Why this is the most complex 80s song

#ndw #neuedeutschewelle #cominghome #majortom #völliglosgelöst #musictheory #analysis #80smusic
Peter Schilling's 'Major Tom' is an all time classic since its breakthrough in 1983 - and yet, there is something very strange going on in the verses. Admittedly, nobody will care because it's such a catchy tune and the audience might not be in the most sober state anymore... ;-) But I wanted to have a look at it anyway.
Major Tom original video (German): • Peter Schilling - Majo...
SWR1 Leute interview with Peter Schilling: www.swr.de/swr...
More 80s music analysis: • Crazy Key Changes All ...
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[@jasonmedina4560]

I’m obsessed with these songs in which the “1” is difficult to nail down, for example The Police “Spirits in the Material World”, Blur “Beetlebum”, the opening track on three consecutive Metallica albums, “Fight Fire With Fire”, “Battery”, and “Blackened”. I went decades hearing these songs backwards before things clicked into place. Oddly I never had this problem with Major Tom. I guess it’s because the intro establishes where the 1 is before it flips.

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

Yes, in Major Tom it's established in the beginning unlike the most other examples (I will come up with a comparable and very famous one sometime soon). Spirits in the Material World is actually also a pretty good one that I will definetely need to have a closer look at.

[@achikin4466]

Great video

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

Thank you!

[@robertstewart293]

I recently heard this song for the first time on the radio. It sounds fine even up to the point when it’s just the kick on the 2 and 4. But as soon as the snare hits on 4, I find it impossible to hear it correctly. It’s something that has to do with our familiarity of that kick snare groove being on 1 & 3. There’s no other reason it should sound wrong. It never adds an extra beat. It’s insane 😂

[@christian3558]

Wundervoll!!!

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

Freut mich 😇

[@walewskimusic1504]

Just discovered your channel and love it!! Was that two video clips of The Hooters you included?! They tour Germany every year and perform an incredible version of Major Tom in their set.

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

Hi, thanks for your kind words! Yes, that was the hooters version. They actually don't do that shifted metre thing in the verses (at least in the clip that I used, but I haven't checked all of theirs), so you get a pretty good idea what Major Tom sounds like if played "normal". Great performers no doubt!

[@antoniusnies-komponistpian2172]

Not a song, but I'm practicing a piano quintet with four wind instruments by Rimsky-Korsakov, and in the last movement there is a part where the wind instruments play in 3/8 while the piano has to play in 3/4. Also I composed variations for 2 pianos about a computer game soundtrack. In one variation, piano 1 has to play a 4*5/16 pattern with a 4/4 melody above, while piano 2 plays a 5*4/16 pattern with a 5/4 melody. That's fun. But the composer is not dead long enough to upload a recording for free, I'm afraid.

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

Cool thing! Now your next task would be to compose "antimetrically" like in the discussed song, with 2 instruments playing in 4/4 but each starting from a different beat. :-)

[@Aische1993]

Wenn man uns das mal im Schulchor erzählt hätte:)

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

Dann hätten alle die tages- und nächtefüllenden Diskussionen von einem gewissenen anderen Basssänger und mir ertragen müssen (noch mehr als ohnehin schon...) ;-)

[@skillet0666]

(Again, no musical education, so excuse my lack of knowledge) I think something similar happens in the intro to "Little Look Back" by Axxis. The instrumental part (the one that has 10 notes, then 11) has the emphasis on the first note throughout the song. But when the song begins, it misses the 11th note and starts the whole sequence again, making you think that the beat is on the 3rd note. But then it doesn't break off, repeats the instrumental part again and you go "oh wait, it's on the first note again". kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYGQhqxjl6Znrc0 I don't know if I'm explaining it well. Or if I'm right. Either way, I love these videos 😃

[@jonaswolfmusic1775]

That's very well spotted. Yes, in the beginning of the first verse and of the end section, they play around with putting the beats of the drums into the "wrong" places. If listening close one can notice it is played like an accentuated 2 or 4, but if you jump right into it, you get very easily confused. Thanks so much! =)

[@ShirubaGin]

Haven't heard of this song, but the rhythm does sound nice tho.