Tag: 1990s

Lenny Kravitz | American Woman

Our Twitter follower @tomstandage submitted “the semi-tone downward modulation for the solo (1:32) and back up again (1:43) in Lenny Kravitz‘s 1999 cover of The Guess Who‘s ‘American Woman’ (1970)”.

Kravitz’s cover went into the top 20 in Australia, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand and Spain, #26 in Canada, and #49 in the US.

Cardigans | Lovefool

“Lovefool” was the breakthrough hit (1996) for Swedish band Cardigans. The tune saw broad success, including reaching #15 (Swedish Pop), #5 in Finland, #1 in New Zealand and Scotland, and #1 on the US Mainstream Top 40 chart. Pitchfork Magazine ranked it #66 on its “Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s”.

According to Billboard, “The song’s upbeat feel wasn’t the band’s initial intention. ‘Before we recorded it, it was slower and more of a bossa nova,’ frontwoman Nina Persson says. ‘It’s quite a sad love song; the meaning of it is quite pathetic, really. But then when we were recording, by chance, our drummer started to play that kind of disco beat, and there was no way to get away from it after that.'” The verses are in A minor, shifting to A major for the choruses (0:44).

Weezer | Undone / The Sweater Song

After a long vamping intro (through 0:40), “Undone / The Sweater Song” (1994) by college radio favorites Weezer starts in F# major, modulates up to A major for a guitar solo from 1:51-2:16, then reverts back to F#. In John Luerssen’s biography of the band, frontman Rivers Cuomo says of the band’s debut single, “It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it’s hilarious,” and was his “attempt at writing a Velvet Underground-type song.” From AllMusic‘s review: “meticulously crafted…smart, quirky, poignant, and insanely catchy — all characteristics that would go on to define Weezer as a band and their debut as one of the most successful alternative rock records of the ’90s.”