Funky Drummers, Cheap Guitars & Sting
Strong Songs
The Power of Threes in Music
The number three is a very important number, right? For kind of a lot of art but I'll just speak to music because I'm a musician. The rule of threes is just sort of a known thing. So in this case, I think taking what could have been an odd number of chords and turning it into an even number of chords actually really works in this song's favorite. Grace asks, why do four note motifs affect her the way that they do? And I don't have a clear answer for that because I can't tell anyone why music affects them the way that it does.
What do George Michael, Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, and the Powerpuff Girls have in common?
The answer, as you'll learn on this episode, is a funk drumming legend named Clyde Stubblefield. We'll also talk about flipped drum beats, Sting's taste for syncopation, the differences between cheap and expensive musical instruments, how to tell a bridge from a prechorus, the power of a four-note motif, the unexpected places you can find songwriting inspiration, and Muse's subtle hat-tip to a George Michael classic.
FEATURED ON THIS EPISODE:
- “Darling” by Real Estate from In Mind, 2017
- "Ghost Story" by Sting from Brand New Day, 1999
- “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks, 1964
- “Walking on Broken Glass” and "Little Bird" by Annie Lennox from Diva, 1992
- Skins theme by Segal, 2007
- “Kiss” by Prince from Parade, 1986
- "Beneath the Snow" by Kirk Hamilton from... well, it's never been published
- "Dig Down" by Muse from Simulation Theory, 2017
- “Freedom ’90” by George Michael, 1990
- “Royals” by Lorde from Pure Heroine, 2013
- “Funky Drummer” by James Brown feat. Clyde Stubblefield, 1970
- “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy, 1989
- “Save Me” by Nicki Minaj, 2010
- “Shirtsleeves” by Ed Sheeran, 2014
- The Powerpuff Girls theme, by James L. Venable, 1998
- A complete list of songs that sample Clyde Stubblefield’s drum break on “Funky Drummer”
- Ben Sisario’s 2011 NYT feature on Stubblefield
OUTRO SOLOIST: Mel Carroll
Mel Carroll is a saxophonist and music teacher based in Portland, OR, where she plays with bands like like Special Purpose and the all-women 90s cover band Sideboob. Her main music project is The Flat Nines, a chill jazz funk group with a new EP, "No Hate," coming in spring of 2022. You can find more at theflatnines.com.
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