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SugarWiki: Crowning Music Of Awesome |
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Guta-Motherfucking-Lala
This is what music recording and listening technology, from wax drums and gramophones to MP3s and WAVs, was invented for.
A selection of music that is just... awesome. It brings the moment to life! It compels you to do your best, to collect them all, to use the power of love, or just look in shock.
It can come from unexpected places, it can come from a genre of music that you thought you hated. It is the reward for the work, the finishing touch, it is The Crowning Music of Awesome.
See also Award Bait Song, Theme Music Power Up, Villain Song, Ear Worm, The Power Of Rock, Music Of Note, and especially Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Music.
Some of these link to You Tube, so if you wish to listen to them in stereo, add "&fmt=18" or "&fmt=35" to the link without the quotation marks. This may negate some of the awesome, but in some cases it may also elevate the song to godlike status. Your Mileage May Vary, so consider this fair warning. If you want to link to a specific part, add the following to the link: "#t=1m10s" and adjust the time accordingly.
Compare Fan Fic Recommendations. Contrast against Dethroning Music Of Suck.
Note: When posting links to You Tube here, make sure to strip their URLs of all unnecessary fragments - the ?v=Yu_moia-oVI parameter is the only one needed, really. It's not recommended to post links to Youtube here due to Corrupt Corporate Executive syndrome. It's better to post webpages of artists themselves due to less regional restrictions there.
Examples
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- In V For Vendetta, there's an original song, "This Vicious Cabaret
 " with written music and really great lyrics. And the fact a recorded version exists is just the icing on the cake. I've told you too much already; the unexpectedness factor is part of what makes it so awesome, but it really is pretty epic on its own.
- The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910 more-or-less follows the plot and tune of The Threepenny Opera. The finale in particular is awesome.
- In Countdownto Final Crisis, Pied Piper sacrifices himself to destroy Apokolips by playing The Show Must Go On by Queen.
- Viznut and PWP:
- S4B
- Doctor by Trilobit. Nice to see limited Atari 2600 sound capabilities being put to test.
- Even NES gets some groove with Quantum Disco Brothers by Wamma.
- Atrium anyone?
- The Future Crew are masters of this:
- Triton Productions have also produced some awesome music:
- Then there's BRD's Hybrid song (also alternatively known as "Funky Stars"). And yes, the song is a one half of the Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden theme song (which in itself deserves a mention as well).
- Believe it or not, the mixed medium fan production Neon Genesis Evangelion R actually has some of this. Take, for instance, The Human Complement.
- "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd." Also "Epiphany" and "A Little Priest." Hell, just Sweeney Todd in general.
- "Is Anybody There?" from 1776. That This Troper can't find the movie's version on youtube is sad.
- Don't forget "Molasses to Rum."
- A lot of Next To Normal, but most of all the "You Don't Know" / "I Am the One" trio.
- The Epic Songs in Billy Elliot: The Musical—"The Stars Look Down" and "Once We Were Kings"
- Cirque Du Soleil loves awesome original music for awesome acts. Examples:
- "Kumbalawe" (Second part of opening sequence, Saltimbanco)
- "Taiko" (Mystere; these drums are regarded as a CMOA of their own under the Theater listing)
- "Alegria" (Title song, probably the most famous Cirque number)
- "Quidam" (Title song)
- From the same show: "Incantation", "Rivage", "Steel Dreams", and "Reveil". Why is Quidam so awesome?
- "Tzelma" (Interlude, "O")
- ""Simcha" from that show may be the happiest piece of music ever.
- If the titular piece, "O" doesn't move you to tears of joy and give you shivers, you have no soul.
- "Distorted" (BMX Bikes, La Nouba)
- "Kamande" (Skipping Ropes/Finale, Dralion)
- "Pageant" (The Celebration and later finale, KA)
- And the one show so far that uses previously extant music, LOVE - since it's the music of The Beatles, the show serves it, not the other way around.
- And even still, it was remixed especially for the show. Who knew that "Strawberry Fields," "Penny Lane," "In My Life," and "Hello Goodbye" could be combined into a coherent whole? Or, for that matter, "Drive My Car," "What You're Doing," and "The Word"?
- Defying Gravity from Wicked never fails to give goosebumps. It's not a showstopper for nothing.
- This troper agrees. Along with "No Good Deed" and "The Wizard and I", along with a lot of others.
