Is the 'hidden track' the stupidest thing ever?

It was a gimmick that worked. There was always a lot of talk about hidden tracks and when discs came out. In reality, it sucked a lot of the time. Especially when there was 29 minutes of silence and no way to get to the track except hold down the ff button, or rewind before the first track. So...what was worse?
Having to buy the entire album again to get the Japanese Bonus Tracks. Or, 3 CD singles of the same song each with 1 extra studio song amongst 2 lousy live songs. That kinda stuff...

 

Also on the Tool's debut "Undertow":

"Disgustipated" is track 69 on most pressings in North America (tracks 10-68 are silent; tracks 10-67 are 1 second each in length, and track 68 is 2 seconds). It also appears as track 39, track 10 (mostly in Europe and Australia) or as a hidden track following "Flood" on track 9. On certain Japanese imports, "Disgustipated" is track 70. In all cases, it is listed as track 10 on the album itself.

Undertow (Tool album) - Wikipedia

 

Here's a hidden track from the original vinyl incarnation of the 8th best album ever made (at least according to Rolling Stone).

If this is stupid, then I'll take stupid any day of the week.

 

Not even in the top ten of stupid. As jon9091 suggests, sometimes the gimmick worked. When the extra track at the end of Beck's Mutations comes on, it's like finding buried treasure. Sometimes it's just mildly annoying.

 

Train In Vain was the first song that came to mind.

 

Does anybody else remember listening to the „Woodface“ CD by Crowded House for the very first time? I remember having been quite shocked by the loud noise a few minutes after the last track... and the band reassuring us that they were still here and wouldn’t go away...

 

Here's a good hidden track, though I believe it was listed on the Japanese release.

 

I hated Eater Eggs on DVDs too. Guess I'm just a curmudgeon.

 

Yes, in the pre-CD days. That was a real treat at the time!

 

Hidden tracks are a delightful surprise, unless you are a grinch.

 

The first cd of Little Feat - The Last
The Record Album had after the original album tracks had a bizarre anounment before they gave you Additional tracks on CD (the omitted tracks from the single CD version of Waiting For Columbus).

I made a CDR to edit out the anounment.
Kept the bonus tracks.

 

I have not even begun to discover all the hidden tracks that won't reveal themselves on a normal CD player, and often on DVD music vids, without knowing the magic word or button.

For years, I had no idea that Love 2003 Forever Changes concert DVD had hidden tracks that can only be revealed by clicking on Arthur's sunglasses! yeah. Stupid. AND annoying. And it is by word of mouth mostly.

Nowhere in the liner notes does it say...."look for the hidden bonus tracks by doing this silly thing. Otherwise you're screwed.

"

 

The pro's of streaming, dbpoweramp has plugin for silence removel at hidden tracks. Works fine for me. I use the plugin for cd's with over 2 mins silence between last song and hidden track.

 

I thought Candyfloss by Wilco was a great hidden track

 

Here's my hidden extra post.




































































No, but close.

 

Great example. And a great tune.

 

If they were worth listening to then there would be no reason to hide them. I hate hidden tracks.

 

Those gimmicks drove me up the wall! Just like those smart-alec DVD menus of a few years ago.
You had to negotiate all this rubbish in order to see the bloody movie!

 

Good example: 'Kuwait City' at the end of World Party's Bang!

Awful example: that horrible noise at the end of U2's Zooropa.

 

It depends.

 

Track 69. A track so good, Cracker often opens with it.

 

I'm amazed so many people don't like fun or extra bonuses.

 

Dave Matthews Band - Under the Table and Dreaming had a really annoying quirk. The last song was called #34. Even though there were only 12 songs, it was tracked as 34. There were 22 one second tracks for 12-33. This was back in the day of 5cd carousels. If you had that album on 5disc shuffle, it would rarely play anything from that album until the end, when those were the only songs left.

 

I only find them annoying when I go to rip the CD.

I am way more annoyed by "skits" that are indexed with the tracks before or after.

 

I hate the gimmick. I hate having to rip them and edit the silence out of them in order to enjoy them. But the songs themselves?

I don't necessarily agree.



The above is hidden at the end of his 'Black Diamond' CD, and is better than half of the tracks on the album proper.