Just Jack Posted August 27, 2010 Posted August 27, 2010 The Science of Popular Music or The Four Chord Song This amusing video investigates the science behind popular music: Australian comedy group 'Axis Of Awesome' performs a sketch from the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival where they play parts of popular songs to demonstrate their claim that popular music contains only four cords that are rearranged. Somewhat.
Fitzmagic Posted August 27, 2010 Posted August 27, 2010 The Science of Popular Music or The Four Chord Song This amusing video investigates the science behind popular music: Australian comedy group 'Axis Of Awesome' performs a sketch from the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival where they play parts of popular songs to demonstrate their claim that popular music contains only four cords that are rearranged. Somewhat. Love this video!
birdog1960 Posted August 27, 2010 Posted August 27, 2010 Love this video! excellent...lot of truth to it...what were those chords?
TheMadCap Posted August 27, 2010 Posted August 27, 2010 excellent...lot of truth to it...what were those chords? Haven't seen it, but I would guess they would be E A G and D...
birdog1960 Posted August 27, 2010 Posted August 27, 2010 Haven't seen it, but I would guess they would be E A G and D... i'm thinkin: vi-IV-I-V and I-V-vi-IV...or in G that would be Em-C-G-D or G-D-Em-C. any musicians who can confirm?
Fixxxer Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 i'm thinkin: vi-IV-I-V and I-V-vi-IV...or in G that would be Em-C-G-D or G-D-Em-C. any musicians who can confirm? If I'm not mistaken the chords are Em - Am - Bm - C#m or E - A - Bm - C#m.
The Dean Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 Very funny and extremely well done. Proof indeed that many crappy pop songs are made of the same four chords.
Corp000085 Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 E-E-E-E-A-E... Repeat 2 chords, Not Fade Away.
birdog1960 Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 The chord discussion reminds me of this: youtube.com/watch?v=2xKl0e8jALY this post remind me of this:
Chef Jim Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 E-E-E-E-A-E... Repeat 2 chords, Not Fade Away. Three chords actually
Steely Dan Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 IIRC, the entire AC/DC Back in Black album is only three chords.
texasjute Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 i'm thinkin: vi-IV-I-V and I-V-vi-IV...or in G that would be Em-C-G-D or G-D-Em-C. any musicians who can confirm? To confirm, your second progression is exactly what they're doing on this video - I-V-vi-IV. I think they're in the key of E in this video, making it E - B - C#minor - A. That's the usual key for Journey tune they start with. There are other four-chord (and three-chord as many of you noted) progressions that are very popular and common too, like any combination of I, IV and V and I-vi-IV-V for anything written in the 50s. I'm a classical musician, but I listen to a lot of pop and jazz and often use it when teaching harmony. While I agree in part with the sentiment that a lot of pop is simplistic, it is also impressive (and rather amazing) when a good songwriter can come up with a unique and interesting melody or riff that gives a somewhat fresh sound to a progression we've heard a million times. That's not the case with most of the tunes in the this video, IMO.
The Dean Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 IIRC, the entire AC/DC Back in Black album is only three chords. Just one of the many reasons to break it into tiny pieces.
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