History Main / StopAndGo

[[folder: Alternative/Indie/Progressive Rock]]

* "Party Rock Anthem" by Music/{{LMFAO}} does this twice. The first is after the second chorus: the music cuts out just before the final line, which then echoes out into silence, Redfoo delivers the memetic "Every day I'm shufflin'" line... and ''then'' the music starts back up again. (The music video matches this by cutting to black when the music stops, and cutting back for the "Every day I'm shufflin'".) The second is lampshaded by a cry of "Stop!" - there's a second of silence, then "Hatin' is bad", then the music starts up again.

* The in-Verse band Dog Gone, from ''WesternAnimation/NatureCat'', does this in the chorus of "Streams", letting the music drop out during the singer's fourth line. As the line is a reference to how, at one stage of its journey, the stream "travels underground", the impression is that the ''music'' has also dipped below ground - hence, out of reach of surface observers' senses - for a short period.

* "Party Rock Anthem" by Music/LMFAO does this twice. The first is after the second chorus: the music cuts out just before the final line, which then echoes out into silence, Redfoo delivers the memetic "Every day I'm shufflin'" line... and ''then'' the music starts back up again. (The music video matches this by cutting to black when the music stops, and cutting back for the "Every day I'm shufflin'".) The second is lampshaded by a cry of "Stop!" - there's a second of silence, then "Hatin' is bad", then the music starts up again.

[[folder:Rap]]
* Happens with some frequency in "U Can't Touch This" by Music/MCHammer. "Stop...Hammertime!"

You're listening to a really fast song and all of a sudden it just stops. It is silent for a couple of seconds. Then it continues as if nothing happened. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWdQPOjTk4g Quite a few]] [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall even say "stop" before the break.]]

* Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's variations for solo piano on the arietta "Es war einmal ein alter Mann" by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf ([=WoO=] 66) has one measure of sudden silence right in the middle of the theme. This bar of silence is consistently carried over in Beethoven's thirteen subsequent variations; the fifth and ninth variations take the opportunity to switch to a different tempo and meter for the ensuing five-bar return to the tonic key.

* Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's variations for solo piano on the arietta "Es war einmal ein alter Mann" by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf has one measure of sudden silence right in the middle of the theme. This bar of silence is consistently carried over in the thirteen subsequent variations; the fifth and ninth variations take the opportunity to switch to a different tempo and meter for the ensuing five-bar return to the tonic key.

* Music/RobZombie's song "The Man Without Fear" has a stop and go in the beginning of the song, followed up with a "GO!"

* Music/ArcticMonkeys use this trope very often in their songs, with notable examples being "Brianstorm", "If You Were There, Beware", and "The View from the Afternoon".
* Music/AlanisMorissette's "All I Really Want": "Why are you so terrified of silence? Here can you handle this?" followed by two seconds of silence. Then the song continues.
* The Young Rascals' 1966 hit "Good Lovin'" has one of the better-known instances of this.
* Tommy James and the Shondells' "I'm Alive" comes to a sudden stop right before the two-minute mark, then waits a full two measures before resuming.
* A fairly obscure example: "A Cowboy Symphony" by Pierre La Plante.
* The Music/EltonJohn song "Island Girl" does this twice.
* Music/SystemOfADown does this at the ''very beginning'' of "Prison Song". One brief guitar chord -- a few seconds of silence -- then the song kicks in.
* "Jesus I Was Evil" by Darcy Clay does this before the last chorus.
* "Gloomy Sunday" actually pulls three of these.
* These are abused in the higher difficulty songs on ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'', in which the arrows will freeze in place during said silence.
* Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel: "Come Up and See Me (Make Me Smile)"

* From ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has Alice's theme, the Prismriver Sisters' theme and Flandre's theme.
* "In The Mood" by Music/GlennMiller was an early example.
* Also jazz, "Moanin'" by Music/CharlesMingus has one that forces a transition from a chaotic section of the song where literally every wind player is soloing at once back to a rockin' bari sax riff.
* Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer's "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression (Part 1)" has a variation on this. During the line "We've got thrills and shocks, supersonic fighting cocks" the music cuts out completely for the duration of the word "shocks".
* "Betrayed" from ''Film/TheProducers'', when his recap gets to intermission.

