What is the single coolest Second in the history of Rock 'n' Roll?

The last note on the Beatles Her Majesty. It's left hanging
It goes dah but doesn't finish with da as in dah da. It always thought that it was purposely left like that to leave the door open for their return. So I just have to wait for the afterlife now.

Paul is Dead, Turn me on Dead Man.

 

The First zeven notes of Smoke on the water
The first five notes of Whole lotta love
The first zeven notes of Wholo lotta rosie


I'm gonna start another topic!

 

The opening of sympathy for the Devil. The drums give me goose bumps. Also, on Men at Work’s “Who can it be Now?”, the line “there’s nothing wrong with my state of mental health” has always seemed cool to me. When I was a teen, I played the record as much as my mom would allow, which wasn’t much
Now that copy is still in my collection and near mint. Sometimes parents really do know best

 

Sticking by the rules, I vote for Carl Perkins "Go Cat Go!" from Blue Suede Shoes.
That's approximately a second.
Otherwise, another vote for the first second of "I Feel Fine".

Go to two seconds and I'll take the very beginning of "The Who Sell Out" - bah dump! MUUNNDAAYYY!!

One phrase - Joel nailed it. "AWOPBOP......."
I mean Kevin.

 

Axel F

 

Many of you have already named some great ones that would be on my list as well. Some others that come to mind:

Crashing guitar sound solo on "In The Evening" - Led Zeppelin; In Through The Out Door

Missile cruising from one speaker to another and then erupting into huge explosion on beginning of "Little Black Book With My Poems" - Pink Floyd; The Final Cut

On the video of "The Kids Are Alright" at the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again" Keith Moon's drum solo leads into Roger's screaming vocals as Pete slides across the stage in slow motion-incredibly cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

There's this little scraping noise that appears periodically in "Satisfaction" during the main riff that completely makes the song for me. Wish I was knowledgable enough to describe it adequately, but it's one of the transcendent little moments in rock and roll for me.

Jay

 

-BW's falsetto on the Surf's Up demo
-The moment the strings enter on Love's Alone Again Or
-The solo in Bold as Love always makes me glad to be alive
-The 5/8/70 Jimi Machine Gunman (Aud tape, Norman Okla). Jimi dedicates Machine Gun to the deceased Kent State students and then plays a completely unique 90 second solo improvisation that is one of the most haunting pieces of music I've ever heard.

Chris

 

A few more quick ones that just came to mind, all from The Band (since the Beatles have already been taken) -- Garth's intro to "Chest Fever" from Music From Big Pink, Levon's high hat fill on "King Harvest" (e.g., between "Corn in the fields, listen to the rice as the wind blows cross the water" and "King Harvest has surely come come") from The Band, and Robbie's intro (including false start) to "Mystery Train" from Moondog Matinee

Jay

 

Ozzy biting the head off a bat at a record company meeting. Musically speaking, hmmm, the hiccuping sound Steven Tyler makes right at the climax of Milk Cow Blues. That's rock 'n roll!

 

"I've got blistuhs on my finguhs!!"

 

The first second of any song performed live by Jimi Hendrix.

Cat

 

Speaking of Jimi, I liked when he and the band start playing "Sunshine of Your Love" on the BBC compilation and the host starts to shoosh them off the air. That is a humorous second.

 

Hmmm...

Well, for me, the first thing that comes to mind right this moment is the HOWL John Lennon lets out just before George's hot guitar solo in the middle of "Slow Down". John let his cords rip many times on various other Beatle performances, but this one especially sounds like all the emotions one can possibly have...all at one moment in rock 'n' roll...

 

Sitting in silence for 20 seconds, waiting for the tonearm to pick up, after digesting what is probably the Beatles greatest masterpiece, Abbey Road. The opening crash of, the uncredited on the LP jacket, Her Majesty. (Actually, what I later found out was the ending crash of Mean Mr. Mustard.)

 

Opening seconds of Baba O'Riley....impossible sounds which demand your attention and harken the beginning of one monster album.

 

That guitar break in "Got To Get You Into My Life" is so cool .

Also up there are:

Ray Charles singing "Whooah, whooah [falsetto], Georgia......."

Ray's piano break in "Your Cheating Heart"

Patsy Cline singing the last two words on "Faded Love"

The "Ahhhhhhhhh-Ahhhhhhh" that takes you back into the verse after the first chorus in "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is magical (particularly in the mono mix) - strangely it doesn't have quite the same effect after the second chorus.

I always loved this song and recently decided to try and sing the intro - it's not nearly as easy as it sounds!

I think it goes more like this:

"A-we'-a-he'-a-hell, the little things......."

 

The opening drum beat for Zep's "When The Levee Breaks" -- that INCREDIBLE
echo-y/reverbed kick (?) drum. Still gives me chills.

The 'return' to the Contours' "Do You Love Me" after the false fade (actually, the DC5
version works as well).

The ending of the Sex Pistols' "EMI" where Lydon snarls "A&M."

Finally, to paraphrase something written in 1967 by Paul Williams in Crawdaddy
Magazine, the absolute best one second in music is that second of anticipation
just BEFORE your favorite single or album begins.

 

My Pick - The intro to Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum

 

I groove through the whole song of "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys"...the coolest electronics and the best intro ever!

 

I think that is the sound of the late Chris Wood's saxophone being played through some kind of electronic processor.

 

"Missile cruising from one speaker to another and then erupting into huge explosion on beginning of "Little Black Book With My Poems" - Pink Floyd; The Final Cut "

Just to pick a nit, that's from "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" from THE FINAL CUT. Love that little reverb drenched buh-buh after "Daddy, What'd you leave behind for me?!" on Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1. Cool thread.

 

Love that sound!!

Oh, I forgot that I wore out the 4th side of Quadraphenia starting with "Dr. Jimmy" and all the way to ending with "Love Reign 'Oer Me"...Excellent!!