Skip to main content

Duran Duran - Thank You

African American musical genres, the different varieties of blues as well as soul and funk since the 1960s and rap music since the 1970s, also offer novel modes of design with regard to harmony and melody that were adopted by and, in some cases, developed further in other popular music styles. This was already evident in 1950s rock 'n' roll, which was founded on rhythm & blues, and has also been apparent in rock music, which was heavily influenced by rhythm & blues and older varieties of blues since the 1960s. Drawing on this observation, the British musicologist Allan F. Moore derives far reaching conclusions for the harmonic analysis of rock music.

In general... popular songs as hybrid forms of music as their mode of design derives from two traditions: African American musical traditions and the traditions of American Popular Song... While harmony in popular song tradition can be described in terms of functional major minor tonality, with cadences involving the dominant or at least descending fifths, harmony in African American music... opposes such an interpretation. In order to be able to compare songs from the two different traditions in terms of harmony, Moore advocates the use of an overarching modal interpretation framework. In it, the major scale becomes the Ionian mode, the natural minor scale becomes the Aeolian mode. The Mixolydian and Dorian modes are also widespread, while Lydian, Phrygian and Locrian are less common. This understanding of modality is based on a concept of diatonic modes, so called church modes, which is also common in jazz theory, but rather problematic. Moore emphasizes that the assignment of a chord pattern to a mode does not apply to the entire song, but often only works for the duration of the respective chord pattern. This is due to the songs' regular changes of modes, especially with contrasting parts.

Since the chord patterns often include both major third and minor third chords, the semantics of major and minor are barely significant in the analyses presented by Moore. Still, if they are brought into play, the attribution of meaning follows the conventional semantics of bright dark or positive negative. Moore draws on these semantics when it comes to determining the tonal center of a chord pattern... identification of the song's tonality is supported in a rather roundabout way by the semantics of the song's statement, which are probably derived primarily from the lyrics.


Duran Duran - Thank You
  • First release by: Led Zeppelin
  • Written by: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
  • Release Date: April 4, 1995

"Duran Duran's career has seen more than 100 million record sales worldwide, six Platinum selling records, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And, in 2022, an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame."

See previous Song of the Day

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jackson Browne - Kisses Sweeter than Wine

Europe has a rich history of embracing blues and jazz music. In the early 20th century, American jazz musicians began touring Europe, introducing the continent to a new sound that was unlike anything they had ever heard before. Jazz became an instant hit among European audiences, and many European musicians began incorporating jazz elements into their music. Today, jazz festivals are held all over Europe, attracting thousands of fans from all over the world. In addition, many European cities have thriving blues scenes, with local bands and musicians performing regularly. Blues and jazz have also made their way to Asia, where they have found a devoted fan base. Japan, in particular, has a thriving jazz scene, with many Japanese musicians achieving international recognition. In addition, China has also seen a rise in the popularity of jazz music in recent years. Jazz festivals are now held in major Asian cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, attracting jazz lovers from all over ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Roy Haynes - Satan's Mysterious Feeling

Sun Studio, located at 706 Union Avenue, was started by one of the fathers of rock ‘n roll, Sam Phillips, in 1950. It was the commingling of the Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records that formed Sun Studio, and until 1969... The studio’s claim to fame is that it is where the first rock ‘n roll record was produced, Rocket 88, in April 1951. Stax Records was born in 1957. The original Stax was named Satellite Records until it changed its name to Stax in 1961. The company brought to the forefront American and Memphis soul, as well as gospel, funk and the Delta blues. Its most famous act was Otis Redding, and after his death in 1967, the studio struggled to stay in competition with Detroit’s Motown. The music of Memphis has evolved from its long, rich history. The legends of the past have created a legacy that newer artists can only hope to imitate but never really duplicate. A walk along Beale Street should invoke the memory of the great musicians who have come to and played in Memphi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chuck Berry - Broken Arrow

The blues grew up in the Mississippi Delta just upriver from New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. Blues and jazz have always influenced each other, and they still interact in countless ways today. Following the end of the Civil War, black men had few options other than doing backbreaking manual work or something like becoming a traveling minstrel. Many chose to rely on their physical stamina and the soulful and melancholy lyrics of many blues songs to create a powerful, emotive and rhythmic music celebrating the life of black Americans. The lyrics they sang reflected their daily lives including sex, drinking, jail, murder, poverty, hard labor and lost love. In the early 20th century, the blues was considered disreputable as white audiences began listening to blues. Blues came into its own as an important part of the country’s relatively new popular culture in the 1920s with the recording, first, of great female classic blues singers and, then, of the country folk blues singers of the M...
Post a Comment
Read more