First Five Seconds
 

Can anyone else here hear the first five seconds of a song and figure out what song it is? With some of the bands that I listen to over and over again, I can already tell what song it is going to be by the first few seconds. It's the greatest feeling in the world. Does anyone else do this?

Well, I'm a big fan of Techno music and sometimes I don't even notice it playing. But after awhile of playing bunch of mp3, I was able to figure out the name of the song. I wouldn't consider it the greatest feeling in the world but it has its perks.

I can tell which RHCP song I'm listening to in five seconds. There are also some songs out there that every music listener can recognize in five seconds.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Led Zepplin - Stairway To Heaven

Those two come to mind.

Yes it can be done, but it's probably only for a few bands, not a whole crapload, unless you listen to whatever.

i can do that with many songs.

some less than 5 seconds.

some for only a second.

Five seconds at the beginning of a song is usually enough for me (if it's a band I listen to). If I can't get the title, I should be able to at least get the name of the band. If it's in the middle of a song where there's singing, I usually can get it in a couple of seconds.

"Name that tune"...It's an old game show. "I can name that tune in five notes"

I can do it for most songs.

It scares my mother when someone will turn the radio to a staion in the middle of a song and me or my sister (or both sometimes) will start singing immediatly from that point.

i agree at times it is frightening to people to see the speed at which i can pickup what song it is, of course there are some really easy ones that i miss everytime

I can do that with most Incubus songs from Make Yourself and Morning View...also Eminem. It's cool.

Depends. With most Zeppelin songs, yes. Anything I listen to a lot is the same way.

With clearchannel stations, 5 seconds is usually plenty... since most of us have heard all of those songs a million times. What's impressive is if you can do it for a more eclectic playlist.

I'm the same way. A lot of my friends think I'm a music savant or something. I joke that I'm cursed becuase I can hear a song one time and I know the words already. It sucks becuase it doesn;t matter if I like the song or not.

It mainly depends on the uniqueness of the song and how different it is from anything else. Also how manys times you've heard it....

You also have the bands, which most of thier own songs sound the same and so a lot of the time i identify the bands style in an instant, but for pinpointing the particular song it takes a while?

Yeah, I can usually do it in a split second. The new iPod has a game called "Music Quiz" where it plays a snippet of a song on your iPod, and gives you a list of five choices - you have to pick the correct song. I almost never get it wrong, although it often picks a snippet in the middle which is much more confusing!

glassjaw, i can name any song of theirs in less than a second. the apex theory also. snapcase i can usually get in under five.

anything i'm not as familiar with... it depends.

Oh yeah, with my musical background it's generally pretty easy for me to discern who is playing what within the first few seconds that it is on the radio.

I can do that with pretty much any music played in this house. New stuff, old stuff. Whatever. And if I can't think of the name of it or the band, I can usually sing along until I remember what it's called.

I can recognize most songs in the first few seconds. However, when I hear some bands live it takes until they start singing the words.

I really love music, and I listen to a lot of it. I can name just about any popular song from the 50s on or at least start singing it almost immediately.
recently I was taking a 12 hour car trip with a few friends of mine, and completely creeped out one of the with the way I did it. (when he was channel surfing, I could name most songs in about one second) he swears that sometimes I would start to name the song before he even hit the scan button.

all i need is <2 seconds to know what song is currently playing in my list. pretty sad really.

Anything I can't do in 5 seconds ain't worth doing.

I can pretty much nail any song in my library within the first few seconds. I likes to listen to me tunes.....

I also can tell the songs by my fav artists by the first few chords. Working on knowing more!

I can do that with most Pearl Jam songs and a lot of other songs too.

I think most people who listen to music in the car or just for leisure can do that, just because of the repetition they get either from the radio or from their own playlist.

I got zepp, and ac/dc down pretty well. Ive got a bunch of other songs that I know as well, but no artist like those two.

5 seconds is way too long....you should be able to recognize it within the first 4 beats