History Main / TheDayTheMusicLied

* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' has an interesting example: after We Know, a song in which Jefferson, Madison, and Burr reveal [[spoiler:they've noticed Hamilton's payments to James Reynolds and Hamilton has no choice but to tell the truth about his affair rather than let them believe he was doing something worse, like embezzling money from the government]], we get Hurricane, a passionate, stirring, powerful song that covers the incredible achievements he's made and how far he's come through his writing, including such lines as "And when my prayers to God were met with indifference / I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance!" to dramatise how he decided to respond to this situation by writing the Reynolds Pamphlet. At this point, if you're not too familiar with American history (and don't pick up on the increasingly loud warning chorus of "Wait for it, wait for it!"), it'd be easy to think that the pamphlet was a great success that turned things around for him. However, the next song The Reynolds Pamphlet makes it very, very clear ''immediately'' that this was not at all the case, and that in fact the whole thing pretty much ruined his political career, through practically the whole cast showing up to laugh and mock it and a refrain of "Well you're never gon' be president now!"

* Inverted cruelly in a FatherTed episode: when Ted is being humiliated for writing a worse poem than Mrs Doyle, the camera zooms out as the theme music plays, implying the scene is over. However, the scene carries on anyway for Dougal to rub it in just a little bit more.

** Also, in [[WhamEpisode the eight episode]] when Madoka and Kyubey are sitting on a park bench. [[spoiler: The track Sis Puella Magica, which literally means "Become a Magical Girl!", starts playing up as Madoka finally seems ready to make her wish and save the increasingly burdened Sayaka. Just as the music reaches its peak...Homura turns Kyubey to Swiss cheese. Cue Sayaka witching out one scene later.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': the final boss is defeated and the game's theme music starts up (just as it did in the previous game). [[spoiler: It keeps playing as Serah has a vision of the future and dies. It isn't until Mog dies and it becomes apparent that something is ''extremely'' wrong does the upbeat pop song stop.]]

Compare CatScare for when dramatic tension is build up with music only for a harmless outcome and NoSell for an explicitly all-powerful attack that is shrugged off by the target. Related to the HopeSpot.

* Played with in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs''. During her first battle with the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Wolkenritter]], Nanoha is trying to use [[WaveMotionGun Starlight Breaker]] to open the way for reinforcements for her friends. During the charging, the music plays to the fullest... until [[BodyHorror a certain hand rises from her chest]], [[GameBreakingInjury absorbing her magical power]]. [[SubvertedTrope The subversion?]]. She ''still'' shoots. And it was ''[[Awesome/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs glorious]]'', accompanied by the music playing to the fullest again.

* In ''MacrossFrontier'', Sheryl falls into the cockpit of a VF and takes off to join the fight, her theme music starting up as she lifts off. Five seconds later, it comes to an abrupt halt as she's shot down.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "Kill The Moon", Clara asks the Doctor what clever trick he's going to do to get them out of their latest crisis. A grand orchestral swell builds, then stops as the Doctor tells his companion it's not his problem.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "Kill The Moon", Clara asks the Doctor what clever trick he's going to do to get them out of their latest crisis. A grand orchestral swell builds, then stops as the Doctor tells them he's not going to get involved.

* In ''HeartcatchPrecure'', Cure Blossom and Cure Marine decide to confuse the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Desertian of the Week]] by running around it in circles really fast. At first, Cobraja, the one who made it, seems concerned... until he looks ahead as the music comes to a droning halt as Blossom and Marine have slowed down, eyes swirling and admitting that was a dumb idea.

* ''{{Homestuck}}'':

* A variation occurs in ''CodeLyoko'' episode "[[CodeLyokoS4E2 Double Take]]". [[spoiler:When the gang notices "Jeremie" is acting strange and accurately conclude he's a specter, Odd attacks it on the assumption XANA is behind it. When the specter fights him off, XANA's theme swells up as the gang prepare for battle... And then the real Jeremie calls to reveal he created his doppelganger himself.]]

* ''Anime/SailorMoon'', [[spoiler: Galaxia orders mind controlled Uranus and Neptune to kill Usagi and the Sailor Starlights, and as they prepare to do just that an ominous music is playing. Which suddenly cuts out and gets replaced by their theme music when they throw their [[MindControlEyes disguise]] and blast Galaxia. And then *that* music cuts out too when the attack proves to be utterly ineffective.]]

** The English dub does something similar in episode 34. Tai and Greymon attempt to perform a BigDamnHeroes moment to save Gatomon from getting captured by Myotismon only to get beaten badly by the vampire. In a last-ditch effort Tai digivolves Greymon to [=MetalGreymon=]. "Hey Digimon" then begins playing as Myotismon proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle beat MetalGreymon in two moves]] using ConservationOfNinjitsu.
** The second ''Digimon'' movie, ''Our War Game'', has another serious example. "Brave Heart" starts playing as Agumon and Gabumon Warp Evolve into [=WarGreymon=] and [=MetalGarurumon=]. When Infermon evolves into Diablomon and attacks Patamon and Tentomon as it's evolving, the music cuts out. When the two Ultimates/Megas go on a RoaringRampageofRevenge, the music picks back up, only to start skipping on "show me your brave heart", signaling the connection's lag and [=WarGreymon's=] weakening before it completely cuts out when Taichi crashes the computer.

** The English dub does something similar in episode 34. Tai and Greymon attempt to perform a BigDamnHeroes moment to save Gatomon from getting captured by Myotismon only to get beaten badly by the vampire. In a last-ditch effort Tai digivolves Greymon to Metal Greymon. "Hey Digimon" then begins playing as Myotismon proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle beat Metal Greymon in two moves]] using ConservationOfNinjitsu.
** The second ''Digimon'' movie, ''Our War Game'', has another serious example. "Brave Heart" starts playing as Agumon and Gabumon Warp Evolve into War Greymon and Metal Garurumon. When Infermon evolves into Diablomon and attacks Patamon and Tentomon as it's evolving, the music cuts out. When the two Ultimates/Megas go on a RoaringRampageofRevenge, the music picks back up, only to start skipping on "show me your brave heart", signaling the connection's lag and War Greymon's weakening before it completely cuts out when Taichi crashes the computer.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' pulls it off in the Season two Finale. Aang is rising into the air in all his Avatar State glory, glowing with holy light, and BAM. Sizzle. Azula shoots him in the back with lightning, and he sort of twitches. Then he falls over.

* In ''YsVITheArkOfNapishtim'', after you defeat the first boss, it gets up again and the boss music restarts, but is interrupted when Olha kills it with an Emelas arrow.

* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'': [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix]] finds what it seems to be a massive hole in the prosecutor's case, and confidently objects as the triumphant ''[[ThemeMusicPowerUp Pursuit ~ Cornered]]'' starts playing -- Only for then to be interrupted by [[StunnedSilence an stunned courtroom]] and ChirpingCrickets. Turns out his outburst was [[CriticalResearchFailure critically wrong]] on one rather important detail.

* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' pulls something similar. As the team morphs for the first time in the film, we are treated to a pumped-up version of the [[ThemeMusicPowerUp theme song]] and obligatory [[AssKickingPose posing]], after which it is revealed that the bad guys have ''fled the scene'' during all the buildup. Even the post-reveal ''guitar riff'' sounds disappointed.

Compare CatScare for when dramatic tension is build up with music only for a harmless outcome. Related to the HopeSpot.