Modulation / key changes have been used in music for ages but the style I’m talking about is the distinctive last verse (or chorus) sudden key change up to power through to the end. Seems to have come about sometime in the 60s/70s and was everywhere in the 80s onwards.
Examples:
Heaven is a place on earth - Belinda Carlisle
I will always love you - Whitney Houston
But who popularised it? What was the first big song to do it and set the style for the genre?
Modulation fluctuates in popularity. About a quarter of number one hits from the 60s through the 90s utilized it, whereas in the 2010s only one number one hit did.
Why the key change has disappeared from top-charting tune - NPR - All Things Considered
Edit: I realize this doesn’t answer your question, but I’m not sure there really is an answer. It’s such an old technique, musically speaking.
it sort of does answer it in that it wasn’t reallllly popularized in the 80s it was just rehashed by pop chart hits.
You see it in classical music all the time, like minor to major changes leading to crescendos or other larger shifts leading to the end of a movement. Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin. It’s nothing new.
Agree. But mine is a question about style as much as anything. It’s use in 80s ballads is distinctive. Same key throughout song then a singular upshift for the last verse / chorus. I’m not referring to music that modulates throughout the whole piece, or makes a change near the end having done it in several other places.
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Yes that’s exactly the pattern I’m talking about. The upwards change is only used at the end where it’s used twice. “I just called” is from 1984 though. Through digging around the earliest I’ve found the style is in Penny Lane 1967. Am a bit on the fence about that though as the key shifts a lot through the song, but there’s a definite key change up for emphasis on the last chorus.
Probably not the correct answer, but a lot of Jim Steinman composed/produced songs have that cheesy power ballad flair to it.
I’m pretty musically ignorant, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer was Chicago.
Hmm, 1975. I’m sure there are big hits that are earlier. I’m pretty sure the Beatles did it.
They’ll have to fight Bob Seger for the title.
The short answer, I don’t know.
But from my own observation there were a lot more general key changes in 1980s-era rock, which may have been the result of fewer other ways to escalate a song for the final chorus and outro, which is to say, yes, new tech (mostly sampling, looping and higher-fidelity recording) reduced the need for creativity much the way that movies had a lot more stage effects before they just filmed actors in green-screen and added everything with CGI.
Last year I went to a SGMC concert of mostly Queen, and was noticing how much their tunes bounced around, often having two or three key-changes per verse+chorus.
There is a cool video by David Bennett about this. I can’t seem to remember if he mentions who was the first one, but he puts on a lot of samples I wasn’t aware of
That style actually pre-dates the 80’s by at least a few decades. In more traditional music, particularly Christian hymns, that’s referred to as a “descant”. It was popularized in church music in the early 20th century by Ralph Vaughn Williams.Edit: See comment below.
That style actually pre-dates the 80’s by at least a few decades. In more traditional music, particularly Christian hymns, that’s referred to as a “descant”. It was popularized in church music in the early 20th century by Ralph Vaughn Williams.
Descant is a vocal harmony above the melody, whereas in hymnody most harmony is below the melody. They show up in final stanzas, most frequently.
What they’re talking about here is modulation, where the key shifts by a step or two (or maybe a half step). It’s sometimes seen as a bit cheesy nowadays, but I love a good modulation.
That makes sense and I just learned something new. Thanks for the correction!
Thanks for the correction!
Thanks for the gratitude!
Like most others here, I don’t have an answer for you. I just wanted to share that I feel songs using this gimmick are lazy attempts to pad the length of the song. Nothing prompts me to change the channel or skip ahead faster.
Yep it’s cheesy. You can do that with purpose, but that’s very rare.
Some certainly do. But it also creates a distinct emotional feel which may also be a legitimate intention.
I know nothing about music history, but consider that you’re basically describing yodeling
not the singing of high notes but the music key. e.g. Whitney’s song starts out in one key but progresses up one later when she hits the chorus “AND IIIIII EEEIIIIII”
WEIIIIIILLL AaAAAHHLWWWAYS love EUGHYOUUUUUU
I know almost nothing about yodelling, but of the little I’ve heard it has never struck me as a dramatic key change
I don’t know but key changes should be illegal imo. Pick a key and stick to it.
Ah come on, everyone loves to belt out that last verse!
👮♂️ 🚨 👮 uhh I’m gonna need to see some identification and your license sir
Lol
suspect driving a ‘99 dodge cherokee with 400lb of peanuts on the back seat, suspected of changing key without a license
Fine.
One key.
(Changes mode every half bar)
Jazz moment
🎷
You know what, I’ll play contrarian with you and go one further. Music is bad and should be outlawed.
(Music is my primary passion, shut up, it’s sarcasm)
Stephen Sondheim in shambles.
