Letting the Air Out of the Band: Difference between revisions

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== Advertising ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_iWajvrZns This AT&T commercial] inspired by "[[Hansel and Gretel (Literature)|Hansel and Gretel]]" pulls off the live-musicians variation of this.
 
== [[Anime]] & [[Manga]] ==
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* ''[[Lucky Star]]'' often fades out the background music like this. For example, the cake buffet scene where it fades as the girls go from [[Food Porn|moaning in delight]] over all the cake they're eating to moaning in pain as they get full and still have a lot more to finish before their time is up to avoid getting charged for "an excessive amount of leftovers".
** Tsukasa's [[Expressive Shirt|Expressive Hairbow]] moment in episode 18 comes to mind.
* Used with perfect timing in ''[[Kimi Nini Todoke]]''. When Sawako starts telling the story of her life, the standard sentimental music plays. It's all very sweet till we see that she spent a lot of time on her own; then the music drags to a stop as she hears herself and, [[Blue Withwith Shock]], wonders if she's killing the mood.
* Occurs in [[Breather Episode|episode 6]] of ''[[Gun X Sword]]'', when the episode's villain appears to be starting up his [[A Mech Byby Any Other Name|armor]], complete with [[Humongous Mecha|Dann's]] [[Theme Music Power-Up|Theme]] playing in the background. When it turns out the villains armor is really just a car, the music winds down. Considering how [[Crowning Music of Awesome|serious the context for the music has been used up until this point]], this comes as a humorous surprise to the viewer, even though the idea of mislabelling a car as an armor was brought up previously in the episode.
* ''[[One Piece]]'' with Brook and the crew he's part of. They're all dying of a poison (or something of the like), and decide to go out playing 'Bink's Sake'. As the crew slowly succumbs to the poison, each instrument drops out until only Brook is remaining.
* ''Persona 4: The Animation'' has Ebihara Ai suddenly begin to pour out her love in front of Narukami Yu, to suitably stirring music...only to peter out when she clarifies that he isn't the one. [[The Stoic|"I see."]]
* Happens in ''[[Amagami]]'' at the end of Kaoru's arc.
* Happens in an episode preview for [[Umineko no Naku Koro Nini]] when it gets hijacked by EVA-Beatrice.
* Happens in ''[[Zero no Tsukaima (Light Novel)|Zero no Tsukaima]]''
** 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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* 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 (Filmfilm)|film version]] of ''[[Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire]]'' has a diegetic example with a real brass band playing a celebratory tune for the winner of the Triwizard Cup... which falters out when they notice Harry screaming and crying over Cedric's body.
* ''[[Muppets Fromfrom Space]]'' "Heyyy!! We left Bunsen and Beaker back at the gas station!!"
* [[Back to Thethe Future (Filmfilm)|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 (Film)|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 ''[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Toomorrow_1970.aspx Toomorrow]'' -- the no-fun squares running the arts college cut the power on the band as they rehearse without permission in the school commons. But instead of sounding like a bunch of performers trailing off, it sounds like a record slowing to a stop -- underlining the fact that the performers are miming their studio recordings.
* 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 Action TV]] ==
* Something like this happened once on ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' as a kind of [[Sorry I Left the BGM On]] gag... a dramatic song was playing in the background, then the scene shifted to Hurley listening to his CD player, and the song skipped out and stopped in the middle as the CD player ran out of batteries.
* ''[[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 (TV)|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''".
* ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'' does it when Richard Brown interrupts the standard roll call sequence.
 
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* Done by [[Kiss]] at the end of "Black Diamond". They were slowing the tape down, so it gets MUCH deeper and slower.
** Preceded by [[Emerson Lake and Palmer]], who did the same trick at the end of "Knife Edge" on their first album.
* [[The Protomen (Music)|The Protomen]] do it in "The Fall", a musical number which depicts a major character's suicidal charge to destroy the [[Big Bad]] once and for all. The entire piece is a triumphant fanfare building to a crescendo, until the music utterly ''deflates'' at the very end as the hero's sacrifice turns out to be in vain.