- Add "What Is This Feeling" to the list for Crowning Music Of Les Yay.
- It is commonly agreed that all of the songs from the musical are awesome.
- The Lord Of The Rings Musical has the enviable position of having music that is very nearly as (or, arguably, in limited cases, more) epic than the film, especially in Flight to the Ford, Lothlorien, and The Battle of Minas Tirith.
- Any given Tom Waits musical has a few of these. It's probably the Villain Song.
- Alice has "Table Top Joe", "We're All Mad Here", and the heartbreaking "Fawn" theme.
- The Black Rider ranges from the tragic melancholy of "The Briar and the Rose" to the gleefully diabolical Villain Songs "Just the Right Bullets" and "Flash Pan Hunter". There's also the messed-up instrumental "Oily Night" to go along with a satanic ritual.
- Frank's Wild Years. "Way Down in the Hole". So awesome it became the theme music for The Wire.
- Woyzeck kicks off with a chromatic scale that morphs into the terrifyingly excellent "Misery is the River of the World". And then there's the ''three' Villain Songs, "Everything Goes to Hell", "God's Away on Business", and "Starving in the Belly of a Whale". And let's not forget the instrumental, "Knife Chase", which is Exactly What It Says On The Tin.
- The Phantom Of The Opera's signature organ chords (pretty much stolen from Pink Floyd, so why wouldn't they be awesome?). Also the five-chord progression that concludes "Music of the Night" and later the show itself.
- Notes I, Notes II, Prima Donna, and Past The Point Of No Return are also exceptional standouts, that is, if I can't count the whole show!
- Two words, followed by six more: Les Miserables, "Do You Hear the People Sing?"
- And three more: "One Day More."
- Actually, just the overture and the lead-in to the Prologue gives This Troper chills. [1] And then there's "Donnez, Donnez" from the original concept album, which has this fantastic 80s rock-opera sound.
- The reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" at the very end of the show makes This Troper want to applaud when he's at home alone.
- And let's not forget "Javert's Suicide". The held-out "reprieved" never fails to give This Troper the chills.
- The reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing" in the 10th Anniversary Concert. Seventeen Valjeans singing in their native languages. There's a Crowning Music Of Awesome and Crowning Moment Of Awesome in one.
- On My Own made this troper cry. No wonder Eponine was one of his favorite characters.
- Stars is worth a mention.
- I Dreamed A Dream. Angst has never sounded so fucking awesome.
- Man Of La Mancha is often erroneously referred to as a one-song show. It's not, really, it's just that "The Impossible Dream" is so damn good .
- And once you've heard Joan Diener's cover of "Aldonza" on the French cover, with Jacques Brel, you will be riveted to your seat, goosebumps all over you, and you will never consider Man Of La Mancha to be a one-song show again.
- There Is No Dulcinea ... and there is no Sanctuary, either!
- "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago. Gallows Humor at its finest ("You know, some men just can't handle their arsenic...").
- Leonard Bernstein. West Side Story. Enough said.
- The choral part of the title song in Oklahoma! never fails to give me chills.
- "Find Your Grail" from Spamalot is so incredibly, unbelievably, and intentionally cheesy that it wraps back around to awesome.
- "I'm All Alone" is really funny and really sad (partly because I keep acting like Arthur does in real life, but Patsy!).
- And let's not forget "The Song That Goes Like This".
- "Skid Row" from Little Shop Of Horrors.
- "Rent, rent, rent, rent, rent! We're not gonna pay rent! 'Cause every thing is RENT!" The movie version is even more epic, because they're able to BURN THEIR EVICTION NOTICES.
- I challenge you to listen to La Vie Boheme and not sing along.
- "Christmas Bells," which was stupidly cut from the movie.
- Much as this troper loves that song, it's a song that plays so much better onstage than it ever could on film, so the cut isn't really stupid. Disappointing, maybe, but not stupid.
- 525,600 minutes...
- This troper sang was they thought was going to be the obscure One Song Glory at karaoke the other night. Wouldn't you know it the whole fucking bar knows every word to that song?!?!?
- Finale B. Finale B. Not only is it an amazing medley of major themes from the rest of the musical, if you listen close, even to the recording or movie version, you can hear Angel's voice. On the stage version, Angel comes back out onstage. There's something ridiculously awesome about it— this troper still gets happy tears even thinking about it, it's that awesome.
