# Why every modern song has the same drum tune?



## lookingforclassical (Jan 22, 2013)

For example:






Listen to the drums. now find any modern song(almost) and you will probably notice something very similar to that drum tune above. a slight variation.
this is a real bummer for me... I really have to try to ignore the same drum beat from any modern song in my head.
I am talking about songs from the last 100 years.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I like Africa. Thanks for posting that. I can't speak to the drums; I play saxophone.


----------



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

I think that’s a wild exaggeration. I’ve always loved this song by Poco and the drum sounds the way it does because the beat has the regularity of a drum machine with some accents thrown in by the live drummer.


----------



## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

That song Africa has become a point of obsession for some people... timelessly catchy...

How 'Africa' by Toto Became the Internet's Favorite Song

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a37pq5/africa-toto-song-internet-meme

- When Taylor Swift released the first single from her new album in August, Mollie Goodfellow, a London-based journalist, got nearly 60,000 likes when she tweeted: "Why would I listen to Taylor's new song six times to 'get into it' when I can listen to 'Africa' by Toto once and lose my ****?" -


----------



## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

I recall that old MTV sound with the Phil Collins type drums was like a plague of locusts at the time... that was in the last century...

Nowadays, the drum sound I hear a lot is this (gotta love this video):






I had to look it up, they are singing "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" - huh...


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

philoctetes said:


> I recall that old MTV sound with the Phil Collins type drums was like a plague of locusts at the time... that was in the last century...
> 
> Nowadays, the drum sound I hear a lot is this (gotta love this video):
> .


When they dropped the electronics and you could hear the marching band, that was a great touch.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Africa is 37 years old. Is this what is considered a modern pop song production? Toto are too slick and calculated for my taste.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

starthrower said:


> Africa is 37 years old. Is this what is considered a modern pop song production? Toto are too slick and calculated for my taste.


Well, the criterion was songs from the last 100 years, so that makes it relatively recent.


----------



## Tikoo Tuba (Oct 15, 2018)

Has the drum-kit sound become annoying ? There's so many options : timbres are easily inventible . For a Balinese puppet show the drummer sits amidst a circle of drums and whirls nilly about on a spinning stool . Sounds fun .


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Tikoo Tuba said:


> Has the drum-kit sound become annoying ?


I happen to think it's one of the best sound experiences on earth when a finely tuned kit is played by a great musician.


----------



## Tikoo Tuba (Oct 15, 2018)

starthrower said:


> I happen to think it's one of the best sound experiences on earth when a finely tuned kit is played by a great musician.


A great musician will think to play whatever they want to . But they are not allowed to play their records in my house without providing psychedelics . Mushrooms go well with drums . Helps the body speak to itself . We desire to hear the great drum of the earth .


----------



## Guest (Jun 2, 2019)

lookingforclassical said:


> I really have to try to ignore the same drum beat from any modern song in my head.
> I am talking about songs from the last 100 years.


Wow - they had kits and production like this in 1919?


----------



## lookingforclassical (Jan 22, 2013)

Larkenfield said:


> I think that's a wild exaggeration. I've always loved this song by Poco and the drum sounds the way it does because the beat has the regularity of a drum machine with some accents thrown in by the live drummer.


No it's not. modern music usually take this similar drum tune and use it throughout the whole song.

another example:






now, someone replied to this thread with this song:






I can actually give another 10000 examples.


----------



## lookingforclassical (Jan 22, 2013)

MacLeod said:


> Wow - they had kits and production like this in 1919?


Lol. don't get too picky. so it's probably from the last 50 years, not 100.


----------



## Guest (Jun 2, 2019)

lookingforclassical said:


> Lol. don't get too picky. so it's probably from the last 50 years, not 100.


I'm not getting picky at all. If it's your contention that "every modern song in the past 100 years has the same drum tune", it's not picky to point out a flaw in your argument.

Moving on, take any week's chart listing in the last 50 years and you'll find songs that have very similar beats (is this what you mean by 'drum tune'?) - unsurprisingly, given that pop/pop-rock are usually based on 4/4 rhythms - and some that confound your theory. So, look at the Billboard list for 1980, for example:

https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1980/hot-100

Sample these songs and there are clear differences - as well as entirely predictable similarities with the song in your OP and with each other.

See what the list for the UK was like

http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1980.shtml

Funny you should pick Outkast's Hey Ya as it's not 4/4 - so that leads me to conclude you mean something other than time signature.

More importantly, what is your bigger point? That pop generally sounds like pop?


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

lookingforclassical said:


> I can actually give another 10000 examples.


I have to admit, every teenage drummer in a garage plays this pattern over and over and over. I had one such teenager next door to me, and I knew whenever he would run outside to this practice shed wild with anticipation that it was time to get out of the house for the next couple hours.


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Here's some groovy drumming <3


----------



## lookingforclassical (Jan 22, 2013)

MacLeod said:


> I'm not getting picky at all. If it's your contention that "every modern song in the past 100 years has the same drum tune", it's not picky to point out a flaw in your argument.
> 
> Moving on, take any week's chart listing in the last 50 years and you'll find songs that have very similar beats (is this what you mean by 'drum tune'?) - unsurprisingly, given that pop/pop-rock are usually based on 4/4 rhythms - and some that confound your theory. So, look at the Billboard list for 1980, for example:
> 
> ...


My bigger point is probably lack of effort and originality.
There are exceptions to every rule, yes. some modern songs are actually quite vivid, instrumentally speaking. but I think this is one of the downfalls of current music... just wanted to see if anyone else sees it.
and - this pattern is not only in pop music.


----------



## lookingforclassical (Jan 22, 2013)

I will provide here a contrast:






Notice the drums. they change. they are dynamic. they sometimes stop because they are no longer needed. they are actually part of the harmony of the piece, they are not there to set rhythm.


----------



## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

"I've got blisters on me fingers."


----------



## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

I would argue that drumming on older popular music was often more interesting than today, and then the Dave Clark Five, the British Invasion came along, around that time drums got louder and simpler and the game was on... so "modern" in that sense would start around 1963... but to a previous generation, it was more likely Elvis Presley who got all the credit / blame...

I won't listen to many newer styles of blues or country for the same reason... as Exene Cervenka said, "all that noble savage drum drum drum" - the beat goes on and on and on...

I suggest that one listen to more jazz drummers to hear more complexity, check out Scott Amendola...


----------



## Tikoo Tuba (Oct 15, 2018)

Hi-hat , crash symbols , snare , toms and bass . More cowbell !!


----------

