25 hits under two minutes that were a hit before the TikTok era

Pop songs have been shrinking in recent times. Increasingly so. Five years ago, it was estimated that the perfect length should be no more than three minutes; today, it's already been reduced to just over two minutes. The reason for this shrinkage? The decline in listeners' attention spans, driven by the rise of new technologies, and more specifically, in music, by the influence of the social network TikTok, a specialist in visual and auditory flashes.

In November 2023, Mexican-American composer Edgar Barrera, one of the most successful today (he has written for Shakira, Bad Bunny, Alejandro Sanz, and Maluma), explained to this newspaper his strategy when approaching a song in these times: “I try to make the chorus come quickly, before the 45-second mark. It's about capturing attention from the very beginning, so you can't put in a 30-second introduction of music because people tune out. Because of TikiTok, you have five seconds to capture the consumer, because if not, they'll leave.”

However, short songs have always existed: commercial radio stations were uncomfortable with songs with long instrumental or vocal developments. We've selected 25 songs that, despite lasting no more than two minutes, are artistic gems, and we could even say they need no more: their greatness lies precisely in their brevity.

- The Smiths, Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want (1 minute, 50 seconds)

Morrissey always regretted marginalizing this song on the B-side of a single, specifically William's It Was Really Nothing (1984). "Hiding it was a crime," the Smiths singer once said. What he had no doubt about was its brevity. And yet, those in charge of his record label asked the group when they heard it: "Where's the rest of the song?" The vocalist replied: "To lengthen it would have been to state the obvious." This beautiful piece confers a plea (and how well Morrissey implores) from someone unfortunate in desperate need of a stroke of luck, since "God knows it would be the first time." The Smiths guitarist and composer was enraged when he learned that Donald Trump used the song in the 2023 election campaign. We can't think of a more unlikely fusion than this beautiful song with the volcanic personality of the US president.

- The Box Tops, The Letter (1 minute, 51 seconds)

It is striking that a boy of only 16 years old, Alex Chilton, had a voice as husky as the one heard in this immense song despite its short duration. Chilton would later form Big Star, one of the most influential guitar-based pop groups, although with bad luck in terms of success. The Letter , a pop song with a soulful framework, was composed by American Wayne Carson Thompson, released in 1967 and reached number one in the US. Chilton would not repeat such a huge success again.

- Antonio González 'El Pescaílla', Sarandonga (1 minute, 36 seconds)

Lolita's version was more successful, but nothing like the urgent and frantic recreation recorded by her father, Antonio González El Pescaílla , much earlier, in 1965. What Lolita takes four minutes to complete, El Pescaílla airs out in just over a minute and a half, a frenetic rumba whose original was a montuno by the Cuban duo Los Compadres, who inaugurated the history of Sarandonga in the 1950s. While Cubans said they were going to eat "ñame" (a tuber widely consumed in the Caribbean) with cod, El Pescaílla changed it to "arroz" (rice). And what can we say about that curious name, Sarandonga? The most widely held belief is that this is what the song's lyricist, Lorenzo Hierrezuelo (of Los Compadres), called his wife, Sara.

- Van Halen, Eruption (1 minute, 40 seconds)

These are arguably the most influential 100 seconds of hard rock guitar solos. This masterful instrumental exercise by Eddie Van Halen was the roadmap followed by many hard rock and heavy metal guitarists during the 1980s, the genre's golden decade in terms of sales. "Eruption" was released in 1978 on Van Halen's debut album and functioned as a transition between the album's two most popular songs, "Runnin' With the Devil " and "The Kinks'" cover of " You Really Got Me ." It emerged as a spur of the moment, almost improvised, and Eddie uses the technique of tapping, which consists of playing notes by pressing the strings directly on the neck with the fingers of both hands. Eddie popularized this method on "Eruption ," and it endures to this day: just search YouTube to find the thousands of aspiring guitar stars who try to imitate him.

- Jam, Take the Train (1 minute, 57 seconds)

This accelerated rhythm and blues opened the splendid debut album by Mermelada in 1979, a sort of Madrid version of the imperial Dr. Feelgood. The lyrics are about kicking off a polluted and overpopulated world and escaping without a plan. The rabid voice of frontman Javier Teixidor and the flammable harmonica of the late Javier Moro Encinas travel on rails where braking is not an option.

- Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls Of Fire (1 minute, 50 seconds)

A great classic of early rock and roll, even though its performer was reluctant to record it: in 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis, a devout Christian, considered Great Balls Of Fire , a composition by the couple Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer, too sinful because of its constant sexual innuendos. Sam Phillips, owner of the record label Sun Records, convinced him with the help of a bottle of whiskey and this flaming interpretation came out with Lewis banging his piano, his bangs falling on his forehead and his voice leaning towards lust in the heated parts. The song was a hit, but that same 1957, Lewis, aged 22, married his cousin, Myra Gale Brown, aged 13: her age was discovered a couple of years later, a scandal ensued and Lewis suffered a massive cancellation. By the time the old rock and roll was revived, it had already fallen out of fashion.

