Australian musicians Axis of Awesome made a stir during the 2009 Melbourne comedy festival by performing a set about Popular Music. They made the assertion that the majority of pop music is formularic and only relied on four chords- I remember the first time watching it, as a lover of music, and not necessarily a student thinking "Holy Crap!" the majority of those songs I had heard previously, and I had never made the connection about how wildly similar they were. Perhaps other people- especially plenty of people using YouTube had noticed this fact previously, but it was Axis of Awesome that made it highly entertaining for me. You can see them in the following video below.
Yesterday, however, as I was listening to Pandora, I realised that Axis of Awesome had not gone far enough back in time! Rob Paravonian, an American comedian- pointed out that the origins of the 'four chords format' existed in Classical Music, in the Form of Pachelbel's Canon in D
Yesterday, however, as I was listening to Pandora, I realised that Axis of Awesome had not gone far enough back in time! Rob Paravonian, an American comedian- pointed out that the origins of the 'four chords format' existed in Classical Music, in the Form of Pachelbel's Canon in D
Wrong type of Cannon.
Listen to Rob Paravonian's rant on the subject:
My music teacher at TAFE once said that perhaps the four chord format provides a sense of resolution to our ears and is sweet to us, hence the continuation of the format. I don't really know. But I do know one thing:
I still love Pachelbel's Canon in D.
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