If you want a vivid illustration of the formulaic nature of pop music, check out The Axis of Awesome in their mega-ultra-medley of songs that use The Four Chords.
What are The Four Chords, you ask? This pattern can be used in any key, comfy for any singer, so long as it follows these chord changes: I – V – vi – IV.
Sorry, that’s music notation for Major 1 – Major 5 – Minor 6 – Major 4.
Still unclear? In diatonic harmony, chords are all based on arpeggios of the major scale. Take the root tone of the scale, and add the third and fifth on top. In the key of C, we’re talking C-E-G to make a major chord. In the key of C, A-C-E makes a minor arpeggio, and thus the I – V – vi – IV progression would be: C major, G major, A minor and F major. In the key of A, same thing, transposed: A major, E major, F# minor, D major. In any key, the harmonic geometry just works.
This harmony implies movement without actually subjecting your brain to anything unexpected. It’s not Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. That’s why this progression is at the heart of an embarrassing number of top hits.
Here’s what I am concerned about in this funny little clip – this formula has worked for five decades, but isn’t it getting tired? Does anybody else need to hear lyrics about romance over this progression in 4/4 time? Will my children be declaring this unoriginal clump of musical architecture “a hit” in twenty years? Every single Mac laptop in existence comes with software that can help you write absolutely anything and broadcast it to the world. Will we still be stuck on A – E – F#- D ? Isn’t there a future of greater creativity than that?
The answer lies in the past. In short, yes, creativity is possible, and people will celebrate it, if you let them. Take “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, released in 1975. Their record label was getting ready to drop them after several tepid-selling releases. They desperately needed a three minute pop hit to save the band. Instead, Freddie Mercury gave them the album A Night at the Opera, which featured everything but four chord anthems. This classic record shocks the listener with popular music of a variety of styles, from 1920s gay romps, to epic prog-rock pieces about fleeing Earth, to English folks tunes anchored by sprightly banjo playing, to rock songs about being in love with one’s automobile in 3/4 waltz time! And the single that catapulted the album to legendary status was six minutes long, told in the first-person by a murderer, and married symphonic piano themes, six-part vocal harmony, and an ass-kicking electric guitar solo.
Successful commercially? Estimated total sales are 3.6 million copies, with the single “Bohemian Rhapsody” selling over a million copies on two separate occasions.
The current state of popular music is lamentable. The record industry is corrupt, and the product it has shoved through its channel has been formulaic and plastic, relying on the lowest common denominator of neurological preferences in order to forge some facsimile of popularity. But humans are original, beautiful and very creative. We know from history that when quality is able to make it to the public consciousness, the results can be awe-inspiring.
The future of music could be exciting.
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