# Remember hidden songs on 90s CDs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 29, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755 "2022-11-29T17:42:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/21 "2022-11-29T19:23:27Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I’ve never played a CD on random in my life Me neither, if we’re talking about individual CDs. But when you’re having a few people over and have a five-CD player, it’s fun to put the whole thing on random and have a nonstop 4-5 hour mood music soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/22 "2022-11-29T19:25:29Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > > [@duality72](#): > > > > It seems to have started in 1969 (pre-CDs) with the Beatles. > > Again, I’m not talking about the hidden song itself but the big, silent gap that precedes it. Yeah, and there was a pretty big silent gap between “The End” and “Her Majesty”. From the Wiki link above, > [@](#): > > It is occasionally unclear whether a piece of music is ‘hidden.’ For example, “[Her Majesty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Majesty_(song)),” which is preceded by fourteen seconds of silence, ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/23 "2022-11-29T19:27:19Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > > [@duality72](#): > > > > It seems to have started in 1969 (pre-CDs) with the Beatles. > > Again, I’m not talking about the hidden song itself but the big, silent gap that precedes it. I might be wrong, but I could swear I had a Beatles LP where there was a gap _and then_ Her Majesty began playing. ETA: Ninja’d! ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/24 "2022-11-29T19:30:45Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Yeah, and there was a pretty big silent gap between “The End” and “Her Majesty”. From the Wiki link above > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I could swear I had a Beatles LP where there was a gap _and then_ Her Majesty began playing. Yeah, but that’s 14 seconds. Nirvana’s is 10 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/25 "2022-11-29T19:31:40Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > [Nirvana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(band))’s song “[Endless, Nameless](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endless,_Nameless_(song))” was included as a hidden track in this way on their 1991 CD _[Nevermind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevermind)_, after 10 minutes of complete silence within the track listed as the final song.[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_track#cite_note-7)[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_track#cite_note-8) Although it was not the first hidden song to use this technique, it gained significant attention. OK, now _that’s_ flippin’ obnoxious. 14 seconds is an eternity; 10 minutes is assholery. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/26 "2022-11-29T19:32:57Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > 14 seconds is an eternity; 10 minutes is assholery. See? That’s my whole point! (I know it took me a while to get there.) Those long silent gaps are just dumb jokes that aren’t even funny the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/27 "2022-11-29T19:34:59Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Me neither, if we’re talking about individual CDs. But when you’re having a few people over and have a five-CD player, it’s fun to put the whole thing on random and have a nonstop 4-5 hour mood music soundtrack. I had a 100 CD changer. One of the nice features it had was that you could ‘delete’ tracks. If you played that CD it would skip over that track like it wasn’t there. IIRC, I had deleted only two tracks out of all the CDs in there. Chicago’s (well, CTA’s (or, really, Terry Kath’s)) Free Form Guitar because that ‘song’ wasn’t fun to be woken by and I usually have the whole CD changer on random when I was sleeping. And another one that I’d swear was called “fuck johnny” on a Marilyn Manson album because it sounded like porn (not the music, the moaning) and I’d have preferred for my parents/siblings to not have heard that in the middle of the night. Also, I see there’s a hidden track on Antichrist Superstar. In any case, that was all a long way to say, with some of the bigger changers, you could delete all those silent tracks if you wanted too. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/28 "2022-11-29T19:42:34Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > you could delete all those silent tracks if you wanted too Not if the silent part is part of the same track as the song. The track would be ten minutes of silence and three minutes of music, so you’d have to actually edit it to remove the silence. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/29 "2022-11-29T19:47:58Z")
Hank Williams III’s “Straight to Hell” album has a second disc with one song and then 42 minutes of backwards music,sound effects, and 9 hidden songs, most of them stripped acoustic and pretty decent: [Straight to Hell (album) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_to_Hell_(album)) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/30 "2022-11-29T19:58:40Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I had a 100 CD changer. I still have a 400 CD/DVD changer. It works fine, but when changing discs, sometimes it makes some scary sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/31 "2022-11-29T20:02:22Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Not if the silent part is part of the same track as the song. The track would be ten minutes of silence and three minutes of music, so you’d have to actually edit it to remove the silence. I agree, in fact that way I worded it that way (‘delete the silent tracks’ as opposed to ‘delete the silent part’). Your only option then would be to delete the last track with the silent part. Not ideal, but might be better than 10 minutes of silence (and the sound of the CD head seeking). > [@RitterSport](#): > > I still have a 400 CD/DVD changer. It works fine, but when changing discs, sometimes it makes some scary sounds. I brought my 100 disc changer to college during my senior year. I had it sitting on a subwoofer, which I knew was a bad idea, but it was mostly fine. Until one day when it wasn’t. Then I replaced it with a 200 disc changer that I _hated_, for reasons I’ve long since forgotten. The 200 CD changer sat around unused for 15ish years before I finally got rid of it. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/32 "2022-11-29T20:09:14Z")
I first discovered a hidden track on Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/33 "2022-11-29T20:18:36Z")
My first experience with the hidden track was “All by Myself” at the end of Green Day’s Dookie. It pops up a minute and 17 seconds after the last listed track. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/34 "2022-11-29T20:47:26Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Yeah, but that’s 14 seconds. Nirvana’s is 10 minutes. 14 seconds counts as a ‘gap’ in most normal music layouts - records, tapes, CDs. The fact that you can point to a longer gap doesn’t invalidate that. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/35 "2022-11-29T20:52:15Z")
Dangit, it’s my OP and I’ll move the goalposts if I want to! 😜 ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/36 "2022-11-29T20:57:06Z")
The ‘hidden track’ ‘11’ on R.E.M.'s _Green_ is a really good song. I’m glad it’s there, even if there is no reason for it to be ‘hidden.’ ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/37 "2022-11-29T21:48:49Z")
I had a couple of albums in the 90s that did this, one by Travis and one Robbie Williams. Robbie’s was the first I had and I didnt even realise there was an extra bit at the end for a good couple of years, I just assumed the manufacturer had messed up or something. Turned out after many minutes at the end of the album (may even have been more than Nirvana’s), he recorded a sort of “F U” poem to an old teacher of his that clearly thought he would never amount to anything. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/38 "2022-11-29T23:50:04Z")
And two of the band members swapped instruments; IIRC Peter Buck played drums, and Bill Berry the guitar. I was in college when “Nevermind” came out, and my roommate was the one who told me about “Endless Nameless.” Her CD didn’t have it, but her brother’s did, and he discovered it when he put the CD on, and then did some cleaning and let it play out while washing dishes, and all of a sudden, after 10 minutes of silence, there it was. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/39 "2022-11-30T00:39:11Z")
The Warcraft 2 expansion CD had a hidden track that would only play in the game via a cheat code, or externally in a normal CD player. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2bx7QeDa3RU/maxresdefault.jpg "Warcraft II Beyond the Dark Portal Music - Warcraft Disco Song (I'm a Medieval Man)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bx7QeDa3RU) I know it’s not in the same oeuvre as everything else in this thread, but the Warcraft 2 OST is pretty fucking great in its own right. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755/40 "2022-12-01T01:54:16Z")
Funny you should mention that. I’ve recently been listening to my old copy of Cracker’s album Kerosene Hat. It is a very good album; however, they went overboard with hidden tracks. After the last listed track, there additional ones at positions 69, 89, and 99. It is very annoying to have to forward your way on to those tracks manually or wait for the player to advance to them. I don’t know who thought this up, but I hope they end up in an unmarked grave. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-hidden-songs-on-90s-cds/975755.md?page=3)