Most Complex Pop Song of All Time

[Docbop]

Normally not a big Rick Beato fan but every now and then he does a video I enjoy and this is one for me. What is the most complex Pop song of all time. I remember the song well from back in the day a few artists did versions of it. The song was written for Earth Wind & Fire, but they passed on it. The recording Rick breaks down definitely has a EW&F sound. Sergio Mendez does this version and great playing on it by cream of the crop of studio cats. Sergio Mendez did some very cool records back then, if you never heard his album Primal Roots check it out.

 

[video:youtube]

[GovernorSilver]

I was going to guess an EWF song actually - Can't Hide Love, with that outtro that modulates through so many different keys.

 

But the tune he did choose to focus on is another one I love and think is a great choice.

 

Thanks for posting!

[timwat]

This may be a possible candidate:

 

[video:youtube]

[BluMunk]

Good selections . . . I feel like something off of 'Songs in the Key of Life' have got to make the list.

[ElmerJFudd]

I guess it depends on what the criteria is.

Melodically, harmonically complex. Complex rhythm and meter. Complex arrangement and sophisticated use of timbres and the jobs they are performing. Lyrically complex, delving into complex topics with great detail and descriptiveness or artistically rich language. Complex and challenging to play due to the level of technique required to perform it. Shit there"s an awful lot of ways a pop song or any other genre may be 'complex'.

[GovernorSilver]

Wow, that's a cool cover of a Metheny song!

 

True, can't avoid the question of where to draw the line. For example, "Aja" by Steely Dan is pretty complex, but I can't really think of it as a pop song - so in my mind it would fail the "pop" criteria. And on other end, we have songs by the likes of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, etc. that have sophisticated lyrics but are simple on the music side.

[KuruPrionz]

I'm with ElmerJFudd on this one, there are many ways to be complex.

 

Pop is short for "popular". I've heard this on Pop Radio. It is complex in a different way.

 

 

So is this.

 

 

And this, in a completely different way.

 

 

All that said, I do like the OPs choice and I am glad I don't have to learn it!!!! I could but nobody is making me so I won't.

[AnotherScott]

Shit there"s an awful lot of ways a pop song or any other genre may be 'complex'.

Yup. In a different way than the song in the OP, Bohemian Rhapsody and Roundabout would be some of the more "complex" pop songs, that would likewise be hard to learn mere hours away from needing to perform them, probably even moreso than the one in the OP, because as tricky as that one is as a song, it's at least actually pretty easy to play from a simple one-page chord chart. It's just a lot of chords. But there's no shifting time signatures, no syncopations (all the chords change on the beat, or maybe a half-beat anticipation), no specific trademark lines you need to play verbatim, and it's got a pretty normal kind of verse-chorus structure.

[stoken6]

Bohemian Rhapsody

was the first thought that came to my mind. Something like Bat Out Of Hell, or Diamonds and Pearls, share that "kind" of complexity. Donald Fagen's Maxine is complex in a different way.

 

I had to laugh at 4:01 "this would be, uh, a Am7b6, or Fsus2 over A". I would write "Fmu" and move on - but I am surprised at how many of my (top-flight) muso buddies haven't come across mu major chords.

 

Cheers, Mike

[Shamanczarek]

A few multi-movement songs from the 60s:

 

MacArthur Park

Good Vibrations

A Day in the Life

[MikeT156]

Great Song! Rick Beato

 

My question is......how much did the gig pay?

 

The gig is an outside job for kids?

 

LOL.

[BRW]

In the 80's, David Foster (and Jay Graydon) managed to get some very decent pop airplay with some very sophisticated tunes. Couldn't do this today at all, it would be classified as "smooth jazz", probably. I consider these two masterpieces.

 

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[stillearning]

I would not want to be booked for a wedding, only to be told, 'The bride has requested Bohemian Rhapsody' the afternoon of the wedding. I know the band I"m in would politely answer 'No.'

 

That"s the most complex pop song I can think of to play.

[counterpoint]

Adhering to what I believe the OP meant by "complex" (complex chord progressions in pop songs), these are a couple of my favorites:

 

 

[Reezekeys]

In the 80s you did not have pop songwriters and producers sampling two bars from pre-existing songs and looping them in a computer to provide the basis for their "songs." You had to know a little about harmony. In the words of Buddy Rich, you had to make music "without the assistance."

 

Generally speaking (and I do know this is a generalization!), today's writers don't write songs with complex harmonies because they lack the ability to do it. Why learn all that music stuff when you can click that Facebook link to buy your "midi-paks" of pre-rolled chords? This, imo, is why pop music sounds the way it does today. What "producers" are putting on Spotify and youtube is what influences the listeners' musical taste, not the other way around. GIGO. imo, of course!

