after seemingly dying in battle against the enemy, Seito is reunited with Louise, during a heartfelt reunion... the music continues... until Saito mentions he was saved by a fairy, after which the music peters out showing Louise's reaction to this}}
** In Season 3, Louise is dreaming of her and Saito, while the music plays a dreamy sequence... until an explosion from outside ruins the moment, immediately after which the music slows as we see Louise's irritated face.
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== [[Film]] ==
* Used for dramatic effect in ''[[Apollo 13]]''. At the beginning of the mission, the music was full speed, everyone was happy, and all was right with the world. By the time the tape recorder was running out of battery power, the astronauts were in serious trouble.
* Another dramatic use is in ''
* ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'': Happens a few times to the music when the opening credits are interrupted, and also whenever Prince Herbert wants to sing, the music swells, and his dad cries "Stop that! No singing!"
* Happens in [[Not Another Teen Movie]] every time a dramatic moment [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|is made awkward]].
** {{spoiler|"No need to wear blindfolds when we're jerking each other off!" * music fizzles out* }}
* The [[Harry Potter (film)|film version]] of ''[[Harry Potter and
* ''[[Muppets from Space]]'' "Heyyy!! We left Bunsen and Beaker back at the gas station!!"
* [[Back to the Future (film)|Back to the Future]]: Someone with a sense of dramatic tension unplugs the jukebox just as Biff angrily marches in to throw George McFly out of the diner.
* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', the townsfolk have a band playing when the new sheriff arrives in town, which peters out suddenly when they see who it is.
* ''[[The Naked Gun]] 2½'' had this happen to "Hail to the Chief" when the good guys in disguise showed up in place of the President of the United States.
* The plug is almost literally pulled on the titular band in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131027164224/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Toomorrow_1970.aspx Toomorrow]''
* A similar moment happens in ''[[A Goofy Movie]]'' as Principal Mazur pulls the plug on Max's lip-synching performance as Powerline so he can impress the girl of his dreams... {{spoiler|but then ends up becoming one of the most popular kids in school, JUST BEFORE HE GRADUATES.}}
== [[Live
* Something like this happened once on ''[[Lost]]'' as a kind of [[
* ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' TOS episode "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up" had this occur with an old-style jukebox, one with real records in it.
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''The End of Time'' does this horrifically: after {{spoiler|surviving the Master and the Time Lords}}, the Doctor thinks he's cheated the four knocks prophecy that had been following him for the past eight/twenty months, and when {{spoiler|he realizes Wilf does the knocking}}, the music fades into the show's now familiar discordant snippet that's code for "oh, ''shit''".
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* The song "Tik Tok" by [[Ke$ha]] uses this effect on the word "tipsy", appropriately enough, as well as the final "shut us dooooown". She uses it a lot in her music, to "Self Bleep" herself and such.
* Brian Eno did a brilliant version of this trope by having a band, in entirely separate rooms, playing "Nearer My God To Thee." Every single musician was counted in simultaneously, and thus they started in sync, but they were each left to keep their own time thereafter, with the result that they drifted eerily apart, until each one was given an individual dim. to fade. The idea was not to play it for comedic effect, but to recreate the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'', if someone had managed to record the band as she went under. Hauntingly beautiful, and kinda eerie.
** That's actually a composition called "The Sinking of the Titanic" by [https://web.archive.org/web/20130116141849/http://www.gavinbryars.com/Pages/titanic_point.html Gavin Bryars], though the original recording was on Eno's label. Bryars's idea is that the band keeps playing even after the ship has sunk, with the sound being dissipated by the underwater acoustics.
* Spacecorn's [[Speedy Techno Remake|trance remake]] of Gershon Kingsley's/Hot Butter's "Popcorn" (spelled "Popkorn") unexpectedly does this in midriff near the end, then speeds back up.
* "A Little Bit of Ecstasy" by Jocelyn Enriquez does this at the end of the slow section, before changing back to normal tempo.
* A minor subversion in Tchaikovsky's ''1812 Overture'', where an energetic fanfare (based on the [[Take That|French ''Marseillaise'']]) gradually becomes slower and deeper, but increasing in volume, switching from strings to brass, until the music is reduced to a heavy, pounding beat ... which suddenly explodes into a triumphant reprise of the opening theme, complete with church bells ringing. [[Crowning Music of Awesome]] ensues.
* A variation occurs in Haydn's Symphony 45, the "Farewell" symphony: During the final movement, each member of the orchestra gets up, one by one, and leaves the stage, whittling down to a final, barely audible violin finish. Of course, this was one of the first true [[Protest Song
* Peter Schickele played with this in one of his concerts - the orchestra played an introductory chord when he walked onstage, and then played it again a few seconds later when he was about to stop talking, and then played it again after another few seconds, over and over again until he went over to a wall and unplugged a wire, at which point the chord they were in the middle of playing "deflated". Then he plugged it back in, and they "reinflated" and finished the chord.
* Done by [[Kiss]] at the end of "Black Diamond". They were slowing the tape down, so it gets MUCH deeper and slower.
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** Possible third time: if you lose the race against Johnny, the music breaks down.
* ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'': Watch around 2:08 to 2:30 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KIObmo4rSM
* In ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'', as you beat Bowser and save Princess Peach, the victory music drags to a stop as she reveals herself to be Kamek the Magikoopa in disguise. He then promptly [[Make My Monster Grow|supersizes Bowser]] for a second round.
** Also applies in multiplayer if all the players trap themselves in bubbles, whether by pressing "A" or respawning in one after losing a life, or the remaining players on screen put themselves in a bubble [[What an Idiot!|at the same time]] to avoid death.
* In ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', the effect is reversed on the Game Over screen by having the Super Mario Bros. theme build slowly from nothing.
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* You can actually ''invoke'' this, if you want, in ''[[Mother 3]]'' while playing as [[Butt Monkey|Salsa]]. Once he learns [[Makes Just as Much Sense in Context|the dance that opens the door in Osohe Castle]], as you approach the door, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIo526R0J3w the start-up] to what would be the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1zaGq-CLA8 main melody of the dance] plays. However, press the wrong button, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgggAM7beXE and...]
* In ''[[Myst]] III: Exile'', this happens with part but not all the music when {{spoiler|you trap Saavedro between the shields}}.
* Happens in a cutscene in ''[[
* ''[[Kirby's Epic Yarn]]'' and ''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land]]'' do this, the former {{spoiler|after beating the final boss's first form}} and the latter after finding a major plot coupon that is suspiciously unguarded.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'', upon entering the Spirit Temple's boss room and encountering another Iron Knuckle, the by-now familiar mini-boss BGM starts up as it reaches for its battle axe and prepares to attack... only for it to suddenly taper off as the Iron Knuckle realizes it is unarmed. It promptly snaps its fingers and summons its axe out of thin air, which cues the music to start again.
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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Sound FX Tropes]]
[[Category:
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