Outliers are songs so different from other songs an artist has played but that still retain the same amount of success. It never hurts to do something different once in a while to freshen things up.
An outlier can be found anywhere in music and can be created in different ways. Sometimes, the song sounds different from the others. Other times, it can make an intensely emotional impact on its listener (power ballads). It can even take the form of another genre. Most bands have an outlier except for experimental artists because, since each of their songs are meant to be outliers, they simply don’t have one. However, it’s in rock and roll where outliers are best.
The rock and roll genre has come a long way since the early days of people like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. It’s undergone phases that have become sub-genres. A few examples are punk, psychedelic, heavy metal, and grunge.
What all rock has in common is having an engaging sound. Rock and roll can be any speed, use multiple guitars, but the feeling of the need to tap your foot, headbang, or mouth lyrics will always remain. It’s the sound of pumping adrenaline and the growth of a smirk into a full smile.
One prime example of outliers are power ballads, which are songs that enlarge their emotional impact at a different tempo by telling a particular story. Many of them have created such strides that they have become classics.
“November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses is an iconic example. It’s eight minutes long and doesn’t sound like every other GNR song. The slow pace matters though, because it takes on the reflection of honesty and depression through a relationship. Another element that helps is by dominating the percussion line with Axl Rose’s piano skills and saving Slash’s guitar solos for the middle and ending, just after everything has built up.
Another iconic power ballad is “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue, the heavy metal band that controlled the ‘80s rock frontier. Whereas their songs follow sex, drugs, and rock and roll, this track describes the feeling of returning after all is said and done on tour. Just like “November Rain,” it uses a piano, showing that sometimes to make a statement, you need softer tools.
Then, there are the other outliers that sound differently from the rest. They may not be power ballads, but changing up your original sound can benefit in the long term.
This is exemplified in Foo Fighters’ “Learn To Fly.” Most of the Foo Fighters’ songs are grungy, fast, and loud with Dave Grohl on vocals. In “Learn To Fly,” Grohl suppresses the aggression heard in crescendos in songs like “Everlong,” which works, as he sings about finding the things in life that truly make you feel alive after enduring so many lows.
“Octopus’s Garden” by The Beatles is a less-emotional, more upbeat track from their “Abbey Road” album that lets Ringo Starr, a popular but underrated member of the four, show his talent front and center. It sounds satisfying, and it’s like a cheery poem being visualized—especially since Ringo is on vocals, which rarely happened when The Beatles hit their stride in the ‘60s.
Onto harder ground, Avenged Sevenfold’s “A Little Piece of Heaven” bruises the eight minute mark to tell a sinister, disturbing tale of a man who fears his partner’s rejection of his marriage proposal, so much so that he murders her. The combination of orchestral instruments like clarinets, trombones, and violas sound out of place for heavy metal, but it doesn’t destroy the impact here. The song feels like a mix of musical theater and Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride.”
Lastly, the change of genre. It’s the songs themselves that make a band associated with a genre, but it never hurts to disembark once in a while.
Everybody has heard “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen. The beat and the snapping rhythm is all reminiscent of old country tunes while not diving completely out of rocking waters.
“Tumbling Dice” by The Rolling Stones keeps lyrics like “I’m all sixes, and sevens, and nines” to give off a gambler’s feel. It cemented a definitely noticeable blues sound with the backing female vocals and muddy guitar work. All of it sounds like something that would pop in your head upon entering Las Vegas.
While it takes great effort to make an outlier shine, there’s no better place to find them than in rock. Venturing off the beaten path comes with risks, but there are a great few that have shown to be worth it and still have heads banging.