Comedy rock band uses 38 songs to demonstrate how the same four chords are used in 'every pop song'
A comedy rock band has used 38 different songs to demonstrate how the same four chords are used in 'every pop song'.
The Australian comedy group, Axis Of Awesome, took to the stage to perform a sketch exhibiting just how similar a whole load of pop anthems sound - despite hailing from a range of different musical eras, genres and musicians.
The demonstration seems to be more prevalent than ever considering a certain high-profile case filed against one of the world's most famed musicians... Check it out:
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The band, comprised of Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis, performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival back in 2009 to share with audiences just how indistinguishable nearly 40 songs sound when sung back to back.
Jordan begins by telling the audience: "We've been a comedy rock band for close to 40 years now and, within all that time, we've never had a hit."
"Yeah," Benny says. "But you guys know why? It's because we never wrote a four chord song.
"All the greatest hits from the past 40 years just use four chords. Same four chord for every song. It's dead simple to write a pop hit."
He then proceeded to play each of the four chords in question - which many will already find incredibly familiar after hearing.
Jordan then asks: "Sorry, let me get this straight.
"What you're trying to say is you can take those four chords, repeat them and pump out every pop song ever?"
Benny then goes straight into the demonstration, kicking off the rundown with Journey's smash-hit from 1981, 'Don't Stop Believin'.
He then effortlessly goes into James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful', Alphaville's 'Forever Young' and Jason Mraz's 'I'm Yours'.
As audience gasp, the comedy trio then mash-up the track with 34 more famous pop hits including MIKA's 'Happy Ending', The Calling's 'Wherever You Will Go' and Maroon 5's 'And She Will Be Loved'.
And it only ramps up from there as the band call for 'double time' as they speed up the tempo.
From The Beatles' 'Let It Be' and Bob Marley's 'No Woman No Cry' to A-ha's 'Take On Me' and Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face' - it's fair to say that everyone's minds were blown to find out all these different songs shared the exact same chords.
For musicians, the musical trick is known as the I–V–vi–IV progression, and when played in the key of C it would be the notes C, G, Am, F.
The YouTube clip has since gone viral and has received over 81 million views on the platform with dozens of thousands of comments from people eager to react to the incredible demonstration.
One fan of the trio commented: "This is the best mash-up ever."
"This just has me grinning from ear-to-ear for every moment every second," penned another.
A third added: "Words can’t really describe just how much happiness and awe I felt whilst watching this. I really wasn’t expecting anything this level."
And it wasn't just fans who flooded in to share their praise for the insanely talented threesome.
Fellow musicians offered their on expertise approval of the band's impeccable artistry.
One wrote: "As a musician myself, this is so well put together and the fact that they did it so perfectly LIVE... I would pay serious money to witness this live!"
Another echoed: "The pure lyrical genius that is this trio. Not to mention those harmonies were actually pretty damn good."
"The audience isn't freaking out enough. This is the most genius song ever written," posted a third while a final YouTube user added: "Strangely enough, by copying dozens of songs, they ended up creating something more unique than any of them. What a performance."
Some even went as far as to draw up parallels with the four-chord trick and the recent plagiarism lawsuit against British pop-icon, Ed Sheeran.
One hawk-eyed viewer advised: "This should be shown to the judges of the Ed Sheeran lawsuit. It's honestly ridiculous trying to copyright chord progressions and BPM."
It's been a dramatic few years for Sheeran after Kathryn Townsend Griffin, the daughter of Ed Townsend, one of the co-writers on the Marvin Gaye track 'Let’s Get It On', filed a lawsuit against him back in 2017.
While she alleged that the star copied certain elements of the track in his 2014 hit, 'Thinking Out Loud', such claims have finally been put to rest after Sheeran won the case yesterday (5 May).
Topics: Music
Rhiannon Ingle