What rock songs incorporate a key change?

January 5, 2005 1:09 PM

What rock songs incorporate a key change?

A fellow Mefite recently asserted that a hallmark of greatness is complexity. One sign of complexity in a song, he says, is a change in key. I’d like to make him a mix CD of classic rock and/or alternative rock songs that should, according to his definition, be great. So what classic rock and/or alternative rock songs incorporate a key change? (No requirement that they otherwise be great songs, although great songs are not prohibited.)

posted by grateful to Media & Arts (54 answers total)

I'm gonna guess most anything you can think of by Rush. Like that little reggae-ish part in Limelight, maybe? Or YYZ.
posted by spicynuts at 1:11 PM on January 5, 2005

I posted before your additional comments, so now I'm going to be the thread dick and completely disagree with your friend on all counts. I'm a big fan of simplicity, which I think is much more elegant and difficult to do well than complexity. I mean, Yngwie Malmsteen's stuff is complex, but is it great? Give me a three chord Ramones romp over the bloated 9 minute Tool songs anyday.
posted by spicynuts at 1:14 PM on January 5, 2005

A change in key in not particularly a sign of complexity. In pop music, for example, it can be a sign that the song is so lame that it needs a key change to pick it up.

Many (though not most) modern pop songs incorporate a key change for the last verse, where the last verse (and/or chorus) goes up a tone or a semitone from the original key. It's become a joke in my household when the radio's on. Whoever screams out "obligatory lame key change" first wins.

Regarding rock music, it's not so bad, but I'll leave specific examples to everyone else. I'm sure Stairway to Heaven has a couple though. One at the "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow" line, IIRC.
posted by wackybrit at 1:14 PM on January 5, 2005

Sometimes a key change is a mark of desperation: the Truck Driver's Gear Change Hall of Shame.
posted by goatdog at 1:16 PM on January 5, 2005 [1 favorite]

Now, if you add a TIME CHANGE, then you're talking serious complexity, baby.

I'm sure I'm violating some ruling by posting three times within minutes, but I love this thread already.
posted by spicynuts at 1:16 PM on January 5, 2005

Give me a three chord Ramones romp

I Wanna be Sedated has a key change.
posted by COBRA! at 1:29 PM on January 5, 2005

John Mellencamp (at the time recording as "John Cougar") has several key changes in the introduction of "I Need a Lover." He's said in interviews that at the time, he was such a novice at writing music that he thought key changes were the greatest thing ever, so he put a whole bunch of them in. Which should probably tell you something about key changes.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:30 PM on January 5, 2005

I Wanna be Sedated has a key change.

Well then I wasn't talking about that song, then.

I think you go the idea of what I was trying to say, right?
posted by spicynuts at 1:34 PM on January 5, 2005

Yeah, and I agree, actually. I just saw the ball over the plate and couldn't help but swing.
posted by COBRA! at 1:36 PM on January 5, 2005

Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:41 PM on January 5, 2005

"Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry changes keys for the chorus. There's a modulation right after "somebody turned around and shouted..." and a demodulation before "lay down the boogie."

I seem to remember one of the big Def Leppard songs ("Armageddon It," most likely) has a key change right before the end.
posted by savetheclocktower at 1:44 PM on January 5, 2005

So I guess Bachs 2&3 part inventions are luh-ame.

Polyphonic Spree loves them some key changes I think.
It's not the kind of thing I take note of.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds says about. Really there are so many songs with key changes, finding explicit examples might be easiest by looking for pages that are attempting to explain modulation, middle eights, bridges, and key changes.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 1:53 PM on January 5, 2005

While I disagree with your buddy I would bet you could find some key changes in some Sonic Youth songs. But, for the most part you aren't going to find many key changes in Rock and Roll.
posted by trbrts at 1:56 PM on January 5, 2005

I love songs with Bizarre Completely Unmotivated Key Changes even more than songs with Obligatory Lame Key Changes.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:57 PM on January 5, 2005

"Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations, "It's Cold Outside" by The Choir and "My Girl" by The Temptations are a couple of pop songs with key changes that I can think of.
posted by turaho at 2:12 PM on January 5, 2005

I'm embarrassed that the first song that popped into my head was "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. I think several bombastic classic-rock songs do a key change near the final chorus for added 'complexity', though no others are coming to me right now.
posted by lisa g at 2:13 PM on January 5, 2005

spicynuts: "Paranoid Android", Radiohead. 'nuf said.
posted by blender at 2:23 PM on January 5, 2005

Jack Karaoke:

The argument in the Gear Shift page isn't (generally) about any and all key changes, but the use of a key change towards the end of a song to make it longer while doing the same thing. The "we're out of ideas but the record company says our song needs to be 20 seconds longer" style key change.
posted by Bugbread at 2:38 PM on January 5, 2005

"I Just Called To Say I Love You" has a key change. So maybe your thesis is suspect. I do admire time-changes, however. I think the classic example is Freebird.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 2:42 PM on January 5, 2005

New York, New York.

