LAT
The science of a hit single
Danceability was not important in distinguishing top and bottom songs until the late ’70s.
But from 1980 it became really important, maybe in relation to the rise of disco, electronic dance music and other later music.
From the late 1980s, the songs at the top became relatively harmonically more complex than songs at the bottom. Before that time, songs on the top tended to be harmonically simpler. That’s quite interesting, because somehow the opposite is true for rhythm.
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Do you mean its not all about me and how much I spread my legs on the video????? fer shame….
/madonna
ted c on February 5, 2012 at 8:58 PM
That is just part of gaining attention to the song.
astonerii on February 5, 2012 at 9:02 PM
I always wondered what happened to Milli Vanilli. Glad to see they were able to find work.
kit dinker on February 5, 2012 at 9:04 PM
Rubbish!
During the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties, all that mattered was the beat, the whole beat, and nothing but the beat! Lyrics be damned!
OldEnglish on February 5, 2012 at 9:08 PM
Lyrics were not invented until 1967 anyways!
astonerii on February 5, 2012 at 9:21 PM
Unintelligible lyrics is not one of the factors?
radjah shelduck on February 5, 2012 at 9:22 PM
Don’t remind me! ::sigh::
OldEnglish on February 5, 2012 at 9:44 PM
Sorry, but I like these lyrics:
Rock, two, three
Roll, two, three
It was so
Cute to me
It was the Rock ‘n’ Roll Waltz!
John Hitchcock on February 5, 2012 at 9:48 PM
One of my favourite dance tunes was Woolly Bully. Still have no idea what the lyrics were.
OldEnglish on February 5, 2012 at 9:59 PM
It’s the chorus man.
As Adam Grohl says:
“Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!”
If you want a catchy song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOazW62EVOU
Buddies and I wrote that a year or so ago. Starts our ep off catchy then we end it dark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erflnI8JZj0
blatantblue on February 5, 2012 at 10:28 PM
I should imagine they’ll be facing a complete rewrite of the algorithm after they’ve fed it “We Built This City.”
Sharke on February 5, 2012 at 10:41 PM
Music was to dance to first, last, and mostly.
Lyrics were originally a separate thing from beat-based music and aimed at reciting bardic tales, from The Epic Gilgamensh and The Iliad to the waning of mnemonic works like Beowulf.
Printing killed the need to memorize epics.
Folk songs from the minstrel era brought the two elements together, finally.
And the result was…
And became the Gershwin’s ingenious elegance and Dylan’s dadaistic fun and is now withering in the current pop.
profitsbeard on February 5, 2012 at 11:08 PM
One of my favourite dance tunes was Woolly Bully. Still have no idea what the lyrics were.
OldEnglish on February 5, 2012 at 9:59 PM
.
Isn’t it a rule that one has to be drunk, high, or horny to dance to that one?
ExpressoBold on February 5, 2012 at 11:09 PM
The new Van Halen album is going to change everything. AGAIN.
wildcat72 on February 5, 2012 at 11:42 PM
Can it explain, “Louis, Louis”?
trigon on February 6, 2012 at 12:16 AM
The 90s was probably the best decade for rock music
Call me crazy but you had very unique bands on the rock/alt rock scene.
Red hot chili peppers
Third eye blind
Smashing pumpkins
Cranberries
Pearl Jam
Train
Many more. On and on. If you give rock, alt rock and pop rock a good look you’ll see the nineties was certainly the best decade for those genres.
blatantblue on February 6, 2012 at 12:32 AM
Just curious I want to see the list of sings that, according to this scientific method, will become hits or should be hits already compared to what is actually popular.
I’m a skeptic on this. Even today songs from the Beatles, Elvis, and other 50s, 60s, and 70s hits sound as good if not better than what has been released the last 2 decades. The only thing that has changed in the last three decades is the song’s tempos have gotten faster, on average.
Jurisprudence on February 6, 2012 at 1:49 AM
Well. two out of three did it for me.
OldEnglish on February 6, 2012 at 2:03 AM
I haven’t listened to TOP 40 music since about 1989, when it all went downhill pretty fast. 60′s and 70′s were the best.
jimfreedom on February 6, 2012 at 8:56 AM
Which is why I can always dance to it!
GWB on February 6, 2012 at 9:27 AM