- This Troper loves "I'll Cover You". Yes, both versions. I can never actually see the stage(i saw it multiple times) clearly due to overwhelming tears the second time this song comes.
- "Please take me! Ooo-uuuuut to-ni-GHT! I have to go-ooo, Ooo-uuuuut to-night!"
- Likewise, it is virtually impossible to listen to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray without feeling the urge to get up and dance. (This can get quite awkward if you're driving.)
- ''Hairspray deserves all the love it gets.
- The Music Man has "Trouble" and "Seventy-Six Trombones." Combined, they represent one of the most effective sales pitches/cons ever made.
- Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat from Guys And Dolls. Luck be a Lady also counts.
- Oh my god Young Frankenstein. "Frederick's Soliloquy" deserves to be on here.
- Newsies had some pretty rousing numbers. Carrying the Banner and Seize the Day stand out in particular.
- I defy you to listen to "This Is The Moment" from Jekyll and Hyde and not feel invincible.
- Furthermore, "Confrontation". Jekyll is a tenor, Hyde is a baritone, and the actor sings a duet WITH HIMSELF.
- Three words, one number: In the Heights, "96,000." (Warning: clicking on the link may result in spontaneous dancing and singing the song to yourself for weeks on end.)
- Charlie Anderson has a few of these in Shenandoah, mainly "I've Heard it All Before" and "Meditation."
- The Soliloquy from Carousel.
- "Gethsemane" from Jesus Christ Superstar. Calling The Old Man Out can be awesome enough on its own, but when it's the Son of God doing it...
- Say what you will about the Narm, but Lord of the Dance/Feet of Flames has some freaking awesome music. See: Cry of the Celts, Planet Ireland.
- Adam Guettel. For example...
- "Memory" from Cats. Grizabella's entire subplot is that she left the Jellicle tribe to be famous and acted like a total Jerkass. So, naturally, when she comes back, the cats don't want any part of her. "Memory" is her saying that she wants the old days back and that she was sorry for being a bitch in the most awesome way possible.
- The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In from the musical Hair.
- "Turn Back The Tide" from Das Barbecu.
- This troper is unsure where Bill Bailey should go as a genre, but his stage performances include a lot of awesome music. Probably the best would be the in Tinsleworm, where he, with a local group of Indian musicians, perform a "Hindi Indie" version of Radiohead's "Creep".
- Evita. Definitely both stage and movie versions.
- Alas For You from Godspell.
- Die, Vampire, Die! from [title of show].
- 30/90 from tick, tick... BOOM!
- Kristina (aka Kristina from Duvemåla) has a lot of good music, but few things can beat Gold Can Turn To Sand.
- In the original Swedish version, Kristina's You Have To Be There is one of the best songs from any musical ever. Unfortunately the English translation is poor, repetitive and has little of the original lyric's emotion and angst.
- Lily's Eyes from the musical version of ''The Secret Garden"
- Say what you will about Bleach The Musical, it's got some good songs. "Hona Sainara" and "Catharsis of Eternity" just plain rock.
- Cole Porter. Just Cole Porter.
- "Comfort and Joy" from Bat Boy The Musical.
People
- Once again, Ludwig Van Beethoven. The Fifth and Ninth Symphonies are just the tip of the iceberg.
- Ode To Joy is This Troper's favourite song EVER.
- Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, aka Moonlight. Best motherfucking song in the history of creation. The first movement is pretty famous, but you must listen to all three to get the full effect.
- Screw it. John Williams is one of the best, if not the best composer of the modern era. Seriously, look at how many times he's been mentioned above. All the Star Wars music, the Theme from Jaws, Call of the Champions, Superman's Theme, the list goes on and on. There's a reason that, at least since 1984, this guy has gotten a call every time the United States has hosted the Olympics. And received so many Oscar nominations it's quite sickening.
- When approached to do the music for Schindler's List, he protested that he wasn't good enough. Spielberg replied "Anyone who might be better is dead."
- I am looking for an example of music by John Williams that is NOT crowning music of awsome, if anyone finds music by him that is NOT crowning music of awsome please let me know!
- The music in Saving Private Ryan hardly qualifies for this trope. On the other hand, with a movie like that, the music isn't meant to steal the show.
