One! Two! Three! Four?


The evolution
of western pop music, spanning from 1960 to 2010, has been analysed by scientists.

A team from Queen Mary University of London and Imperial College London looked at more than 17,000 songs from the US Billboard Hot 100.

They found three music revolutions: 1964, 1983 and 1991.

In the early 1960s, chords called dominant sevenths, found in jazz and blues started to die out.

Instead, in 1964 the invasion of British bands - from the Beatles to the Rolling Stones - introduced a radical new rocky sound.

The researchers say this was this the first of three stylistic revolutions - periods of extremely rapid change within the charts.

New technology, synthesisers, samplers and drum machines, drove a second major style shift in 1983.

The third, in 1991, came about when rap and hip-hop went mainstream.

My prediction: revolution #4 will be the infusion of dance music coming from Asian countries.

2 thoughts on “One! Two! Three! Four?

  1. Cris (without an H)

    The 1991 revolution is one that we rockers still haven’t really accepted. A lot of people our age — parents our age — think they’re cool because they like rock music, maybe even hard rock music, so they’ll never be intolerant squares like the parents of the 1950’s. But then their kids turn on to hip hop, and the old cycle rolls back round.

    1. cleek Post author

      sadly, true. i’m still expecting the rap fad to fade and for bands to get back to real instruments.

      for twenty five years, i’ve been waiting.

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