History Main / BoleroEffect

* Josh Wink's SignatureSong "Higher State of Consciousness" begins with a minimalistic 808 drum loop, then adds sampled breakbeats and the famous 303 sequencer riff, which gradually increases in pitch until the breakdown, where the filters are pushed to near ear-piercing levels and a second 303 line joins in, followed by Josh wildly manipulating ("tweaking") the device's knobs for the song's climax.

** A Saucerful of Secrets: on live performances coming in from the Storm Signal to the Celestial Voices sections, each of the guys come in through the song - and then Gilmour sings on the last one or two iterations depending on which version you listen to (Pompeii or Ummagumma). On the studio version, it's way more subtle: the organs build upon each other and wind up with what this troper thinks sounds like overdubs of organs.

* Music/MauriceRavel's ''[[Music/{{Bolero}} Boléro]]'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}} and {{Trope Maker|s}}, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r30D3SW4OVw starting with]] only a snare drum, a flute and a few violas and cellos, and ending up with the whole orchestra.
** Now [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkrydS0MK28 subtract the melody]].
* Music/FrankZappa's cover of Ravel's ''[[Music/{{Bolero}} Boléro]]'' on ''Music/TheBestBandYouNeverHeardInYourLife'' (1991), naturally... It adds a reggae rhythm, but otherwise applies the trope in a similar manner to the original, starting with just a sax over the reggae backing and eventually getting the whole band, including the entire horn section, in.

* "Ewigkeit" from ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire''. [[note]]This was originally an instrumental piece called "Great Boleros of Fire," which was composed by Music/JimSteinman, and used to open Music/MeatLoaf's concerts at the beginning of his popularity. It was [[WithLyrics given lyrics]] in the 1990s, and translated into German for ''Tanz Der Vampire''. The English lyrics were then heard in the Broadway production (or should I say massacre?).[[/note]]
* The opening theme to {{Film/Inception}} is basically this. Interestingly, this is due to the way it was composed, which was essentially to take 'Non, je ne regrette rien' by Music/EdithPiaf and slow it down by a factor of 12, so that the ordinary repetition associated with music was turned into this trope.
* Done intermittently over the course of the second DreamSequence of ''Lady in the Dark''. The beat disappears for some fairly long stretches, though it sounds like ''[[Music/{{Bolero}} Boléro]]'' tweaked into CommonTime.
* Music/TheBeatles:
** The repeated chorus of the band's 1968 single "Hey Jude" employs a very similar effect.
** Also the main riff of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" from ''Music/AbbeyRoad'', with added white noise, ending with an [[JumpScare abrupt ending]].
* "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from ''[[Music/PeerGyntSuiteNoOne Peer Gynt Suite No. 1]]'' by Music/EdvardGrieg does this.
* The first movement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRHZu5xoIe0 Symphony No. 7 in C major]] (''Leningrad'') by Music/DmitriShostakovich features this in its second section. The symphony is about the siege of Leningrad during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and the long crescendo represents the approach of the invading Nazis.[[note]] Or so the official explanation goes; some of Shostakovich's friends, such as the violinist Rostislav Dubinsky, claimed that Shostakovich wrote the first movement ''before'' the siege of Leningrad, and that it was really about how Communist ideals (which the composer admired) had been warped into the horrors of Stalinism (which he feared). When the siege began in September 1941, he could re-frame the theme in a more politically acceptable light.[[/note]]
* Russian folk tune "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOirQOghpUc Polyushko Polie]]" employed this effect to liken the effect of a Cossack cavalry canter. Different versions exist, but most keep the same effect.
* Music/{{Genesis|Band}}:
** "The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging" from the album ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'', starting with piano and light cymbals along with Peter's vocals, getting the rest of the band in the next verse and getting louder from there.
** "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight", the opening track from the album ''Music/SellingEnglandByThePound''. It starts off ''á cappella'', then a lone guitar comes in behind the voice...

