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by DidYaWipe 454 days ago
Totally valid question, and I think that yes... there is a reason that our (or Western) song structure has evolved the way it has.

For some reason it is very appealing to the listener, and I think it's a combination of sonic qualities but also relief from repetition. And this is what's lacking from a lot of today's music.

Today we have what amounts to a loop where someone presses Play, mumbles over it for a period of time, and then presses Stop. There's no payoff.

I think one of first times I thought about this was listening to "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce. It has this big build-up that you think is going to go into a satisfying chorus... but it goes nowhere. Nowhere, for the whole song.

And that song is fairly dynamic by today's standards.
2 comments
poincaredisk 454 days ago
I disagree. This song structure is cheap and mostly used for pop songs meant to be a catchy background. Many (most?) music pieces that could be called masterpieces don't follow such simplistic structure.

I'm not trying to be pretentious. I'm not a hardcore music fan, and most of the music I listen to nowadays has the classic verse/chorus structure (because it's catchy and ready to vibe on). But pretending it's the one correct way to make music is not right.

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DidYaWipe 454 days ago
I'm only talking about pop music; that's what charts typically cover.
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shermantanktop 454 days ago
The equivalent charts from the 30s and 40s were often not verse/chorus/verse. Think “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” or “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”. There are repeated sections like choruses but the bones are often a 32 bar form with an AABA structure.
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DidYaWipe 453 days ago
At least they had that. And a melody.
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gedy 454 days ago
> It has this big build-up that you think is going to go into a satisfying chorus... but it goes nowhere.

I don't disagree in general, but that particular song is likely just due to the use of that rising horn sample from the original 1970 Chi-Lites song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hm2YjDENPPU

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DidYaWipe 454 days ago
That is indeed what I mean... but I don't think the source of the sample makes any difference.
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