Oh, wait. Not rock.
posted by ParisParamus at 2:43 PM on January 5, 2005

Now that I think about it, "The KKK Took My Baby Away" may have a key change, too.
posted by COBRA! at 2:48 PM on January 5, 2005

"Strange Condition" by Pete Yorn has a key change right after the first verse. Refreshing. Is it rock? I don't know. Several songs from Abbey Road (side 2) have key changes. Are they rock? I don't know. "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello has smooth bridge section enabling a key change about a minute-and-a-half in. Cheap Trick's "Surrender" has a more-abrupt change -- but, at least in the live version, it actually changes back in the last few bars, pleasing all the inflexible musical theorists at Budokan.
posted by evinrude at 3:06 PM on January 5, 2005

a smooth bridge section.

Bonzo Goes to Bitburg? Needles and Pins? probably have key changes.
posted by evinrude at 3:09 PM on January 5, 2005

Day Tripper by the Beatles is almost nothing but the same riff played over and over, alternating between E and A every two iterations, with some random other key thrown in at the end.
posted by LionIndex at 3:26 PM on January 5, 2005

"Pinball Wizard" changes key for the last verse, but it really just transposes up something like a fifth. There are numerous pop songs that go from the minor mode of a key to the major for the chorus. Of course, I can't think of any right now.
posted by mzurer at 3:52 PM on January 5, 2005

That's just chord changes, LionIndex.

My Generation has three key changes: G to A, A to Bb, and Bb to C.
posted by timeistight at 3:54 PM on January 5, 2005

Darn. Book I learned it out of said key changes. Stupid book.
posted by LionIndex at 4:14 PM on January 5, 2005

"Four Little Songs" by the Rheostatics not only changes key, but tempo, rhythm, and vocalist!
posted by Robot Johnny at 4:26 PM on January 5, 2005

I immediately thought of "In the Army Now" by Status Quo, in the category of "dragging it out" key changes.

This is deeply disturbing to me.
posted by salmacis at 4:26 PM on January 5, 2005

This question is gonna' drive me nuts. Now I'm gonna' go through my whole damn collection looking for key changes. First hit: Accidents Will Happen, Elvis Costello. The chorus is a minor from major key change and the weird outro is the same thing (minor, major, minor, major) repeated.
posted by leecifer at 4:42 PM on January 5, 2005

"Be With You" by Mr. Big. Key of E to G and then back to E. And to tie it nicely to Metafilter is the line: "waited on a line of Green (AskMe) and Blue (MeFi)..."

Man, I'm a dork.
posted by inviolable at 4:46 PM on January 5, 2005

Yeah, I you can pretty much go right through Armed Forces (and probably any other Elvis Costello albums) and find 'em. Oliver's Army has the "Barry Manilow modulation" (raise the last chorus one whole step).
posted by leecifer at 4:46 PM on January 5, 2005

I think Blonde Redhead's "This is Not" was a very bad choice for me to try this out on. Someone want to tell me what the hell's going on in that song?
posted by squidlarkin at 5:03 PM on January 5, 2005

"Radar Love" uses the key change in a good way, according to me, while Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" (and it kills me to say this) does not, although you might say he attempted to do a 1980 version of the classic early '60s (pre-Beatles) American pop single and then the key change is required so cannot be held against him. Plus Flo and Eddie on backing vocals... Stop me before I......

On preview: Where is jonmc??? This is so exactly his type of thread.
posted by billsaysthis at 5:14 PM on January 5, 2005

spicynuts: "Paranoid Android", Radiohead. 'nuf said.

Blender, I can't tell from that statement if you are agreeing with me or disagreeing with me, but regardless, I don't think any agrument that ends with "....Radiohead. 'nuf said." is worth listening to.

It's about time this Radiohead worship ends.
posted by spicynuts at 5:20 PM on January 5, 2005

Oh, and no one wants to take up the gauntlet of the time change being more indicative of sophistication than the key change?
posted by spicynuts at 5:21 PM on January 5, 2005

I don't think either time changes or chord changes, in and of themselves, indicate sophistication. They're both like big, multisyllabic words in prose. When used well, they can enhance what you're trying to do. Often though, they are used unnecessarily or just poorly, which indicates a distinct lack of sophistication. The same also goes for variations from tonality (that is, using something other than the western major or melodic minor scales).
posted by leecifer at 5:38 PM on January 5, 2005

I'm pretty convinced that some of the "key changes" heard in early MTV videos were the function of technical glitches. "Beat It" and "Rio" come to mind.
posted by ParisParamus at 5:40 PM on January 5, 2005

Middle eight in Counting Crows' Round Here.
posted by armoured-ant at 6:04 PM on January 5, 2005

Queen - The great Pretender has the cliche half-tone up pich-change. As for timing changes (which I misread this question as at first), you really can't beat the sax solo in Pink Floyd's Money.
posted by fvw at 6:21 PM on January 5, 2005

If my memory and my quick chord readings are correct, "Born to Run" by Springsteen. I will throw my two cents here and say that complexity is independent of greatness. There are good and bad simple and complex songs.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 8:31 PM on January 5, 2005