* Done at the end of "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, {{spoiler|[[Twist Ending|when it turns out that the guy she's singing to is homosexual.]]}}
* Done at the end of "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston, to reflect the final words of the song: "You'll have me suicidal, *the background music trails off* suicidal, *the vocals follow suit* suici--"
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== [[Theater]] ==
* One that most definitely comes to mind is in the musical ''[[The Drowsy Chaperone]]'' where they are at the penultimate crescendo of the score, and we are just about to hear the final glorious notes, when {{spoiler|Man in Chair's apartment blows a fuse and the super comes to fix the breakers (he had been calling him for a while, but Man in Chair never answered as he was still finishing the show). The entire cast is frozen in their tracks even as he shines the flashlight in their faces. The super eventually fixes the breaker just in time for a [[Theme Music Power-Up]], and we hear the musical's final notes. However, because of the power outage that happened, the moment is ruined.}}
* A live-band variation of this happens in ''[[The Book of Mormon (Theatretheatre)|The Book of Mormon]]''. One very sudden LTAOOTB cluster in {{spoiler|the number "Two By Two," where Elders Price and Cunningham receive their mission in Uganda, which is much to Price's dismay and chagrin, due to his preference of [[Running Gag|Orlando]]}}, and one much more gradual example after the song "You and Me (But Mostly Me)," as the scene changes to a {{spoiler|gloomy, poverty-stricken Uganda.}}
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' uses this a few times, most notably when you first try to fly on the black chocobo. Key word being 'try'.
* Used as a tension breaker/builder in ''[[Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time]]'', the party reaches the end of a library-themed dungeon and runs into a spacious arena-style gallery as the boss fight music strikes up, then peters out as the heroes look around and no boss monster is evident. Of course, then one of the bookcases grows teeth and claws, and the boss battle music kicks in for real as it attacks.
* ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' does this twice with Ozzie. The first time you meet him, he brings up a series of monsters with a crank, and they drop onto a conveyor belt. The battle music starts, and your characters even get into their battle poses... then the enemies fall into a pit at the other end of the conveyor belt. Insert "record winding down" sound here. Then, the second time you meet him, the boss theme starts playing, and then a small cat comes in and trips a lever, and the boss theme fades out as Ozzie drops into the [[Bottomless Pit]].
** 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 (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|Super Mario 64]]'', the effect is reversed on the Game Over screen by having the Super Mario Bros. theme build slowly from nothing.
* In ''[[Mario Kart 64 (Video Game)|Mario Kart 64]]'', finishing a Grand Prix in fourth will cause the music to turn to minor, then do this.
* A [[Tear Jerker|decidedly not comedic]] version appears in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy]]'', during the second-last chapter of the storybook. The music plays as normal, a calm, soothing nursery tune, even during the most heartbreaking scene yet where the unnamed girl living at the observatory gets homesick, being particularly sorry she can't visit her favorite tree. It's all quite sad, though not altogether unexpected for the storybook, until {{spoiler|we find out the reason she's so attached to the tree is because her [[Missing Mom|beforehand unmentioned mother]] is buried under it}}. Cue the music stopping, and not coming back until the next chapter.
* Happens when you fail a song in ''[[Guitar Hero]]'' and ''[[Guitar Hero]] II''.
** It also happens when you fail a song in either ''[[Parappa the Rapper]]'', ''[[Parappa the Rapper]] 2'', or ''[[Um Jammer Lammy]]''. Or ''osu!'', that fanmade clone of [[Osu Tatakae Ouendan]].
* The music your rides play in [[Roller CoasterRollercoaster Tycoon]] do this whenever they break down. Actually justified with the carousel, as they often contained mechanical organs that ran on compressed air. The various other styles of recorded looping music that other rides can be set to play... not so much.
** Inverted when the carousel breaks down due to a control failure. The music speeds up while the carousel spins rapidly, trapping the riders.
* In the original [[FEARF.E.A.R.]] has a sparse soundtrack, but sometimes major set-piece battles have great dramatic music swell to emphasise them. If the player is killed during them however, the BGM slows and stops in a comical fashion.
* Happens in the original ''[[Fable]]'', if you try to remove the sword in the stone outside the Temple of Avo when your character isn't strong enough.
* Happens in [[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)|Super Mario RPG]] when your party is defeated.
* Happens to the sad music in Chapter 5 of ''[[Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door]]'' once the gang realizes {{spoiler|that [[Not Quite Dead|Bobbery's just sleeping]].}}
* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons Shadow Over Mystara|Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara]]'', it happens after you beat the goblins' War Machine. When they try to ram you one last time but automatically miss, the contraption rolls right off a cliff. It pauses in the air long enough for the music to start wobbling to a halt, ''then'' it plummets along with all the goblins. You even get to hear it crash at the bottom.
* You can actually ''invoke'' this, if you want, in ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'' while playing as [[Butt Monkey|Salsa]]. Once he learns [[Makes Just Asas 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 ''[[Starcraft]] II'': in a [[Bar Brawl]], an enraged Tychus Findlay rips the cantina's jukebox from its socket overhead, causing the music to warp and die out. The scene then plays out without music for a while, returning when Raynor gets the upper hand.