- The Clash, 'White Riot' (1 minute, 52 seconds)

The Clash's first punk missile , released in 1977, and proof that Joe Strummer's social concerns emerged from the very beginning. This song was inspired by the August 1976 riots in Notting Hill, London, during the carnival celebrating Caribbean culture, when police arrested a pickpocket and the party ended in clashes between officers and Black citizens. Strummer wrote this "White Revolt" to incite white people to rebel against the "oppressive government," "like Black people did." What's striking is that The Clash's audience was always predominantly white. A jumbled song, featuring spitting and pogoing, characteristics that positioned The Clash as mainstays of punk, a genre they soon outgrew.

- The Beatles, Golden Slumbers (1 minute, 31 seconds)

Paul McCartney's best vocal qualities in just a minute and a half: the ability to penetrate through tenderness and falsetto and the strength when he faces the chorus of a song recorded for the album Abbey Road (1969) and that merges with Carry That Weight . This lullaby piece, based on the poem Cradle Song by Thomas Dekker, has a curious thing: John Lennon does not participate; he neither plays nor composes, since he had suffered a car accident days before and was hospitalized when it was recorded.

- Luis Eduardo Aute, Where the Truth Lies (1 minute, 51 seconds)

With his recording career just beginning, Luis Eduardo Aute , 25, released 24 canciones breves (24 Short Songs ) (1968). In an album dominated by poetry, Aute, accompanied by guitar and cello, also demonstrates musical mastery, delivering two songs in one in less than two minutes: the waltz-like chorus and the singer-songwriter core. And he leaves profound charges like this: "Why is it that my hidden desire isn't enough for me to exist?"

- Elvis Costello, Welcome to the Working Week (1 minute, 23 seconds)

What was New Wave? Short answer: Welcome to the Working Week . This song, which opens Elvis Costello's first album, My Aim Is True ( 1977), contains the key elements of the genre: a proudly English voice, a fast-paced rhythm, and angry lyrics. It's all complemented by the image of Costello on the album cover: his horn-rimmed glasses, his jacket, his guitar, and his open, flexed legs.

- Kanye West with Common, My Way Home (1 minute, 43 seconds)

From the days when Kanye West was one of the most interesting musicians in pop, and not a puppet, a position he's been in for several years. This song is from his fantastic second album, Late Registration (2005). The track incorporates an excerpt (a sample, it's called) from a Gil Scott-Heron song, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is," enhanced by Common's rap: "The revolution ain't a game."

- Joan Manuel Serrat, Those Little Things (1 minute, 48 seconds)

The clearest example that a popular musical work of art can be developed in less than two minutes. Serrat defined this beautiful Aquellas pequeñas cosas as "the embers that always remain after the combustion of feelings," and it's best not to add more because it's perfectly explained. Included in, no less, Mediterráneo (1971), the Catalan musician has featured it on almost all of his tours for half a century. He performed it in his final concerts (December 2022) in Madrid, but didn't have room for it in Barcelona, where, logically, he expanded his Catalan repertoire.

- Neil Young, Fallen Angel (1 minute, 15 seconds)

Months after Kurt Cobain's suicide, Neil Young went into the studio with Pearl Jam to craft what could have been the definitive grunge album. While the album delivered a decent amount of music, it wasn't a definitive work, especially since Mirror Ball (1995) lacks songs we'll remember 30 years later. The album closes with this beautiful "Fallen Angel." Young dispenses with Pearl Jam, stands in front of a spiritual-sounding organ, and draws a faint voice from the depths of his heart. This "fallen angel" could very well be Kurt Cobain.

- Vashti Bunyan, Diamond Day (1 minute, 45 seconds)

Ah, that first Vashti Bunyan album, Just Another Diamond Day (1970). She released it, was disappointed by its lukewarm reception, and retired from music for the next 30 years to dedicate herself to raising her son. In the late 1990s, thanks in part to the encouragement of indie artists like Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart, Bunyan returned to music and, always with a slow pace, is still here, now 80 years old. Diamond Day is the opening track of Just Another Diamond Day , a beautiful song thanks to a voice that doesn't seem to coexist in the same world as mortals.

- Skorbuto, Anti Everything (1 minute, 40 seconds)

This song encapsulates the philosophy of a band that took the punk ideology to its ultimate conclusion—the real kind, not the one born from Malcolm McLaren's marketing brain. "As soon as we're born, they begin to corrupt us. / That shows us we're anti-everything," the Santurce natives spit in a song that even allows for a brief guitar solo.

