Hidden tracks, the post-credits scene of the album world, have been around for a while and are sometimes used to hide tracks that didn’t quite fit on an album, rewards for the patient listener, or crap that the band found funny. We found some hidden tracks on classic and not-so-classic albums that people don’t really talk about enough.
Wu-Tang Clan “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”
Wu-Tang listeners know that the boys from Shaolin like their king Fu movies. Their songs are littered with samples and references to the Wuxia genre but it is still jarring to hear the hidden track on their debut album where each member of the clan reads out their favorite Kung Fu movies with no backing beat or emotion in their voice.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono “Double Fantasy”
Released a month before Lennon’s murder the album features a hidden acoustic track in which Lennon dares someone to shoot him. The song is notable in that Lennon seems to imply that he wants Ringo Starr to be the one that pulls the trigger with the lines “Ringo you were shit on the drums/come and murder me ya bum.”
The Fall “Hex Enduction Hour”
The Fall’s fourth album contains one of the longest hidden tracks on this list as a listener will find if they wait two minutes after the end of the final track “And This Day” they’ll hear another complete album that The Fall recorded and forgot to release. Tenacious fans will also be rewarded if they wait for the hidden album to end as that also has a hidden track which is an album-length rant from Mark E. Smith about how much he hates Morrisey.
The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds”
Known for taking their music literally (while recording 1970’s “Sunflower” they ate nothing but sunflowers), the Beach Boys hid a track on their classic album with the vocals and instrumental work all performed by their own pets. While the vocals and guitar work is pretty rough, the drumming by Brian Wilson’s pet cat Leary is some of the best ever recorded.
Taylor Swift “Folklore”
During the Watergate affair, it was revealed that Richard Nixon was recording most of the conversations happening in the Oval Office. Strangely when the tapes were listened to, there was a missing 18 minutes that people believe were wiped to protect the president. How fortuitous then that those 18 minutes were found nestled in the end of Taylor Swift’s cottagecore masterpiece, “Folklore.” And while they don’t have the usual catchiness of a Taylor Swift bop, they do show the leader of the free world engaged in high treason in a way that shakes the very foundations of the country to its core.
Bloodhound Gang “Hooray for Boobies”
The soundtrack for horny pre-2000s teens, “Hooray for Boobies” featured the classic tracks The Bad Touch, I Hope You Die, and A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When the Stripper Is Crying. What listeners might not realize is that after the final track, there is a little treat for listeners in the form of a complete 39 hour long audiobook of Simone de Beauvoir’s masterpiece of feminist philosophy, “The Second Sex.”
Morrissey “Viva Hate”
Patience rewards the listeners of Morrissey’s 1988 solo album because if they wait for twelve minutes of silence after “Margaret on the Guillotine” they get to hear Morrissey order 8 cheeseburgers with everything before proceeding to eat them one by one seemingly in a state of transcendental ecstasy. While Morrissey has never commented on the track, he has been known to drool uncontrollably when asked about it in interviews.
Metallica “St. Anger”
If you wait a few seconds after the end of “All Within My Hands,” you’ll be asked by the record for your name. If you answer, the album will then serve you a lawsuit from Lars Ulrich for any number of crimes be in peer to peer file sharing, not enjoying the flat drumming style of the album, or enjoying that episode of “South Park” that made fun of him. You’ll then need to appear in court within ten days.
Michael Jackson “Invincible”
Famously not a fan of rock and roll, Michael Jackson did make an exception for Iowa natives Slipknot. On his 2001 album, Jackson hid a cover of “Wait and Bleed” that returns the frantic anger of the original while still adding a dance breakdown and a guest appearance by Chris Tucker.
Slipknot “Iowa”
Slipknot never shied away from declaring that the main influence on their music, outlook, and appearance is the post-disco stylings of the Jackson 5. It is fitting then that they hid a track on their second album dedicated not just to their love of the Jacksons but also their love and peace and understanding. Their version of “Heal the World” may contain eight thousand separate drums but the emotions stay true to the original.