- If you like Williams, listen to Richard Wagner (the man Williams took most of his music from). Tristan und Isolde is a good one to start with.
- What you want to look at is, "The Chairman's Waltz", from Memoirs of a Geisha. Then watch the season 3 dance on So You Think You Can Dance that goes with it.
- Go to the Crowning Music of Awesome Film page. There's a reason John Williams has his own section.
- Presidential inauguration, anyone?
- John Williams is the man.
- Speaking of John Williams the LA Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned Williams to compose some music for the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003. Needless to say, it was epic.
- Bernard Herrmann. He wrote film scores for a veritable who's who of famous (and sometimes infamous) movies. He is considered "the greatest composer of cinema" (he disliked the term 'film composer'). From the likes of Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and down to Danny Elfman, he is considered their greatest inspiration and a big contribution to their careers. He composed EACH ONE OF THESE PIECES, a testament to his unique and incredible musical vision that resonates even till today. Many people maintain that Bernard Herrmann was the greatest film music composer who ever lived. His legacy, in terms of musical structure, use of innovative instrumentation, and compositional style, is unmatched, and his impact on the way in which films were scored is incalculable.
- Frank Zappa. Why say anything else?
- ALAN MENKEN. If you're like this troper who grew up in the era of Disney Animated Classics of the 90's then you will definitely recognize his masterpieces. The sole reason Disney reinvented itself is largely due to his man, thus giving him the moniker, The Disney's Musical Renaissance Man. AND HOW. Menken has received dual Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song on four of the Disney animated film projects he's involved. His eight awards overall from only eleven feature films scored give him one of the highest Oscar-to-film ratios of all film composers. His last project for Disney so far was scoring and composing songs for the 2007 Disney film, Enchanted. A sample of some of his works.
- Hans Zimmer, responsible for a lot of the orchestral scores of these and other films, is pretty awesome, too.
- Duke Ellington, and his Man Behind The Man Billy Strayhorn.
- James Horner. Or you may address him by his full title, Admiral James Horner, Composer Exemplar. If you want to get a true idea of his excellence, watch one of the movies he's scored on mute. Then buy the soundtrack and listen. You'll find the following true; images minus Horner music = blah. Horner music minus images = in some ways, a greater experience of the movie.
- Jerry Goldsmith. Damn you, Author Existence Failure!
- It goes without saying that film Westerns wouldn't have been the same without the great Elmer Bernstein. He kick-started the genre when he composed The Magnificent Seven, the theme that would become synonymous with cowboys and Midwest deserts.
- Nobuo Uematsu is one of the best video game music composers ever. See all the Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger music above? He wrote almost all of it.
- Wrong! It was Yasunori Mitsuda who did the vast majority of the Chrono Trigger soundtrack! Uematsu stepped in near the end of development after Mitsuda got himself a stomach ulcer working so hard (so sayeth Wikipedia) but most of the awesomeness there was by the man who went on to do the Xenogears and Shadow Hearts soundtracks.
- Fight 2 from Final Fantasy 4... Just... Fight 2...
- Chaos (Remakes), Battle 2 (The Emperor), Cloud of Destruction, Zeromus, Neo Exdeath, Dancing Mad, One Winged Angel, The Extreme, Messenger of Destruction... All Final Fantasy Final Bosses have Crowning Moment of Awesome Final Battle Music!
- Art Tatum. There's a reason why many consider him the best pianist of the 20th Century, and the best jazz pianist of all time. Hell, there's even a scientific term named after him (the fastest tempo possible that is still recognizable as a rhythm, I think).
- If Uematsu isn't the best, then Koji Kondo is.
- Or Motoi Sakuraba.
- This Troper finds Go Ichinose to be underappreciated.
- Practically the entire Golden Sun soundtrack - Mercury and Venus Lighthouse and Forest's Requiem especially.
- The boat music in the first one, the second overworld theme and credits music in the second game. No arguing. Build the man a shrine already!
- Or else Kenji Yamamoto, solely on the merit that he gave us the Phendrana Drifts music from ''Metroid Prime'', which is quite possibly one of the greatest and best-fitting video game songs ever.
- Keich Kobiyashi deserves mention among this crowd for his masterful work in the Ace Combat Series
- And what about Yoko Shimomura, the composer for Kingdom Hearts and Legend of Mana? And if you think those are amazing, look up her compilation album, Drammatica.
