A solid rock album is so much more than just one song on the record. However, quite a few album-closing rock songs have been absolutely perfect for their particular records. Let’s look at just a few well-curated examples of when musicians put the perfect song at the very end of their famous albums!
1. “Campagne Supernova” by Oasis
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory is Oasis’ best album for a reason. And the closing track “Campagne Supernova” was the perfect piece to put at the end of that record. It’s a fun track full of the bravado and lyrical power that you’d expect from the Britpop icons. “Campagne Supernova” is still a drunken English pub song that people of all ages love to sing along to today.
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2. “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix
“Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” is one of Jimi Hendrix’s most well-known songs, and it was used to close out the Experience album Electric Ladyland. It’s a stunning achievement, both musically and in the sense of Hendrix’s creative soul. It features a bit more skill and looseness than the previous take on the riff in “Voodoo Chile”, and that callback makes it a great way to end a great album.
3. “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” by The Velvet Underground
Out of all the rock album-closing songs on this list, this track from The Velvet Underground is your “typical” album-closer. Which is interesting, considering that this band had no interest in engaging in cliches or the conventional. Cliche or not, “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” was the perfect song to end Loaded.
4. “A Day In The Life” by The Beatles
“A Day In The Life” by The Beatles is the final song on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. And boy, is it a stellar closing track to a stellar album. Some would describe this tune as one of The Beatles’ only “rock operas”, but what really makes it a great song is the fact that Lennon is simply listing off mundane things in its lyrics. The Beatles took the mundane and made it something glittering and extraordinary.
5. “I Can’t Give Everything Away” by David Bowie
Plenty of rock album-closing songs are great for their specific album, but this track from David Bowie closed out a whole era of music… and the artist’s own life. “I Can’t Give Everything Away” is the final song on Blackstar, David Bowie’s very last album. It was released just a few days before Bowie passed away from liver cancer in 2016.
In good ol’ Bowie fashion, he went out with a bang. This song is an artistic epitaph of sorts and a bittersweet thing to behold. If he had more time, he probably would have continued to make incredible music.
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