The Son Unit went through his iTunes playlist the other day collecting songs featuring The Chord Progression that Won’t Die and pulled a swath of tunes that fit the bill. He was actually a little dispirited by commonality of songs he’d collected. Here’s a compilation of his latest examples of this relentless chord progression.
Now, normally I have no problem with the idea of sticking with what works. I still have and sometimes drive a 1991 Trooper thats rusting from the inside-out from the drool of a dog who was outlived by the truck. But there comes a point when a musical meme is so overused that it becomes useless, hackneyed or just plain irritating. If composing were writing text this progression would be the equivalent of “It was a dark and stormy night.”
There are levels, of course. It’s still feels okay as a pre-chorus (Petty) or intro or a smaller part of a composition, but when it’s the whole verse or chorus structure it’s like watching reruns.