* ''Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'' has "Akogare no Dante", where a bunch of schoolboys, starting with Cesare Borgia (yes, ''that'' one), sing about how much they love Creator/DanteAlighieri. It ends with Dante himself appearing in a vision (he's been dead for about 170 years), and belting out "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!" Of course, it's also a DeathlyDiesIrae, with a 1970's-esque beat that's actually very engaging. And catchy.
* Music/MikeOldfield:
** "Music/TubularBells" (and its successor incarnation [[Music/TubularBellsII TB2]]) have a section which, like the original ''[[Music/{{Bolero}} Boléro]]'', adds a different instrument each loop until everything is playing beneath the majestic entry of the titular instrument.
** Oldfield also does this in "Ommadawn" and ''Music of the Spheres''.
* [[Franchise/TouhouProject The Objects Floating in the Sky,]] [[XMakesAnythingCool "X"]] also does this.
* This is a favourite trope of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers ([[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant not]] [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Peppers]], Pipers); start with a haunting melody by a lone piper, then the other pipes join in, then the drums and the electric guitar. They even have a track called "Celtic Bolero".
* Music/SufjanStevens:
** "The BQE, Movement III: Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise" is nothing but buildup, and the crescendo only comes in "Movement IV: Traffic Shock".
** "Djohariah" does this over the course of about 17 minutes, building up to a crescendo twice before turning into a quiet acoustic song.
* The Creator/DiscoveryChannel's ''The World is Just Awesome'' has a piano backing in the first stanza, adds strings in the next, and tops it off with a choir.
* Music/GustavMahler's First Symphony ''"The Titan"'' uses this in its third movement on the tune of "Frère Jacques" (in minor!), though without the crescendo.
* "The Claw" by Music/RandyNewman from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''.
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' uses this at times especially where [[OminousLatinChanting the "deshi basara" chant is concerned]], for example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokKUqLcvD8 in one of its trailers]].
* "The Ecstasy of Gold" by Music/EnnioMorricone from ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''.
* Carter Burwell's main theme from ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' -- a dirgelike piece that begins with a lone classical guitar, then adds a string ensemble, then ends with a full orchestra playing fortissimo.
* "Face the Fat Reality" by the {{thrash metal}} Music/{{Hades}} has a second half that starts with a grinding riff that is first played slowly but gradually gets faster and faster until it reaches well over 200 BPM at the end, while the guitars become ever louder and denser and the drums more hectic.
%%* "Carol of the Bells".
* "Mars, the Bringer of War" from Music/GustavHolst's ''Music/ThePlanets'' suite starts out very quiet with a distinctive marching beat and slowly grows into something enormous and even frightening, but the underlying rhythmic accompaniment stays relatively consistent throughout.
* A shorter example, but "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Bolero of Fire]]" from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''.
* Some genres of HouseMusic, such as Progressive House and Deep House are built off this trope, with songs often starting as extremely simplistic drum loops and building up until the climax into dynamic, "fuller" songs where all the leads, bass, pads, and percussion come together.
* Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor does this once per ''song'', at least on their first three albums. It has since become a staple of the PostRock genre, [[FollowTheLeader with many other bands copying the same formula]]. This particular vein of PostRock is (often pejoratively) known as "crescendo-core".
* Music/DevinTownsend is a big fan of this.
* Music/PepeDeluxe's "Queenswave" (which adds instruments and increases in volume with each repetition), and "Grave Prophecy" (whose second half increases in speed and volume with each repetition). Both songs are from the album ''Music/QueenOfTheWave''.
* Music/HavalinaRailCo has several songs that repeat themselves while increasing tempo. "Twilight Time" is the most pronounced, but "Train Song", "Changes and Forms", and "The Lovesick Blues of a Young Soviet Proletariat" also count.
* Music/JoyElectric's "The White Songbook" (first track from the album of the same name) begins with a few synthesizers repeating simple melodies, then more synth melodies get added to the mix every few measures. Just as it begins to sound like an impenetrable wall of synths, Music/RonnieMartin begins speaking, and all the instruments slowly fade to silence.
* "Sometime Around Midnight" by Music/TheAirborneToxicEvent. It starts out rather calmly, and then each successive verse builds in volume and is sung with more anguish and desperation.
* Music/{{Live}}'s "Lightning Crashes", which starts off with just a guitar and a voice. As the song progresses, very slowly more guitars and a drum beat are added, and the music ramps up to a crescendo just before the song's end.
* "Farandole" from Georges Bizet's ''[[Theatre/{{Larlesienne}} L'Arlésienne]]'' incidental music consists of a single theme that repeats increasingly louder over a continuous beat on the ''tambourin provençal''. This trope applies less to the version used in the better-known concert suite, an AdaptationExpansion which makes it a medley with "La marche des Rois" (the theme used in the overture and played in counterpoint with the "Farandole" both in the play's finale and in the suite). An arrangement of "Farandole" closer to Bizet's original turns up in the Theatre/RodionShchedrin ballet ''Theatre/CarmenSuite'', under the title "Bolero."

