By Request: I LIKE SHORT SONGS

The second in a series of five posts based on topics suggested by our beloved readership...



Today's topic is aptly summed up in the previous video, namely, the fact that short songs are good (and good for you). An anonymous Bro back here requested a "history of the one-second grindcore song" post, but I'd like to open it up a little and focus instead on short songs in general. Now, The Dead Kennedys had the right idea, but even the 28-second-long "Short Songs" is practically a Rick Wakeman epic compared to some of the other songs we'll be looking at today.

Right around the same time the DKs released "Short Songs" ('86/'87), the "Stairway To Heaven" of one-second grind songs was released, Napalm Death's "You Suffer" from Scum. "You Suffer" was a complete game-changer, marking the birth of the grindcore Cold War, a virtual arms race of bands trying to write the shortest, fastest songs possible. The song even got its own official video (shown below), and has inspired legions of tributes -- audio, video, and otherwise -- over the years.

"You Suffer" official video:



Fan video:



Another one:



Guitar cover:



... aaand back to the blokes in Napalm Death for a live version:



But wait, a challenger! NYC Mayhem's "Not", released a FULL YEAR EARLIER than "You Suffer"!:



Are NYC Mayhem the true godathers of one-second grind? It certainly appears that way, as "Not?" was a track on their second demo, released all the way back in 1985!

MYTH = BUSTED!

Here are a couple other one-second-or-less metal tracks, from bands that I know little else about:

"Blunt Force Trauma" by Graveskeeper:



"Last of The Light" by Candy Cane Traitor Molestor (???):



Then there's these adorable little rockers (sorry, but the stick-clicks disqualify you):



FUCKING POSERS



The short-for-short's-sake genre was turned on its ear yet again in 2003, with the release of Agoraphobic Nosebleed's Altered States of America. Altered States featured 100 tracks in just over 20 minutes, many of them clocking in at 4 seconds but none of them actually ONE SECOND LONG. But here's the catch: The album featured one song only accessible by reversing two minutes from the beginning of the first song. Was this the first grindcore song to ever exist in NEGATIVE SPACE? Have the very confines of the space-time continuum collapsed ALTOGETHER?!?! THE HORROR!!!

The track in question - Agoraphobic Nosebleed, "Wonder Drug Wonderland":



Agoraphobic Nosebleed, for some reason, always makes me think of Anal Cunt. And speaking of Anal Cunt, let's take a listen to their 88-song 7", released in 1988 and probably the only other EP able to compete with Altered States in terms of song density and quantity...

Anal Cunt, 88 Song EP, side A:



Side B:



Is it cheating to layer songs OVER other songs? If not, Anal Cunt definitely holds the title with their 5,643 song EP released a year later in 1989. Want it?

5643 Song EP side A:



Side B:



Anyways, I could go on and on about one-second-or-less grind songs, but the truth is my computer is about to take a big shit on me. So let's open it up to the peanut gallery: what are some of YOUR favorite super-short jams? Any genre, any year.

Comments section, GO!