When you step outside of the familiarity you have with many of your favourite songs, and judge them through a purely theoretical or structural lense, it’s actually rather astonishing just how many of the biggest tracks in the history of rock and pop dispense with convention.
Whether it be sudden about-turns, swings into entirely new, un-signposted sections or the presentation of critical musical information late into the track’s runtime - it’s often those moments that make the tracks in question so special.
There’s typically a story to tell about why they were written that way, too…
As these songs are so baked into our consciousness, our closeness to these moments has lessened their impact, and in some cases, their outright weirdness.
In our recently-begun new feature series here at MusicRadar, we’ve chosen several of our favourite big rock and pop hits of the last 50 years which sport such moments. Below you'll find a summary and list of links which lead our lengthier deep-dives into each song.
Enjoy reading, and further recommendations of songs which featuring magic moments are very welcome!
1. Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
When you think of Fleetwood Mac, what’s the first musical moment you go to? For some it’s that infectious topline (or the twinkling intro) of Everywhere, for others it’s Stevie Nicks’ vocal on Rhiannon. But there’s one that we’d wager the majority of people would immediately point at. The Chain’s heart-stopping bass riff that still has the power to electrify listeners decades on.
Read the full feature on Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain here
2. The Beatles - We Can Work It Out
If you could point to the precise moment when the Beatles’ pivoted from chart-angled pop into their expansive second phase, it’s highly likely to have taken place in 1965. It was the year of Rubber Soul - the record which John Lennon retrospectively cited as the turning point in the band’s songwriting.
That album’s broadening musical and lyrical reach was encapsulated by a single which revealed the growing strengths of both Lennon and McCartney. And one magical decision in particular exemplified that like no other.
Read the full feature on The Beatles’ We Can Work It Out here
3. Coldplay - Fix You
From the perspective of many outside observers, Coldplay’s progression from radio-friendly darlings of the post-Britpop indie scene to the global, stadium-filling force they became might seem like the fulfilment of a precisely mapped-out strategy.
In reality, Coldplay's journey had been anything but plain sailing.
Creative tensions, and the mounting pressure to keep producing high calibre songs, led to an overwhelming air of unhappiness during the making of the group’s third LP - X&Y - in the mid-2000s. It took just one song (and one stellar moment in particular) to finally lead the four men out of turbulent waters, and set them back on course towards the light of unprecedented global acclaim
Read the full feature on Coldplay’s Fix You here
4. Green Day - Jesus of Suburbia
As one of the world’s biggest pop punk outfits, Green Day have endured a fair share of ups and downs across their 38-year career.
Their highs have been very high indeed. There’s the cherished status that their beloved mid-90s triumvirate Dookie, Insomniac and Nimrod still hold. Then there's their consistent ability to put on a hell of a live rock show.
Yet the lows (misguided 2012 trilogy Uno…Dos…Tré! springs to mind) have been grimace-inducing.
But perhaps their single greatest moment on record was crafted in the wake of one of Green Day's bleakest periods.
![Green Day - Jesus Of Suburbia [Official Music Video] [4K Upgrade] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fZFmaMbkUD4/maxresdefault.jpg)
The song - Jesus of Suburbia - was the thematic keystone of their punchy 2004 Grammy-winning monolith American Idiot. The record that set a progressive mould for mainstream punk in the 2000s.
A staggering feat of creative audacity, Jesus of Suburbia left many who'd hastily called time on the Californian three red in the face.
Read the full feature on Green Day’s Jesus of Suburbia here
5. David Bowie - Blackstar
The death of David Bowie was a cataclysmic event for his legions of fans. Their passion had only recently been re-ignited following his return to rude creative health via 2013’s terrific The Next Day.
It was just a scant few days into their exploring its follow-up, Blackstar, when the unbelievable news hit the headlines. Suddenly the record’s turbulent, ominous atmosphere made startlingly raw sense.
Across an album dense with portents of his own departure, the title track suddenly radiated with blinding clarity.
Read the full feature on David Bowie’s Blackstar here
6. Muse - New Born
With New Born’s huge, chaotic riff, Muse markedly stepped away from the post-Britpop faction, and asserted themselves as something much tougher than their radio-pleasing contemporaries.
For Britain’s hoodie-clad alternative crowd, perpetually gazing across the pond for their heavier kicks, Muse suddenly became the British band of note.
But, excitingly, it was still housed in a form that was (just about) able to impact on the mainstream.
Read the full feature on Muse’s New Born here
7. Pink Floyd - The Great Gig in the Sky
Lauded from all quarters almost since the day it was released, The Dark Side of the Moon remains one of the few entries in that hailed pantheon of ‘best albums ever’ to genuinely warrant its status.
Though technologically innovate for its time - replete with state-of-the-art synths, multitrack recording and advanced production techniques - the enduring power of Pink Floyd’s most well-known LP really lay in its profound themes.
Death, the passage of time and the boundaries between sanity and madness. Dark Side deals in age-old, weighty concerns.
And, one moment on one track in particular underlined the essential humanity at the core of the record like no other.
Read the full feature on Pink Floyd’s The Great Gig in the Sky here
8: Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
Despite being quick off the mark to establish his solo career with 1970's amiable debut, Paul McCartney had yet to garner consistent commercial success, or the same level of critical stock that his fellow Beatles were typically achieving.
Though his early solo offerings were creatively bountiful (1971’s gloriously quirky Ram in particular) and had achieved moderate success, it would take the formation of an entirely new band and a complete change of locale to finally land the song (and album) that would fulfil his solo ambitions.
It was a song that channelled both his genius for melodicism with a structural fearlessness. An anthem that did much to cement McCartney as the enduring solo Beatle and one of rock's all-time greats.
This was McCartney's victorious gallop out from his former band's long shadow.
Read the full feature on Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run here
9. System of a Down - Chop Suey!
Chop Suey!’s intense guitar-driven energy, gargantuan chorus and quickfire vocal delivery exhilarated the alternative music crowd.
System of a Down suddenly began to occupy that hallowed respected-by-all space recently vacated by Rage Against the Machine.
Maybe it's because Chop Suey! really does sound like a song infused with magic. And, when you learn about the role the hand of fate played in its birth, it's difficult to not be seduced by the notion that something larger was at play.
Read the full feature on System of a Down's Chop Suey! here
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