Instrumental
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
![](/w/images/thumb/5/59/Artie_Shaw_with_his_band_in_Second_Chorus.jpg/250px-Artie_Shaw_with_his_band_in_Second_Chorus.jpg)
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics, or singing, although it might include some inarticulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments.
In a song that is otherwise sung, a section not sung but played with instruments can be called an instrumental interlude. If the instruments are percussion instruments, the interlude can be called a percussion interlude. These interludes are a form of break in the song.
Contents
In popular music
In commercial popular music, instrumental tracks are sometimes renderings of a corresponding release that features vocals, but they may also be compositions originally conceived without vocals. An instrumental version of a song which otherwise features vocals is also known as a -1 (pronounced minus one).
The opposite of instrumental music is a cappella.
For genres in which a non-vocal song or interlude is conceived using electronic media, rather than with true musical instruments, the term instrumental is nonetheless used for it.
Number-one instrumentals
Borderline cases
Some recordings which include brief examples of the human voice are typically considered instrumentals. Examples include singles with the following:
- Short verbal interjections (as in "Tequila" or "Topsy" or "Wipe Out" or "The Hustle" or "Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out")
- Repetitive nonsense words (e.g., "la la..." (as in "Calcutta") or "Woo Hoo");
- A short spoken passage (e.g., "To Live Is to Die" by Metallica);
- Wordless vocal effects, such as drones (e.g., "Rockit" or "Flying");
- Vocal percussion, such as beatbox B-sides on rap singles;
- Yodeling (e.g., "Hocus Pocus");
- Whistling (e.g., "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" or "Colonel Bogey March").
- An ominous statement at the end (e.g., God Bless the Children of the Beast by Mötley Crüe, Cremation by King Diamond)
- Inclusion of field recordings which may or may not contain non-lyrical words. (e.g. Many songs by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and other post-rock bands.)
A few songs categorized as instrumentals may even include actual vocals, if they appear only as a short part of an extended piece (e.g., "Unchained Melody" (Les Baxter) or "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" or "Pick Up the Pieces" or "The Hustle" or "Fly, Robin, Fly" or "Get Up and Boogie", or "Do It Any Way You Wanna" or "Gonna Fly Now" (Bill Conti)). Falling just outside that definition is "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes.
See also
- Instrumental hip hop
- Instrumental rock
- List of rock instrumentals
- Easy listening
- Medley
- Post Rock
- Beautiful music
- Smooth jazz
- A cappella, vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment
- Backing track is a pre-recorded music that singers sing along to or a karaoke without vocals
- Choro, a Brazilian instrumental folk music
Notes
- ↑ Contains several vocal interjections of the title track.
- ↑ Features vocal interjections of the title track at the end of each chorus.
- ↑ Contains several Scottish sounding grunts at the end of each chorus and immediately beforehand.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Stranger on the Shore hit #1 on the end of year UK charts, but NOT the weekly UK charts. Despite this, it is the highest selling instrumental single worldwide and in the UK; in the US, this honor falls to Meco's Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band.
- ↑ Contains vocal interjections before, during, and immediately after the choruses.
- ↑ Contains vocals at the beginning and during the fade-out.
- ↑ Contains vocal interjections at the end of the second and third verses.
- ↑ Contains screams of "do the hustle!" at the end of each chorus.
- ↑ Contains vocal interjections of the title track at the end of each chorus and "up, up to the sky" as an ending.
- ↑ Contains vocals, which total thirty words and thus contains the most amount of lyrics of any instrumental song to hit #1.
- ↑ Contains, during its choruses, several nonsensical vocal interjections of the title.
- ↑ At the beginning, before the main piece begins, it features the lyrics "Oh yeah, I used to know Quentin, he's a real, he's a real jerk".
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>
tag; name "Telegraph" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
![]() |
Look up instrumental in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Instrumental music. |
- Every instrumental top 20 hit song from 1960 to the present from Tunecaster.com with a sample of each
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.