July 5th 2024.
Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, and Nat King Cole are all artists who have made a significant impact in the music industry since the 1950s. With their unique styles and memorable songs, they have captured the hearts of many listeners. However, have you ever wondered whose music was the most complex?
It's a common sentiment for older generations to believe that music was better in their time. While there is no objective way to measure the quality of music, a recent study has found that popular music has become simpler over the years. This may come as a surprise to those who believe that music has only improved with time.
The study, conducted by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, analyzed the top five songs on the US Billboard year-end singles music charts from 1950 to 2022. They found that there were two significant decreases in melodic complexity, one in 1975 and another in 2000, along with a smaller decrease in 1996. This shift towards simpler melodies could be attributed to the emergence of new musical styles and advancements in technology, such as digital production and audio loops.
Madeline Hamilton, a doctoral student at Queen Mary University, and Dr. Marcus Pearce, who conducted the research, noted that there has been a decrease in the complexity of song rhythms and pitch arrangements. This means that there are fewer notes played per second in popular music today compared to previous decades. This shift towards simpler melodies could be due to the rise of genres like new wave, disco, and stadium rock in the 1970s, and hip-hop and digital production in the 1990s and 2000s.
However, the researchers clarified that this does not mean that the quality of music has decreased over the years. In fact, they believe that the simplicity of melodies could be a result of an increase in complexity in other musical elements, such as the use of digital instruments and sound quality. This allows for more intricate music to be expressed through other dimensions of a song, such as harmony and timbre.
Ms. Hamilton, who was born in 1998, admits that she is personally drawn to the music of her generation. However, through this study, she has discovered and appreciated older songs that she finds beautiful, such as "You Belong To Me" by Jo Stafford. She hopes that this study will help people rediscover and appreciate the complexity of older music.
The shift towards simpler melodies is not necessarily a bad thing, according to Ms. Hamilton. In fact, some of the best songs have very simple melodies, proving that complexity does not determine the quality of music. It is simply a shift in the way music is created and enjoyed. As technology continues to advance, we may see further changes in the complexity of popular music, but that does not diminish the value and beauty of older songs.
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