History Main / LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand

* {{One Piece}} with Brook and the crew he's part of. They're all dying of a poison (or something of the like), and decide to go out playing 'Bink's Sake'. As the crew slowly succumbs to the poison, each instrument drops out until only Brook is remaining.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psDA54IBYqw This AT&T commercial]] inspired by ''HanselAndGretel'' pulls off the live-musicians variation of this.

* PeterSchickele played with this in one of his concerts - the orchestra played an introductory chord when he walked onstage, and then played it again a few seconds later when he was about to stop talking, and then played it again after another few seconds, over and over again until he went over to a wall and unplugged a wire, at which point the chord they were in the middle of playing "deflated". Then he plugged it back in, and they "reinflated" and finished the chord.

* Happens when you fail a song in ''GuitarHero'' and ''GuitarHeroII''.
** It also happens when you fail a song in either ''PaRappaTheRapper'', ''PaRapperTheRapper2'', or ''UmJammerLammy''. Or ''osu!'', that fanmade clone of OsuTatakaeOuendan.

* ''[[SpongeBob SpongeBob Squarepants]]'' does this in the episode Squidville, during the montage of Squidward's life in Squidville quickly becoming a rut.

** It also happens when you fail a song in either ''PaRappaTheRapper'', ''PaRapperTheRapper2'', or ''UmJammerLammy''.

Like the RecordNeedleScratch, it is very difficult to use this trope straight anymore because most (if not all) music players these days are digital, and when you pull the plug on a digital player, the music just stops abruptly rather than just fading.

* The song "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha uses this effect on the word "tipsy", appropriately enough, as well as the final "shut us dooooown".

* The [[Film/HarryPotter film version]] of ''HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' has a diegetic example with a real bass brand playing a celebratory tune for the winner of the Triwizard Cup... which falters out when they notice Harry screaming and crying over Cedric's body.

* In the TexAvery short "Lucky Ducky", the characters run past a sign that reads "Technicolor ends here" and into a [[DeliberatelyMonotone black-and-white setting]], and as they stop running the music dies down to nothing. As the chase resumes, the background music fades in again.

* In the TexAvery short "Lucky Ducky", the characters run past a sign that reads "Technicolor ends here" and into a [[DeliberatelyMonochromatic black-and-white setting]], and as they stop running the music dies down to nothing. As the chase resumes, the background music fades in again.

* In ""BlazingSaddles'', the townsfolk have a band playing when the new sheriff arrives in town, which peters out suddenly when they see who it is.

->'''Ling:''' Wish that I had...\\

* ''NakedGun 2 and a half'' had this happen when the prosident of the United States was announced and good guys in disguise showed up instead.

Things are going great for the heroes! They are being lauded as the greatest thing since sliced bread, people are throwing them parties and giving them medals, and nothing can knock them down now! But then—something goes wrong. The background music, which had been sounding triumphantly along suddenly falters and peters out. Sometimes the music slows from its normal upswing to a bass line and finally silence. Other times, the various members of the band seem to realize something is going on, and one by one randomly stop playing until its only the one guy—and then he gets it and stops suddenly.

Occasionally, a non-musical variant is used in science fiction movies involving marauding robots and [[TheComputerIsYourFriend world conquering computers]]. When they are smashed, [[ElectronicSpeechImpediment their voice synths goes from "DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!" to "DE—struuuunh"]]. The same thing happens with answering machines loudly playing back an embarrassing message and any other electronic thingamajig.

Occasionally, a non-musical variant is used in science fiction movies involving marauding robots and [[TheComputerIsYourFriend world conquering computers]]. When they are smashed, [[ElictronicSpeechImpediment their voice synths goes from "DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!" to "DE—struuuunh"]]. The same thing happens with answering machines loudly playing back an embarrassing message and any other electronic thingamajig.

Things are going great for the heroes! They are being lauded as the greatest thing since sliced bread, people are throwing them parties and giving them medals, and nothing can knock them down now! But then—something goes wrong. The background music, which had been sounding triumphantly along suddenly falters and peters out. Sometimes the music slows from its normal upswing to a bass line and finally silence. Other times, the various members of the band seem to realize something is going on, and one by one randomly stop playing until its only the one guy—and then he gets it and stops suddenly.

Occasionally, a non-musical variant is used in science fiction movies involving marauding robots and [[TheComputerIsYourFriend world conquering computers]]. When they are smashed, their voice synths goes from "DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!" to "DE—struuuunh". The same thing happens with answering machines loudly playing back an embarrassing message and any other electronic thingamajig.

** Tsukasa's [[ExpressiveShirt Expressive Hair]] moment in episode 18 comes to mind.

* Something like that happened once on ''{{Lost}}'' as a kind of SorryILeftTheBGMOn gag... a dramatic song was playing in the background, then the scene shifted to Hurley listening to his CD player, and the song skipped out and stopped in the middle as the CD player ran out of batteries.

LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand is a variant of the RecordNeedleScratch. Instead of swiftly pulling the needle across the record album, the people running the background music pull the plug on the record player , allowing the turntable to slow until it finally stops rotating.

Occasionally, a non-musical variant is used in science fiction movies involving marauding robots and [[TheComputerIsYourFriend world conquering computers]]. When they are smashed, their voice synths goes from "DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!" to "DE—struuuunh". The same thing happens with answering machines loudly playing back an embarrassing message and any other electronic thingamajig.

As much of a [[ComedyTropes Comedy Trope]] as the RecordNeedleScratch. It's occasionally been used in serious situations, as an indicator that ''something'' has gone wrong.

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