Idolator
While browsing the section of the Internet devoted to musicological beefs, we unearthed the The Truck Driver's Gear Change Hall Of Shame, an entire Web site devoted to song-closing key changes (like the one at the end of Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror") and their poisonous effects on musical composition. From the site's FAQ:
Many writers and arrangers feel that when their song is in risk of getting a bit tired, it can be given a fresh lease of life by shifting the whole song up a key, usually in between choruses, towards the beginning of a "repeat-till-fade" section. You may have heard this technique informally referred to as "modulation", but the correct ethnomusicological term for the phenomenon is the truck driver's gear change. This reflects the utterly predictable and laboured nature of the transition, evoking a tired and over-worked trucker ramming the gearstick into the new position with his - or, to be fair, her - fist.
Contrary to what many people seem to think, the truck driver's gear change is in no way inventive, interesting or acceptable: it is in fact an utterly appalling and unimaginative admission that you've run out of inspiration and the song should have ended one minute ago; but you're under pressure to make something which can be stretched out to the length of a single. The concept of the truck driver's gear change seems to transcend all musical styles, from Perry Como to The Misfits, although my investigations reveal that it's most prevalent in mainstream pop, and, let's face it, it's unlikely to feature in hip-hop. But who's to say.
This may perhaps all sound a little abstract. So for recommended initiation into the concept of the truck driver's gear change, I suggest you check out Crazy Crazy Nights by Kiss, which is a perfect example of the, ahem, oeuvre. Many experts agree that the single greatest gear change of all time is Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror, though you should be aware that it may make you physically sick. In a subtler vein, gear changes like Gabrielle's Sunshine are for the experienced listener only.
If you'd like to test your ability to hold your cookies in the face of such seismic shifts, here's the year-by-year breakdown, which calls out tracks from "Penny Lane" to "Do You Realize??" Although we're of the opinion that it's impossible to hate on the outro to "Livin' On A Prayer." Yeah, go ahead, call us suckers.
The Truck Driver's Gear Change Hall Of Shame [gearchange.org]
Comments
When I read this post, the first thing I thought of was Alice In Chains' "Would". Surprisingly, it hasn't been submitted.
All those Manilow mentions and not one for "I Can't Smile Without You"? That song goes through about fifty-four keys.
He lost me when he savaged Petula Clark's "Downtown,"-to my ears the greatest record ever made, in part precisely because of the way the bridge shifts into the new key; when the horns come in, they just explode.
This site takes a playful tone to make an overly serious point. The gear change may be lazy, may be manipulative, but damn if it doesn't make me smile. It's a pop song, homeboy.
Seriously - where's the harm? I see his larger point, but the list of songs he offers as Crimes Against Musicality kind of guts it.
I mean, let's defend one of the people he savages - Michael Jackson. "Man in the Mirror" might be tepid and lazy; but in the closing minute of "Rock with You," Jackson does more than take the chorus up a step - he riffs on the chorus, turning what started as a midtempo disco song into something approaching a soul man's plea. The quality of the song goes from three stars to four at that moment. So much for the gear shift being a songwriter/performer's dead end.
Even though the last-chorus-key-change trick is a kind of emotional gonch-pull (a Canadian wedgie for the uninitiated), it's a great trick. But like any other good move, it only works when it works. You can't polish a poop with a full-step modulation (or two).
@Halfwit:
That would be because "Would?" doesn't have a key change. I assume you're referring to the "am I wrong/have I run too far to get home" section of the song.
It's a departure from the rest of the song, granted. But there's no key change.
Oh man, I want to subject this guy to the ending of Sweet's "Poppa Joe" non-stop forever and ever, amen.
@Halfwit:
Nope you're wrong. Although I'm fairly sure Candlebox featured it from time to time.
Oddly enough he has a section for Kate Winslet without including "I Need a Nap," her Sandra Boynton penned duet with Weird Al. The lyric when it changes key is:
I don't want to harmonize
With you, with me...
Change key! (Make him stop!)
The Misfits' "Rat Fink" changes keys frequently because it's a basic 12-bar blues. Does i-IV-V count as a Truck Driver's Gear Change?
It's a good thing this guy doesn't listen to much jazz. If I submitted Charlie Parker's "Koko" as a gear-shifted version of "Cherokee" would he fall for it?
That key change at the end of Livin on a Prayer is the reason I have polyps on my vocal chords. Damn you, Jon Bon. Damn you and your preternatural vocal range.
The rock key change, by the way -where you just bump the chords up a step- is not only lazy, but not in keeping with natural harmonic transition. Which is just another to hate Whitney Houston.
@dennisobell:
Agreed. Let's face it, everything that can be done in western music has already been done. Once you get over that, realize that not much is really "inventive" anymore.
This pitch-change has its place, and works really well in a lot of songs (especially the more emotive ones - I really like it in Fiona Apple's "The Way Things Are".)
Why not go after more obvious and overused stuff like the C G Am chord progression. Used all the time, yet some really great songs use it.
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