* ''Theatre/PorgyAndBess'' has this in the last section of the often-cut IrrelevantActOpener "Jasbo Brown Blues." The rhythmic melody in the {{Scatting}} chorus is accompanied at first only by the piano player. The orchestra enters gradually, the volume slowly builds, and the simple mixolydian harmonies have more and more notes added, becoming nightmarishly dissonant.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UeA9Nus9Eg 'See What I've Become']] by Music/ZachHemsey employs this with a simple piano riff that builds through disconcerting to epic, ending on the lonely piano riff once more.
* John Frusciante's song "Inside a Break", until the ''nowhere'' part.
* The title song to ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'', ''Baba Yetu''.
* Used often on the first and second albums of Music/{{Hexode}}.
* "9/15ths" by Music/BiffyClyro.
* Music/DavidByrne's songs "Strange Ritual" and "I Feel My Stuff" (the latter a collaboration with Music/BrianEno) both build in volume and number of instruments over several verses, with no choruses.
* "White Rabbit" by Music/JeffersonAirplane from ''Music/SurrealisticPillow'' was directly inspired by Ravel's ''[[Music/{{Bolero}} Boléro]]''.

* "Titanic Struggle" from the music from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2''.
* "Twice as Hard" by Interpol begins with a single guitar playing a 3-note riff which continues for the entirety of the song, throughout verse, chorus and bridge. The song itself constantly builds in texture and loudness until the final chorus.
* A particular favorite of the composers of the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' trilogy whenever the script calls for something grand and ceremonial or intense and heroic ([[ShockingMoments which is often]]), such as parts of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCk4RiKH9H0&t=40s The End Run]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLxv_g_zQkY&t=2m4s An End, Once and for All]]. A common variant is for the initial beat to be gradually drowned out by the crescendo, only to return at the end, as in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FE4NHBNi5Y?t=20s Spectre Induction]] and [[https://youtu.be/iNcNOMiSQ5I?t=1m4s Stand Strong, Stand Together]].
* "You Will See Me" by Music/ScroobiusPip steadily builds up in quantity of sounds, volume, vocal intensity and lyrical scope in equal measure as it progresses, smoothly escalating from getting over a breakup to literally [[ApocalypseHow declaring total world war.]]
* Music/KingCrimson's [[Music/RedKingCrimsonAlbum "Starless"]] is a wonderful example of this trope, with what begins as a one-note guitar passage slowly building tension over more than eight minutes until at last the end of the song reprises the theme found at the beginning of the song. This is probably the most famous example, but the band has used in other songs, such as [[Music/InTheWakeOfPoseidon "The Devil's Triangle"]], a section of "Lizard", "The Talking Drum" and "Dangerous Curves".
* Music/TheOcean has done this a few times. It's probably the most obvious in "Statherian".
* The accompaniment rhythm to the Music/RighteousBrothers' [[CoveredUp classic]] 1965 {{cover|Version}} of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te51eVrFWEc Unchained Melody]]" is built on this. At first it's just Bobby Hatfield, a single drum, and a Wurlitzer piano doing a simple 4[=/=]4 riff. At the 26 and 45 second marks respectively, they add some strings and a backup chorus. At the one-minute mark, they add a second string section. Finally at the two-minute mark, a second drum is added in counterpoint to the first. Its pretty complex for a 1960s love ballad that's only 3:36 long.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhPQBMxLfA "The Office" theme]] from the movie ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' (composed by Michael Kamen after the song ''Aquarela do Brasil'' by Ary Barroso).