We can find something that we like about all eleven Foo Fighters albums, but this is the only one in the band’s discography that didn’t inspire a second listen. It’s quite forgettable when compared to the rest of the band’s lush body of work, but the band make(s) it right by featuring Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men on the title/closing track. “La dee da.” Thankfully, the band’s next two releases were both more gold than concrete.
If you get the chance, watch the eight-part HBO documentary on the creation and recording of “Sonic Highways” before you listen to this record for a proper frame of reference. Or don’t; fuck you. This album has the smallest collection (eight) of songs of any Foos release but still feels a little long, as more than half of the LP contains compositions that clock over five minutes each. This congregation is all for epic feasts, but not at the expense of extraneous and unnecessary segments that should’ve caused multiple famines. Still, “Something from Nothing” is an epic banger.
Who would’ve thought that the band that wrote the blistering and screamy mosher “Monkey Wrench” would release a nine-track soulful and danceable record with a song called “Chasing Birds”? Not you! Easily the band’s most polarizing listen, this sleeper record successfully challenges its listeners to not tap their respective feet. Unlike “Sonic Highways,” there is little fat on this concise release that clocks at less than thirty-seven minutes. Ambition is a good thing and we implore you to check this one out if you haven’t done so already.
Fun fact: This album’s title track and several other of its songs were inspired by 2004 Presidential loser candidate (and plus one to the Heinz heiress), John Kerry. It’s true. Fun opinion: If the band made this a single LP instead of a double album, it would’ve ranked higher on this here list. Also, true. Still, another confession to make, the anthemic “Best of You” remains one of the band’s biggest (and most meme-able) songs. P.S. We’re still waiting for the Bernie LP.
All of the punk rock hearts love that this record is Chris Shiflett from No Use For A Name’s (reexamine their entire insanely catchy lengthy catalog) first release with the band, but overall, despite its 2004 Grammy Award win for “Best Rock Album,” it’s an uneven front-to-back listen. Still, “All My Life” may be the band’s best single not called “Everlong,” and the best opening track to ANY rock record. Seriously. Just watch a live video for “All My Life” right now. Another reason to bleed.
Apparently, the hook for “The Pretender,” “Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace’s” opening track, and one of the Foos’ most successful singles, which says a lot as they have quite a few (or foo), was unintentionally (doubtful) and subliminally (possibly) inspired by “Sesame Street.” Don’t quote us, but this may the first time that a Big Bird co-write won a Grammy for “Best Hard Rock Performance.” Happily, Germs’ Pat Smear (also formerly Dave Grohl’s bandmate in an early incarnation of the band and for the tail end of Nirvana) guested on this record for one song, being his first since “The Colour and the Shape,” before he joined the band full time again for all others moving forward. Stranger things have happened.
For those who lament that these lists typically only highlight each bands’ early releases, suck it. This LP is the band’s saddest release and serves as a memorial to Taylor Hawkins, who left us all way too soon in 2022. On a related note: find the video of Taylor’s teenage son Shane absolutely obliterating the drums for “My Hero” at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert at London’s Wembley Stadium. What a tribute.
The readers on this site are likely going to bitch that this album isn’t ranked high enough in this article, so we’re beyond sorry about this “low” nearly bronze metal slot. Good grief, you’re all right and we’re all wrong. Still, we can all agree that this is quite a debut album. Three mega hit singles (“This Is a Call,” “I’ll Stick Around,” and ”Big Me”) that kick off the debut, self-titled record in a perfect one-two-three punch later, who would’ve thought that the band would be around to create ten more albums (and counting) and countless other mainstream singles. In closing, this is without question the first of all albums on this list to contain absolutely no fucking filler.
“Me, Myself & Irene” might be Jim Carrey’s most underrated film, and “There Is Nothing Left to Lose,” despite its commercial and critical success, is certainly the Foo Fighters’ most underrated album. Like the fun and funny music video for “Breakout” (which features various hilarious scenes in the movie and some new ones in the actual video itself), one can hear it in the songs that the band truly enjoyed the creation of this third (and coincidentally listed as this ranking’s third best) record. Sometimes one needs to go M.I.A., leave Los Angeles, and come home. Let’s close this mention with one more fun fact about “Me, Myself & Irene”: The Offspring cover AFI’s “Total Immortal” during the film’s closing credits. Oh!
