Posted on 09/29/2011 7:31:32 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Queen's We Are The Champions has been voted the catchiest pop song of all time – by a team of academics.
The scientists observed thousands of volunteers to find out why certain songs inspired unabashed wedding guests and clubbers to belt out their favourites in public. Singalong hits had four key elements, they concluded: long and detailed musical phrases, multiple pitch changes in a song’s ‘hook’, male vocalists and higher male voices making a noticeable vocal effort.
Top singalongs include Village People’s YMCA, Sum 41’s Fat Lip, Europe’s The Final Countdown and The Automatic’s Monster.
Musical hits rely on ‘maths, science, engineering and technology’, said Dr Daniel Mullensiefen of Goldsmiths University, London.
Researchers solved the karaoke conundrum after observing thousands of volunteers as they lent their voices to a long list of tunes.
Using this formula, the researchers then compiled a list of the 10 most singalongable hits. Number One was 'We are the Champions' by rock group Queen.
Taking the next five places in the sing-along chart were Y.M.C.A by Village People, Fat Lip by Sum 41, The Final Countdown by Europe, and Monster by The Automatic.
Dr Daniel Mullensiefen said: 'Every musical hit is reliant on maths, science, engineering and technology; from the physics and frequencies of sound that determine pitch and harmony, to the hi-tech digital processors and synthesisers which can add effects to make a song more catchy.
'We’ve discovered that there’s a science behind the sing-along and a special combination of neuroscience, maths and cognitive psychology can produce the elusive elixir of the perfect sing-along song.
'We hope that our study will inspire musicians of the future to crack the equation for the textbook tune.' The findings were released to coincide with the final call for entries to the 2012 National Science & Engineering Competition
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
What about Kraftwerk’s “We are the Robots”?
Well, Queen got a lot of it in the end and lost.
Was watching VH1 One-hit wonders and they said that Europe opened AND closed their concerts with "The Final Countdown." Lame.
Yeah, well some scientists say that global warming is caused by humans too.
The “catchiest” song of all time is “Happy Happy, Joy Joy” from Ren & Stimpy. You hear it once and it’s stuck in your head. For hours or days!
Sometimes it seems like the only thing that will get that damned song out of your head is a bullet!
Mark
"Das Model" is even more catchy.
I haven’t been to Pandora for a while, as I like to choose my music myself, and have Spotify for that now, but as you might know, Pandora is based on deep, dare I say scientific analysis (without government subsidies) of song structures done by real experts, musicians and critical listeners, and, as I remember, you can create your own “radio” based on your tastes, initially providing Pandora with examples, such as titles of your favorite songs, and then letting Pandora do its artificial intelligence job, selecting music it thinks you oughta like. When I tried it, it worked pretty well. It would be interesting to provide Pandora with the title of this, excuse me, awful bombastic song, and see what it returns. I’d guess it would return similar, over the top anthem rock, Let Zepepelin and such, but do go ahead, try it yourself, and let us know.
How about XTC’s “The Mayor of Simpleton.”
For me, that’s the perfect pop song.
And a Ton of others...
Scientists PROVE they are wrong again.
The most important things is 1) THEY think THEY are right, and 2) they think anyone cares what they think about anything.
yeah, and the song is on everybodys lips...what a pile
of stupidity...I think “happy birthday” is probably more
popular and catchy...It’s probably sung (7 billion divided by
365) times a day...doubt if We are the champions will even
last to the next decade....
Butts are what the Village People had in mind.
You can definitely hear that the Cars ripped off that hook in their song “Let’s Go.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQsM6u0a038
from 17:30 to 21:00
The Live Aid performance has often been called by critics, music professionals and others the greatest live rock and roll performance in history. Do you disagree?
TOTALLY AGREE!!! I heard this song on the radio this morning and could NOT get it out of my head all day long.
Somewhere in a lonely hotel room
there’s a guy starting to realize
That eternal fate has turned it’s back on him
It’s two a.m.
Golden Earring’s Twilight Zone!
/sarc
Have you ever heard the old gospel number, “Bringing In The Sheaves”? It’s enough to make the most die-hard religious fanatic take up drinking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo-Yz5LOET4
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