More I-vi-IV-V

Via Loose Poodle, this amazing montage created by the esteemed Philip Tagg. It is in the service of explaining Abba's "Fernando," so he's dealing with a different cultural moment of I-vi-IV-V than I'm interested in, but this is a truly virtuosic creation: 52 pop singles in the United States that used the progression, arranged by key so that you get all of those in A (Pat Boone, "Speedy Gonzalez", the Elegants "Little Star") then B flat (Ketty Lester, "Love Letters") and so on through the chromatic scale until you get back to A again--the key of Abba's "Fernando." Album covers, animated charts of the key changes, and visual snippets demonstrating lyrical content flash by while you listen--Dion's "Donna Prima Donna" gets a brief flash of Tyra Banks.

Brilliant.




Am I the last person to know Tagg was doing these videos? (Answer: Yes!) He's even done his Kojack book as a ten minute video.