Do You Remember These Hidden Songs from Texas & Arizona Bands

Growing up in the 90s & 00s, some bands loved throwing extra goodies on their albums, especially ones from Texas & Arizona. When you bought a record and you got to the end, you might hear something extra... something you never expected to actually FIND. This was intentional as some bands were known to throw in "hidden songs".

What exactly ARE hidden songs?

Essentially they are...well songs that are hidden! Well ok their songs that you won't find looking at the back of an album on the track listing; they're usually found at the end of an album, but some are found in the BEGINNING of an album inside the "pre-gap". If you want a better look inside hidden songs, Dancing With Ghosts did a great job explaining in this video.

Now that we know what hidden songs are, let's take a look at some that you might not have known about.

Here are some Texas bands that loved to throw in hidden songs.

Starting off with a Texas favorite, Houston's ZZ Top actually had 2 hidden songs;

• On very certain vinyl pressings of their Eliminator album, there is looped audio that says "Oh mercy!" in the inner groove of Side 2.
• The other hidden track is "As Time Goes By" from their 2003 album "Mescarlero". Even though it was classified as a "hidden song", thankfully we can hear it for ourselves.

Blue October from Houston, Texas also has 2 hidden songs that you can discover:

• On their 2006 album, Foiled, you can hear a secret song called "It's Just Me" after the album ends.
• After you finish listening to "Amazing" on their 2003 album, History For Sale, you'll actually find an early-acoustic version of "Calling You". This song can be found at the 10 minute mark on the album.

Bowling For Soup out of Wichita Falls, Texas has a secret & hilarious song found on their 2004 album, "A Hangover You Don't Deserve". After the final song, "Friends O Mine", there's 2 minutes of silence that leads into a reprise of their song "Ohio". What's really interesting is that the band are just messing around in the studio and even addresses the listener for getting that far in the album.

San Antonio's Butthole Surfers has been known to write some weird & unique songs. That also applies to their hidden tracks too:

• On their Humpty Dumpty LSD compilation album has a hidden track called... well "[untitled Hidden Track]" after the song "DADGAD". If you have the CD version, it's just called "Track 17". Although this song is only about 6 seconds long...
• On their 2001 album, Weird Revolution, you'll be greeted with a "hidden song" after the final song "They Came In". After a whopping 17 minutes & 50 seconds, you'll hear a hidden track that's less than 30 seconds longs. This track is the reprise of The Last Astronaut. So if you have the cd version, you might hear the unedited silence at the end of the record.

Even Pantera has a bit of a hidden track. After the "[Reprise] Sandblasted Skin" on The Great Southern Trendkill album, the song actually comes back into volume after it fades out after 3 & a half minutes.

And not to be outdone, a few Arizona bands loved to throw in hidden songs too.

Soulfly out of Phoenix, Arizona has 2 hidden songs that you can find on their records:

• Their 1998 self-titled album, “Soulfly”, has a song found after “Karmageddon”. That song is called “Sultao Das Matas”
• Their 2004 album, "Prophecy”, contains a hidden track after “Wings” called “Marš na Drinu”

Authority Zero from Mesa, Arizona placed a hidden track on their 2004 album, Andiamo, titled "Rattlin' Bog", a song the band loved to play during live shows.

And finally we have Blessthefall from Phoenix, Arizona. On their 2007 debut album, "His Last Walk" you'll find a hidden track on the title track start after the 6:30 mark. The hidden song is called "Purple Dog".

These were definitely a nostalgia trip back to the days where you buy a CD & you never knew what you were going to get on the album! There are many more out there so have fun discovering!

Get our free mobile app