Losing Horns

A series of sad notes heard on some game shows whenever a contestant has lost (the Bonus Round, generally). These come in several flavors:

• Type A: The most common; these usually take the form of a "mock fanfare" resembling a bar from the show's original Theme Tune, with the last note a "sad trombone" trailing off. Some examples of this type have only the "sad trombone".
• Type B: A series of goofy notes that form a descending "Wah- wah- wah- wahhhhhh" (a "stock" example can be found here). Does not always have to be four. Non-game show examples (especially in cartoons) are likely to fall under this type.
• Type C: A mocking tune, such as "Pitcher's Got A Big Butt", played on some instrument.
• Subversion: A random sound effect is used instead.

Generally associated with Epic Fail. Some can qualify as Nightmare Fuel to younger viewers. Compare Letting the Air Out of the Band, which can be used to similar effect in other media. Contrast with Big Win Sirens, which are the opposite reaction to the opposite outcome.

---

Examples of Losing Horns include:

Type A Examples

• The CBS daytime version of The Price Is Right has one of the earliest examples and easily the most recognizable, used after double overbids in the Showcase end game and many pricing game losses. These were also used on several other Goodson/Todman game shows. Heard on |Double Dare and the original version of Card Sharks in truncated form, and the 1980s versions of Card Sharks in full. Consists of the first four notes of TPIR's main theme, followed by a trombone "groan". Listen to it here.
  • Thanks to Memetic Mutation, this horn has come to indicate an Epic Fail at damn near anything.
• The Alex Trebek version of Classic Concentration: One "groan" played on trombones, similar to (but not exactly like) Price, is heard after a bonus loss. Recycled on the 1989 revival of Now You See It.
• The American runs of Blockbusters had a different one for each version, each resembling that version's theme song.
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? uses a quick musical cue whenever someone answered a question correctly, and a sad inversion of said cue when someone's final answer was wrong. The fanfare heard when someone wins the million is definitely a Crowning Music of Awesome, but should you happen to be the unfortunate soul who misses the million-dollar question, then you're in for one hell of a noise.
• History IQ
• Game shows produced by Jay Wolpert almost always have unique ones:
  • Blackout: A synthesized one that descends VERY quickly.
  • Rodeo Drive
  • Shopping Spree has a comical one that is broken up into pieces.
  • The Doug Davidson version of The Price Is Right replaced the original horns with a groan on an electric guitar... and glass breaking. The cut that didn't make it to the air also featured the first bar of the theme played Shopping Spree-style and had even more horns... possibly the most evil example of this trope ever produced.
  • The first season of Wait 'Til You Have Kids had two: a one-note horn for no one getting a question right in the main game, and a standard theme-tune variation for a bonus loss. When the show took a more "serious" tone in the second season, the one from the upfront game was removed (as were most of the other sound effects), and the bonus loss sound was changed to a barely-audible effect of someone "sliding down the keys" on a piano, and even this was buried in the Theme Tune reprise.
• Greed has these, usually heard after about 20 seconds of silent suspense.
• Sonic Unleashed has The E-Rank music, where a horribly off-key version of the main theme plays when you get a E-Rank.

Type B Examples

• The Zonks on Let's Make a Deal, beginning with the 1976 Las Vegas season and, while with a different effect, continuing throughout the current version with Wayne Brady. Subverted in the 1990 version as a stock foghorn was usually heard instead.
• Losing the "nine keys" version of the Bonus Round on the Bergeron version of The Hollywood Squares.
• The British version of Blockbusters used a three-note version as the Gold Run's time buzzer.
• Heard on occasion when a challenge was lost on Nickelodeon's |What Would You Do?
• Bonus losses on MTV's Idiot Savants.
• A two-note synth "fog horn"-like sound played whenever anyone hit the Whammy on Press Your Luck. Though it was no different with the fourth Whammy that eliminated a player, there were specialized Whammy animations for those situations (most notably the umpire Whammy).
• On the Spanish version of Wipeout 1988 (called "Alta Tension", literally, "High Tension"), if the round ends by having all of the incorrect answers selected, or if the player loses the Bonus Round, several low-pitched "wah-wah" notes played, ending in a "falling off." Unusually, it's a fusion of two types of losing horns (A and B).
• In the Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel and the Bots imitate this sound to riff on the line "It stinks!" in Pod People.
  • They also do it when Dropo gets caught hiding in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
• The Nostalgia Critic uses this as a gag a few times, in response to the the bad jokes in movies like Mortal Kombat. Lost in Space however is so bad that instead of playing the horns he makes the noise himself (increasing the volume with every gag).
  • He has also used the ones from The Price Is Right at least twice.
• In an episode of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, "Swarm of the Century", Ponyville gets overrun with locust-like creatures called parasprites. The parasprites are eventually led back to the Everfree Forest, but by that point the town has been thoroughly ransacked, and Pinkie Pie literally plays a sad trombone to close out the episode.
• At the end of the Powerpuff Girls episode "Geshundfight", the Amoeba Boys lament how they're still not getting taken seriously as criminals, despite having just been indirectly responsible for a crippling plague. When Boss tells his comrades "I told you we shoulda taken the orange!", the narrator produces this sound and gently mocks the Amoeba Boys for their incompetence.
• On the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", one of the Jellyspotters goes "Wah-wah-waaah!" every time their leader Kevin was humiliated, and at one point Kevin tells him to cut it out.
• In the kung-fu movie Drunken Master, one of these sounds after the villain falls face-first into a pile of manure during a fight.
• In Banjo-Kazooie, the "failfare" for when you fail a mini-game or task is a slow, low "wooop, wooop, woooooooh" sound.
• In Fancy Pants Adventures, low, almost cello-like tones descend upon the loss of a life. It can be quite disconcerting compared to the upbeat tunes of the rest of the game.
• Storage Wars plays this for laughs when someone is expecting a big haul on an item and it's worth considerably less.
• The original version of The Gong Show had the whole band play one of these whenever someone got gonged.

Type C Examples

• Cram: "Pitcher's Got a Big Butt" was played as soon as the clock hit zero at the end of the Bonus Round.
• The Davidson version of The Hollywood Squares played the same tune if the champion's car didn't start.
• The Latinoamerican game show Sábado Gigante (Giant Saturday) has an actual character, El Chacal (The Jackal), a masked man whose purpose was to play a mock bugle call on-camera, in a setup similar to The Gong Show.

Subversions

• National Lampoon's Funny Money used the sound of a baby crying if the bonus picture was not guessed.
• The children's version of Pictionary used a ship's horn for incorrect puzzle guesses and bonus losses.
• Dick Clark's It Takes Two used the same horn for incorrect guesses.
• The game show Hit Man had a loud "space zap" noise as its Bonus Round buzzer. Not surprising, being a Wolpert product.
• A harsh two-tone buzzer was heard on Dream House upon the doors failing to open if the couple entered the incorrect combination to unlock them.
• The New Treasure Hunt used a subdued version of its Big Win Sirens when the grand prize check was shown to have been chosen and passed up.
• Not a game show, but the original series of The Electric Company used what sounded like a dejected duck when the actor(s) on screen failed to read the displayed word or sentence within five seconds.
• Inverted on Beat the Geeks; stock "big win sirens" played if the Geeks beat you in the Bonus Round.