The Genius of Burt Bacharach and Reforming Top 40

I know Elvis Costello has been bringing Burt and lyricist Hal David's music back into the forefront with his revival of their tunes and even a collaboration with Bacharach in the late 90's, but I think it's time a new generation of musicians learned the calculated beauty of the duo's songwriting.

These tunes embody the music theory behind writing a pop song. The chord changes are familiar without being repetitive, exciting without being jarring, and catchy without being annoying. These are the melodies that get stuck in your head even when you hear them in passing. You find yourself humming them all day and you may not even know why, but that is the beauty of wonderfully applied music theory. Those progressions and melodies are formulated to appeal to everyone's ear. So, whether they are being performed by Jackie DeShannon, Dusty Springfield, The Carpenters, Costello or even the White Stripes the structure of the songs is what shines through. It transcends the artist or production.

I would defy any guitarist/keyboardist to learn a Bacharach/David tune and not be able to put your own spin on it and make it appealing to your audience, be they metalheads or Bieber-ites. The state of pop radio today is sad and weak at best. Repetition has replaced structure. The thinking today seems to be, "if we repeat a chorus enough, it'll stick." This isn't an indie-kid/old rocker rant. I don't want to put experimental or potentially off-putting songs on the radio just because my weird music brain likes them from time to time. I just yearn for pop songs that everyone enjoys, even as a guilty pleasure. I'll be the first to admit that I am a sucker for a good pop song, but I haven't heard a solidly written tune on top 40 for a long while. To quote Zeppelin, "Where's that confounded bridge?". Adele needs to find it!

I firmly believe if we begin to revive the music of Bacharach/David, Manilow, Holland/Dozier/Holland, we can bring about another generation of songwriters that write with their pop sensibility. Another Paul Simon, Lennon or McCartney, Neil Young or Elvis Costello. Something has been diluted and lost since them, and we need to return to those roots. We don't need to revive, but reaffirm a foundation for new growth in pop music.