By Mingyu Wu
Introduction
Surprisingly or not, the Beatles, arguably the quintessential band of the 60s and 70s, had a massive hand in the once-popular recording technique of pop music: the fade-out. At a glance, fading out the audio of a song to end the track can seem like a cheap-and-easy trick that lacks creativity. But in reality, this technique has a long history of artistry and genuine use.
Overall, music has two main ways to close a song: a cold-end, and a fade-out (Christenson, 2019). Starting at 1946, music writer Bill Weir tracked how many out of the top 10 songs of the year utilized a fade-out. Overall, the trend was so ubiquitous during the 60s to 80s, that in 1985, all top 10 songs had a fade-out (Vox, 2017). More in his findings, there was a brief dip in 1995, which was the lowest it has ever been since 1959 (with just three songs) (Vox, 2017). Moving down the graph, 2011 was the first year since 1956 with zero songs (Vox, 2017). Although the graph only tracks popular songs (because it only looks at the top 10 tracks of the year), it is evident that the slow decline of the fade-out became a self-fulling prophecy.
Historical Perspective
One of the earliest use of the fade-out was in 1918, when composer Gustav Holst’s “Neptune” worked to depict distance and “remoteness of the planet and the mysteries of the cosmos” (Weir, 2014). This was done live by having a women’s choir sing offstage in a room, where Holst ordered a stagehand to slowly close the door (Vox, 2017). Altering the volume to represent something intangible is a perfect example of word painting, or the process of using musical elements to reflect movement and emotion (Dunbar, 2021). Holst was instrumental in opening doors for other artists to use the fade-out technique as an artistic tool.
In terms of audio recording, one of the earliest examples is George Olsen’s 1930 song, “Beyond the Blue Horizon,” with the sound of a train horn fading away to depict distance (Weir, 2014). This is another great example of word painting, as artificially fading the music helps replicate something people would only experience in real life.
Before soundboards and Pro Tools, engineers would slowly walk away from the musician while recording on a handheld device to replicate fade-outs (Christenson, 2019). But why would they go to such an extent? Before the music industry grew into the business model it is today, these choices were all artistic decisions to further the storytelling and word panting of a song.
Like many music trends, the fade-out was primarily guided by the rise of technology and editing. But more importantly, radio was so instrumental in disseminating music that they easily became the gatekeepers of popular songs. Jerry Greenberg, the former president of Atlantic Records in the 70s, admitted that record labels needed to provide radio with what they wanted (Pela, 2021). And what they wanted was songs that could be pulled directly from albums without needing a remix or additional editing to make a fade-out (Pela, 2021). This was because radio stations had their hands tied regarding how long a song could play. Not only did radio executives want fast-paced variety, but DJs were restricted due to “the limited runtime of one side of a vinyl single” (Weir, 2014). Here, the fade-out became functional: DJs would simply fade out a song longer than 3 minutes to conserve airplay (Vox, 2017). On top of this, as the song fades, DJs would often speak over it to transition, which can be a great insensitive for artists to make their songs even more radio-friendly (Christenson, 2019). Therefore, the fade-out became a popular technique to keep songs short and to allow DJs to transition smoothly.
As more and more successful songs started to incorporate fade-outs to satisfy radio executives, the technique soon became extremely alluring for artists and labels to replicate (Pela, 2021). The ubiquitous cycle of decrescendo in popular music is born.
