A Brief History of Pop Music - In 4 Chords

This is a very interesting look at modern pop music and how simplistic it truly is when looked at with a cold eye. I was amused.

Lukira: A Brief History of Pop Music -- In Four Chords

Simple is beautiful.

amused?? theres nothing wrong with simple...

I mean.....

rah...

I'm not going to get started here...

Oh no no! I wasn't demeaning the style or anything; that wasn't my intention. I just found it to be amusing.

Hey... I like alot of those song, simple as thet are ;)

Very true though, how simple it is....

And people try to tell me all the time that pop music is complex :P I always knew it was simple. (but not bad, just simple)

some of it's simple. some of it's not, just like any kind.

Hah...I love how so many of us classical composers are afraid of making 'value' judgments on pop music for fear of being thought of as elitist.

I do not have this fear.

Let us face it: The vast majority of pop music (I'm thinking somewhere around 99%) is not just musically simple, but musically simplistic. Compared to even a slow movement of a Mozart piano sonata (arguably some of the 'simplest' classical music out there) very little thought goes into the musical composition of a pop song. There's just not a lot there: chords, a melody that is usually like a hundred melodies that came before it, and maybe a riff, interlude, or bridge of some sort that contains a second musical idea.

I use the word "musical" very purposefully in the past paragraph because I do not mean to imply that pop music has no artistic value. I enjoy listening to ll those songs in that great video above -- well, no, not all of them, but most of them -- and obviously it's not because when I listen to them it awakens new musical understandings or intuitions. In general, I think the creative aspect of pop music comes from three things: the lyrics, the texture, and the quality of the vocals. But harmonically and even form-wise, pop songs I've heard (which add up to quite a few) are no more complex or musically sound than the simplest of Mozart short piano works.

Let the war begin, if you like. Let's just agree, before the insults begin, that at the end, you won't have changed your opinion, and I won't have changed mine. Deal? Good.

it's the emotions that make the pop song

Hah...I love how so many of us classical composers are afraid of making 'value' judgments on pop music for fear of being thought of as elitist.

Some of us also simply disagree.

It depends, really. So much of pop music is entirely dependent on the words - which is why pop music is mostly pretty unlistenable in, say, MIDI format... (granted, some would say that all music is unlistenable in MIDI, but even then I'd say MIDI classical music is less boring than MIDI pop music).

As for Mozart's 1001 variations on I-IV-V, at least there were variations.

As simple as all these Pop songs are (Country uses the same 3 chords over and over again, and Rap has the same drumbeat repeated thousands of times), the writers still manage to make millions of bucks.

I find it's a lot easier to hum Cherie's "Betcha Never" (a good song, btw) or Sade's "Smooth Operator" than the Nutcracker Suite or Beethoven's 9th.

Am I right or am I right?

~Kal

I remember not to long ago someone refering to Mozart's repertoire as "1001 Variations on I-IV-V." While this obviously is overlooking a great deal of the genius behind his work, I don't see how anyone can not see the idiocy of applying the same concept to contemporary music.

Whoever said that doesn't know Mozart's repertoire very well. I'm looking at the Adante from K311. Chords, from secondary theme, in order are: I,ii,V7,I,vi,ii,V7. That's just one example among many that don't fit the 1,4,5 norm.

There are only 7 triads in a major key. One of those is a diminished triad that unless employed right, sounds harsh. Another is the Mediant (iii chord) that likewise sounds harsh if it's followed by a chord that contains the Subdominant. That leaves 5 chords to work with regularly(2 occassionally), without extensions (7ths,9ths etc), suspensions etc - IF your are going to stay within a key and not use *chromatic*(that which doesn't change key but uses chords foreign to it) harmony (which Mozart also uses on occassion).

Whoever said that also dismissed the fact that there is typcially alot more interest in harmonic rhythm in classical than in pop. That bloke did a good job of not only illuminating the particular chords, but their boring placement. 1 chord every 4 beats continuosly. Also of comparison interest is the lack of inversion interest in the chords that are used.

Contrast (K311 again, Adante, 1st theme only) for Harmonic rhythm and inversion interest:

5/3=Direct position

6/3=First Inversion

6/4=Second Inversion

Beat 1: I 5/3

Beat 2: V 6/3,I 5/3 (comma means beat split into more than one chord)

Next bar..

1: viii 6/3 (suspended V), V 6/3

2: I 5/3

....

1: IV 6/3,V 6/4

2: IV 5/3, (last 16th of this beat - I 6/3)

...

1: viii 5/3, I 5/3

2: V 5/3

....

Lots of difference between this, on multiple levels, even without variations, than what that guy showed. I happen to like the chord progression in the video - I am not "dissing" it - but he did a good job of showing the unimaginative nature (insofar as the above is mentioned) of many musicians/composers.

it's the emotions that make the pop song

LOOL.

it's the emotions that make the pop song

Same with Beethoven. What's your point?

One of the comments read:

Not quite sure of your comments JAY. It seems to be that some of the most prolific tunes of out time consist of the very little notes. Take Mozart's Moonlight Sonata for instance. You are putting people like the Beatles down by saying that pop music is for dimwits. after all that is what they play - pop music. And wouldn't hazard a guess that just the song A Day in the life, covers more notes then any piano ever will, and then some.

Rollercoaster lol waffles.

Anyways, simplicity can often be beautiful if used properly. I'm not saying Philip Glass is my hero(I do enjoy some of his pieces). Many 4-chorded pop songs are famous because those 4 chords are very easy to remember. Add a melody and it's now stuck in your head.

More for the fire - a rant on Pachebel's Canon. Funny and basically the same message:

Wow - I wouldn't have commented, but someone mentioned the Beatles in this discussion of unintelligent popular music. The Beatles does not fit this norm of unintelligent harmonies and progressions, not one bit. Well, maybe some of their most popular songs do, but that's because society has been brainwashed to love only what they're familiar with. One of my favorite Beatles songs is 'Blue Jay Way', written by George Harrison. The chords are: (pick-up) Cdim / C, alternating. While not entirely interesting from this standpoint, the melody is completely nonstandard for pop music, as it exemplifies the diminished chord: [C Eb Gb Eb C Eb / E(nat)]

A lot of pop music sucks, but there is a lot of great stuff out there too. I love Beck, Bjork, They Might Be Giants, the Beatles and especially Oingo Boingo, which was Danny Elfman's new wavey band from the late 70s to 1995. Check all these guys out, it's actually intelligent [pop] music!!!

If pop music is simply defined as "music that is popular" then I agree to a degree with the idea that pop music sucks.

That said, Rush has had a hit, Yes have had hits, Frank Zappa had a hit (albeit with Valley Girl), Stevie Wonder is a hit monster, etc.

"Rap has the same drumbeat repeated thousands of times"

This is just a silly statement. There are rap songs with excellent musicians (The Roots, for one) that don't just repeat the same drumbeat.

So you can't really make generalizations, and to do so shows ignorance.

I dig the guy who comments saying "This is why I listen to Zappa...."

More for the fire - a rant on Pachebel's Canon. Funny and basically the same message:

:(

More for the fire - a rant on Pachebel's Canon. Funny and basically the same message:

HA! He's so right, everywhere I go everyone ALWAYS asks me if I can play that stupid Canon. I feel like just saying "People, that piece sucks, pick a better piece and I'll play it, but I will not play Pachebel!"