# Most easily instantly recognized music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638 "2007-02-17T18:53:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/41 "2007-02-18T10:18:22Z")
[QUOTE=Captain\_C] Why has no one mentioned the king of recognizable tunes? **the Benny Hill theme** [/QUOTE] Except that it’s called _Yakety Sax_ and predates _The Benny Hill Show_ by almost a decade. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/42 "2007-02-18T10:33:09Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] Except that it’s called _Yakety Sax_ and predates _The Benny Hill Show_ by almost a decade. [/QUOTE] Blastphemy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/43 "2007-02-18T10:52:11Z")
[QUOTE=treis] And my guesses: 1. Welcome to the Jungle 2. Free Ride 3. Smells like Teen Spirit 4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s [/QUOTE] I think #6 and #11 are the right bands but the wrong songs. 6. Sweet Child O’ Mine 11. Lithium My guesses: 7. High and Dry - Radiohead 22. Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/44 "2007-02-18T12:23:36Z")
Correct answers so far: 1. Stevie Wonder - I Wish ( **fishbicycle** ) 2. The Bee Gees - Stayin’ Alive ( **fishbicycle** ) 3. Guns ‘n’ Roses - Sweet Child O’ Mine ( **Cazzle** ) 4. High and Dry - Radiohead ( **Cazzle** , from just the opening drum + cymbal crash) 5. Isaac Hayes - Theme From “Shaft” ( **fishbicycle** ) 6. Nirvana - Lithium ( **Talon Karrde** , **Cazzle** ) 7. Labelle - Lady Marmalade ( **fishbicycle** ) 8. Sweet - Blockbuster ( **fishbicycle** ) 9. Glenn Miller - Moonlight Serenade ( **fishbicycle** ) 10. Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra ( **Cazzle** ) So maybe note _quite_ as easy as I thought. Of the remaining ones, 10 and 21 are probably the easiest. 19 is not the suggested Spencer Davis Group, but you’re warm. 12 is the tiniest part of a pretty well known song. Except for 20, the others might be easier for British/Irish dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/45 "2007-02-18T12:33:48Z")
I could have sworn that fishbicycle got #19 right. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/46 "2007-02-18T12:45:07Z")
“The Liberty Bell March” (Sousa) doesn’t have a particularly distinctive first three notes. I’m sure I’d recognize it anywhere, though, even without the raspberry at the end. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/47 "2007-02-18T12:58:53Z")
like others, I think I can recognize Lola by the Kinks with just one chord. It’s played on a Dobro metal guitar and is quite distinctive. But I’m not sure how many people know Lola let alone recognize if from the first chord. I mean widely recognize Lola. For a 5 chords or less you got stuff like You Really Got Me I Ain’t Got No (Satisfaction) Purple Haze and a lot more classics if one uses this yardstick ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/48 "2007-02-18T13:12:04Z")
If you refresh your cache, I think you’ll see that I edited my post to correct the answer to 19 from what I originally typed to the right answer. The post should not still say Spencer Davis. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/49 "2007-02-18T13:29:56Z")
Oh yeah. Sorry, you got 19 too then. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/50 "2007-02-18T14:43:40Z")
“All the Young Girls Love Alice” — Elton John ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/51 "2007-02-18T14:46:05Z")
Not the first, but the second _O fortuna_ from _Carmina Burana_. The first just has low Ds, and while _O fortuna_ would be my first guess, I wouldn’t be 100% confident. The second one, however, has a very distinctive gong stroke. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nuggets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Mr.Nuggets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nuggets)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/52 "2007-02-18T14:54:36Z")
Anything you would hear on a Classic Rock station. When I’m in the car with my friends, a song will come on, and I can name the title, artist, year, most of the time the album, and sometimes even the chart position, while my friends are just sitting there confused at how I can do it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nuggets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Mr.Nuggets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nuggets)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/53 "2007-02-18T14:59:14Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Do drumbeats count as notes? Because I can nail “Born To Run” from the first chord. [/QUOTE] Or Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35” (everybody must get stoned…) ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/54 "2007-02-18T18:47:03Z")
When I hear a heavy bell on the radio, I immediately know it’s either _Hell’s Bells_ or _For Whom the Bells Toll_. I’ve never learned to distinguish the two though. Here are my guesses. Some have already been confirmed as right or wrong, but I’m putting what I guessed anyway. 02 - Funky Cold Medina 04 - Staying Alive 06 - Sweet Child o’ Mine 07 - Shakin (?) 09 - My Woman from Tokyo (?) 11 - Lithium 12 - Sweet Home Alabama ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/55 "2007-02-19T22:51:39Z")
Come on now. Don’t leave me hanging. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/56 "2007-02-19T23:22:31Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] There’s a piece most of you should recognize just from a _description_ of the first note; a low trill (G?) on a solo clarinet. [/QUOTE] Would that be _Zarathustra_? The last time we did a thread like this it was voted as the minimalist sound that would “uniquely” identify a work: one note by one instrument. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/57 "2007-02-19T23:44:42Z")
[QUOTE=snailboy] Come on now. Don’t leave me hanging. [/QUOTE] You got four right: [spoiler]04 - Staying Alive 06 - Sweet Child o’ Mine 11 - Lithium 12 - Sweet Home Alabama (from just the word “one” in the count-in - well done!) These are not right: 02 - Funky Cold Medina 07 - Shakin (?) (already answered correctly by **Cazzle** ) 09 - My Woman from Tokyo (?) (already answered correctly by **fishbicycle** ) [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/58 "2007-02-20T00:44:13Z")
I’m anxious to know what #2 is now. I listened to the song I guessed just after that sample, and they sound identical. Sounds like somebody ripped somebody off. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/59 "2007-02-20T01:02:10Z")
Uhhh Teenage Wasteland anyone? – IG ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638/60 "2007-02-20T01:15:18Z")
[QUOTE=snailboy] I’m anxious to know what #2 is now. I listened to the song I guessed just after that sample, and they sound identical. Sounds like somebody ripped somebody off. [/QUOTE] That is one of the ones I mentioned earlier that might be hard for non-British/Irish people to get. I doubt that that punk/pop band was very big in the US. Answer:The Undertones - Teenage Kicks [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-easily-instantly-recognized-music/392638.md?page=2)