Okay. I don’t fully understand what you’re talking about. My interest in music isn’t that nuanced. Even with Rick Beato, I don’t understand everything he says.
There’s other stuff in there too. Fair amount of chromaticism especially in the bass line and some interesting passing chords. The thing it reminds me the most of is Teddy Riley and New Jack but also has some Thriller / disco funk elements. I like to make note of these songs because it’s direct refutation to the “music these days” narrative that Beato and others push where supposedly everything is completely simplistic now. The problem isn’t no one is making this music–it’s that no one appreciates it.
That’s part of the beauty of it. The comparison I like to make is a renowned chef slipping an unusual spice/flavor into your dinner somewhere and completely pulling it off. Alanis has one of my favorite examples of this btw:
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Honestly, the quality of music hasn’t changed that much.
To me, it isn’t that people undervalue new music. It’s that they overvalue old music. Go to a random hot 100 from your childhood and look at the top 10 songs. Unless you have a great mind for trivia or are really into music, you won’t recognize all of the songs. Perhaps who the artists are, but not how the song goes or lyrics other than the hook.
Why is that? Because most pop music and its musicians are forgettable and mediocre. That was true then and it’s true now. People just want to think that the music of their generation was unique and better than the others when it’s really no better than any other generation in existence.
That’s cool. Alanis is one of the few pop artists that I really like because she does some really unique kind of odd things that sound really cool to me. I have no idea what she is doing, only that it sounds good. Fiona Apple is another one, and Jewel. To a lesser extent, Sheryl Crow. (Although I think I like Sheryl Crow more because of heavy use of acoustic instruments.)
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I’ll try to explain it another way. In pop music, most people serve common dishes that you might expect together: steak, potatoes, and broccoli. This is like subbing out one of those dishes for something unusual with a slightly different flavor that still works. If nobody does this then every song “tastes” the same and there isn’t much variety. To musicians this tends to get boring very quickly, but I have to imagine it also affects non-musicians in some way even if they don’t realize it.
In modern pop, the chords that get tons of use are the I, IV, V, and vi. So many songs are just those chords in some order, but there’s a limited number of permutations you can make from them. In turn, it can have this effect of “locking” you into certain bass and melody patterns, and that’s how we end up getting a lot of music that sounds similar. That video I linked you on Olivia Rodrigo / Paramore does a really good job of explaining this.
Right he is selectively remembering the songs he liked best. Turns out I like many of the songs he likes and for mostly the same reasons (e.g., interesting harmonization). The difference is I actually listen to a lot of new pop whereas I think he only catches it in passing. Like I bought this Dua Lipa record when it came out but I don’t think Beato is sitting for a critical listening of Future Nostalgia (the album). The guy who wrote the music for this song went to Berklee and is very accomplished, so obviously he can flex on the composition.
So it totally changes keys between the verse and chorus which is odd. The verse is in C major and then it jumps up to D major for the chorus. I was shocked to learn this and only discovered it because I was looking up this other weird chord they snuck in. Don’t think I would have ever noticed it otherwise.
That first line uses the Big 4 chords I was talking about above: I - vi - IV - V.
But then in the next line they come back with: I - vi - bVI - V.
That Bb chord isn’t in the key and is borrowed from the parallel minor. Super common substitution technique you’ll see by good composers in all genres including classical. That’s the only thing that was obviously “off” to my ear and what prompted me to look it up. This dude breaks it down (at 9:30) and seems really excited about it. This is nice though because he sings it in C major first so you can hear the difference:
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Do Crash Test Dummies do a lot of weird shit with shifting keys or unusual chords? I know something is going on in a bunch of their songs where the “colors” suddenly change drastically. Some stuff sounds like special effects, like draining all bass or some kind of panning like that, but some stuff seems to stem more from the music itself, whether it’s unusual chord choices or shifting keys I have no idea. Anyway, love that band.
Not familiar with their music other than Mmmmmm. Can you link an example?
That is one of them. After I posted I did a search because I was too curious to wait for you and found this: https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/rocksmith/plus/news-updates/4LocpYK6pH3nkS3eZxT63o/modal-mixture-and-meaning-in-crash-test-dummies-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm
I’m off to try to remember some others. I’m pretty sure I can find a quick example where I’m thinking it’s a special effect but not 100 percent sure.
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Right at 2:09 in this song. (This is maybe my favorite song by them.) I get that the instruments drop, but the “color” of the song also seems to change.
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And here, at 1:38. I mean it’s obvious that the chords change, but I’m not sure if it’s just a different part of the song or if it’s a key change or something else funky. All I know is the “colors” change. Also, one chord at 2:59 sounds wrong but really good. I think that is repeated one more time, but maybe not.
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Yeah this is exactly what I’m talking about. Modal mixture is what’s happening in that Alanis song with the chord borrowed from the parallel minor key.
*In fact, Mmmm borrows the same chord (bVI) for the pre-chorus that Head Over Feet uses:
Going to Spain next month and they are playing in Madrid!
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This modulates to another key. Pretty interesting run of chords there. Starts in F and modulates rather sharply to A major.
This one sounds totally vanilla to me. Hmm looking at it closer though it’s more ambiguous. The instrumental section ends on a Bb chord which could be interpreted several ways I guess. I had no idea that some of their songs were this weird though. Thanks for sharing.
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Those are just the ones I could remember. This is an album that was in heavy rotation for me well over a decade ago - jeez actually closer to two decades. Maybe I’ll listen through the entire album when I have a chance and see if anything else jumps out at me.
Listening to Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Banger after banger
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