# Have you ever heard a song so good, your jaw literally dropped? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703 "2013-01-10T01:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/81 "2013-01-11T08:18:16Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > [Kate Bush’s _Sat In Your Lap_](http://youtu.be/9cIjariCM-c) was a shock, completely audacious. I have no idea what it would be like for someone who never heard it before to hear it today. I would like to think that it is such a unique sound that it wouldn’t sound particularly old. > > Others that hit me nearly that hard? > [Siouxsie and the Banshees - _Spellbound_.](http://youtu.be/9otg_Cm50RE) I don’t use drugs, but I don’t think the song could have had more impact if I had been tripping. listening to your choices you might like Dalbello - [Tango](http://vimeo.com/3554167) ---
**Author:** ![Shooby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Shooby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shooby)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/82 "2013-01-11T09:48:05Z")
[Joe Robinson - Royal Flush](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXC3SX0Jo7E). I think I prefer the album version, as it’s cleaner and played slower [this recording feels a bit rushed], but regardless, this song is both beautiful and jaw-droppingly difficult. EDIT: [this recording is probably better](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfz1ExRk4DI). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/83 "2013-01-11T12:45:57Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Forgot to mention it earlier, but the single most profound musical experience of my life was the Bulgarian Voices. Love them, but they weren’t quite jaw-dropping to me because I was already familiar with that Balkan polyphonic style from the soundtrack to _[Time of the Gypsies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bStwaOGxy_Q)_(which _did_ make my jaw drop) and just Trio Bulgarka, before I first heard Voices. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/84 "2013-01-11T13:53:03Z")
Someone mentioned Blue Man Group upthread, this ‘[warming up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjQqp613g8w)’ of one of their songs gets me in the feels. Folks call them derivative…but man, I can go for this kind of derivative. BT + Michael Doughty = awesome ([Never Gonna Come back Down](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt52SoAeP48)) In the 'video is almost cooler than the song, and the song is Very Cool - [Walkie Talkie Man](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7UvbwCjXUk) There’s a bunch of other ones, but I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/85 "2013-01-11T14:03:23Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Along the same vein would be Stevie Ray Vaughan’s version of [Little Wing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWcUJxrih5M) which sounds damn good even on my shitty laptop speakers. I’m going to make a point of digging that CD out tomorrow and listening to it in my music room. While I’m at it I’ll cue up [Riviera Paradise](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljVVFKjN0Dc). This is the kind of music you sit down and listen to with the lights dimmed and no distractions except possibly a glass of wine and a good cigar. I was lucky enough to see Stevie Ray Vaughan perform live several times and at least once in every show there was a transcendent, jaw-dropping moment where I could hardly believe what I was seeing and hearing. Once it was the first time I heard him play an extended version of _Life Without You_, another time it was _Texas Flood_- which was never one of my favorite tunes of his, until I heard him play a version like [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26-NXmizix8). It just blew me away. I saw his last show as a headliner, two nights before he died. It was at the Kalamazoo County Fair in Michigan (ticket price $10). At one point Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton left the stage. Stevie brought out a chair, sat down and played _Riviera Paradise_ solo. He was wrapped around his guitar with his head down, his nose two inches from the neck. He played a 10+ minute version of the song and it was mesmerizing. Damn that guy could play. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/86 "2013-01-11T14:05:21Z")
> [@Sevencl](#): > > The first piece of music that ever struck me that way was part of Mozart’s Requiem, the Dies Irae. I have this as my ringtone. 🙂 For me, Morten Lauridsen’s [O Magnum Mysterium](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ch7uottHU). ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/87 "2013-01-11T15:06:10Z")
The first time I heard **Alex Lloyd** singing _My Way Home_ it was a live recording. If you like soulful, dramatic, passionate crooning, please check it out: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BbKbF6UWmtE/hqdefault.jpg "Alex Lloyd - My May Home (Live On Australian Tv Show The Panel)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbKbF6UWmtE) PS Listen to the end, it builds. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/88 "2013-01-11T15:09:47Z")
The first time I heard “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns 'n Roses. I was a hair metal guy - Poison, Ratt, shit like that. Jungle changed me almost immediately. It was so much harder and rawer, it was real music. Same with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/89 "2013-01-11T15:15:50Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Hey, I saw [this question on Reddit](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/168v1a/reddit_what_is_a_song_that_was_so_good_your_jaw/) today too! > > My answer here is the same as there.. Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” which I heard when Terri Hemmert played it for the first time on WXRT, still a few months before she really broke through big in the States. I had already parked the car when it came on but I couldn’t turn it off until the entire song had finished. I was blown away. That’s a good one! I didn’t have the jaw-drop, but it was a “Lift my head and see what was coming from my radio” moment. Almost the same with “Rolling in the Deep,” but “Rehab” was better. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/90 "2013-01-11T15:25:56Z")
What, no James Otto? oops, didn;'t read the whole thread. Whew. For a second, I thought no one would have mentioned James. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/91 "2013-01-11T15:29:07Z")
A lot of show tunes, too many to list. No matter how many times I hear ‘Tonight’ or ‘Music of the Night’ or ‘All That Jazz’, I gotta turn it up. ‘Working My Way Back To You’ by the Spinners. ‘Love Shack’ by the B-52s. ‘The Mummers Dance’ by Lorena McKennitt. ‘The Thieving Magpie’ by Rossini. It was love at first sound by these songs for me. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/92 "2013-01-11T15:32:20Z")
