# Songs not "ending" but rather fade away. An 80's thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 14, 2022, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830 "2022-04-14T17:14:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/21 "2022-04-14T20:26:45Z")
At one time the Guess Who did a live fade-out of their hit Clap For The Wolfman. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/22 "2022-04-14T21:32:19Z")
The original releases of ‘Not Fade Away’ by Buddy Holly & The Rolling Stones both fade away. The Oasis song ‘Fade Away’ doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/23 "2022-04-14T21:49:29Z")
That’s the kind of trivia I like! 👍 ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/24 "2022-04-14T21:55:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A Horse with No Name exemplifies that for me. If it didn’t eventually fade out it would never end. And double the suicide rate. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/25 "2022-04-14T22:03:34Z")
On the other hand, the relatively obscure Blotto song “Metal Head” has like five (non-fade out) endings. I think it uses every one of the standard rock endings. But they are making fun of the genre. Kiki Dee’s “I Got the Music In Me” has like four endings. Just when you think it’s done…nope still going. I don’t think they are making fun of anything, I think they were serious that they thought that was a good ending. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/26 "2022-04-14T22:22:54Z")
I always thought the fade out was because inexperienced songwriters didn’t know how to tonically end songs. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/27 "2022-04-14T22:34:13Z")
“One of my private pet compositional hunches about the Beatles is that they preferred the complete ending over the fade-out more strongly than the average band of their period. Unfortunately I don’t have at my fingertips the actuarially global statistics needed to prove such a point; it remains a gut feeling for me. Indeed, if the “Rubber Soul” album itself were any indication one way or the other, its fifty-fifty showing in this department would seem equivocal.” More here: [Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "Run For Your Life"](https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/rfyl.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/28 "2022-04-14T22:36:27Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > “One of my private pet compositional hunches about the Beatles is that they preferred the complete ending over the fade-out more strongly than the average band of their period. Unfortunately I don’t have at my fingertips the actuarially global statistics needed to prove such a point; it remains a gut feeling for me. Indeed, if the “Rubber Soul” album itself were any indication one way or the other, its fifty-fifty showing in this department would seem equivocal.” Then they ruined it all with “Hey Jude”… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/29 "2022-04-14T23:17:53Z")
I used to hate this song, _Teardrops_ by Womack and Womack, because it doesn’t really begin, or end, it just exists and then drones on with barely anything interesting happening in between. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/R8AOAap6_k4/maxresdefault.jpg "Womack & Womack - Teardrops (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8AOAap6_k4) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/30 "2022-04-14T23:31:45Z")
First song that came to mind for me was [Moving by Supergrass](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8w81AAK7to) from 1999. This single data point proves nothing, I just wanted to link a really good tune 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/31 "2022-04-15T04:41:49Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Was this an 80’s thing? The first thing that came to mind was “The Partridge Family.” On the TV show in each (?) episode they would be playing a song for a rapt audience somewhere. Of course they were merely lip-synching. When they got to the fade at the end, everyone suddenly burst into applause before they “finished.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/32 "2022-04-15T11:43:52Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > On the other hand, the relatively obscure Blotto song “Metal Head” has like five (non-fade out) endings. I think it uses every one of the standard rock endings. But they are making fun of the genre. Wow. You’ve heard of Blotto! I went to college with Blanche. “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha” ended with a fade out, as did “Honey.” So it was being done in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/33 "2022-04-15T14:06:10Z")
And then there is Helter Skelter with a complete fade out, a fade _in_, then _another_ fade out that is interrupted by Ringo’s _“I got bisters on my fingers!_ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/34 "2022-04-15T14:38:50Z")
I once did a thread about the best fade-out guitar solos. Steely Dan did it often and the best. I really want to hear what was happening after the fade out. The two that come to mind are Skunk Baxter playing on “My Old School” and Steve Carlton on “Kid Charlemagne.” In particular if you crank up the volume you can hear the most interesting part of Carlton’s solo right before the music disappears. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/35 "2022-04-15T14:45:38Z")
Rachel Bloom’s “We’ll Never Have Problems Again” ends with a live fade-out on the words “live fade-out”: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/YeGQXqqvvAY/maxresdefault.jpg "We'll Never Have Problems Again - feat. Rachel Bloom & Vincent Rodriguez III - "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeGQXqqvvAY) ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/36 "2022-04-15T15:40:40Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I always assumed it was for disc jockies to have time for mindless chatter between songs. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Oh Pretty Woman that ends with a slam so quick it can catch a DJ off guard. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > But probably better for radio jocks to blend from one song to another. Interesting. In the context of a club DJ where maintaining the beat between songs is paramount, it seems like the fade out would make it easier. But are you more at risk of losing the audience, say if you let the ending song fade too much before bringing in the new one? Seems like the type of songs that tend to fade out are more likely to be slower and less “clubby” to begin with anyway. Conversely, I can also see how a hard cut would make it more difficult to blend, so in that case I guess you’d have to line up a very similar song to follow, if not one from the same artist/album. Radio DJs don’t have those same constraints. I know cross-fading between songs was very common for a while to prevent radio piracy, but that’s not really a thing anymore. I can see how that might still be done to reduce dead air on a long fade-out rather than just clipping it. Is it still common practice especially now with radio playlists being centrally pre-curated and out of the control of the local DJ (if they even have a local DJ anymore)? I haven’t listened to music radio for about a half decade now because I just got so sick of the repetitiveness and commercials. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/37 "2022-04-15T15:48:18Z")
I’m sure it’s not exclusively an 80s thing, but I think it’s fitting to note that the theme song to 1984’s _The NeverEnding Story_ fits this pattern, of not so much “ending” as “fad[ing] away.” So maybe not “false advertising” after all. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NL_pRiXov7Q/hqdefault.jpg "Lionel Hutz") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_pRiXov7Q) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/38 "2022-04-15T15:53:50Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > As others have said, the fade-out was frequent in the 60s and 70s. Back in the 60s a local DJ went on an anti-fadeout campaign by interrupting them with various classical endings. [Holst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Holst) was a favorite. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/39 "2022-04-15T16:31:06Z")
Don’t hate on the fadeout on _Hey Jude_. That was always the last song at our junior high dances, so the long fadeout let you know it was your last minute of holding your date close (at least until the next dance). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830/40 "2022-04-15T21:00:32Z")
Speaking of fade outs… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pZyKzthYYvA/hqdefault.jpg "Guadalcanal Diary - Fade Out") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZyKzthYYvA) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-ending-but-rather-fade-away-an-80s-thing/962830.md?page=3)