How to Sync Rock’s Most Perfect Musical New Year’s Eve Countdowns
Most of the big moments in our lives are made better with a well-chosen soundtrack, so it's well worth putting some extra thought into your New Year's Eve playlist. Fortunately, the social media hive mind has put together some excellent options for what to play as the clock strikes 12 — and figured out when to start each song so it makes maximum impact at exactly midnight.
It's become a year-end social media pastime to share optimum time stamps for classic songs to hit their most well-known moments just as the New Year arrives. For starters, the music retail chain Bull Moose pointed out that starting Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" at 11:56:44 will lead you to the song's classic drum fill at midnight.
If you're more of a Toto person, you can queue up the band's classic hit "Africa" at 11:56:56; as this Twitter user pointed out, "the rains will come down" at the stroke of midnight.
For those in a more reflective state of mind on New Year's Eve, there's always the Simon & Garfunkel favorite "The Sounds of Silence" — which, if it's started at 11:59:57, will leave you listening to "Hello darkness, my old friend" first thing in 2018.
But those songs are just the tip of the classic rock iceberg in terms of playlist possibilities — we've rounded up six more for you to choose from.
The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again" - START AT 11:52:15
You know the moment we're talking about here. If you want to usher in the new year with the sound of Roger Daltrey letting loose with one of rock's greatest howls, start playing this version of the song at 11:52:15. Everything else next year will have to be anticlimactic in comparison, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody" - START AT 11:55:53
Want to start the year by rounding up some of your best buds and banging your heads like Wayne, Garth and their pals in Wayne's World? Start playing this Queen classic at 11:55:53, and party on.
Metallica, "Enter Sandman" - START AT 11:59:01
Perhaps you're feeling a little less optimistic about the year to come, and you're eager to face it with fangs bared. Metallica's signature 1991 hit should get you in the right mood to tackle whatever bad news awaits us next year — just hit "play" at 11:59:01 to match that killer riff to the ball dropping.
Boston, "Foreplay/Long Time" - START AT 11:57:30
No one knows their way around a riff quite like Boston mastermind Tom Scholz, and this classic cut is more than ample proof. Start playing at 11:57:30 if you want to kick off 2018 with one of classic rock's biggest guitar lead lines.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Free Bird" - START AT 11:55:05
Okay, so screaming out requests for this song is an overdone joke at concerts. It's still a radio mainstay for some very good reasons — one of which is the big moment you'll hear at the stroke of midnight if you start playing at 11:55:05.
Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run" - START AT 11:57:00
Springsteen fans have helped the Boss usher in his breakthrough song's big moment for more than 45 years now. Instruments collide and then build up to a climatic "1, 2, 3, 4 ... " before "Born to Run" is switched to overdrive with the rousing "The highway's jammed with broken heroes ... " line, which you should start at exactly 11:57.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "American Girl" - START AT 11:57:27
Saying goodbye to Tom Petty ranked among the worst moments of 2017, but his many classic songs live on. How about starting off the new year by reaching into Petty and the Heartbreakers' vault, grabbing this early hit and hitting "play" at 11:57:27?