My jaw didn’t drop about Nirvana until after I saw them live. I had seen other trios play. I was used to various different types of rock, from Punk to Psychedelic to pure Metal. But, it was just how _effortless_ Kurt Cobain was with all the transitions that their songs had. And I had even seen it before with other musicians. I guess I just wasn’t expecting it from his “type” or whatever. And the drummer was just a god. A minor deity, to be sure, but a god none the less. (See the Foo Fighters) ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/93 "2013-01-11T15:35:45Z")
A lot of “alternative” music hit me really hard when I was first getting into music on my own as a teenager. I was raised in a pretty strict Christian environment – Baptist school, Sunday morning and evening church, Wednesday youth group, etc. – that considered virtually all music a sin. I tried listening to popular music of the day, but discovered the alternative stuff that MTV and Jukebox played at night struck some kind of chord with me. It disturbed me, and I liked that music had the power to do that to me. [Cities in Dust](http://youtu.be/L8dRc9wwmuE) and [Peek-a-Boo](http://youtu.be/O9e7sEkLV8Q) by Siouxsie and the Banshees, [Hello Skinny](http://youtu.be/AvJiyOPmsJs) by The Residents, and [Death Valley 69](http://youtu.be/qw5Vy8fKpYI) by Sonic Youth all punched me in the gut in one way or another. Once I hit 18 and got out on my own, I began making friends who introduced me to stuff I loved; [Just One Fix](http://youtu.be/MYsBvZRXF7A) by Ministry and [Last](http://youtu.be/MeoyOIRIeHs) by Nine Inch Nails blew my mind the first time I heard them. In a completely different vein, I was a big fan of house and dance music, dancing weekends at clubs and raves for most of the 90’s and 00’s, then branching out into normal dance clubs that played pop. That era of house/dance and pop often doesn’t hold up, but a brand new song that hit _just right_ (thanks to a good DJ who knew how to work the floor) could send the dancers into ecstasy. The first time I heard [Silver Screen Shower Scene](http://youtu.be/OIARgwgwJlA) by Felix da Housecat and Miss Kittin on the dance floor, the place went electric; something about the beat was just pornographic, and the dancers responded accordingly. Similarly, [Can’t Get You Out of My Head](http://youtu.be/IFx3WX4DES0) by Kylie Minogue fired up every person on the floor, with all the club kids who had been dancing solo suddenly locked together. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/94 "2013-01-11T16:23:22Z")
Yeah. I was just getting into blues (mid-'60s) and Albert King’s “Crosscut Saw” came on the car radio. I had to pull over to listen to it. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/95 "2013-01-11T16:36:44Z")
> [@Bumbershoot](#): > > I was lucky enough to see Stevie Ray Vaughan perform live several times and at least once in every show there was a transcendent, jaw-dropping moment where I could hardly believe what I was seeing and hearing. > > Once it was the first time I heard him play an extended version of _Life Without You_, another time it was _Texas Flood_- which was never one of my favorite tunes of his, until I heard him play a version like [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26-NXmizix8). It just blew me away. > > I saw his last show as a headliner, two nights before he died. It was at the Kalamazoo County Fair in Michigan (ticket price $10). At one point Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton left the stage. Stevie brought out a chair, sat down and played _Riviera Paradise_ solo. He was wrapped around his guitar with his head down, his nose two inches from the neck. He played a 10+ minute version of the song and it was mesmerizing. Damn that guy could play. Man, the great ones seem to flame out early. For some reason I was never aware of him until after his death. I turned on the radio and the song was in the middle of one of his guitar riffs and I thought “Hendrix”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/96 "2013-01-11T16:56:12Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Well, you know what, actually? Bohemian Rhapsody. This. It’s a cliche now, but the first time I heard it-wow. Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah” by Cohen “Me and a Gun” by Tori Amos For sheer virtuosity, this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ni8KBhnebwE/hqdefault.jpg "Jerry Reed And Chet Atkins Jerrys Breakdown") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8KBhnebwE) (Jerry’s Breakdown by Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/97 "2013-01-11T17:02:40Z")
The most recent example I can think of that “made my jaw drop” and forced me to listen over and over is one I just happened upon on YouTube: [[PIANO] Michel graillier - Aicha](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klvR44FeTqo&list=FLr5Z9EbNm-xwrQfLOvIzt1A&index=196) The whole idea of songs that “knocked me for a loop” the first time I heard them has made me examine my tastes and wonder what about certain pieces of music “grabs me.” Might make for a follow-up thread on that notion… ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/98 "2013-01-11T17:11:30Z")
Shania Twain, “If you’re not in it for love, I’m outta here.” Jo Dee Messina, “Heads Carolina, Tails California” Kenny Loggins, “I’m Free (Heaven Helps the Man)” (from Footloose) Lara Fabian, “Love by Grace” Evanescence, “My Immortal” ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/99 "2013-01-11T18:35:25Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > What, no James Otto? > > oops, didn;'t read the whole thread. Whew. For a second, I thought no one would have mentioned James. I couldn’t walk away from this chat, so yeah, I tell about the song here that made me the fan of James that I have been for almost five years now. 🙂 🙂 🙂 God bless you and him always!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Holly P.S. I am blown away at how fast time has flown by!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703/100 "2013-01-11T18:43:51Z")
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - [Moya](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsf2LoLk3SA) SWANS - [The Sound](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCWwtH9Yr54) The Legendary Pink Dots - [Just A Lifetime](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao4xtzIBl6c) Skinny Puppy - [Testure](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7wAYSV2GZg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-a-song-so-good-your-jaw-literally-dropped/646703.md?page=6)