Basic Trope: The first song in an album is also its longest.
- Straight: Alice records an album titled Rashomon Style. Each track ranges from three to six minutes, except the first track, Exposition Dump (8:52).
- Exaggerated: Rashomon Style has tracks between two and three minutes, but the first track is over seventeen minutes long.
- Downplayed: Exposition Dump is the longest track, but only by about thirty seconds.
- Justified: Rashomon Style is a concept album, where the first witness gives their account of a contested event. Each track thereafter is significantly shorter, as the universally accepted points are glossed over.
- Inverted:
- Longest Song Goes Last.
- The shortest song goes first.
- Subverted: Rashomon Style kicks off with a very long track, followed by several short ones. Right when it seems the last track will come up short, it kicks back into gear and eeks out over the first song's length.
- Double Subverted: However, upon review of the track listing, the supposed last song was actually listed as two. In a technical sense, at least, Exposition Dump really was the longest.
- Parodied:
- Rashomon Style has two songs: a thirty-eight minute first track and a two minute finale.
- Rashomon Style has deliberately obvious Padding to squeak past the length of the next longest track.
- Zig Zagged: The first track is in a three way tie for longest on the album.
- Averted: The first song on the album is not the longest.
- Enforced:
- Alice is a Progressive Rocker with a stigma of being too mainstream. Fearing her fans, old and new alike, will move on, Alice's label insists she starts her new album on her longest piece yet.
- Alice loves Exposition Dump in its full-length glory, and chooses to start the album off strong.
- Lampshaded: Rashomon Style's opening track is called The Long One.
- Invoked: The first witness, having Medium Awareness, realizes their role will be minimal after they finish singing. Cue themself stalling as long as possible.
- Defied: Alice interludes before the last track, "Eight witnesses gave their account, and none of them mesh with each other. Now it's time to know what really happened, and I assure you, it's gonna be a while."
- Discussed: In the album sleeve, Alice explains how she came up with an order for the already completed tracks.
- Conversed: Bob and Charlie try to remember which of Alice's albums start on their longest track.
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