Trend Popularity
Arguably, the Beatles worked to set up a solid base that led to the 80s craze of fade-outs. One of the best examples is their 1967 hit “All You Need is Love.” The genesis of this song starts with the Our World television special that aimed to be “the first ever attempt at a live worldwide broadcast” (Spicer, 2009). To really word paint the message of love and how “the power of love is timeless, and transcends
historical and cultural boundaries,” Lennon made sure the coda had a fade-out to represent “a coming together of nations united by the common bond of love” (Spicer, 2009). More importantly, there is a musical collage of multiple influences during the fade-out, which is a common method that the Beatles enjoyed incorporating (Spicer, 2009). Some references include the French national anthem “Las Marseillaise,” works of Bach, Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood,” a British 16th-century folk song, “Greensleeves,” and The Beatles’ own “She Loves You” (Spicer, 2009). These works are “quintessentially French, German, American,” and British, respectively (Spicer, 2009). Here, it’s evident that Geroge Martin, the producer, and the Beatles found ways to bring in new material during the coda in an artistic manner. Not only did the song help popularize the technique, but it also gave the fade-out a new purpose of blending a variety of musical references. A massive perk of adding new material in the conclusion is how it forces listeners to “pay attention all over again” (NPR Staff, 2014).
Another prolific use of the fade-out was the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever.” But interestingly enough, it was used both functionally and artistically. Martin also worked on this track as the producer, and towards the end of the song, he hated the percussion of a specific section so much that he decided to fade the audio out (Vox, 2017). But because he didn’t want to waste all the incredible music that came after the section, Martin decided to fade the audio back in (Vox, 2017). This was quite unheard of, as it somewhat created two endings in one song. It is almost comparable to an encore during shows. Not only was Martin’s decision based on fixing a flub, but it artistically pushed the boundaries of what’s allowed and normalized in popular music.
Outside of pop and rock music, other genres like lo-fi, or low fidelity, tend to gravitate towards fade-outs. For lo-fi, the technique is used more as an artistic tool. Word painting is the core idea of this genre, as “musical meaning isn’t found necessarily in the content of musical expression, but in the means through which it is expressed – namely, through its production values” (Neal, 2022). The fade-out can allow the song's energy to slowly subside, return to the starting point (like creating an arc), and bring listeners into an other-worldly theme (Neal, 2022). Moreover, when lo-fi– and frankly, all of music– was recorded for just tapes and vinyl in the early 1900s, the genre really utilized the imperfection of vintage recording techniques and equipment. Today, many artists “foreground the noise of vinyl or tape” by using vintage equipment or artificially amplifying the “static” (Neal, 2022). Because of this defining feature, lo-fi artists would strategically select what sounds come through and what is faded out. Ending with a decrescendo to allow the “static” to breathe is exactly what defines lo-fi as an art form.
Industry Reaction
While the radio industry showed a massive preference for fade-outs, a part of the music industry that is not so receptive is live entertainment. Besides Holst, most artists are cautious about incorporating fade-outs on stage. In a video by Vox, they point out how horrible the live cold-end version of Rihanna’s “Work” sounds (Vox, 2017). But one of the best examples of a live fade-out comes from one of the most iconic songs in recorded history.
Revisiting the Beatles, the band actually steered away from fading out their songs until after they stopped touring. This led to the American classic “Hey Jude,” which has an impressive four-minute fade-out (Vox, 2017). In a rare turn of events, on September 8th, 1968, the Beatles agreed to perform the track on the David Frost show. To recreate the feel of the studio version, the Beatles reportedly took about 12 takes and required lots of editing for a visual and audio fade-to-black (Vox, 2017). The performance quickly became a revolutionary TV moment and even became the song’s official music video.
But during the late 90s and early 2000s, the tech industry once again altered consumers' listening habits. With the rise of iPods and digital listening, skipping songs became a lot easier, and “with these digital devices, our attention spans began getting shorter” (Christenson, 2019).
Along with that, with the ease of skipping, consumers are less likely to listen to an album in order. By simply following the habits of consumers, artists and labels would tend to produce songs that could be stand-alone singles rather than bodies of work. One method of using the fade-out was to connect songs within an album, like storytelling (Spicer, 2009). Not only did the Beatles enjoy making references and adding something new during a song’s fade-out, but they would also sometimes thematically connect songs together (Spicer 2009). But without the restriction of vinyl and tapes, listeners can now cherry-pick their favorite songs to listen to, which supersedes the need to connect songs within an album.
