Rock
One Chord Makes 'California Dreamin'' Undercut Its Own Lyrical Promise: The Word 'Warm' Lands on C# Minor
Bare Power Chords and One Simple Bass Line: Why 'Eye of the Tiger' Hits So Hard
The 'Orchestra' in 'Nights in White Satin' Isn't Real Strings, and the Song Never Resolves Its Own Chords
The Beatles Reversed Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' to Write 'Because,' and the Result Still Doesn't Resolve
Disturbed's 'Sound of Silence' Feels So Different From the Original, and They Didn't Even Change the Key
Four Kids Just Crushed Boston's 'Foreplay/Long Time': Watch the 12-Year-Old Drummer Own the Whole Song
How The Rolling Stones Smuggled The Phrygian Mode Into Pop Radio With 'Paint It Black' And Made It A #1 Hit
The Ramones Had Three Chords and a Chant: 50 Years Ago, 'Blitzkrieg Bop' Was Enough to Define Punk
Amplified Yamaha Piano Instead of Guitar: How Keane Built a Chart-Topping Hit with 'Somewhere Only We Know'
Prince Wrote 'Purple Rain' With Four Chords. Two Tweaks Made It Sound Endless
'Let It Be' Came From a Dream About McCartney's Late Mother. He Almost Named It After the Beatles' Road Manager
The B Major Chord in Radiohead's 'Creep' Has No Business Being There. Somehow, It Works
One Descending Chord Pattern Drives Chicago's '25 or 6 to 4'. A 1970 Live Clip Proves It.
The Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?' Never Resolves, and That's Why It Still Works Decades Later
Why Elton John Went Minor on the Most Defiant Line in 'I'm Still Standing'
Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters': How Open Strings and Four Chords Became a Stadium Anthem
Why Tom Wilson's Secret Remix of 'The Sound of Silence' Worked: The Music Theory Behind Simon & Garfunkel's Hit
30 Years Later, the Goo Goo Dolls' 'Iris' Is Taking Over TikTok: The Story Behind Its 4-Strings-Tuned-to-D Sound
Gorillaz Perform ‘Clint Eastwood’ on SNL, the Hit Built from a Suzuki Omnichord Preset
David Gilmour Turns 80: The Two ‘Comfortably Numb’ Solos Capture Everything Great About His Playing
Lou Reed Would Be 84 Today, and ‘Perfect Day’ Still Holds His Greatest Contradiction
Jacob Collier Turned 15,000 Fans Into a Choir Singing Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ at the O2