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOYAjVOjMEA "Bird's Lament"]] by an American composer Music/{{Moondog}}. In this short piece initial beat and simple melody are repeated and expanded as multiple saxophones join in.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qDq9eGUmMI "Screen Shot"]], the perfect opening track to prepare the listener for what's to come in the mammoth. two-hour Music/{{Swans}} album, ''To Be Kind''.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD54sROmeIM "Floral Fury"]], the theme of Cagney Carnation from ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'', heavily relies on this trope, given that it is a piece of music heavily based on the Brazilian genres of Salsa and Samba. Each of the song's leitmotifs get progressively more frenetic as they head towards the bridge, reaching a lively crescendo at their peak.
* Music/LedZeppelin's "Gallows Pole" from ''Music/LedZeppelinIII''.
* The Music/VelvetUnderground's "Heroin" from ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico''.
* [[WebAnimation/ExtraCredits Extra History]] has this in its theme for Building Angkor Wat, fitting nicely with Angkor Wat's expansion over the years, then cutting out for the years when Angkor Wat was abandoned.
* Music/PinkFloyd loved this, and tended to do interesting and rather jarring takes on this in some of their longer works: they would go for bolero, but the crescendo to the bolero tends to be a sudden hit - and in a few cases, they'd do a reverse bolero (an [[SdrawkcabName orelob]]?).
** Astronomy Domine: Particularly the live version on Ummagumma - The solo leads into a quieter section as everyone else backs off their instruments, Rick gets his clarinet-like organ solo, then in comes Roger on bass, then Nick on drums, then Syd on guitar.
** Careful With That Axe, Eugene: This was generally more pronounced on the live versions, complete with a reverse bolero at the end.
** A Saucerful of Secrets: on live performances coming in from the Storm Signal to the Celestial Voices sections, each of the guys come in through the song - and then Gilmour sings on the last one or two iterations depending on which version you listen to (Pompeii or Ummagumma). On the studio version, it's way more subtle: the organs build upon each other and wind up with what this troper thinks sounds like overdubs of organs.
** The Narrow Way, part 3: Gilmour builds on his own work as the song continues until it is himself overdubbed multiple times at the end.
** Atom Heart Mother: in the Breast Milky segment, listen as the choir builds up to a crescendo, when Nick Mason's abrupt entry on drums provides a jarring, sudden, and prolonged climax.
** Echoes: Not once, not twice, not even thrice, but ''four times''. Once at the intro, once in the funk section, once as they come out of the "noise" section, and once more - but subtly - with the final three-repeat bridge as they pile various 'takes' upon one another in overdubs. But then again, four times is easy to do when a song is [[EpicRocking over 20 minutes long]]. For lack of ability to fade out the band in live versions...there's that orelob again as they fade into the Sheppard tone, with it most apparent on the final performance of the song on Gilmour's show in Gdansk with Gilmour's and Wright's duet ending the song.
** Shine On You Crazy Diamond: Part 6 in particular; quiet bass notes, then more pronounced, then Mason on the drums with occasional guitar, then Wright on the keyboard solo, then David comes in with the slide guitar, and then that's when the rock jam happens.
** On the Turning Away: Most audible on the live version from DSOT - Wright on keys, Gilmour on vocals, Pratt on acoustic guitar, Mason on drums drums, and as the song goes on the rest of the band comes in accordingly. The "hit" is softened here.