Audience Reaction
In a study done by the Pop Institute of the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media in Germany, it is revealed that there is an acute science to the fade-out in music. In this experiment, participants listened to an unreleased song that either had a cold-end or a fade-out (Kopiez et al., 2015). The study observed participants tapping along to the song’s beat, and they found that for cold-ends, the subjects stopped tapping 1.40 seconds before the end of the song, while for fade-outs, participants stopped tapping 1.04 seconds after the song (Kopiez et al., 2015). The study reveals that fade-outs can be both functional and artistic, as it offers listeners a type of “involuntary musical imagery,” allowing the song to live on beyond the physical sense (Kopiez et al., 2015). This can even be considered psychological marketing, as the fade-out can help make a song a lot more memorable and likable. The term “Pulse Continuity Phenomenon” explains how the auditory processing system can allow music to “delay closure indefinitely,” which is all in favor of the artist (Kopiez et al., 2015).
So why was there a slow shift away from this trend in the 90s and beyond? Perhaps psychology can be to blame. Around the 90s, “the notion that we require closure in our lives gained traction,” and arguably this concept may have trickled down into pop culture. But rather than pointing fingers at the American Psychological Association for creating The Need for Closure Scale in 1993, how fans listen to music may have altered what is wanted (Weir, 2014).
Future Outlook
Will the fade-out make a triumphant return to popular music? Perhaps not a grand scale, but listeners can currently find fade-outs sprinkled throughout today’s charts and airwaves. There are many songs in modern history that utilize this technique, anywhere from Ariana Grande’s recent lead single “positions,” to Robin Thicke's massive (and controversial) hit “Blurred Lines.” But what’s notable, especially with the example of Thicke, is that most modern songs would only incorporate a fade-out to replicate nostalgia (Weir, 2014). With the current landscape of social media, nostalgia has become a huge marketing and music trend. For example, TikTok helped facilitate the revival of early 2000s music like Nelly Furtado’s Loose (2006). That album is particularly interesting because a majority of the songs utilize fade-outs.
Although it can exist in various genres, listeners shouldn’t expect the fade-out to expand its reach like it did in 1985, or at least for now. With the current rise in nostalgic and reminiscent pop culture, perhaps the trend can come back strong, similar to how the music came back in “Strawberry Fields Forever,” only to potentially fade away for good.
References
Christenson, K. (2019, August 23). What Ever Happened to the Pop Song Fade-out? Wisconsin Public Radio. https://www.wpr.org/what-ever-happened-pop-song-fade-out
Dunbar, J. (2021). Women, Music, Culture: An Introduction Third Edition. Taylor & Francis.
Kopiez, R., Platz, F., Müller, S., & Wolf, A. (2015). When the Pulse of the Song Goes on: Fade-out in Popular Music and the Pulse Continuity Phenomenon. Psychology of Music, 43(3), 359–374. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735613511505
Neal, A. (2022, August 22). Lo-fi Today. Organised Sound, 27(1), 32-40. doi:10.1017/S1355771822000188
NPR Staff. (2014, September 17). The Rise and Fall of the Fade-Out. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2014/09/17/349261382/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-fade-out
Pela, Robrt L. (2021, January 20). Why Do So Many Recorded Songs End With a Fadeout? Phoenix New Times. https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/why-do-so-many-recorded-songs-end-with-a-fadeout-11526571#:~:text=In%20Revolution%20in%20the%20Head,endings%20of%20their%20songs%20onstage.
Spicer, M. (2009, July). Strategic Intertextuality in Three of John Lennon’s Late Beatles Songs. Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, from https://trace.tennessee.edu/gamut/vol2/iss1/11/
Vox. (2017, September 1). Why More Pop Songs Should End With a Fade Out [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/QpKypvDjiPM
Weir, W. (2014, September 15). The Sad, Gradual Decline of the Fade-Out in Popular Music. Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/culture/2014/09/the-fade-out-in-pop-music-why-dont-modern-pop-songs-end-by-slowly-reducing-in-volume.html
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