Not crap when done correctly. I've always loved the one in "Radio Radio."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOuknbvu21Q

fromthecurve wrote:Not crap when done correctly. I've always loved the one in "Radio Radio."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOuknbvu21Q

Dude, I was thinking exactly that for an example of a really good bridge.

Also, "This Year's Girl."

Good bridge:

Bad bridge(s):

i don't understand why it's called the bridge, either. it doesn't bridge anything. the prechorus should be called the bridge because it bridges the verse and the chorus.

bridges in aaba format are different than what i'm talking about. those are fine. hell, i shouldn't have brought up james brown technically, because his funk format is generaly a long vamp and then a bridge or b section -- that's not what i'm talking about either.

my point is that 3-4 minute pop songs based around an ABAB format often throw in a C about 2/3 way through because they are afraid the song will be too boring otherwise, and that C tends to suck. they should realize that the song should just be shorter. you can make the point in 2 minutes. my poppiest song is chorus-verse-chorus-coda: 2 minutes, 1 verse. i feel like a lot of these 3-4 minute pop songs are 1 minute of material stretched out to take up more time, on radio, dancefloors and in people's minds, increasing the chance of getting stuck in your head. this is one reason the residents' commercial album is great -- great 1 minute songs, no bullshit.

an example of a bridge/C-section i do really like is REM's World Leader Pretend.

Daniel Johnston - I had Lost My Mind

Best 1 minute song I know of.

this dude gets a lot of hate on the EA boards, but.... chris cornell has some excellent bridges. though audioslave can get a bit arena-rock-ish in the bridges.

and bob marley... great bridges!

I like the bridges in TV Eye and the Soft Boys' Kingdom of Love.

It might not always be a necessity but it'll always have its place. It only really becomes a problem when bands- when the musicians in a band start advancing to intermediate musicianship- start becoming all hung up on pointless little intricacies that make a song as unmemorable as it is unwieldy.

Bridges, if done well, are the best part of a song for me.

To me, the irst thing that popped into my head was "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."

In most pop music, the verse and chours are I, IV, V, and maybe ii chords. The bridge is when teh harmonic structure will actually change and key deviation might happen. You'll get the vi , iv, or flat III and/or flat VI chords.

I also like bridges that are just one chord, hammered over and over.

Ben Adrian

i heard a pat benatar song with a nice proggy bridge.

the scientific americans rule

damn this thread, now i´m now having lots of attention for each bridge of any song that i listen now..

two more awesome bridges:

the new pornographers - letter from an occupant (very weird and it works)

rem - electrolite (instrumental with violins, very anatomically correct, goes to tension back and forth and again to the verse)