* [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow "I see you shiver with antici......]] ([[AudienceParticipation CONSTI!]])........pation."
* "How Sweet to Be an Idiot" by Neil Innes.

* Near the end of "53rd and 3rd" by the Music/{{Ramones}} from their album ''Music/{{Ramones|Album}}''.

* "I Looked at You" by Music/TheDoors is a great example.
* "This Dying Soul" and "Fatal Tragedy" of Music/DreamTheater are two examples.
* Occurs in "Just" by Music/{{Radiohead}} from ''Music/TheBends''. In the video the silent moment is significant because it is the moment where a man who has inexplicably come to lie down on the middle of the footpath whispers something to the crowd that has gathered to watch. We don't hear what it is, but it cause them all to lie down just like him.
* About 2/3's of the way through the extended jam coda of "I Am the Resurrection", the last track on Music/TheStoneRoses' eponymous debut, ''[[Music/TheStoneRosesAlbum The Stone Roses]]''.
* Used in Music/ElectricSix's "Improper Dancing", and explicitly called out by vocalist Dick Valentine: "Stop...continue!". In live performances they traditionally play with this by sandwiching an entirely different song between the "stop" and "continue", usually either "(Who The Hell Just) Call My Phone" or an unexpected CoverVersion.

* Appropriately enough, "Dance Stop" by Music/DanielAmos, from the album ''Music/VoxHumana''. Just before each chorus, Terry shouts "Stop!" and all the instruments go silent. (According to the liner notes, the audience is supposed to freeze during this part.) Then everyone says "Aaaaaaaaaaah DANCE!" and the music starts back up again.
* Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence LOVES this trope.
* "God's Comic" by Music/ElvisCostello.
* "Metal Mickey" by Music/{{Suede}} features a pause between the guitar solo and the chorus that follows.
* "Need You Tonight" by INXS has a moment where the song comes to a halt, but not to complete silence: it's when Michael Hutchence sings "I'm lonely!" before the final chorus. In the middle of the line, the band stops, and there's a split second of silence before they go on again.
* "River of Dreams" by Music/BillyJoel does this toward the end. Joel would have fun with it during live renditions by seeing how far he could drag out the pause before the audience lost its patience.
** He did it during a Grammy ceremony as a protest after the network cut short a speech by FRANK SINATRA because it wanted to go to commercial. During the pause, he quipped to the audience, "Valuable advertising time is going by."

* Music/{{Fugazi}}'s "Waiting Room": somewhat unusually this happens before the lyrics even start. It lasts exactly as long as you think it would (8 beats), ends with a full bar of tom buildup, and comes back in with the same exact dynamics as before. It seems to pretty much just be a manufactured moment for crowds to just scream their heads off. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools And it's awesome]].
* "Augen Auf" by Oomph.

* "The Little Girl I Once Knew" by Music/TheBeachBoys does this twice. It was released as a single, but it didn't chart very well because radio disc jockeys were reluctant to play it due to its moments of dead air.
* [[Music/{{LMFAO}} Stop!]]...hatin' is bad.

* Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge are fond of both this trope and the FakeOutFadeOut; the most prominent example is the extremely jarring silence in the middle of "You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire".
** Earlier example: the instrumental "Hispanic Impressions" from their debut.
** And of course the one right before the EpicRocking finale of "Song for the Dead".
* Music/EaglesOfDeathMetal, as another Josh Homme project, use this trope about as often as humanly possible. "I Only Want You" is the most striking example, featuring two of these in a less-than-three-minute song.
* "The Look" by Music/{{Roxette}}.
* "Can't Hardly Wait" by Music/TheReplacements briefly pauses twice, before the bridge and before the outro.
* "No Matter What" by Badfinger.

* "When Big Joan Sits Up" by Music/CaptainBeefheart, after the line "she's out of reach".
** "Blabber 'N Smoke": "It's gonna hang you all.... dangle you all".
* The introduction to Sonata Arctica's "Misplaced" does this.

* Before the final verse of "All Nightmare Long" by Music/{{Metallica}}.
** They also have them before the solo in "Sad But True" and before the final verse in "The God That Failed".
* Music/OKGo do this in "Get Over It" (and hang a big fat lampshade on it in the video by stretching out the pause long enough to play some ping pong).
** And again in "I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe".

