[djur]

I disagree that key changes in popular music are a great measure of complexity. For many years a key change near the end of the song was an easy way to give the sense of a climax. The article your link is based on gives a good summary of it:

> 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. You can hear it on “My Girl,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” and “Livin’ on a Prayer,” among many others.

To me, this just reflects one set of songwriters' cliches being replaced by another. Not necessarily better or worse.

[wholinator2]

While i do agree generally about key changes, i think the point is that it's just an example of something that sounds _interesting_. It's not just key changes, but all the little chances that an actual artist takes during creation, the things that sound good to some and bad to others are exactly what makes art, art. The change being witnessed isn't the loss of key changes, but the loss of everything that sounds different or interesting, in favor of a sound that is generally palatable to everyone precisely because it does not contain anything interesting.

[ryandrake]

How about time signature changes, then? Not too many popular songs experiment much anymore. What was the last popular hit with a really odd meter (or various meters)? I know, not everyone can be Rush, but it’s pretty vanilla today.

[anlaw]

I never said they were a great measure. Another tool in the toolkit. Or it was anyway.