So is Netflix supposed to tell all of their creators they can’t joke about Taylor Swift because they once made a movie with her?

“ In 2018 alone, Ethereum used as much energy as the entire country of Iceland to validate its blockchain. ”

Indefensible

For those of you interested in the musical anatomy of Bob Seger’s “Shakedown,” here are some thoughts:

The song is almost entirely based on the pentatonic (5-note) scale. The pentatonic scale contains the following scale degrees: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. (If you were to add the 4 and 7, which are missing from the pentatonic scale, you’d have a standard major “ionian” scale.) “Shakedown” is ostensibly in the key of “E” — so that means the song is drawing from the notes E, F#, G#, B, C#.

What’s cool about the pentatonic scale is that it’s the one musical scale you can find all over the world. It’s as common as 4/4 time. Over centuries of history, cultures across the globe independently came up with this scale — from the horn of Africa, to islands in the South Pacific, to Scottish music, to Andean music. A lot of Indian (South Asian) ragas are based on the pentatonic scale. Chinese music (and bad parodies of Chinese music) are based on this same 5-note scale. You can also hear it in Native American music from First Nations across this continent.

Importantly, the pentatonic scale also forms the basis for American blues… with one modification: the famous “blue note.” The blues scale adds a “flat 3” (when referencing the major pentatonic scale) or a “flat 5” (when referencing the minor pentatonic scale). In the song “Shakedown,” the blue note is a G natural — and it’s the note Bob Seger continually returns to when singing the melody, which is what gives the song its edge.

In essence, Bob Seger’s “Shakedown” is built entirely on the E blues scale (or C# minor blues scale, if you want to view it that way), with occasional forays into E mixolydian mode — with a flat 7 added, which you can hear in the opening riff and the recurring brass and wind (trumpet, trombone, saxophone) lines. The G natural (“flat 5” in C# minor pentatonic) is what makes the song sound decidedly American, and what makes it sound like rock-n-roll.

In the verses, Bob Seger is singing a melody that sounds very much based in E-minor blues, but when the chorus kicks in, the chordal movement (E-minor, G-Major, A-Major) reorients the listener to hear it in E dorian — which is still a “minor” mode. [Great examples of dorian mode include “Oye Como Va” by Santana, “So What” by Miles Davis, “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles, and countless others.] But then whenever the horn licks enter, and you hear the G#, you know we’re back in E mixolydian (a “major”-sounding mode). I think it’s this bouncing back and forth between E-minor blues / E dorian, E-Major blues / E mixolydian that defines the song, and it’s this tonal ambiguity that establishes its essential character.

Does anyone find this interesting? Other ideas?

Let’s talk “signature songs,” the songs that come immediately to mind whenever you think of an artist. I’ve wanted to make a post on this topic for a long time, since Three Dog Night were in this column. I thought about how that band had a good number of hits that are largely forgotten today, but the song most people associate with them now, “Joy to the World,” did actually reach #1.

Several artists we’ve discussed haven’t been as lucky. Madonna has been in this column several times, and will be there several more times in the future, but “Material Girl” isn’t one of her chart-toppers. We’ve seen a whole lot of Elton John songs, but “Rocket Man” wasn’t among them. Queen had two #1’s and neither of them were “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Earth, Wind, & Fire’s sole song to reach the top was not “September” but “Shining Star.” The list goes on.

So it’s kind of a relief to know that “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” Whitney Houston’s most iconic song today – yes, even more than the 14-weeker mammoth we’ll get to in 1992 – was one of her 10 #1’s.

Taylor Swift had a lot of high-profile relationships with guys that was covered a lot by the tabloids. She wrote about a lot of them. She was not a very private person about this stuff. She is one of the most famous people in the world. The fact that a (I’m assuming BAD) Netflix show made a joke (A JOKE) about her dating history is okay. It’s a joke. Jokes happen to be about people. Famous people happen to get a certain prominent trait overemphasized into lazy shorthand.

“Boy, Keith Richards won’t ever die.”
“Cher Doesn’t ever age.”
“Man, Post Malone probably needs to shower.”
“Mariah Carey is a diva.”
“Marlon Brando/Orson Welles = overweight
“You never hear Gwen Stefani and Droopy Dog singing on the same track.”

Here’s the real question: if the joke had been about someone else, would Taylor Swift fans care? Would they be in an uproar. Indeed, would Taylor Swift be calling out Netflix, sharing a screenshot, the whole thing?

(sing to the Beatles)
NAAAAH NAAAAAH NAAAAH NAAAH NAH NAAH NAH, NAAH NAH NAAH NAH NO DUDES….

As a current academic and former theater kid, I get why these archetypes are rarely invoked positively in the pop context. But its not like its always bad for music to have a cerebral or performative bent. Like there is good scholarship and good theater that enrich the world of art and ideas. And the careers of people like David Bowie, David Byrne, Kate Bush, etc., are great examples of how the pop canon has benefited from artists who lean into those aspects of their work.

Are we sure this is an album and not just a list of 28 phrases a racist grandfather yells in their sleep?

Yeah, this is how you power ballad.

My mondegreen, I always hear it as “How can I get you a loan”

The motto of the Heart National Bank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NTDEN4VZik

I mean, Ricky DID compare him to Prince Andrew, which isn’t the best comparison.

Deeply sexist? Debatable verging on “meh.” Unfunny? Certainly.

Her stuff is thought out …it’s just boring

I just feel like her whole thing is too academic and theater kid without any legitimate emotion behind it.

Props to Van the Man because he’s not afraid to stand up to all the BS and brainwashing that we are subjected to these days. He gave me a lot of listening pleasure in my high school days with his albums Avalon Sunset, Irish Heartbeat, Beautiful Vision and Moondance. Now I have even more respect for him that he’s going against the official narrative even though he’s probably well aware that many will attempt to smear his legacy and try to cancel him because of that.

annoying

This is the kind of song that makes the 80s a bit of a joke. 0/10.

He waited for Yuck to break up before saying that.