* Music/BritneySpears' cover of "I Love Rock N' Roll" does this.
* Music/TheyMightBeGiants do a version in their song "Older". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdIRrmNN_CQ "And time...is still marching on."]] This is another case where the artist likes to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ltJ8kK4G90 stretch out the pause]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUadrO55B1I for as long as they can live]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upSh39Zo6k8 for comedic value]]. (And throw confetti.)
* Music/TheWho do this in "The Seeker" twice. The echo on Roger Daltrey's voice makes those moments all the more striking.
* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ggbRTRDFOI&ob=av3e Freetime]]" by Kenna has this several times. The video has a BlackScreenOfDeath followed by a JumpCut to match the audio each time.
* "Rock On" by David Essex.
* Music/{{Heart|Band}}'s "Magic Man" has one roughly 2/3 of the way through.
* Music/{{Garbage}}'s song "Supervixen" has a repeating one as a part of the main riff.
* "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by Music/{{Cake}}. The music video has a VoxPops concept where people off the street listen to the song on headphones and react, and one listener is caught by surprise at this point because they thought it was just a very short song.
* "The Love from a Dead Orchestra" by Music/{{Versailles}}.
* "[[http://youtu.be/s82ho7w9X6Q Overnight Sensation (Hit Record/Life's a Gas)]]" from the Raspberries has quite possibly the perfect example. It happens at 4:24.
* Music/EdSheeran's "Give Me Love".
* Firehouse's "Lovers Lane", lampshaded in the lyrics themselves
-->"My motor's runnin'/Yea, it's gettin' hot, I get overloaded overheated could explode I can't believe it we just gotta stop." ''[{{beat}}]'' ''[continues]''
* Music/{{Wire}}'s [[Music/PinkFlag "Field Day For The Sundays"]] manages to fit three short ones in [[MinisculeRocking a 30-second song]].
* Happens with some frequency in "U Can't Touch This" by Music/MCHammer. "Stop...Hammertime!"
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8DKD0PoRSI This]] live version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Music/MichaelJackson has a huge pause in it about halfway through.
* Heavily layered on on the first verse of "She Calls This Love" by Music/ReeceMastin.
* "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Music/TaylorSwift.
* Music/LedZeppelin's song "What is and What Should Never Be" has a couple of these.
** Also the song "Thank You".
** "Heartbreaker" from ''Music/LedZeppelinII'' ends mid-word before picking up on the next song in the album a half-second later, "Living Loving Maid", which is the second half of a SiameseTwinSong.
*** There are also a couple {{Stop And Go}}es within "Heartbreaker" itself.
** There are multiple pauses throughout "Nobody's Fault But Mine".
* Music/JohannSebastianBach does this in the third stanza of the {{cantata}} ''Christ lag in Todes Banden'' (BWV 4), in which the music stops on the word "nicht" (nothing remains) before continuing. He also does this in a number of fugues, generally in the initial statement of the theme, e.g., the fugues from the D Major Prelude and Fugue for organ (BWV 532), and from the C Major Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue (BWV 564).
* Music/AaronCopland does this approximately two to two-and-a-half minutes into "Hoedown" from his ballet, ''Rodeo.''
* "Bodhisattva" by Music/SteelyDan.
* Music/{{Queen}}'s "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" from ''Music/NewsOfTheWorldQueen'' are SiameseTwinSongs which are almost always played together as one piece, and, as such, the space between them (abrupt guitar riff ending, beat, cold intro vocals) sounds like a StopAndGo.
* "Career of Evil" by Music/BlueOysterCult.
* A very well-done film example: in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' when the Rohirrim are helping defend the White Tower, the music suddenly stops for a time, allowing the audience to concentrate on the battle sounds, before just as suddenly starting up again.
* Lampshaded by German punk band Die Ärzte in "Radio Brennt": "Stop!" ''[sound of deep breathing]'' "Weiter!" ("go on!").
* Done by Music/NeutralMilkHotel in "Ferris Wheel on Fire".
* Music/LaDispute do this twice in "Said the King to the River".
* Music/DeepPurple do this in the live version of "Space Truckin'".
* Happens after the first chorus in the full version of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' theme song, "You're Standing on My Neck" by Splendora.
* OlderThanRadio: Johann Strauss does this near the end of "By the Beautiful Blue Danube".
* Music/GreenDay's "Peacemaker" on ''Music/TwentyFirstCenturyBreakdown'' stops for a second in the middle for the guitar to find the right note to start the solo on.

