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6 Pop songs that rip off classical music

Musicians have always lifted tunes from each other. Stravinsky borrowed from Tchaikovsky, who rearranged Mozart, who stole from Beethoven, who took local folk songs and made them his own, and on down the line. Of course, these composers were always pretty creative when it came to thievery. Here are six recent(ish) pop songs that were either influenced by famous classical melodies, or sample actual tunes and use them in the fabric of the song. I leave it up to you to judge whether or not they do justice... READ ON

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A cappella is alive and well! 3 great recordings

In Italian, a cappella literally means in chapel style. That's because back in the day, instruments were forbidden in the church (they still are in many orthodox churches, synagogues and mosques). Therefore, all music had to be sung, and only sung. These days, a cappella generally refers to a song, sacred or secular, that's performed without instrumental accompaniment. Far from the chants of Gregorian monks, or the motets of Ockeghem, or even the traditional 1940s barbershop quartet, a... READ ON

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On Music: What's Your Default Song?

Loyal readers of this blog will recall my post on default songs, a term I coined that refers to the song you default to when either there's no song in your head, or you want to get a lousy song OUT of your head. Default songs can change as you change, and since my original default song post was a year ago, I'm sure many of you have new default songs by now - tunes you're just itching to share with us. For instance, when last I posted on the subject, my default song was... READ ON

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2 Hidden Tracks That Might've Started a Trend

Who doesn't like stumbling on a bonus tune, hidden away at the end of an album? Often they're preceded by long stretches of silence, the musical fake-out equivalent of extra film footage that runs after the final credits. I remember 1994 being a particularly good year for hidden tracks. We got NIN's track 98 on Broken, AND that amazing 12th cut off the Stone Temple Pilots second album. From The Clash to Alanis, from Dave Matthews to R.E.M, lots of artists have used the hidden track... READ ON

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On Music: Brahms' Violin Concerto

I finally got around to seeing There Will Be Blood, by the unfairly talented, Paul Thomas Anderson. I'll admit it: I really did love it as much as everyone said I would. But unlike most of the rave reviews I'd heard from friends, it wasn't Daniel Day-Lewis I loved the most (though to be sure, he was pretty amazing), it was the movie's score. Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead fame) came up with some pretty wonderfully percussive textures, and I thought the use of Arvo... READ ON

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On Music: the wah-wah pedal

All this month I'll be looking at some of the more popular audio signal processing effects out there, which I'm sure you'll recognize from some of the most successful songs ever recorded. Impress your friends next time one of these babies comes on the radio by saying, "Wait, check out this part and listen to the ____!" If you missed last week's post on flangers and phasers that can be found here. Today, let's fill in that blank with the wah-wah effect, which... READ ON

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7 Songs That Show Off Flangers & Phasers

All this month I'll be looking at some of the more popular audio signal processing effects out there, which I'm sure you'll recognize from some of the most successful songs ever recorded. Impress your friends next time one of these babies comes on the radio by saying, "Wait, check out this part and listen to the ____!" Today, let's fill in that blank with flangers and phasers. Without getting overly technical with this post, I can say that while they're not... READ ON

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7 Original Recordings that Blow the Remakes Away

I like me a good remake from time to time. Both Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin successfully covered Muddy Waters' "You Shook Me," for example. And then there's that great Aretha Franklin remake of Otis Redding's "Respect." And who can argue with Johnny Cash's cover of NIN's "Hurt"? But generally, I tend to prefer the original recording artists. Here are seven that I'll take any day over their more famous covers. 1. "Hound Dog"... READ ON

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6 Songs that are Hard to Dance to (and 1 that isn't)

Most pop songs are written in what is known as 4/4 time, meaning the quarter note is equal to one beat and there are 4 beats in every bar of music. Because of this, when a band plays in concert, you'll often here a drummer count 1, 2, 3, 4 before starting a song. He (or she) is not only reminding the band members that the song is in 4/4, but also giving them an idea of the speed with which the quarter note moves through time, or what musicians call a measure. Interestingly, 4/4 isn't really the natural... READ ON

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On Music: 7 Songs with Fewer Than 35 Words

I love me a song with a lot of words in it. For example, Genesis wrote one in the 1970s called "Supper's Ready" that has a whopping 997 words - that's a whole lotta lyric. At the other end of the spectrum are the ones with supper minimalistic lyrics. Also from the "˜70s, for example, how about that Pink Floyd song from The Wall called "Is There Anybody Out There?" "“ a nearly three minute-long number with only 4 unique words in it: is, there anybody, out.... READ ON