Why You Feel Nostalgia from this Angsty Chord

What happens when you mix the chords from relative major and minor keys?

It turns out that Relative Multipolar Tonality, an idea outlined by Kayano Chino in the book Japanese Music Harmony, is not that unusual a harmonic technique. We look at a handful of American and British pop songs that all use a mixture of chords from the major key and its relative minor.

Songs included:
Such Great Heights by The Postal Service
Cryin' by Aerosmith
Don't Look Back in Anger by Oasis
I Want To Hold Your Hand by The Beatles
Creep by Radiohead
Steven Universe Opening by Rebecca Sugar
Space Oddity by David Bowie

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[RyanLeach]

⚠️ NOTE: The publisher filed a copyright claim and I had to remove the excerpt of Creep. Sorry! Luckily Steven Universe's chord progression sounds exactly the same.

😴 Also thanks for your concern everyone but I sleep just fine, dark circles are genetic and my father and grandma had them too!

I want to clear some things up with the theory. Yes I know modal interchange and borrowed chords exist, I am not at all suggesting that we can't get a perfectly clean analysis of any of these songs with those frames of reference. I love modal interchange and use it all the time!

What I’m presenting here is just another lens to look at things, which supports and does not deny the modal relationship between these chords.

The reason “multipolar tonality”, which yes is a term someone recently made up, is being used here is because we’re specifically looking at key centers. Not just using colorful chords from similar modes, but how those chords suggest different keys within a passage.

What makes the theory interesting, and different from modal interchange, is that while you can use modal interchange for an isolated chord, the “key fluctuations” happen at the phrase level. So a phrase with the chords “C Eb” would not really make sense in the context of multipolar tonality.

“Relative Multipolar Tonality” is not in itself particularly interesting and I think many people are overthinking it. It’s just talking about music that flows between a major key and it’s relative minor, that’s all. It’s a stepping stone to the more colorful and interesting versions of multipolar tonality that are not discussed in this specific video.

[mizzle]

as someone who thinks music theory is super cool and yet knows nothing about it, everything you're saying is going over my head but I'm enjoying it anyways

[foosmonkey]

This gives the line "I don't belong here" in Radiohead's "Creep" a whole new meaning.

[littlemouse]

David Bowie was a master in using strange chord progressions and this has been said by the musicians who worked with him over the years. One of the jazz musicians who worked with him on his last album was absolutely amazed by the very strange chords he used. there is an interview from him on this platform wich is very enlightning.

[Ottozone]

The Creep and Steven Universe had me rolling. What a breakdown of angsty and melancholy music.

[JoyOfCreativeService]

This man is very educational, but he looks like he spent 72 hours straight learning the information, and then immediately presented it to us

[Happyradio]

I love when chords clash and it sounds both heavenly and hellish at the same time.

[Tokechan]

I started finger-picking the chords for Steven Universe last week, in like triplets on the first 3 strings of my ukulele without singing, and I was like… wait… is this Creep. Very timely having it confirmed in this video!

[TheLugiaSong]

I understood maybe 10% of this, but it is FASCINATING to me that there's an actual system and rule to this very distinct musical emotion. I adore everything melancholic, so uh, guess I have a favourite chord thing or whatever.

[heidikakan]

There’s a song by David Bowie called “Five Years”. The song itself is really depressing as it discusses how the world is dying and only has five years left to live. Anyways, near the end of the song in the chorus, there is a guitar solo that captured my attention immediately when I first listened to it because of how out of place it sounded. It is my favorite part of the song and I always say how it reminds me of somebody crying or weeping. Although it sounds so weird compared to the other instruments in the background, it captures the meaning and vibe of the song, beautifully.

[bear_cub]

Your description of Space Oddity is perfect. "Is it happy or sad" "hopeful or hopeless". I hear Space Oddity as the stereotyped "happy?" ending, where in the end you've won, but your unsure if the cost was worth it...

[gan]

All the songs mentioned at the end which descend into something "bittersweet" are exactly the kinda songs I tend to love. So if anyone can recommend any similar sounding songs, I would be very grateful

[mak]

Fun fact : Lana Del Rey was unsuccessfully sued by Radiohead for her use of this chord progression in her song ‘Get Free’ from her ‘Lust For Life’ album.

[doctordumbass]

He's studied music theory for 47 years straight... no breaks at all

[ivymoon]

The notion that you can just raise the tempo of creep, add the melody of space oddity and basically get the Steven universe theme is something I'm amazed by

[patolizac]

ive always loved these "wrong notes" so im glad to see it actually makes sense

[not_anymore]

I really liked that description of Space Oddity. "Is it hopeful, or is it hopeless?". You can actually hear that. God damn what a perfectly fitting usage of words.

[chrisbrowder]

I've been trying to figure out this Japanese chord thing for so long I am really grateful to you for making this video.

[Yaunie]

I started composing music like this without realizing just because I've been influenced by the music of anime and JRPGs my whole life. Seeing it spelt out makes a lot of sense now!

[smallengineshop]

This dude looks like he hasn’t slept in three days.