- Dr. Feelgood, She's a Wind Up (1 minute, 57 seconds)

It seemed that the momentum of British band Dr. Feelgood, a mainstay of what was called pub-rock, was going to fade after the departure of their guitarist and composer, the speedy Wilko Johnson. But no: his replacement, Gypie Mayo, offered a superb performance and adapted perfectly to the party atmosphere of Lee Brilleaux and company. Proof of this is this She's a Wind Up from 1977, unbridled rhythm & blues that resurrects cemeteries.

- Serge Gainsbourg, Ah! Melody (1 minute, 45 seconds)

A song included in one of Serge Gainsbourg 's most highly regarded albums, Histoire de Melody Nelson, which tells the story of a forty-year-old man in love with a 14-year-old girl. Gainsbourg's Lolita , with Jane Birkin (his partner) portrayed on the iconic cover. The album, replete with instrumental flourishes, retraces the different stages of the couple's life. Ah! Melody recounts his inevitable jealousy. Gainsbourg confronts her with his deep, nicotine-soaked voice: "If you lie to me, I don't know what I'll do to you."

- Ramones, Judy Is a Punk (1 minute, 30 seconds)

The Ramones' first three albums feature several songs under two minutes long. "Judy Is a Punk" is their first album, from 1976. The delightful, non-jaw-dropping piece, despite featuring a punk girl, showcases Joey Ramone's (the song's singer-songwriter) passion for Motown girl groups (The Marvelettes, The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, etc.): the backing vocals, the handclapping, the less is more, the melody above all.

- Nacha Pop, Woman of Glass (1 minute, 23 seconds)

The closing track of Nacha Pop's first album, from 1980, perhaps the best of the Spanish New Wave , along with Los Secretos' debut and Mamá's El último bar . "Woman of Glass" propels a fast-paced rock 'n' roll, from the days when Antonio Vega was singing wildly. Later, it became introspective and equally essential.

- The Jam, All Mod Cons (1 minute, 18 seconds)

Paul Weller was the frontman of The Jam, and that's probably why he knew the trio worked well when he let the creative rhythmic faction, bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler, take center stage. Evidence of this partnership is this track, which, despite its brevity, showcases the trio's strengths. The piece opens and gives its name to the English band's third album, All Mod Cons (1978), and the lyrics ironically take a swipe at the record industry's sharks: "Artistic freedom, do what you want, just make sure the money doesn't run out," Weller protests.

- Janis Joplin, Mercedes Benz (1 minute, 45 seconds)

There's a consensus that this little gem, lasting 1 minute and 45 seconds, is Janis Joplin's final recording. It was recorded on October 1, 1970, and the singer died of a heroin overdose three days later, at the age of 27. "Mercedes Benz" is an a cappella piece that we don't even know if Janis intended to release on the album she was recording, " Pearl." However, it was included on what would be her posthumous work because the singer died before the album was completed and all available material was needed. In any case, Joplin's voice, keeping time with the tap of her shoe on the floor, is thrilling. In the gospel-inflected song, Joplin yearns for a luxury car: "Oh, Lord, will you buy me a Mercedes Benz? / All my friends drive Porsches, I must make it up to them." The singer ironically introduces it this way: "I'd like to make a song of great social and political significance that goes like this..."

- Sui Generis, Station (1 minute, 27 seconds)

The beginning of Charly García's career, a staple of Argentine rock, with the group Sui Generis, a duo he formed with Nito Mestre. Estación, beautiful, evocative, and adorably naive, is featured on the duo's debut album, the now legendary Vida (1973). They were 20-year-olds creating Argentine rock against all odds in a militarized country eager to repress those long-haired ones.

- Chuck Berry, Let It Rock (1 minute, 42 seconds)

Many of us are familiar with this Chuck Berry song from the Rolling Stones' rendition of " Let It Rock" on the Spanish version of " Sticky Fingers" (1971), when censors cut the drug-addled Sister Morphine for " Let It Rock ." Berry released it in 1960, during that wild period of songwriting where he laid the groundwork for rock and roll. With the classic opening of his fingerpicking, he manages to squeeze in three solos in such a short amount of time: two with his guitar riffs, and another featuring pianist Johnnie Johnson, from whom some critics claim Berry copied some of his most famous riffs .

- The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Ain't No Telling (1 minute, 47 seconds)

Jimi Hendrix was capable of turning a short piece like this into a complex funk and blues song with a thousand things going on. Included on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's second album, Axis: Bold as Love, it's worth listening to with headphones to appreciate how the guitarist handled things in the studio: the riffs and riffs travel from right to left, to the delight of the inquisitive listener.

- Pink Floyd, The Show Must Go On (1 minute, 36 seconds)

The song that opens the fourth and final side of The Wall (1979), Pink Floyd's immense work. A beautiful piece reminiscent of the vocal prowess of the Beach Boys, which was precisely what composer Roger Waters was looking for. So much so that the Pink Floyd frontman requested Bruce Johnston, the velvety voice of the Beach Boys, on backing vocals . The song is sung by David Gilmour, and, oddly enough, the composer, Waters, doesn't participate in the performance.