- And in an even more mindblowing revelation, Yoko Shimomura did almost the entire original soundtrack to Street Fighter II. Her tracks have been the arcade anthems for millions of gamers in the 90's, and most of them don't even know.
- Michael Giacchino is quickly becoming the Heir-Apparent to John Williams' Crowning Music Of Awesome throne. Lost, Alias, Cloverfield's "ROAR!", the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty Videogame series, The Incredibles, Up...
- This Troper has trouble contaning himself when he contemplates the impending awesomeness of his Star Trek score. Cue Cullen, baby!
- That troper didn't end up being excited for nothing. It really is one brilliant score. ...Except for the track titles.
- John Barry and his damn Out of Africa and Somewhere in Time scores, and that doesn't include all the amazingness that is the James Bond music...
- Ennio Morricone's entire lifetime has been one sexy piece of music after another.
- Yoko Kanno. This◊ sums it up pretty nicely.
- Rob Dougan. Clubbed to Death alone would have given him immortality, but then add Furious Angels, Chateau, and whatever else he's got coming for us.
- Technical excellence piano-wise doesn't make up nearly half of what Tom Lehrer will forever be remembered for: anyone who doesn't laugh on first hearing Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, not to mention most of his other works hasn't a funny bone in their body.
- Danny Elfman. That is all.
- No way, that's NOT all. As another troper pointed. The Christopher Nolan Batman movies have equalled and surpassed the Tim Burton movies, minus one area, the score by Danny Elfman. The man made the Mission Impossible theme hotter than it already was. Damn!
- The Dark Knight Trilogy soundtracks are awesome in their own way. Danny Elfman's Batman score was big and full of John Williams-esque Hollywood fanfare, where Hans Zimmer's score is subtle, atmospheric and minimalist. And creepy. And while on the subject of Hans Zimmer: Pirates Of The Caribbean (but see afformentioned Hollywood Fanfare, and the first movie being credited to Klaus Beldt, Zimmer's protage). Zimmer's section on the Film page is almost as big as John Williams'.
- Harry Gregson-Williams. Responsible for the soundtracks of Armageddon, the Metal Gear Solid series, and more.
- Jeremy Soule. One of the best guy for video game soundtracks.
- Just the sheer list in Lord Of The Rings entry: Howard Shore.
- John Powell, especially his scores for the Bourne movies. Every time This Troper listens to "To The Roof" from The Bourne Supremacy, she wants to go engage in some international intrigue.
- Frank Klepacki, composer of the Hell March songs (essentially THE song for Evil Armies) for the Command And Conquer: Red Alert series.
- Vangelis. Just Vangelis.
- The fact that Yuki Kajiura, the genius behind Mai-Hime and Mai-Otome, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, most of the .hack series, Noir, Madlax, El Cazador De La Bruja, Kara No Kyoukai and several others, has yet to be mentioned, makes This Troper one sad panda.
- Yuki Kajiura is a GODDESS. Period.
- There's a reason she has her own category on the Anime page.
- Leonard. Fucking. Cohen.
- Whoever did the soundtrack to Pokemon Red/Blue should get an Oscar. Honestly, is there a single gamer who grew up in the 90's that DOESN'T have the Battle Theme branded on the inside of their skull?
- That person would by Junichi Masuda, and screw the Oscar. He deserves a fucking statue constructed of gold and chocolate for giving my childhood a soundtrack.
- This Troper is sure that Tommy Tallarico deserves a spot here.
- Kristin Chenoweth. You might know her as Olive Snook from Pushing Daisies. Her crowning moment of awesome of choice (and she has a wide range from which to choose) is "Glitter And Be Gay," from Candide. Watch. Just watch. This is the woman who sang a few notes before going on stage at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and received a standing ovation.
- "If You Hadn't, But You Did." See ya later, Joe!
- Charles Mingus. He inspired Yoko Kanno's work on Cowboy Bebop. An incredible bass virtuoso, the greatest jazz composer after Ellington, and a man who truly lived and loved through music. Try for yourself!
- The Pavarotti.
- Joe Hisaishi, known for his works on films from Studio Ghibli and a few others such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Russo, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea among many others.
- Imogen Heap is a legend. Not only does she have a fantastic voice, but her songs are so frickin' awesome. "Hide And Seek" is just amazing, "The Moment I Said It" is incredible, and the stuff she did while part of Frou Frou is just as good.
