Tiny musical moments that change everything

When life on Earth listened to records, some of the more maniacal music lovers would listen to song parts over and over until the record scratched or the tape became incredibly thin.

I did so with my first album, the Jackson 5’s Greatest Hits, which Motown released when astronauts were celebrities. I cried until they replaced it the day I learned leaving vinyl in the sun turns a record into Lombard Street.

I’d probably already scratched up the part right after Jermaine sings “The way they talk about you, they’ll turn your name to dirt,” when they shift into verse two and Michael sings “Isaac said he kissed you, beneath the apple tree …”

Yeah, I suppose Michael screwed that line up for all of us, didn’t he?

But the point is we don’t just have favorite songs, we have favorite parts of songs. Great songwriters know how to take us on a short, exciting ride for a few minutes, full of valleys and peaks and memories delivered in short bursts.

The bursts shine briefly and flicker out, but are so wonderful they can swing moods 180 degrees on a dime. We smile and listening at the gym, as strangers wonder why we’re smiling like idiots.

Well … at me, anyway.

See if any of these random moments match yours. It’s such a long list, I may have to do another later, just to prove I listened to music made this century.

When Ellen Foley jumps in with “Ain’t no doubt about it, we were doubly blessed …” on Meat Loaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”

The four bars of relentless guitar chunk when the vocals drop out of Bad Religion’s “American Jesus.”

When the vocals start the second verse in Elton John’s “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” going into the vocal ah-ahs. My insides bend with the strings when Davey Johnstone doubles his first lead in the instrumental section.

When the opening swirling chaos of the first minute melts together into the beat, as Prince sings “Dig if you will …” in “When Doves Cry.” When he sings, almost offhandedly, “Don’t make me chase you, even doves have pride …” it’s a self-admission he almost tries to gloss over.

Since we’re here, the constant funkified tension in “Gett Off.” There’s just something about that first downbeat after the first line of the second verse. It happens again after the second line.

I realize how ridiculous that sounds, but try it.

When everything else burns off and the ghostly sax solo starts in Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s “Jungleland.”

When Peter Hook drops his bass into New Order’s “Regret.”

The first few notes of Terry Kath’s long solo in Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4.” I know where it goes, but the anticipation still kills me.

When Anthrax goes into “War Dance” on “Indians.” Makes me want to drop a shoulder and smash into someone.

When Glenn Tilbrook feels like William Tell in Squeeze’s “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell).”

When Mick Jagger admits “I got nasty habits,” in “Live with Me.”

When Don Henley asks the Desperado if his feet get cold in the wintertime.

When Madonna sneaks back after the long pause in “Live to Tell.”

And when the bass drops into “Burning Up.” There should be a contest to find the person who can stand completely still hearing that.

Dave Grohl’s ridiculous third bar fill in the bridge of Queens of the Stone Age’s “No One Knows,” which he sets up perfectly with the first two fills.

In the live “A Little South of Sanity” version of Aerosmith’s “Mama Kin,” when going from the first verse to bridge, Steven Tyler tells Joe Perry “C’mere Joe.”

When Kurt Cobain goes from singing to screaming in “Lounge Act.”

When Robin Zander smashes all those syllables together - “feelin’ all alone without a friend you know you feel like dying” - during the verse of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.”

Ray Davies pronouncing “little” singing “there’s a li-uhl yellow man in my head” during The Kinks’ “Destroyer.”

Andy Taylor off his Duran Duran teeny bopper leash, lighting up his whammy bar during The Power Station’s cover of “Bang a Gong (Get it On).”

The chord change from verse to bridge in Jason Isbell’s “Elephant.” And the lyrics - all of them.

Mick Jones’ big chord answering Lou Gramm’s “he heard one guitar” line in “Juke Box Hero.” And Junior Walker’s sax solo in “Urgent.” Begging Bobby Keys’ and Clarence Clemons’ pardon, but if there’s been a better rock and roll sax solo confined to a rock single, I haven’t heard it. It saves the song from those sound effects in the chorus.

When Steve Lukather’s village-crushing guitar riff flattens the airy piano chords in Toto’s “Hold the Line.” That was a big moment for 11-year-old me.

The harmony lead in the middle of the “Kiss Alive II” version of “Detroit Rock City.” It’s a singular moment when the second guitar drops in.

The shift from verse to bridge in Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69” - “standing on your mama’s porch, you told me that you’d wait forever …” those in high school when that dropped still think of one person. You really believed it.

When Elvis feels your temperature risin’.

When Simon & Garfunkel get back to business during the last verse of “The Boxer.” “In the clearing stands a boxer … .”

When the whole band starts chugging in one direction like a 10,000-ton freight train with no brakes screaming down a mountain in the “Strangers in the Night” version of UFO’s “Doctor Doctor.” Then Phil Mogg fearlessly jumps on top of the engine and starts singing and it’s almost too epic.

When Hanoi Rocks pulls themselves together in “Motorvatin’.”

Soul Asylum waiting by the phone in “Somebody to Shove.”

The roundabout guitar leads in The Beatles’ “The End.” The playing lines up with the personalities so well. Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick said in his book it was the only time he remembered John Lennnon telling Yoko Ono not to follow him like someone welded her to his tailbone, so he could go play one last round with his mates.

I’ll have to do another one of these. There’s just too many moments.

My daughters have a dad to feed, so please consider paying $8 a month to read these columns. Find more nonsense in Tony’s book “Lying Drunk,” available from Barnes & Noble at https://bit.ly/46xoaJJ or Amazon at https://a.co/d/cYNCUPp).