issue 12 // volume 43 A note on history: Tracking down the secret songs > The history of the hidden track Caroline Ho Arts Editor hidden track on a CD or record isa ong that isn’t included in the track listing or is otherwise obscured from the less-observant listener. Sometimes tracks are hidden at the start of albums, or sometimes they’re at the end or in the middle. There are a lot of reasons artists choose to do this. Since they are deliberately left off the track listing, there isn’t exactly one standard kind of hidden track, but it’s still possible to see how the practice of hiding songs has changed over the years. Like so many things in music history, we can thank the Beatles for introducing the idea, with the release of Abbey Road in 1969. In July of that year, Paul McCartney recorded the 23-second track “Her Majesty,” but he didn’t like how the song fit with the rest of the album. He asked tape engineer John Kurlander to cut out and destroy the recording. Since the studio had a policy that Beatles tapes were never to be destroyed, Kurlander added it to the end of the album instead, after 14 seconds of silence. It was allegedly meant to be deleted later, but when the Beatles found out about it, they were amused and considered it a happy accident. Abbey Road ended up being released with the rough recording of “Her Majesty” at the end, asa surprise for listeners. In the ’7os and ’80s, other artists and groups played with hiding extra, unlisted songs on records, for various reasons. On the Clash’s London Calling (1979), the band wrote and recorded “Train in Vain’ once the album sleeves were already printed, but they decided it was such a good song that it deserved to be on the album anyway. With vinyl, it’s also possible to hide tracks in multiple grooves on a record. A notable example is Monty Python’s “three-sided” Matching Tie and Handkerchief (1973): In addition to having an A-side and B-side, the latter is double-grooved, so it can play three different sets of songs by flipping the record over and positioning the needle differently. However, it’s impossible to completely hide a track on vinyl, because you can see the grooves on the surface of a disc where there’s audio and you can see when the needle hits them. The introduction of CDs changed things up because once you could no longer see grooves, tracks could actually be invisible. One of the first bands to popularize the practice of hiding a CD track was Nirvana, with the six-and-a- half-minute “Endless, Nameless” on 1991's Nevermind. “Endless, Nameless” is tacked onto the end of the last track of the album after 10 minutes of silence, although it was accidentally left off the first pressings of the album and a lot of later releases didn’t include it either, making it even rarer. CDs also offered the possibility of hiding audio in the pre-gap before a track, so that the CD player has to be manually rewound to hear the music. Queens of the Stone Age have the pulsing instrumental “The Real Song for the Deaf” as Track o on Songs for the Deaf (2002). (The album also has two more hidden tracks at the end.) Some artists included hidden tracks because they were of lesser quality, or were deemed otherwise unworthy of going on the track listing, like Green Day’s “All By Myself?” an 81-second ditty sung by drummer Tré Cool at the end of Dookie (1994). In other cases, artists used them to sneak in music after the album artwork was finished, with or without the record label’s consent. The Creative Writing Department showcases students work > Readers present stories and poems at ‘Writers Unplugged’ Caroline Ho Arts Editor n Thursday, November 17, the Douglas College Creative Writing Department held its annual fall Writers Unplugged event, where students presented their original work in front of an audience of peers and faculty. The event featured readings from all Creative Writing courses, across the disciplines of fiction, speculative fiction, personal narrative, poetry, and playwriting. The evening began with an introduction by department chair Elizabeth Bachinsky, followed by a guest presentation by local poet and writer Kevin Spenst. Spenst started by sharing a poem about being from Surrey and countering the negative connotations about the city. He then gave advice on writing and getting published, and shared a few more of his poems, including some from his books Jabbering with Bing Bong and Ignite. Some of his poems were sung aloud, and others like his “preacher poems” involved very energetic shouting and running across the room, to the great amusement of the audience. It was an invigorating beginning to a night full of emotion and excitement. Twenty students from various classes taken at both the New Westminster and Coquitlam campuses shared their writing. Some of the pieces were incredibly personal recountings of intimate experiences, others were abstract and explorative works of fiction, a few were hilarious exposés and poems that left the audience in uproarious laughter, and many of the pieces achieved all of the above. Kristen Bortignon, who is taking Personal Narrative at the Coquitlam campus, shared an excerpt from Covering, a story about her struggle with acne in high school. It was her first time reading her own writing in front of a larger audience, and even though she has a diploma in Musical Theatre from Capilano University, presenting her own work felt like a very different kind of performance. Others shared their experiences in prose or poetic form on topics like relationships, jobs, and noteworthy moments in life. Blake Raiment read an excerpt from his personal narrative Stoned, which was about having kidney stones when he was a kid—and the very unfortunate, uncomfortable misdiagnoses that preceded the correct one. It was one of the most hilarious readings of the night. Raiment said that he had never shared this personal story before writing it for class, but that he really enjoys working through painful memories using humour. Some of the readings were quite active, in particular the two pieces of playwriting that were shared. Hannah Ewing presented a wryly comedic monologue that took place on the DOUGLAScC SkyTrain, and the familiar setting made it even funnier. She said she was inspired to write this play because she’s often “people-watching” and made up scenarios in her head. Andy Field, who shared three rousing and quirky poems, said that he wrote these poems with no intention of reading them aloud, and hadn’t considered it before this event. Being able to present to an audience changed the way he thought about his work and how to make it more entertaining. He OLLEGE arts // no. 7 band Cracker, after being told their 1993 release Kerosene Hat was already too long, slipped in three additional tracks including their huge hit “Euro-Trash Girl.” The theme song for the TV show Friends was unlisted on the original release of The Rembrandts’ 1995 album L.P., although the song was so popular that the album was sold with a sticker advertising it, so it wasn’t exactly a secret. A lot of well-known artists have included unlisted content, from Coldplay to Kanye West. And they’re still doing it: Relient K’s 2016 album Air for Free has an untitled piano version of another song on the album hidden in the pre-gap. But the trend of hiding bonus tracks has decreased a lot in recent years. CD-buying has dropped off considerably since a lot of listeners get their music directly as digital files from iTunes, Amazon, or through streaming services like Spotify. Now it’s easy to look up the full track listing online and find any formerly obscure songs. The internet has removed a lot the mystique from hidden tracks. A lot of listeners might be happy about not needing to hunt around for them, but we've also lost that feeling of sharing a secret with our favourite artists. Photograph by Caroline Ho also wanted to note that “Liz Bachinsky is an awesome poetry teacher.” Ewing said that the turnout at this year’s Writers Unplugged seemed even higher than last year’s attendance. The event was an excellent opportunity for students to present their original writing, and for many others to listen to the work of their peers, to interact with fellow students from a variety of courses, and to experience the best of the Creative Writing Department.