Pretty much any Yes song longer than 4 minutes has at least one significant key and/or tempo change. The slowly deepening chorus at the end of "I've Seen All Good People" is a pretty good example of a key change.
posted by saladin at 8:51 PM on January 5, 2005

Or rather, a series of key changes.
posted by saladin at 8:52 PM on January 5, 2005

RikiTT, I guess the bridge in BTR counts as a key change though I don't think of bridges so much in that way, which I is why I used Hungry Heart, but you're probably right.
posted by billsaysthis at 9:02 PM on January 5, 2005

Key changes = trivial = yawn... but I loves me some good time signature changes. By "good", I mean interwoven and transparent -- a casual listener wouldn't notice anything unusual, but a music transcriber will have fits! See Yes and Rush for classic examples, Tool and Dream Theater for modern, deliciously complex heavy rock music. (Unless your friend is a musician or a progressive rock lover, however, I doubt he'll enjoy a Yes/Rush/Tool/Dream Theater mix tape, as it can be a bit much complexity. But if you really want to show your friend some genuinely complex rock music, well, there you go.) "Bad" time sig changes, while thankfully rare in pop music, scream "Hey, look at me: I'm changing the time signature! See? There's an extra beat!!". I gave up on radio long ago, but I do remember a fairly popular song -- "Possum Kingdom", I think (on Rubberneck by Toadies, according to Amazon) -- that made the rounds a few years back. The section where the lyric repeats "Doooo you want to die??" is my (un)favorite example of a Bad Time Sig Change. Cringe. Bile. Ugh.

goatdog: The "truck-driver key change" is easily my biggest musical pet peeve, although I don't think that it's done so much to create complexity or even extend the song as it is to cheaply introduce a sense of drama and climax and/or to showcase the vocalist's upper range.

And I'll add the ubiquitous "fade-out" to the list of Lousy Ways To End a Song. End your song with a mixing board. Great job there, Mr. Artist.
posted by LordSludge at 10:11 PM on January 5, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks! I heart AskMe.
posted by grateful at 8:41 AM on January 6, 2005

Ok, I'd like to be the nth person to say that key changes are a sign of a really weak artist trying to make a song sound more inspiring before it finishes. Many, many, many power ballads from the 80s did this.

However, I contend that the trick is actually nicely used in the Beatles' "And I Love Her".
posted by knave at 8:58 AM on January 6, 2005

Not to poop on the party here but, a key change usually means someone's run out of ideas. You can almost hear the songwriter thinking to themselve's "ah fuck it, I'll just change the key of the song..."

You might spit that back at your friend...

(upon review, what the fella' above me just said)
posted by basicchannel at 9:30 AM on January 6, 2005

"Do You Realize??" the Flaming Lips
posted by fletchmuy at 9:32 AM on January 6, 2005

I'm going to go with LordSludge with the progressive rock mention. Let's take Dream Theater's Beyond This Life for a spin, shall we? It'll whet and satisfy anybody's hankering for key and time changes.

It starts in Ab minor, with a badass punk-like riff in a mix of 5/4 and 7/8. This 5/4 riff is the centerpiece of the song. The chorus, coolly enough, is in a simple 3/4 or 6/8 in D minor, which is just about the hardest key to get to from Ab minor. The second time the chorus plays, it's followed by a fluid transition to D major.

And then there's the solo section, which starts off with a heavy chunking version of the main 5/4 riff played in 12/8. The solo section contains steady key changes upwards a minor third at a time, from Ab to B to D to F and finally back to Ab. Oh, and the second solo is in a very weird time signature—three bars of 4/4 and one bar of 5/4, repeated four times. Finally, there's an incredible Zappa-like section in the original Ab minor in 4/4 time, followed by the closing bars in Bb major in 3/4 time, which of course leads easily back to the chorus in D minor / D major.

And yes, despite what you may think, this song absolutely rocks. If you can't stand complexity or showing off, it's not for you; but if you eat up this shit, it doesn't get any better than this!
posted by Khalad at 9:48 AM on January 6, 2005

no one wants to take up the gauntlet of the time change being more indicative of sophistication than the key change?

I'd at least argue that the use of odd number time signatures is the mark of a more sophisticated songwriter than usual. I think the average person has a hard time thinking in song rhythms other than 2, 3, or 4. (Evidence - the modern dance class I took in college where the teacher was fond of having the live percussionist play in 7's and 9's, which tripped up many students.) See Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," (5/4 time) or Sting's "Straight To My Heart" (7/8 time).
posted by dnash at 10:38 AM on January 6, 2005

dnash - Pink Floyd's "money" also uses uses an odd time signature, I believe it's 7/4. Someone correct me if i'm wrong on that one, I'm just counting it from memory.
posted by anomie at 11:02 AM on January 6, 2005

Or Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs", which, to the best I can figure, is in 29/32.
posted by knave at 12:33 PM on January 6, 2005

Grateful Dead songs with unusual time signatures

The Eleven being my fave.
posted by terrapin at 1:18 PM on January 6, 2005