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Style for Untitled Tracks

This is an OfficialStyleGuideline.

1. For untitled tracks, enter "[untitled]" as the name. These are usually tracks that have not been given a name on the release (album sleeve and liner notes) it appears on.

   1. If the track is on another release with an official name, use that name instead of "[untitled]".

   2. If the track is widely known under an unofficial name, you can use that name between square brackets (conforming to the CapitalizationStandard) as track name instead, e.g. "[Unofficial Name]".

2. For tracks that contain only silence, enter "[silence]" as the name. These tracks are often only a couple of seconds in length.

3. For tracks that do not contain songs and that are not named by the artist, you can enter a descriptive name between brackets in all lowercase, or "[untitled]".

4. For music tracks for which the name is unknown, enter "[unknown]" as the name. This refers to tracks of which the name cannot be known even after extensive research.

Note that DataTracks should follow DataTrackStyle.

Rationale

Many releases contains tracks that are not named or do not consist of songs. A common example of untitled tracks is the 'hidden' or bonus songs that are often found on CDs after the listed tracks, either appended to the last track of the release or as a separate track.

Examples

1. This applies to the abovementioned 'hidden' songs, e.g. track 11. When they appear on a track that also has a listed song, this rule has to be used in combination with MultipleTitleStyle, e.g. track 13.

• Also, there are vinyl dance music releases that consist completely of untitled tracks, e.g. untitled.

2. Some releases separate bonus tracks from the listed tracks by one or more tracks that contain only silence.

• A version of Nine Inch Nails' Broken uses the full 99 tracks available to the CD format; tracks 1 to 6 are music, tracks 7 to 97 are silence tracks, and tracks 98 and 99 are 'hidden' tracks.

3. This will mostly be used for live bootleg releases where there are tracks containing crowd noise, a guitar solo, etc. Corresponding names would be [crowd noise] and [guitar solo], e.g. track 3.

Discussion

Remember that ArtistIntent always outweighs the StyleGuideline, so if tracks are deliberatly untitled, they should not be given an unofficial name.

• Hmm, can you give examples of when a track is 'deliberatly untitled' and when it is not? i can think of some, but i think i'd argue that when the unofficial titles reach a certain level of proliferation, then the artists wishes don't really matter? i'm not sure. hmm! --Gecks

  I assume this means that if a silent track is named on the album (eg the 13th track on Furious Angels, called 'Pause') then the track should not be renamed [silence]... I did think that was a little odd. --Deebster

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I've kept DataTrackStyle separate, because that also deals with a SpecialPurposeArtist named [data track]. --Zout

This guideline incorporates the old SilenceTrackStyle, the old UntitledTrackStyle and the OldUnnamedTrackStyleProposal. --Zout

Note that it's difficult to define things when 'song' and 'track' are used as synonyms, even if they are not. --Zout

The only potential problem I can see: people continually reediting the lower case descriptors. Possible solution: a list of "preferred" descriptors to be used unless none are appropriate. -- MichelleW

• That is not my experience; when the descriptors are correct, i.e. it doesn't say "[guitar solo]" when it's a drum solo, editors do not touch it. This style is being applied to all Pearl Jam live releases, with not even once the potential problem you mention. --Zout

Regarding rule 1.1 - I think this needs to be extended to album names as well, for untitled albums that have a common name. Perhaps not on this page, mind. UntitledReleaseStyle? --Gecks

• If you create the wiki page, people are much more likely to agree --Zout

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CategoryStyle CategoryOfficialStyle