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But none are quite as effective or as well-worn as the stop stop.
After a grand, silent pause, the music comes whooshing back in.
Its a timeless trope thats persisted through genres and generations.
And theres a good reason for it.
From superficial stillness to cathartic exhales, these are moments where we truly enjoy the silence.
The backup dancers freeze.
And, naturally, so does the crowd.
Through viral videos and social-media posts, entire cities are now competing to maintain the longest stretches of silence.
Though not technically a stop, if anyone deserves reverential awe through the power of quietude, its Beyonce.
19.Stop!, Janes Addiction
19.
18.Cant Repeat, the Offspring
18.
Sometimes its just a pause en route to catchier pop-punk choruses.
In the case of Cant Repeat, its both.
Life goes on, as does the song.
17.Uptown Funk, Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
17.
Structurally, Uptown Funk is a marvel.
16.Fragile, Tech N9ine ft. Kendrick Lamar
16.
A feature from Kendrick tackles hateful critics and bruised egos with a mighty stop.
Rarely has a pause dripped with so much disdain.
15.Like Dylan in the Movies, Belle & Sebastian
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Heres a stop that lends a surprising amount of suspense.
Be sure to think twice, its not all right.
14.Break Ya Neck, Busta Rhymes
14.
The most shocking thing about the stops in Break Ya Neck is that there arent more of them.
13.Dont Come Around Here No More, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
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Regardless, its still a banger.
12.Batdance, Prince
12.
With its fits of stops and starts, Prince nails the jittery majesty of a good pause.
This song nearly doubles as a game of superhero freeze dance.
A fun, if slight, entry to the stop canon.
11.Dress, Taylor Swift
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The stop in thisReputationdeep cut is so effective because it happens exactly once.
Theres nothing like a lingering pause to let her sensual tryst remain a secret just a little while longer.
10.U Cant Touch This, MC Hammer
10.
This is a pause that lets us brace ourselves for the baggy panted reckoning to come: HAMMER TIME.
9.Improper Dancing, Electric Six
9.
By far the most playful and self-aware entry in the stop canon.
Theyve been known to even throw in a whole extra song in the interstitial gap live.
(What more opportune time to tackle INXSs Never Tear Us Apart?)
A silly diversion and ironic inversion of a typically sincere trope.
8.Where Is My Mind?, the Pixies
8.
Heres a stop that sets the tone for the entire song to come.
The opening pause bursts open a door to heady confusion, woozy guitar, and all-around disorienting vibes.
7.I Try, Macy Gray
7.
Imagine if we could still be together, it begs, despite knowing full well thats an impossibility.
If a moment in time could reverse, this would be its cue.
6.Bad idea right?, Olivia Rodrigo
6.
The newest addition to the pantheon of stop songs is an instant classic.
An all-too-brief moment of logical thinking is upended the second the chugging guitar kicks back in.
Of course you should stop seeing him, Olivia.
Of course, you wont.
In the Name of Love, The Supremes
5.
As if the exclamation point in the title didnt give away how powerful this stop truly is.
One of the earliest uses of the now well-worn trope is also one of the best.
Ohhh, think it over.
4.Crying, Roy Orbison
4.
Another early pioneering stop, Orbisons pleading practically freezes time with his crackling vibrato.
This mid-line stop disrupts the flow of the song and jump-starts the flow of our tears.
That unexpected pause gives the listener an extra moment to dwell on what could be, but never will.
3.The Britney Trifecta: You Drive Me Crazy/Lucky/Stronger
3.
However, never is it more effectively deployed as it is in Lucky.
This cautionary tale gets to the heart of the dark side of celebrity culture.
Just what happens when the glitz and glamour of red carpets stops?
If anyones basked in the messy afterglow of fame, its her.
2.Alison, Elvis Costello
2.
The sharp, direct emphasis of STOP is devastating and disarming in its sincerity.
Its a bittersweet crest of yearning.
1.How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You, James Taylor
1.
The lingering pause is like a warm, all-encompassing embrace frozen in time.
Silence has rarely felt so intimate.