- Tim Minchin. His songs... his piano... and his hair...
- Toshiro Masuda. Especially for This Troper, Grief and Sorrow.
- Tenacious D. Their songs are awesome.
- Rock and roll couldn't have been possible at all if it wasn't for the king of rock and roll himself- Mr Elvis Presley. Every song he sang was GOLD. Elvis is THE king of this trope. For the end of the 68 Comeback special he performed a particularly awesome closing song titled If I Can Dream
- David Bowie.
- U2 manage to pull off a Crowning Moment Trifecta with the song "Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad". Not only is it an incredibly awesome (not to mention out-of-character for U2) song in its own right, Bono wrote it as a gift for Frank Sinatra on his 80th birthday/ And if that isn't enough, the original intention was for Sinatra to sing it himself, but he was not well enough. And... I think I have something in my eye...
- Hell, U2's entire catalogue is a lot like that. How did they advertise the release of a U2 Greatest Hits album? Just a title card with the album cover ... over which the Edge's opening guitar riff from "Where the Streets Have No Name" is playing. The crowd goes wild.
- must...resist...urge to gush about anything and everything by U2...GAH!
- Howza bout Eric Whitacre? He writes achingly beautiful choral pieces and then he goes and writes a freakin' techno-opera about fallen angels engaging in gladiatorial battle!
- Oh, and one word: Chanticleer. Listen to their Christmas Spiritual Medley. Now.
- Somewhat implied above, with the mention of This is the Moment, but Anthony Warlow's voice is almost unparalleled in theatre. He's well known for playing the Phantom in Australia, and was Jekyll and Hyde on the 1994 studio recording, so he's definitely done softer and creepier stuff, but combine This is the Moment with his performance as Enjolras in Les Miserables and his incorporation of Anthem from Chess into his concert performances, and you cannot help but be awed and inspired by the man's voice.
- Inon Zur has been quietly accumulating awesomeness under the radar. just check that discography!
- Motorhead. Ace Of Spades. End of page.
- Bear Mc Creary. BEAR. FREAKING. MCCREARY.. His music is possibly some of the most original sci fi TV music ever written. Taiko drums, erhu, violin and orchestral yodeling galore. His fan following for the Battlestar Galactica music is massive, this troper included.
- Ron Jones is an unsung hero of TV and video game music. The man got sacked from Star Trek The Next Generation cause Rick Berman thought his music was too epic. Still managed to rack up an impressive amount of credits, including the incredible score for Starfleet Command, as well as Family Guy and American Dad. Have a listen''.
- Steve Vai.
- George freakin' Strait. Find one country music fan who doesn't worship him.
- John Petrucci, anybody?
- Or the rest of Dream Theater, for that matter.
- Say what you will about the man, Michael Jackson helped create wothout doubt some of the greatest pop music of all time. You want proof? Thriller, Smooth Criminal, Black or White....take your pick.
- Dvorak's New World Symphony. One Piece fans might recognize this one.
- Lisa Gerrard. Not only does the woman have amazing vocal talent, she invented her own language and sings in it. You really have to hear it to understand. It sends shivers up your spine. She performs in "Dead Can Dance" and has worked on several films. [2].
- I can't believe nobody has yet mentioned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! In particular, the extraordinarily epic aria "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), which is what most people immediately think of when they think opera.
- Bill Conti deserves a nod, for his theme to the original "American Gladiators." Oh, and a little thing he did for a movie in 1977, too.
- Ladies and gentlemen... The Beatles!
- Fanfare for the Common Man, by Aaron Copland. Now, listen to that while reading the Real Life Crowning Moment page.
- Not to mention Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's electric version, it's pretty badass.
- No Johann Sebastian Bach? Particularly his most famous Tocatta and Fugue in D minor and his beautiful and haunting cantatas.
- Hideki Naganuma. Jet Set Radio Series. Sonic Rush. That is all.
- Buckethead is the greatest guitar player ever. Ever.
Web Original
- Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog:
- "Brand New Day." Is it weird that I want to make love to Neil Patrick Harris' voice?
- "Slipping."
- "My Eyes." So. Amazing.
"Listen close to everybody's heart, and hear that breaking sound."
- Broken Saints is full of it, but most especially: the use of John Taverner's "Alleluia" at the end of Chapter 20 - Act 5, and in Chapter 24 - Act 5. That is the reason why some people talk about these moments as religious experiences.