* ''Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'' has "Akogare no Dante", where a bunch of schoolboys, starting with Cesare Borgia (yes, ''that'' one), sing about how much they love Creator/DanteAlighieri. It ends with Dante himself appearing in a vision (he's been dead for about 170 years), and belting out "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!" Of course, it's also a DeathyDiesIrae, with a 1970's-esque beat that's actually very engaging. And catchy.

* The opening theme to {{Film/Inception}} is basically this. [[note]]Interestingly, this is due to the way it was composed, which was essentially to take 'Non, je ne regrette rien' by Music/EdithPiaf and slow it down by a factor of 12, so that the ordinary repetition associated with music was turned into this trope.[[/note]]

** Atom Heart Mother: in the Funky Dung segment, listen as the choir builds up to a crescendo, when Nick Mason's abrupt entry on drums provides a jarring, sudden, and prolonged climax.

* "Abbadon's Bolero" by [[Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer]], starting with a snare, introducing a quiet organ playing the main melody and adding layers upon layers of other instruments culminating in the synth-heavy finale. Up to the end of the piece, the snare rhythm remains the same, though louder as it goes on, and with crash cymbals in the second half.

* Music/KingCrimson's "Starless" is a wonderful example of this trope, with what begins as a one-note guitar passage slowly building tension over more than eight minutes until at last the end of the song reprises the theme found at the beginning of the song. This is probably the most famous example, but the band has used in other songs, such as "The Devil's Triangle", a section of "Lizard", "The Talking Drum" and "Dangerous Curves".

** "Music/TubularBells" (and its successor incarnation TB2) have a section which, like the original ''[[Music/{{Bolero}} Boléro]]'', adds a different instrument each loop until everything is playing beneath the majestic entry of the titular instrument.

* Music/PinkFloyd comes in with an interesting version of the effect in Atom Heart Mother: in the Funky Dung segment, listen as the choir builds up to a crescendo, when Nick Mason's entry with the drums provides a jarring, sudden, and prolonged climax.

* Music/{{Genesis}}:

* [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} The Objects Floating in the Sky,]] [[XMakesAnythingCool "X"]] also does this.

Similar to VariableMix. Sometimes used in as part of a PreviewsPulse. Compare BrokenRecord, when the music just repeats.

Similar to VariableMix. Sometimes used in as part of a PreviewsPulse.

* Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor does this once per ''song'', at least on their first three albums. It has since become a staple of the PostRock genre, [[FollowTheLeader with many other bands copying the same formula]].

-->-- '''The Capitol Steps''', "This is the House O.J. Built"

* Music/MauriceRavel's ''[[Music/{{Bolero}} Boléro]]'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}} and {{Trope Maker|s}}, starting with only a snare drum, a flute and a few violas and cellos, and ending up with the whole orchestra.

* "Twice as Hard" by Music/Interpol begins with a single guitar playing a 3-note riff which continues for the entirety of the song, throughout verse, chorus and bridge. The song itself constantly builds in texture and loudness until the final chorus.

* "Mars, the Bringer of War" from Music/GustavHolst's ''Music/The Planets'' suite starts out very quiet with a distinctive marching beat and slowly grows into something enormous and even frightening, but the underlying rhythmic accompaniment stays relatively consistent throughout.

* "Farandole" from Georges Bizet's ''[[Theatre/Larlesienne L'Arlésienne]]'' incidental music consists of a single theme that repeats increasingly louder over a continuous beat on the ''tambourin provençal''. This trope applies less to the version used in the better-known concert suite, an AdaptationExpansion which makes it a medley with "La marche des Rois" (the theme used in the overture and played in counterpoint with the "Farandole" both in the play's finale and in the suite). An arrangement of "Farandole" closer to Bizet's original turns up in the Theatre/RodionShchedrin ballet ''Theatre/CarmenSuite'', under the title "Bolero."

* [[WebOriginal/ExtraCredits Extra History]] has this in its theme for Building Angkor Wat, fitting nicely with Angkor Wat's expansion over the years, then cutting out for the years when Angkor Wat was abandoned.