[16251]

I never win these things.

 

[cphollis]

I'm play occasionally with a small group of cats who write their own jazz material. It's like going to crossfit and getting your butt kicked thoroughly.

 

Parts that never repeat, multiple keys and modes, chords that don't notate well, seemingly random time signatures, etc.

 

Definitely not pop -- perhaps not even pleasant to listen to for most people -- but it's good for me.

[Stokely]

When I think complex production--vs complex songs or playing--I always think of Tears for Fears' Sowing the Seeds of Love. Some might even say "over-produced" but I enjoy that album. The title track is probably the most complex, there is stuff flying in and out constantly. I can't imagine how many tracks that was (assuming everything unique was unbounced or not playing from samplers, which is likely a bad assumption.)

[CyberGene]

I love it when pop/rock songs are two-chords only (or so) yet manage to convey emotion and a gradation. That's what I call a "complex" task. Say, "A Horse With No Name" by America. A granny would know how to use jazz-inspired arrangements and chords to make "most complex" but that's not pop then My two cents.

[Bill H.]

The coolest thing about Never Gonna Let You Go is not just the tricked out chord structure, but how well it works in the context of the melody. It's a song I haven't heard in years - something I didn't give a second thought to back then because it wasn't where our band was musically. Maybe I can appreciate it more now that I'm older. Thanks for posting!

 

As far as most complex pop song still in the public vernacular, my vote would be with Bohemian Rhapsody. Even the young can recite parts of it by heart. When it came out, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined it would become one of the most popular songs of the 20th Century.

[drawback]

Totally agree with Beato on this one â as I normally do â but that song should never have seen the light of day. It's a prime example of the axiom "just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

 

For the older among us, I've always thought "Alfie" was one of the most complex (in fact a few of Bacharach's). Also the Hoagy standard, "Stardust."

[ElmerJFudd]

Bacharach is a great example of smart pop. Say a Little Prayer is very nicely written, with a sensitive lyric and melody immaculately performed by Aretha, thoughtful harmonization and changing meters to accommodate the way the lyric and melody naturally flow.

 

The sound of "complex" well crafted songs (dare we say "jazzy" sounding) simply went out of style in pop. It sounded too much like "dad's" music. Enough time has passed for a resurgence, the question is which pop stars have the guts to do it right now?

 

I'm surprised no one has pulled a Quincy Jone's yet in this thread and blamed it on the "no-playing" Beatles.

But honestly, Beatle's melodies and harmonization style is more "complex" than a lot of what makes the billboard today.

[El Lobo]

"Horse With No Name" - my nominee for Worst Pop Song Ever.

"Stardust" - always a favorite melody.

[ksoper]

I've loved They Might Be Giants since Flood. Their format is tight, smart writing and there's always something to bend your ear harmonically. A music prof at Belmont lectured for an hour about Dinner Bell from their 1992 album, Apollo 18. It's not that it's hard to learn or play, it's how cleverly they modulate through different keys without sounding like a David Foster record.

 

[video:youtube]

[MAJUSCULE]

Why did I know this would be a Beato video?

[CyberGene]

"Horse With No Name" - my nominee for Worst Pop Song Ever.

 

Hehe, horses for courses, pun intended

[Bill H.]

"Horse With No Name" - my nominee for Worst Pop Song Ever.

 

Couldn't agree with you more El Lobo. Hippie-trippy lyrics combined with something resembling a Zen chant more than a melody. Hated it when it came out - and still do.

 

Love Stardust - one of my dad's favorite songs. He'd sing it at the drop of a hat.

[jazzpiano88]

One of my favorite examples is Paul Simon "Still Crazy After all These Years"

Nothing intuitive about it.

 

Even the JT hired guns at the tribute couldn't pull it off (1:05-1:15 masterful editing):

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[Morrissey]

One of my favorite examples is Paul Simon "Still Crazy After all These Years"

Nothing intuitive about it.

[video:youtube]

 

This is spot on. Earlier suggestions like Bohemian Rhapsody, Paradise by the Dashboard Light (and Stairway to Heaven, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, etc.) are "complex" in that they are long, multi-movement pop songs. But, for my money, a tune like Still Crazy After All These Years hits a sweet spot of the intersection of (1) popular success and (2) unconventional harmonic complexity for what is heard on mainstream pop/rock. It keeps with the criteria I think Beato is using to define complexity but is a better example than the more obscure tune he chose. Several Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder tunes also hit this sweet spot.

[stillearning]

Maybe not as pop(ular) as many of the other bands mentioned so far, but Ambrosia had several songs that fall into the 'more complex than typical pop" category. Always was a favorite band of mine way back when. Some Nice, Nice, Very Nice tunes.