“Back and Forth” is easily one of the best rock documentaries ever created and one of its most appealing components showcases the recording sessions for Foo Fighters’ seventh album, “Wasting Light.” Thank you, Butch Vig. You’re a good producer and shit. Like the aforementioned album “There Is Nothing Left to Lose,” one can hear elation coming through the speakers over the course of all of “Wasting Light’s” killer eleven tracks. These days that is hard to do.
We still feel bad for Sunny Day Real Estate’s William Goldsmith, but despite its pretentious-ass album title (from one of our favourite American bands), “The Colour and the Shape” is one of the best rock albums of all time. Period and no hyperbole here. The production on the LP is perfect, the songs are beautifully and flawlessly constructed, and the musicianship is so on point it’s scary. Not too bad for a sophomore slump! It would be beyond epic to see this album played front to back.
After Danny mentions that his wife actually died tragically in a car crash, Joey tries cheering him up by using one of his creepy hand puppets to say that at least she didn’t suffer like “those poor saps near nuclear reactor unit 4 whose skin melted off while their insides boiled,” which he delivered in his signature Popeye voice. WTF?
Danny tells his girls that they can have a puppy as long as they promise to clean up after it, to which Michelle combatively quips, “No way, Jose!” Upon hearing this, Aunt Becky bizarrely responds, “At least we didn’t rescue him from the Pripyat region of Ukraine, otherwise you’d be picking up glowing green turds!” Rumor has it Laurie Loughlin improvised this line and threatened to quit if she couldn’t say it.
Everyone visits Becky in the hospital after she gives birth to twins. Just as the family is enjoying a nice moment together, the precocious neighbor Kimmy Gibler rushes in and feverishly starts counting the fingers and toes on each baby, relieved that they didn’t get “Chernobyl-ed” as she put it. Stephanie then drops a well-timed, “Oh, puh-lease!” which the laugh track absolutely eats it up.
When Uncle Jesse’s grandfather visiting from Greece dies in his sleep, the adults must teach the youngsters about grief. But what most people forget is Jesse being embraced by everyone while proclaiming that the death of his patriarch will always be known as his family’s “Chernobyl,” before adding a lighthearted, “Watch the hair.”
The emotional series finale ends as Michelle finally comes out of her amnesia. As the credits roll for the last time, the words “Our Thanks, Our Love, Chernobyl was a hoax” appear on the screen for some reason, delivering one final unnecessary jab to the victims of the 1986 disaster. How rude!
So we lost the original lead singer, Steve “Zetro” Souza and guitarist Rick Hunolt, so what does this mean for the band? Unfortunately, I’d say this band rushed back into the studio after “Tempo of the Damned” a little prematurely and this is the least Exodus album of them all. Everything about this album feels sloppy, from the album title to the vocals, and even the guitars feel stilted. It feels like no one actually wanted to be there for this album. This album is as clunky as a Shovel Headed Kill Machine must be to drive.
They re-recorded “Bonded By Blood” for some reason, maybe because most of the lineup had changed since 1985. I guess it is kind of an interesting experiment but side-by-side the albums are very similar, so I’m really not sure why this happened. Is this like a high school football player trying to relive his glory days? I mean what’s the point? Not just of this album but of life in general.
This heavier output from the band (just before breaking up for the first time) at times reminds me of C-list mental bands like Ugly Kid Joe and Slaughter but when the tracks hit I would compare them to Megadeth at their best. Every song feels like it is not only from a different album but from a different band. They have truly uncomfortable songs to sit through like a painful cover of Rolling Stones’ “Bitch” only to follow it up with a face melting track like “Fuel for the Fire.” I was worried by the Ralph Steadman inspired cover art that this was going to be a Grunge album like Metallica’s “Load.” This feels like a participation trophy of metal albums.
