Elvis Costello‘s 1979 release, “Accidents Will Happen,” modulates back and forth between D major on the verses and D minor on the choruses; the first of these shifts hits at 0:19. Starting at 2:10, the outro of this compact tune accelerates the pattern by shifting between the two keys every two measures!
Tag: new wave
Talk Talk | It’s My Life
British New Wave band Talk Talk scored a #1 US dance hit in 1985 with ”It‘s My Life,” written by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene. The tune was later very successfully covered by No Doubt in 2003, resulting in top-20 chart positions around the world. The intro and verse are based around an Eb to Db/Eb vamp — a deceptively simple progression obscured by the percolating bass line and layered synths. The chorus (starting for the first time at 0:53) is centered around A minor. The instrumental bridge (2:31 – 2:55) is based on Bb minor.
Wang Chung | Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Score another mod for MotD member Rob P., who suggested this tune:
The UK’s Wang Chung had a few huge new wave/pop hits in the 80s, including “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” (1986). “’When we came up with the original line, I then went away and wrote with a Hey Jude-style ballad around it, trying to be ironic,” (American Songwriter). “And then when we got in the studio with Peter Wolf, he was like, This is an amazing dance hit, you rock the tempo, you’ve got to really deliver what the title suggests.’
By leaning into the good-timey vibes of the title with a big old synths-and-horns production, Wang Chung danced all the way to #2 on the U.S. pop charts in 1986. The song almost immediately cemented itself in the world of pop culture … Everybody Have Fun Tonight’ rebuilt Wang Chung’s image in one fell swoop. It might have taken them a while to settle on that band moniker, but they wielded it like a weapon on their biggest hit.”
The verse and choruses seem pretty straightforward, but then the bridge (2:32) catches us off guard with a few distinct sections — and two modulations — before returning to the original key at 3:29.
Dave Edmunds | Girls Talk
The 1970s post-punk UK songwriting scene brought to light many dynamic songwriters and performers — including Elvis Costello and Dave Edmunds. The original version of “Girls Talk,” written in 1979 by Costello, clocked in at only two minutes in length, as bare-bones as could be. Edmunds’ cover version, released the same year, added plenty of new features, including a fuller sound and three modulations: the first at the end of the intro (0:11); the second for the duration of an instrumental verse (2:07); and third, returning to the main key at the end of that verse (2:22).
Nik Kershaw | Radio Musicola
Nik Kershaw‘s classic 1986 New Wave release, Radio Musicola, was full of the UK singer’s moody, richly textured sound; the title track was no exception.
A textbook half-step ascending direct modulation at 2:03; a bridge (2:21 – 2:40) ending with a downward half-step modulation to the original key; and another modulation back to the second key at 3:06.
Madness | Our House
Madness occupied a very specific corner of 1980s New Wave — a UK-based ska/pop hybrid band that that was more about the music than the era’s flashy fashions. “Our House,” released in 1982, reached top-5 status in the US, Canada, the UK, and much of Europe.
The tune cycles through piles of modulations: 0:46, 0:54, 1:10, 1:18, 1:26, 1:41, 1:49, 2:05, 2:13, 2:44, and then every four bars all the way to the end.
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