* "1985" (originally by SR-71, [[CoveredUp but made popular by]] Music/BowlingForSoup): "Stop... stop... stop! [''moment of silence''] ...and bring back Springsteen, Madonna--"
* "Stop!" by Music/JanesAddiction. Most songs named "Stop", really.
** Notably averted by the Music/SpiceGirls in their song "Stop".
* Any rhythm game that expresses tempo changes to the player (that is, has the targets coming in at the speed of the song instead of at a fixed consistent speed) is bound to show off with a few songs like this.
** One of the more popular ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' songs to feature this was "Max 300", a song with charts of unprecedented difficulty at the time. The middle of the song slows to a stop, leaving the future targets (arrows) sitting in place for a few seconds, before the song, and arrows, abruptly start up again. Some boss songs really [[FakeDifficulty got out of hand with this trope]], such as "Chaos", which abruptly stops dozens of times with hardly any pattern at all.
** Similarly, ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' has a few: "Delirium" in the first game, which has 5 stops in rapid succession, and "Go *60* Go" in the second game, among others. A licensed song by the name of "Stop n' Go" was slated for the [[ScrewedByTheLawyers unreleased]] third game.
** The ''[[VideoGame/RhythmHeaven Rhythm Tengoku]]'' stage "Sneaky Spirits" abuses this from beginning to end, combined with seemingly random (but fixed) tempo changes for each phrase. The premise is that ghosts are jumping around behind a brick wall and only expose themselves to be incapacitated on the last beat of each phrase. The only complete phrases are the first two (the first to introduce the player to the concept, the second to introduce the tempo changes) and the last one (as BookEnds). All of the other ones go silent right before you have to defeat the ghost, with the silence starting earlier and earlier as the stage goes on. One of them towards the end goes at an absurdly slow tempo and cuts out at the second beat of the phrase, making you have to count the beats for a full four seconds as you hear nothing but the rain.
*** The series would use this mechanic again in ''Rhythm Heaven Fever'''s "Wake-Up Caller," an endless game. In this one, you are an alarm clock and must wake the bird up at the exact time the bird specifies. Like with "Sneaky Spirits," the clock does not always move at the same speed, and while you are initially given full view of the clock and steady music from beginning to end, later iterations not only remove the music after a short while, the screen will fade out too, forcing you to rely on your sense of rhythm. If you continue to succeed even after the music has been reduced to its first four beats, the bird will start asking for times ending in :30 (off-beats, in other words), then times ending in :15 or :45 (quarter-beats), then times ending in :20 or :40 (triplets).
** The ''VideoGame/RhythmThiefAndTheEmperorsTreasure'' stage "Rematch with Charlie" will have the music cut out each time a flock of pigeons flies by, which has the additional effect of obscuring the screen. In this stage, you are [[PhantomThief Phantom R]], and you have to kick back the [[ImprobableWeaponUser weaponized soccer balls]] Charlie kicks at you. When these pigeons pass through, the only sound remaining are the soccer ball kicks cuing you when to send the ball back. There are no tempo changes in this stage, however.
* "Seven" by Music/SunnyDayRealEstate, during the verses--plays the main riff during each line, then stops for a moment between each one.
* "Ice" by Music/{{Lights}} does this after the line "My mouth is frozen so I can't even speak".

