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This post was sprung from a previous post, Name That Tune. In fact, I was going to originally post this as a comment, but after some time I realized it was getting stupid-long. The aforementioned post (don’t be lazy, read it and watch the video) was about a large number of songs that suspiciously use the same 4 chords in sequence.
First of all, I’m going to lightly wag a finger at you, Axis of Awesome, for using a clever bit of deception. Halfway through the video, you changed the chord progression entirely, then switched back after about 15 songs. Didn’t think I’d notice, did you? Well you’ve been found out. You cheated, Axis of Awesome, and I won’t stand for it. Oh, and guy on the right? Could you possibly want to be Jack Black more?
But seriously, this issue is a big deal in the music business. There have been more than a few cases throughout history in which artists have been accused of directly stealing a portion of a song from another artist. The most recent “big deal” that I know of took place last year, when Coldplay was accused of stealing a chord progression and melody from Joe Satriani:
OK, here’s my perspective on this whole idea of using the same damn 4 chords that everybody else has (or for that matter, the same melody etc.). And I speak as a resident musician of Octavarius, someone who has on more than one occasion lifted ideas from other pieces of music in order to create my own.
I have noticed this too, and I can sometimes chalk it up to lazy songwriting. But if someone listens to any album that they own, they are bound to hear this chord progression at least once (more than likely, depending on the album, you’ll hear it quite a few times.) To throw out another example of a simple chord progression: C sharp minor, A, E, B. (It’s the first four opening chords of Boston’s “Peace of Mind.” Everybody put to your iPod on shuffle and listen to 100 songs. (I’ll wait.) How many times did you hear those 4 chords (or the same progression in a different key) during your musical journey? Probably a hell of a lot. In fact, I believe our first version of “Latino Heat” contained it. Is this to say that they all stole that progression from other songs? Yes and no.
When you think about it, there are a finite number of chords and sequences that sound pleasing to us as humans. The chords sound nice largely to to the frequencies of the individual notes that make it up. The sequences of chords are often pleasing to us because we recognize them and can follow along. If the chords were all over the place in no particular order, we might find that it’s not enjoyable to listen to. I can’t get behind Captain Beefheart’s “Trout Mask Replica” (though it’s oft cited as being a monumentally influential album) because a lot of it doesn’t make sense to me; it seems too chaotic for my ears and I end up hearing nonsense. The Mars Volta is in my opinion a less extreme example of this (though I may be partially biased because I’ve got other personal strikes against them.) As a listener, I want some sort of structure to my music, and when it all boils down there is only so much unique structure that a musician can build with before he finds himself using tried-and-true bits.
Here’s where I tie it into improv. Watch me.
The Harold has a pretty simple sketetal structure: Opening, 3 scenes, group game, 3 scenes, group game, 3 scenes. If you were to describe this to someone who had never heard of improvisation before, they might think that this is boring because every Harold would be the same. This is of course not the case: You could to a trillion Harolds and they would all be different. Yes, some pieces would be largely the same: you’d likely see a lot of first date scenes, breakup scenes, and office performance review scenes because people are familiar with these types of scenes and they have been known to be successful if the performers play their cards right. But the intricacies within each scene ensure that the audience is always getting a different experience.
You could give a Harold team the suggestion of “carrot”. A hundred times. And even though they have the same starting point and the same structure around which to operate, every one of those Harolds will be a different experience. By the same token, I could tell 100 bands to write a song revolving around a C Am F G pattern. And I could even tell each band that the title of the song has to be the same (say, “Carrot”). Yes, the shitty bands will make a boring song that sounds ripped from a million other albums. But due to the variations that a band can toy with as far as melody, verse/chorus structure, tempo, emotion, vocal timbre, use of instruments, etc., you will get a whole bunch of those songs to sound very unique.
so as far as the Axis of Awesome video is concerned? Shame on a number of those bands for using the EXACT SAME, tempo, and chord progression as Journey did. But I won’t fault most of the bands for it.
