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1950s. From an artistic point of view, there is no such thing as a right or wrong form. If all songs were written to
commercial formulas, we would all die of boredom. The dullest periods in the history of the singles chart were the
ones when formulas dominated and eliminated the diversity of popular music.
For practical reasons, a book such as this needs to be based upon certain assumptions. It assumes you want to write
songs that come in under the five-minute mark and use a traditional verse/chorus format, and that are approachable
rather than avant-garde. You may have other musical ambitions, but even so there will be plenty here you can adapt
and use.
Throughout the book, something like 1,500 popular songs from the 1950s to the present illustrate specific techniques
of songwriting. A large number were hits on one or both sides of the Atlantic. I am not implying that they are all
great songs, even if they were hits – some are, some aren't. Our interest in them is structural and technical. From
Dusty Springfield to Led Zeppelin, from The Four Tops to The Sex Pistols, from Madonna to Catatonia, from Bob
Marley to Oasis, there is quite a range of artists. If a song wasn't a single, you'll probably find it either on a "Best Of"
compilation or a well-known album. The Beatles are well represented, not only because they were outstanding but
because most people are familiar with their work. A copy of The Beatles Complete Chordbook (Wise, 2000) is
invaluable from a songwriting point of view. If you don't find your favourite song or artist, don't get mad. After all, I
couldn't consult the entire history of Western popular music in time for the deadline!
Have All the Great Songs Been Written?
Sometimes it can feel as though all the great songs exist and the best ideas have been used but there are always great
songs waiting to be written. If it helps, think of them as hovering in the ether. It is true that the musical forms of a
particular period cannot again have the same impact as when they were first heard. But locate yourself at any year in
pop history, look at the next year's charts, and think about the songs no one had yet written. There were probably
songwriters in the Brill Building in New York in 1962 chewing on their pencils, staring at the piano keys and blank
manuscript paper, thinking that there were no more good tunes. Yet within a couple of years Lennon & McCartney,
Holland-Dozier-Holland, Bacharach & David and Asher & Wilson would be producing classics by the bagful.
Furthermore, how come it took rock music 40 years to produce 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', a decade after it was
widely believed that guitar rock was dead? How was it that The La's 'There She Goes' was written in 1989 instead of
1968? How come no one wrote Travis' 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me' before 1999?
The Challenge of Today
Many feel that the period from 1960 to 1980 was a "golden era" for popular music, when more memorable songs
were released, especially as singles, than in later periods. Is this true? Or is it merely rose-tinted memories of the
music heard when young? Will those who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s feel the same way about their era?
Actually, there are objective factors that point to a decline in the quality of commercial songwriting – that is, the
music that fills the airwaves and the Top 40 and Top 100. Lyrically, popular song has grown insular and afraid to
address the world, while at the same time it is more pretentious, confusing obscurity with profundity. When it comes
to banality, what difference is there between the next record that tells you to "shake your body" and 'Sugar Sugar'
except that the former will hide its vacuousness beneath a tough, metallic production?
If there is a decline in popular music, the cause is not hard to find. It is the