Articles by Justin Beckner
How the Tritone Makes Lloyd Webber's 'The Phantom of the Opera' Feel Genuinely Threatening, Not Just Dark
How Gary Jules Made 'Mad World' Feel More Exposed Than Tears for Fears' Original
The Endless Dread of the Oppenheimer Score and the Compositional Trick Behind It: Ludwig Göransson's Use of the Shepard Tone
It Never Feels Resolved: How The Killers' 'Mr. Brightside' Feels Like an Anxious Thought You Can't Shake
Amplified Yamaha Piano Instead of Guitar: How Keane Built a Chart-Topping Hit with 'Somewhere Only We Know'
'Let It Be' Came From a Dream About McCartney's Late Mother. He Almost Named It After the Beatles' Road Manager
Chappell Roan's 'Pink Pony Club' Resonates With New Generations Due to Its Masterful Songwriting
'Billie Jean' Bass Line Never Changes. That Was Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones' Whole Point
Chords in 'Just the Two of Us' Are More Sophisticated Than They Sound: Jazz Extensions and Voice Leading
The B Major Chord in Radiohead's 'Creep' Has No Business Being There. Somehow, It Works
'Hit the Road Jack': How Ray Charles Took Gospel Out of Church and Put It on Billboard Hot 100
John Williams' 'Imperial March' Sounds Terrifying Even Without Darth Vader on Screen. Here's Why.
Alan Menken Kept Aladdin and Jasmine's Voices Apart Until the Perfect Moment in 'A Whole New World'
The Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?' Never Resolves, and That's Why It Still Works Decades Later
Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters': How Open Strings and Four Chords Became a Stadium Anthem
John Legend Wrote 'All of Me' for One Person. It Became the Wedding Song of a Decade.
Why Tom Wilson's Secret Remix of 'The Sound of Silence' Worked: The Music Theory Behind Simon & Garfunkel's Hit
The SpongeBob Theme Builds an Enormous Climax in Under 45 Seconds Using a Classic Arranger Trick
How Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves' 'I Remember Everything' Reached No. 1 by Refusing to Overplay Its Hand
Bad Bunny’s ‘BAILE INoLVIDABLE’ Is Built on Salsa’s Structural Logic. The Super Bowl Show Made It Obvious
How Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee Became One of Music’s Great Technical Tests
Why the Sax Line in George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ Feels Like a Vocal Line
