LISTENING ANALYSIS (TASK 6, SUPERSONICS)

Studio chat not edited out at the end. Why? What effect does leaving it in have on the track as a whole?





Recorded outside, so lots of noise on the recording (eg. a distant aeroplane). Why do this? Why not edit it out?





Guitar noise was originally made by Jonny Greenwood as a kind of protest, because he didn't like the song, and so tried to ruin it by playing something "wrong". It became an integral part of the arrangement.

2min 27 - the vocal melody and chord sequence is (possibly accidentally) plagiarized from...


"The Air That I Breathe" by The Hollies (written in 1972, twenty years before "Creep".






First line comes in halfway through the intro... a mistake? Why not edit it out?
Also, check the lyrical "error". In the first verse he has a "plan", but in the chorus he doesn't "know what to do". Wow, some plan.





Massive reverb on sibilant sounds.





Massive reverb (and delay) on sibilant sounds (and cymbals). In the New Order song it seems a more suitable and deliberate use of the effect (in my opinion), while in the George Michael song it seems distracting (again, in my opinion.)





Extreme distortion on instruments and voice, drums panned heavily to one side. Suitable for the song? Also, check the backing vocal edit - on the word "evolution" a second voice is punched in mid-word singing "...tution". Tiny error, but now try unhearing it.





Check the tuning of the bass. But it's been sampled by Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Ice-T and others - so how much of an "error" can it be?




The line at the end of the verse "You shout it while you're dancing on the dancefloor" - the word "the" is stretched out over three notes. Very clumsy lyrics? But maybe that stupid-sounding lyric is appropriate for the theme of the song.





The climax of the song - the vocal goes up an octave and Bowie can only deliver the line in a scream. "Wrong" vocal technique. But this loss of vocal control creates a moment of intensity, which is heightened by the unorthodox use of room mic'ing.





Even classical musicians make mistakes! Check the edit at 2'03.





The guitars are out of tune with each other and the electric piano. But these tuning /intonation errors create a chorus effect that makes the overall texture very dense and attractive.