- And the Trogdor comes in the NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHT!!!!!!!! Burninating the Countryside!
- Also, experimental film and this short
- Most of the songs on the website, really. The Brothers Chaps, apparently aware of this, have been releasing quite a few music video cartoons lately.
- The mechanics of cellular biology are awesome enough by themselves, but the soundtrack to this video makes it EPIC.
- The sound in its entirety for the Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny is very catchy.
- There She Is!!, a set of five Korean shorts all set to music. First three are adorable and sweet. The fourth, depressing and dramatic. The last? Imagine. It starts out with mournful pianos, then just as our feline hero sees the memorial his bunny girlfriend left behind and the rocking tunes really start up, you will not be leaving your goddamn seat until the very last of the credits, holy shit.
- "Secret Agent Chick", the theme of Susan Neckebard from Chewbot's "Let's Play Oregon Trail".
- Caramelldansen, normally a rather cute memetic phenomenon with its speedycake version, has recently been given the metal treatment.
- The Codex, a Halo machinima. Episode 18. From 4:58 to the end. You'd almost think it was scored by Marty O'Donnel himself.
- Arguably overlaps this with Crowning Music Anime (the original song is an anime OP you'll probably recognise, what I'm referring to here is a fan-made parody): Zetsubou Desho Desho?...
- Digital Insanity's more popular keygen comes with an absoltely epic chiptune.
- The Youtube Symphony Orchestra "The Internet Symphony" Global Mash Up, comprised of thousands of videos sampling one entered song making a single symphony.
- Just about everyone's seen Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga. (Aka "Nico Nico Medley"). If you haven't, it's a crowning music in and of itself — 10 random people from Nico Nico (picture Youtube meets 2chan) and one Robot singing an a capella medley of 34 separate anime and video game themes.
- The Leet World has some pretty epic music, like The Producer's theme and Domination Man Cometh. Series 2 has epic music too, especially in Episode 10, all the way through really.
- Even to this non-American troper, when they all start singing, it makes the hairs on the back of his head stand up.
- Say what you will about Zero Punctuation, but Ian Dorsch made a freaking awesome theme song for Yahtzee. Especially the extended version that plays at the end of the 100th episode.
- The Red Vs Blue theme.
- "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar", promoting The Guild and parodying Three Minutes Of Writhing.
- A Glorious Dawn, a remix of a bit of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series with a bit of Stephen Hawking's Universe series. It exults in the universe and human discovery of it.
Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise
A morning filled with 400 billion suns
The rising of the milky way
- In Pure Pwnage, pretty much any time "Feel Like Pwning Noobs" comes on is epic.
- In Episode 5 of The Allen And Craig Show when Craig decides to switch to the CD that's in Allen's car, which results in them indulging in singing "Dancing Queen" by ABBA.
- Similarly, in the same episode, Craig's montage of doing Tae Kwon Do in a fountain to "You're The Best" by Joe Esposito
Web Comic
- A rare Web Comic example: O buddy Roy, in Order Of The Stick. (lyrics)(tune)
- The latest MS Paint Adventures series Homestuck gives us the best loading screen EVER.
- A sequence in untitled featured a scene with a gangster and the ghost he doesn't know is following his every move driving along, merrily singing along to "Just What I Needed" by The Cars...right before hitting a cow. As the car flips through the next few panels, we can still see the lyrics playing from the radio.
- Brawl In the Family's Christmas Special is, while the only piece of music played in the webcomic period, really good.
- And now we've got the music used for the 200th comic special, Ode to Minions.
- Fans gives us The Language Of Your Voice.
Real Life
- This moment at the 2008 Macy's parade.
- As The War Approaches.
- The Soviet Naval Hymn
- Barack Obama became President while the John Williams composition Air and Simple Gifts, was performed by Itzhak Perlman on violin, Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Gabriela Montero on piano, and Anthony Mc Gill on clarinet.
- Not to ruin your fun, but they weren't actually playing because it was too cold outside. It was pre-recorded.
- The Youtube Symphony Orchestra. Not just for the music, but for the global auditioning done on Youtube of all places.
- "Stand By Me" as produced as part of the Playing for Change project.
- The entire Last Night of the Proms.
- Bagpipes were invented for this very purpose.
