The structure of a song has often been the very grounds for the formation of genres. Whether it be the differentiation of Pop, metal or classical. In many ways, the largest groups of popular music have become eminent because of their remolding of the typical song structure.
Johnny Cash’s sound was one of the most genre shaking sounds of the rock n roll era. He combined the rhythm and heart of country, with the groove and rawness of rock. His sound of an approaching train gave his songs a rich, catchy, but also haunting expression that completely transformed the music of the 1950’s 60s and to this day. However, he confessed that he couldn’t play any other way which is a far cry from the manufactured sound of several artists that have had one hit wonders and then faded into obscurity, because they stuck to the formula.
Johnny Cash with a link to a video of his song "Big River"
In saying this I do not mean to completely batter the structural resolution of songs, but to make the point that song structuring in the conventional manner as described in chapter 4 of Andrew Goodwin’s book Dancing In the Distraction Factory, is not necessarily the formula to success. The Ramones for instance were notorious for their lack of solos in songs, which typified the Punk attitude of nonconformity, they still enjoyed quite a bit of success however, due to their very catchy, and almost dancable rock songs.
The Ramones with a link attached to their video 'I Wanna Be Sedated'
In the video linked to the picture above, the Ramones also disposed of the typification of the music video and structure to make that has commonly been procured in a similar manner of the chorus and hooks that was discussed by Andrew Goodwin. These include having close-ups of the band, and hooking interest in the fast paced editing of frame and view changes that often keep the beat and constant keep the viewer’s attention. In this, the band is almost having a video thrust upon them, as they sit at a table and all sorts of random and crazy interactions occur around them. In this case, there is no visual narrative present, but the artists are involved in what Dancing In the Distraction Factory refers to as disjunction where the images have no apparent bearing on the lyrics, but yet in this case, the lyrics do not flatly disagree with the images. There is in the video a general sense of the meaning of the lyrics, like a group of slightly crazy people, they sit and have the emotions and thoughts and general feeling of the song occur around them, and we are left to believe, to be thought about in their heads as they sit there.
In this formula of the video, using methods of catching the audience’s attention, there is a sense of repetition that is often used. This can be within songs themselves with the verse and chorus repetition, through the use of other sounds to associate a repetition that will make the listener think of the impact of a similar song, and in the actual physical repetition through the media, either with radio play, or on TV, and to quote Goodwin, “familiarity breeds sales or contempt”. The Critical theorist Theodor Adorno had made this a subject of analysis in several of his papers. He found that popular music uses “part interchangeability to such an extent that we often simply recognize songs because of their similarities”.
In Adorno’s analysis of song he often classified it (in typical Critical school of thought manner) as a product and the chorus adds to the promotion of the ‘product’ in this case the song’s name. One could argue that the trend of alternative songs popularity has been propagated in part to the breaking of this pattern. Often, (and sometimes purposefully) more alternative songs do not have chorus structure or the name of the song has nothing to do with the lyrics, is not mentioned. However, this has also been the case for several songs that have become classics of our century. In the case of Johnny Cash’s song Folsom Prison Blues, the title simply refers to the general nature of the song. There is a growing trend in the nature of a song to be the focus of the title, or be a object of curiosity, and at times humor. In the case of a myriad of hardcore songs, they often have titles such as, It’s Myself Vs. Being A Man ,The Only Survivor Was Miraculously Unharmed, Hey John, What’s Your Name Again, and I’ve Got Ten Friends & A Crowbar That Says You Ain’t Gonna Do Jack. Just to name a few.
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Excellent post!