* Music/InFlames' "Free Fall" features this before the first chorus: "This is the free faaaaallll!" ... "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The instruments drop out again right after that chorus, but the vocals stop it from being a second example.
* Once after the chorus in The Kills' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgjXp3fIFLI Love is a Deserter]].
* Critical Mass' "Completely" stops for a second or so during the line "I give myself...completely."
* [[https://youtu.be/3EgWvPfzVQI?t=1m6s "Evidence"]] by Daisy x Daisy.
* The opening for ''Manga/{{Barakamon}}'', "Rashisa" ("らしさ"), stops after the very first line and then continues on.
* Music/JasonMraz's "Wordplay" has a break of less than half a second in the line "Pull out the stops -- got your attention!" It's more than enough to get the listener's attention.
* "I Like Traffic Lights" by Creator/MontyPython plays this to ratchet the irritation and EarWorm factor up.
* Music/BrunoMars' "Uptown Funk" tells us "NOW STOP!... Wait a minute -- fill my cup, put some liquor in it!"
* Music/BuiltToSpill actually end their song "In the Morning" with this.
* Music/{{Aqua}}'s song "Be A Man" goes quiet right when the lyrics go "when everything stops..."
* Cheyenne's {{Leitmotif}} in the soundtrack of ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' by Music/EnnioMorricone occasionally stops for a short time. This is [[MickeyMousing played on by the character himself]].

* Music/LeonardCohen's "Hallelujah" has a pause between two of the "Hallelujah"s towards the end in which all instruments stop.
* Hedley's "Lose Control" says "everybody just stop...and bring it back around like..."
* "Silence Is Sexy" by Music/EinsturzendeNeubauten takes several breaks in the middle of an already very slow song so we can hear Blixa Bargeld taking a drag on his cigarette before resuming.
* "3 O'Clock Things" by Music/{{AJR}} has this happen near the end. After the last lyric ("That if you're [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] racist/ then don't come to my show") the music stops for a few seconds, then one of the members then says "No, we have to do one more" and the song continues for about 30 seconds.
* Music/OrigamiAngel: ''Music/GamiGang'' has "Tom Holland Oates". After the line "close my eyes and count to ten", the background instrumental stops as the singer can be faintly heard counting. However, "nine, ten!" is screamed, and the music starts up again.
* Music/KingCrimson: [[Music/InTheWakeOfPoseidon "The Devil's Triangle"]] briefly comes to a stop at the end of the second movement, "Hand of Sceiron", only for a click track to start playing, which gives way to the even more chaotic third movement, "Garden of Worm".

* Near the end of "53rd and 3rd" by the Music/TheRamones from their album ''Music/{{Ramones}}''.

* Music/JohannSebastianBach does this in the third stanza of the cantata ''Christ lag in Todes Banden'' (BWV 4), in which the music stops on the word "nicht" (nothing remains) before continuing. He also does this in a number of fugues, generally in the initial statement of the theme, e.g., the fugues from the D Major Prelude and Fugue for organ (BWV 532), and from the C Major Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue (BWV 564).

* "I Like Traffic Lights" by Creator/MontyPython plays this to ratchet the irritation and EarWorm factor UpToEleven.

* Music/{{Heart}}'s "Magic Man" has one roughly 2/3 of the way through.

* "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by Music/{{Cake}}.

* Wire's "Field Day For The Sundays" manages to fit three short ones in a 30-second song.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8DKD0PoRSI This]] live version of "Wanna Be Starting Something" by Music/MichaelJackson has a huge pause in it about halfway through.

* "I Looked at You" by the Doors is a great example.

* ''I Like Traffic Lights'' by ''Creator/MontyPython'' plays this to ratchet the irritation and EarWorm factor UpToEleven.

* Music/{{Aqua}}'s song ''Be A Man'' goes quiet right when the lyrics go "when everything stops..."

* "Can't Hardly Wait" by Music/TheReplacements briefly pauses twice, before the bridge and before the outdo.

* "Can't Hardly Wait" by Music/TheReplacements briefly pauses after the bridge.

* Music/{{Queen}}'s "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" from ''Music/NewsOfTheWorld'' are SiameseTwinSongs which are almost always played together as one piece, and, as such, the space between them (abrupt guitar riff ending, beat, cold intro vocals) sounds like a StopAndGo.

* Music/BrunoMars' "Uptown Funk" tells us to "STOP!... Wait a minute."

* ''I Like Traffic Lights'' by ''Creator/MontyPython'' plays this to ratchet the irritation and MindWorm factor UpToEleven.

* Used in Music/ElectricSix's "Improper Dancing", and explicitly called out by vocalist Dick Valentine: "Stop...continue!". In live performances they traditionally play with this by sandwiching a whole cover song between "Stop!" and "Continue!"

* Unfortunately averted by the Music/SpiceGirls in their song "Stop".