Why Does Music Sound the Same?
The two best answers to most peoples’ questions is usually either “because” or “algorithms”.
I’m sure we’ve all heard of the 7 literary conflicts, and the 7 basic movie plots. Films have existed for only about 100 years now in cinema, so the classics that we know are groundbreaking, whereas most things today are sequels, or retellings, or…ugh, Tyler Perry. Music has been around for oh so much longer and therefore should be entirely wiped out by now. But because of technology, and culture changes, new things are bound to happen.
Except of course for the goddamn structure of music.
If you’re in the mood to play a song you know on a basic instrument such as piano or guitar, you’ve most likely looked up the chords or tabs from websites such as 911tabs.com or ultimate-guitar.com. In this time, you’ve likely noticed that MOST songs (especially if we’re talking Top 40 hits/Coldplay) follow a basic four chord dynamic. If you think about it, it helps the meter of the song follow the poetry of the lyrics (ABAB rhyme scheme for example). Most songs that are catching the ear (basic love ballads, pop hits, etc) follow a four chorded system. There’s the ever popular C Am F G, also known as the 50′s Progression (“Stand by Me” “Every Breath You Take” “Beauty School Dropout”), not only does it give a doo wop song heart & soul, but flipped about it gives you “Bad Romance,” “Don’t Trust Me,” “I’m on a Boat,” “The Climb,” “All of the Lights,” and “Judas” (to name a few). Sometimes, you can take out a chord to make a three chord song, and it’ll sound slightly different, such as “Hot n’ Cold” removes the F completely. “Gravity” removes the Am. Make one of those a minor and you’ve got “You Oughta Know”. Change the Am to an Em, and you just opened the can of pretty much everything else (“Viva la Vida”).
Three chorded songs are almost just as popular as four chorded songs. AED is the most popular chord progression to date (“Alejandro,” “Kiss with a Fist,” “Yellow,” “First Cut is the Deepest”), but to make it interesting, if you add the F#m, it’s like a new song (“Edge of Glory” “A Walk Through Hell”). Taylor Swift’s all up on CGEm, and “Heartless” (which has been covered by everyone) is merely Am, Dm F, (which is close to “Heart Shaped Box” but whatever, you get the point). Regina Spektor sounds unique, but 90% of these progressions cover her repertoire (I love you, Regina).
Even she cashes in on the secret.
Obviously, there’s a lot of ground to cover. If you take a theory class, or hell, if you LEARN TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, you’ll quickly discover that you’re playing the same chords over and over again (especially if you like Lady Gaga, which, if you think about it, her new album is her old album just…newer.)
Point being, everybody knows that the notes range from A to G. That’s it. 7 Letters. That’s all we have, people. Granted, there are multiple variations on these letters, from the most diverse sharps and flats, to the subtly mood changing minors, to the barely noticeable but entirely useful maj7s, sus4, and add9′s. Even so, there are still 7 letters.
Now, if you notice, some notes are NOT supposed to be played with others…or it just sounds off (or just real obscure). But EDC (“Beat It”) go well together, throw in G, and you have a party (“Let it Be”). FCG and AED conquer the globe, while we all sit back wondering why everything sounds the same.
Well…
Let’s look at genetics. Every human on earth is made up of chromosomes which are made up of DNA, which is all made up of Nucleotides. The monomer that is nucleic acid is made up of A, T, C and G. T sometimes becomes U, and there you have it…whole genetic make-up. That’s 4 letters. Not 7. So with music, there should be more of a variation than there are of PEOPLE.
Well, factoring in traits, sun exposure, defects, a shit ton of other biological factors, nutrition, adaptation, environment, and general SCIENCE aside, that’s not entirely true.
So let’s pick apart the ever popular AED chord progression. There are 6 possible combinations, therefore, six different sounding songs to be made.
Ever.
Add that F#m like we talked about: Now there’s 24 combinations.
Which means that if there are 24 combinations of CAmFG, then if we add an Em on occasion…we’ve got: 120 combinations plus then there are the different parts of the song where one could USE that Em.