Oh, I get it, this is their Pantera album. I think that is the problem I am having with Exodus. It is quality thrash metal but I just can’t nail down what “their” sound actually is. Every album sounds like a different band. They really don’t seem to be having as much fun on this album as they did before.
The companion piece to “The Atrocity Exhibition,” I assume. It is clear that the single “Downfalls” is the heart of this album and everything else feels like it was built up around it. Exodus is like the Target Superstore of thrash metal; it’s a good quality product that you can rely on but it doesn’t feel like a name brand. This might be why they struggle to get themselves on the Mount Rushmore of thrash metal. I will give the band credit, they never change their sound with the times, they never attempt to sound like whatever metal-genre-of-the-week is happening at the time, they are thrash through-and-through.
There is something about this album that sounds like if Dead Kennedys were a thrash metal band. While the production is of a much higher quality than “Bonded by Blood” and the riffs start to show some genuine inspiration yet I found the whole album sluggish. They also tack on these throwaway intros that really pull the album down.
This is the cleanest production Exodus has had up to this point. Rob Dukes sounds like he has settled into being the lead singer and Lee Altus is picking up the slack on guitars. Using Exhibit A in the album title comes off as really pompous, like something Tool would do – so I was worried we were going to get something laced with “experimentation” and take themselves too seriously and with almost every track clocking in at over eight minutes there is a bit of hubris involved with this album, but at its core it is an Exodus album and a decent one at that. While a guitar-forward band, I am beginning to think drummer Tom Hunting is the linchpin of this band, looking back at what albums I liked and didn’t like, when Hunting is missing I liked the album less than when he is behind the kit.
Was it worth it to wait 12 years for a new Exodus album? Honestly, yes. The band sounds refreshed and ready to rock again, as opposed to the sluggish “Force of Habit” record. Although, it took me this long to realize that I find that the vocals of Steve “Zetro” Souza just never meld with the band and that I much prefer the OG singer-the late Paul Baloff, who was only recorded with the band on “Bonded by Blood.” Exodus is first and foremost a guitar-driven band, Rick Hunolt and Gary Holt with vocals and lyrics an afterthought. “Tempo of the Damned” does what Exodus does best and that is to let the guitars speak. And don’t worry, not only is the title of the album a dad joke, almost all the track titles are as well.
It turns out this is not a thematic album about the 1993 epic Latino film “Blood In Blood Out: Bound By Honor,” which is disappointing. But I finally figured out what it is that bothers me about Exodus. They are a thrash metal band with a black metal singer. That is why it never really gelled with me. Even so, I now feel that Zestro is a better match with Exodus, after having to deal with listening to Rob Dukes, and I’m glad he’s back on this album. Dare I say that Exodus is getting better with age, like a fine wine.
Exodus definitely does better when the lineup doesn’t change between albums. This album is like a runaway train that only builds up momentum as it goes along. Everyone is firing on all cylinders, this feels like it could be a flagship album for Exodus, and any other metaphor having to do with transportation. This album is also heavier than many of their other albums, even heavier than “Force of Habit,” which lends itself more to Zestro’s sharp vocals. Few bands can say that they’ve existed for 40 years and still put out music as passionate as this album feels.
This is an Exodus album that sounds like Exodus, although one might say there is a lot of Anthrax in this album, or is there an Exodus influence in Anthrax? I am beginning to think the constant lineup changes are what hurt Exodus in the long run. Every album feels almost like a new band. That being said Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt are doing a lot of heavy lifting on every album and they should be applauded for it. That being said, this album is just tons of fun and the band seems to have come (finally) to some kind of cohesion.
Many people say that this album rivals Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” and had it come out before Metallica’s debut album that Exodus would be in the Big 4, not Metallica. This is a quality trash album and my only critique is that it lacks the personality that the debuts of bands like Anthrax and Megadeth. This isn’t to say that Exodus peaked with the first album, but god damn this album is technically perfection but I have a hard time pointing to a single track and being like, “That… That right there, that’s Exodus.” But I wonder what would have been had it not been for lineup change after lineup change; would I be able to buy an Exodus t-shirt at Hot Topic instead of Metallica.