The Key Change in Music...

[Blansky]

As a music lover it's fun to try to figure out why one song, or any song is a hit. What makes it jump out at you. Guitar licks, a blazing piano, emotive lyrics or in the case of this article a key change.

"In fact, 23 percent of number one hits between 1958 and 1990 were in multiple keys."

"The act of shifting a song’s key up either a half step or a whole step (i.e. one or two notes on the keyboard) near the end of the song, was the most popular key change for decades. In fact, 52 percent of key changes found in number one hits between 1958 and 1990 employ this change."

"What’s odd is that after 1990, key changes are employed much less frequently, if at all, in number one hits."

An interesting article.....https://tedium.co/2022/11/09/the-dea...c-ff63e367b734

[OverGeared]

I'm a bit tone deaf, so key changes aren't as apparent to me as they are for others, but I do share your interest in what makes popular music popular in the first place. For the last several years, I've been following Tom Breihan's "The Number Ones" column over at Stereogum, where he's tenaciously cataloging every song to ever hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 (aka, the "pop" chart.)

https://www.stereogum.com/category/the-number-ones/

He's into the early-mid 2000s right now, which is around where my interest in pop music began to wane, but the archives are chick full of terrific explorations on how musical tastes, experimentation (and fear of experimentation,) politics, and U. S. culture as a whole influenced what artists and songs were able to make it to the top, starting back in 1957.

Beware: you can lose entire afternoons reading these columns if you're not careful.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by OverGeared

I'm a bit tone deaf, so key changes aren't as apparent to me as they are for others, but I do share your interest in what makes popular music popular in the first place. For the last several years, I've been following Tom Breihan's "The Number Ones" column over at Stereogum, where he's tenaciously cataloging every song to ever hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 (aka, the "pop" chart.)

https://www.stereogum.com/category/the-number-ones/

He's into the early-mid 2000s right now, which is around where my interest in pop music began to wane, but the archives are chick full of terrific explorations on how musical tastes, experimentation (and fear of experimentation,) politics, and U. S. culture as a whole influenced what artists and songs were able to make it to the top, starting back in 1957.

Beware: you can lose entire afternoons reading these columns if you're not careful.

Thanks for the info.

I guess one sign of a key change near the end of a song is it's sort of sweet, and an...."ok guys ...big finish here".

[OverGeared]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Thanks for the info.

I guess one sign of a key change near the end of a song is it's sort of sweet, and an...."ok guys ...big finish here".

The one that always gets me is Belinda's "Heaven is a Place on Earth"

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by OverGeared

The one that always gets me is Belinda's "Heaven is a Place on Earth"

Yup. Good example.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by OverGeared

I'm a bit tone deaf, so key changes aren't as apparent to me as they are for others, but I do share your interest in what makes popular music popular in the first place. For the last several years, I've been following Tom Breihan's "The Number Ones" column over at Stereogum, where he's tenaciously cataloging every song to ever hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 (aka, the "pop" chart.)

https://www.stereogum.com/category/the-number-ones/

He's into the early-mid 2000s right now, which is around where my interest in pop music began to wane, but the archives are chick full of terrific explorations on how musical tastes, experimentation (and fear of experimentation,) politics, and U. S. culture as a whole influenced what artists and songs were able to make it to the top, starting back in 1957.

Beware: you can lose entire afternoons reading these columns if you're not careful.

Thanks for sharing

[-dustin]

Pretty interesting.

If I record a song in the key of C major into digital recording software, like Logic or ProTools, and then decide I don’t like that key, I don’t have to play it again in that new key. I can just use my software to shift it into that different key. I’m no longer constrained by my instrument.

I had no idea software was that advanced. But my copy of Finale is also like 13yrs old.

Now I'm gonna go find Sicko Mode, because I'm rather intrigued and want to hear a key change in this genre.

[Mifune]

I listen to Micro tonal... so there are MUCH MORE than whole and Half steps.

this is a GREAT TED TALK on the repeatability of modern music versus classic songs from days of yore.

you have to watch the entire video because he wraps it up neatly in the end.

[White Collar Boy]

I think they are only ‘heavy handed’ when anything of the chorus is too much. Here are a few of my favourites:

‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ — Belinda Carlisle
‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ — The Ramones
‘Our House’ — Madness
‘Penny Lane’ — The Beatles.

[enjoythemusic]

Interesting. Key changes are one of the reasons I've been asking electronic drum manufacturers to offer global set change to account for key changes.

When it comes to time signature changes....

[Tricolore66]

Interesting article, and something I've noticed on a lot of classics and great pop songs. It seems like something that works best with a big chorus and harmonies. Don't tell anybody, but I f-ing love the Bee Gees! They do this quite a bit, and this song is a good example, as well as being a very underrated pop song.


https://youtu.be/mJule_2mx3I

[Dan Pierce]

Music will always be lead by the heart, not statistics.

Having said that, as the fly said as he walking over the mirror, "that's one way of looking at it."
dP

[Tricolore66]

I was banging around on the guitar tonight while flipping through my music collection on my music server, thinking of some stuff to play with some buddies. I came across "Wishing Well" by Free, which is such a great classic rock song. Big riff and just awesome Paul Rodgers vocals (maybe the best voice in all of rock music). Sure enough, key change in the last chorus!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Bw_HH_T4g

[zengineer]

Putting the man himself aside, I always thought Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror was a masterpiece of key changes tied into the lyrics.

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[Mifune]

Genesis has always been a master of key changes.

[White Collar Boy]

Originally Posted by zengineer

Putting the man himself aside, I always thought Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror was a masterpiece of key changes tied into the lyrics.

The Magic of Michael. Heard today, is the album Bad good? As a kid, I was very into it, and can remember buying MJ merch in the local, suburban grocery store: some cards with gum. But I’m not sure I like any of it now, apart from maybe ‘Smooth Criminal’, which in hindsight maybe he was… I still play Off The Wall and, even better, Thriller.

I would love to read a Patrick Bateman-style analysis of ‘Man In The Mirror’. “His early work was a little too disco for my taste, but I think ‘Man In The Mirror’ is Jackson’s undisputed masterpiece. A song so catchy that its simple but important message, that personal responsibility is foundational to any meaningful social change, was lost on many fans. But they should listen. Because that message is as relevant today as in 1988… Hey Paul!”