Musicians don’t have to repeat the same 4 chords in order over and over again. They can vary. Then, sometimes, they can key change in the last chorus (“Gone” by Ben Folds Five, and “Sometimes” by Britney Spears to name a couple).
So let’s say by magic you included all 7 chords in one song, you’d have 5,040 combinations. But wait, what about C#, D#, F#, G#, and A#? (if you look at a piano, you will realize why B and E are excluded). Those are legitimate chords. So tack those on, and you have 12 possibilities.
Out of 12 chords, there are 11,880 ways to make a uniquely ordered four chord song, and 1,320 ways to make a three chord song. (Granted, this is ONLY mathematics. Remember, not all chords can go together. So there’s actually less. But since we’re leaving out songs with <3 chords [wow, I fit less than 3 into legitimate text] and >4 chords out of the mix, it about evens).
BUT, we can’t leave behind all of those subtle variations.
For example: C major, C minor, C7, Cmaj7, Cm7, C7b5, C7#5, Cm7b5, C7b9, C6, Cm6, C69, C9, Cm9, Cmaj9, Cadd9, C11, Cm11, C13, Csus2, Csus4, Cdim, Cdim7, Caug
With 24 variations to each chord, and 12 chords, that makes 288 chords. This means that there are 280,720,440 combinations of 4 chord songs and 3,939,936 variations of 3 chord songs (again ASSUMING every chord goes together…which they really don’t).
And yet more musicians kill themselves than accountants.
I know what you’re thinking: A. wtf? (I know, fuck math). and B. If that’s the case, how come every song sounds the same?
Well, again, to the ear, not even half of those combinations would sound remotely okay. This all has to do with music theory and what happens in the key of what. Then of course, there’s variation on tempo, etc, and the use of various instruments.
HOWEVER.
The point of all of this is to show you, that there’s a finite number of chord progressions out there, meaning there is a finite number of melodies. Did “Tik Tok” and “California Girls” NEED to come out at the same time to prove that? What about the fact that Kelly Clarkson could automatically start singing “Halo” during her song “Already Gone”? (That’s actually because the dude that ‘wrote’ it sold it to both of them) Does a 10 year separation of “All the Things She Said” and “E.T” or even a 20 year separation of “Express Yourself” and “Born this Way” render a “too soon?”
(Note: most of those, if not all, are 4 chord songs)
Not musically, no.
A lot of what it has to do with is the artist’s image, and how it’s produced (Obviously the “new Madonna” would sound like the old one).
Gaga wears her insanity. Madonna lets it fester deep inside.
Now, you may think that 280m songs is a lot. It’s a pretty big number. But iTunes currently has over 18m songs for sale, and they don’t have everything (believe it or not). They’ve JUST acquired the Beatles, but they don’t have AC/DC (at least 40 songs), or Garth Brooks (at least 150 songs). There are many artists that are not included on iTunes. Think about all the different CDs a CD store (remember those?) sells. Now imagine around 15 songs on each of those. There are B sides we’ve probably never heard of. Singles only released on UK albums. There’s also a lot of original music out there made by unsigned or heavily obscure bands/people. Not to mention all of the songs that belong to other countries as well. What about soundtrack music? Theme music? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_theme_music) (there are at least 300 songs on that list). Jesus, what about church songs? Other religious songs? Radio/TV Jingles? Camp songs? Traditional Songs? RAFFI?
What I’m trying to say is, we’ve reached/filled/exceeded the quota again and again and again. Not to mention, some chords are really fucking hard to play on a guitar. And the majority of the population that doesn’t own a capo finds themselves playing everything that isn’t sharp, and isn’t B.
"I'm gonna rhyme 'self' with....um. With 'shelf'."
So remember folks, if you’re a songwriter, and you want to be DIFFERENT? What artists are doing nowadays is using odd instrumentation or harmonies. If you’re going to use a typical instrument to play anything, you’re going to have to rely heavily on having a unique voice and pretty memorable lyrics in order to stand out enough for anyone to listen.
Either that, or just start rapping.