Articles by Justin Beckner
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
The Legal Battle Over ‘Happy Birthday’: How the World’s Most Sung Song Entered the Public Domain
Imagine Dragons’ ‘Believer’ Proves You Don’t Need Chord Changes to Build Intensity
‘Let It Go’ Changed Everything About Frozen: How Three Notes and a Key Change Built a Global Anthem
Is the Super Mario Bros. Theme Jazz? Here’s How Its Harmony Works