* ''[[KirbysKirby's Epic Yarn]]'' and ''[[Kirbys 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|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.
* Done in ''[[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]] 7'''s introductory cutscene when Auto gives Mega Man [http://i55.tinypic.com/ncds90.jpg a Metool helmet] instead of his trademark blue helmet.
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Done with [[The Angry Video Game Nerd (Web Video)|The Angry Video Game Nerd]]'s theme song in the Game Glitches episode.
** Also happens in his ''Street Fighter 2010'' episode after deciding that [[Memetic Mutation|Guile's Theme does not go with the game.]]
* Happens several times in [[The Demented Cartoon Movie]].
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'''Crew:''' A girl worth fighting--<br />
''[All catch sight of blood-red sky and village burned down to the ground. Music echoes then dies.]'' }}
* ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' does this a few times:
** In "Tea at the Treedome" as [[SpongeBob]] unspectacularly returns to his seat after triumphantly convincing himself that he doesn't need water to live.
** A quicker variation occurs twice in a row in the first "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" episode, the first time being when MM and BB screw up putting their rings together, and the second time being when they succeed in the aforementioned action but MM briefly forgets to say the oath.
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* In the [[Tex Avery]] short "Lucky Ducky", the characters run past a sign that reads "Technicolor ends here" and into a [[Deliberately Monochrome|black-and-white setting]], and as they stop running the music dies down to nothing. As the chase resumes, the background music fades in again.
** Avery did it in "Dixieland Droopy" as well, most noticeably as "John" runs through goopy cement and the flea band slows down, strains, then returns to normal when he extricates himself.
* Happens on ''[[The Little Mermaid (Disney)|The Little Mermaid]]'' at the end of the song introducing Triton's daughters, when Ariel is a no-show. It's more clear on the soundtrack recording.
* In ''[[Dumbo (Disney)|Dumbo]]'', a trumpet fanfare follows Timothy's announcement that he will make Dumbo into "Dumbo the Great". Then he asks "The Great what?", followed by a half-hearted "wah-wah-waah"
* In ''Cartoon Planet'', Space Ghost is asked by a fan letter how he became so funny. As he attempts to tell a joke to demonstrate his humor, [[Cannot Tell a Joke|it falls flatter as he goes on]], with the music slowing tempo to match.
* On ''[[Family Guy]]'', [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Peter]] has a band so they can play [[Full House Music]] during an appropriate moment with his father. They start when his dad says he loves his son only to stop when he adds that he doesn't like anything about him. Peter tells them to keep playing as that is the best he can probably get.
* The ''[[Megas XLR]]'' episode "All I Wanted Was A Slushie" brings us REGIS Mk. V, a [[Large Ham]] regenerating robot with his own [[Leitmotif]]. When Coop finally manages to defeat him by cutting off his power supply, his leitmotif slows at the same rate as he does.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ncgc78RIV0&feature=related This] segment of the [[Looney Tunes]] "Back Alley Oproar".
* The third act of Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' starts once the title character has won the heart of the princess, exposed [[Evil Chancellor|the traitorous Jafar]], and [[So What Do We Do Now?|come to realize that now he'll actually be expected to take over as Sultan someday]]. The Genie thinks it's time for a victory celebration and [[Anachronism Stew|bursts into a rousing rendition of]] ''[[Anachronism Stew|Stars and Stripes Forever]]'', only to trail off when Aladdin just slumps past him, oblivious.
* Done in the ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'' episode "Prisoners of Love". Finn tries to spear the Ice King with a beat-up old flute. Dramatic music plays as Finn hurls it through the air, but peters out as the flute falls apart in mid-flight and lands in pieces at the Ice King's feet.
* ''[[Thunder CatsThundercats]]'' did this in an episode where Mumm-ra learns how to manipulate time and energy. Cheetara does her speedy thing with her usual triumphant horn motif, only to have it slowly trail off sadly as she slowed down to a stop.
* In ''[[South Park]]'', in the season one episode "Tom's Rhinoplasty". When Mr. Garrison comes back to school, Wendy is relieved because she thinks that means the end of the class's substitute teacher Miss Ellen. Cue the happy fanfare music. Then Mr. Garrison announces he's quitting his job as a teacher. Cue fanfare music deflating like a tire.
* Throughout the first episodes of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' the background music hits a sour note whenever anypony refers to wanting to be the anti-social Twilight Sparkle's friend.
 
{{reflist}}