Scary passages in classic albums

That's a good one. Even though I KNOW it's coming I always feel a little shock.

There is a similar passage on Sonic Youth's "Confusion Is Sex" when "Now I Wanbe Be Your Dog" suddenly crashes into "Freezer Burn".... shocking...

 

Three?? I've got The Muppet Show and The Muppet Show 2, and a couple of others like the John Denver Christmas album and Miss Piggy's workout album, but is there one I don't know about??

 

This scared me as a child. Also the bit at the end of KISS Destroyer, now known as "Rock n Roll Party".

 

Frankie Teardrop from the 1st Suicide album. The whole track but especially the loud, intense screaming! The whole LP has such a dark and sinister atmosphere.

 

"Wind Chimes" from The Beach Boys' Smiley Smile.

 

The build-up in A Day In The Life is pretty creepy. It's just a collage of really intense sounds that keeps building and building.

 

In Kate Bush's "All We Ever Look For" from 'Never For Ever', there's a section with footsteps walking across the sound field (right to left, left to right). Each and every time I listen to it with headphones on I jump out of my skin thinking someone's walking behind me!

My nephew and myself used to put in my sister's copy of "Thriller" and then run out of the room terrified!

 

The Krautrock-like ending to Bowie's Sweet Thing-suite sounds really menacing.
Actually, Neu!, Can or Faust should be mentioned in this thread, without a doubt! King Crimson is another act with lots of creepy moments.

 

Yes!! "Aumgn" is terrifying, as is "Blind Mirror Surf" from The Lost Tapes.

The "breathing" accordian in "Death Take Your Fiddle" by Spiritualized, from Songs In A&E, is pretty unnerving.

The lid of the Martian cylinder unscrewing then falling off, along with that extraordinary bass line in The War Of The Worlds remains the most frightening thing I've ever heard. I had to fast forward the cassette at that point when I was little.

 

Queen "Get Down Make Love"...the who song is creepy but that interlude was settling as a kid. Then there's the album cover, etc.

 

Kate Bush with "Waking the Witch" and on The Dreaming with "Get Out of My House." She can be bone chilling when she wants to be.

And +1 for some of the stuff on News of the World in combination with that cover.

 

The guitar solo in The Doors' "When The Music's Over." (Studio version)

 

Laurie Anderson - Big Science. Chock full of unsettling moments. Builds up to the middle of the album, first song on side two, "O Superman."

 

The Muppet Show Music Album ('79). No sketches, but all songs from season 3. Admittedly the least-known from the three, and not released in the US (UK and Australia only).

 

That weird instrumental bit in Strawbs 'Queen of Dreams' on Grave New World.

 

I heard Hamburger Lady by Throbbing Gristle when I was 17 or something. Very unsettling. Still is.

 

Great pick. It's hard to even make out what they're saying, but it sure sounds tense. That line up of King Crimson was good at delivering those spooky moments. See also "The Mincer" from Starless & Bible Black, which sounds like something out of a horror soundtrack ("Fingers creeping, lingered shrieking. . . "), or the unhinged instrumental "Providence" from Red.

 

Thanks! I've never seen that one. I'll look out for it!

 

Godley and Creme's "Consequences" album had many unsettling instrumental passages, including "Burial Scene" where (especially in headphones) one has the sensation of being in a coffin while dirt is shoveled onto the lid... good times!...

 

How could I forget these two? Excellent choices, both great bands!!!

 

As for the first two: the UK versions (on Pye) have 1 or 2 more tracks each than their American counterparts (on Arista)...
And there also exists a second Denver/Muppets album: Rocky Mountain Holiday from '83.

 

"Touched" from Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. Perhaps "musical nausea" might be a better description...

 

The ending of the track on Hounds Of Love where Kate says, "Go to sleep, little Earth."

 

Alice Cooper has a lot of unsettling moments on those early albums.
The song Killer itself sounds eerie and celebral, as if you're about to meet the devil himself.

Is The Cure's Subway Song already mentioned?

 

A special mention to the volume control in The Talking Drum. Play it in the car at night and you feel like you're being chased. The Great Deceiver box set's also one big creep-fest.