- A Drum Corps' rendition of Mozart's Symphony #40. Not Mambozart. Energetic and just effing awesome.
- The anthems of sports teams deserve a mention within this trope.
- Worthy of mention as an example is Leeds United, the English Football team. Alex Ferguson (Manchester United manager) says that to this day despite Leeds' financial troubles and demotion to the lower leagues there is no more intimidating moment in football than when "Marching on Together" is played at the start of games at Elland Road.
- Another worthy mention is Liverpool FC's anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone". It has led to one of my all time favourites crowning moments of aww and crowning moment of awesome. Liverpool and Everton FC have been long time rivals. A few years ago, a 13 year old was murdered by an Everton fan because he was wearing a Liverpool shirt. That weekend Liverpool played Everton in the Premier League. A one minute silence was called in memory of the boy. A few Liverpool fans started singing You'll Never Walk Alone and the Everton fans joined in.
- Kate Smith's rendition of "God Bless America" famously became an unofficial anthem for the Philadelphia Flyers (ice hockey). The song's effect on the Flyers is legendary; the team has won 77 out of 102 times when the song is played before the game. They even placed a statue of her outside their stadium as a memorial after she died.
- The 1999 Academy Awards.
Literature
- Soul Music. A book about Crowning Music Of Awesome. Also, Death with a guitar.
- In the Animated Adaptation, the Big Stadium Production of "The Messenger" at the Ankh-Morpork Free Concert is the most awesome of several Crowning Musics of Awesome. Especially since (as in the book) it's recognisably the same tune as the quiet and haunting "Sioni Bod Da".
- "We Can Rule You Wholesale", the national anthem of... Ankh-Morpork. Seriously. That it's also a Crowning Moment Of Funny goes without saying.
- The work John Bergin did for Dan Abnett's Traitor General is pretty impressive and it fits the spirit of the setting perfectly. It can be downloaded for free from his official site here.
- It's worth pointing out that, while Awesome, the music is so moody, ominous, and Grim Dark that it counts as High Octane Nightmare Fuel. The track "Nine Wounds" has lyrics sung by Saint Sabbat describing her gruesome martyrdom. "Mindlock" does nothing less than Mind Rape the listener. "Too Many Ghosts" sounds like something out of Silent Hill. And "Sabbat" makes it clear that in this setting, saints don't guide you to heaven, they promise "rivers of blood and oceans of sorrow." In conclusion, Warhammer 40,000 is 'effing metal.
- Eric Flint's 1632; the Siege of the Wartburg. Obviously based on the US Army using rock music to chase Noriega out of the Vatican Embassy in Panama, but made AWESOME by using classical music: Wozzeck, Night on a Bald Mountain, Bydlo, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Arise ye Russian People, Battle on the Ice, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 3rd Movement, Rite of Spring, Liebestod, Ride of the Valkyries, Entry of the Gods into Valhalla, Wotan's Farewell, Siegfried's Funeral March, Immolation of the Gods, Shostakovich's Eighth, and then the Crowning Moment: The Lark Ascending. If that doesn't break your will, nothing will.
- If you can't TASTE the win dripping out of The Absence's 'World Divides'... You don't deserve ears.
- Anytime Richard Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries starts playing in The Dresden Files - and it's happened twice thus far - it means Miss Gard is about to do something appropriately awesome.
- The fact that one of these involved a helicopter a la Apocalypse Now just made it that much more awesome.
- Three words: Beasts of England
- John Ringo's A Hymn Before Battle. The ACS assault at the end uses a massive hologram and playing Immigrant Song (led zepplin) on max volume to break the morale of moronic aliens (read zerg)
- The multimedia project Shadows Of The Empire has a soundtrack to go with the novel. There are different tracks for different parts of the book, and there are of course elements of John Williams' music in it. It's not bad just in general, but Night Skies, which plays Xizor's and Vader's leitmotifs more slowly and thoughtfully and eventually surges into the Force Theme, is highly regarded by just about everyone. Also, The Destruction of Xizor's Palace.
- Xizor's Theme is magnificent. And The Seduction of Princess Leia is just a crazy, whirling, utterly romantic waltz that demands listening.
- "Leia's Nightmare" actually makes an original Star Wars piece much more epic, by making a far louder crescendo of music, accompanied by CYMBAL CRASHES! where the original had nothing.
Nature
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