The songs remain the same (but louder), say scientists

Vibrating stereo loudspeaker Photo: ALAMY

This is official and a scientifically proven fact now. Below is the source link for this article, from REUTERS:

Pop music too loud and all sounds the same: official

Researchers in Spain used a huge archive known as the Million Song Dataset, which breaks down audio and lyrical content into data that can be crunched, to study pop songs from 1955 to 2010.

A team led by artificial intelligence specialist Joan Serra at the Spanish National Research Council ran music from the last 50 years through some complex algorithms and found that pop songs have become intrinsically louder and more bland in terms of the chords, melodies and types of sound used.

Joan Serrà, concludes his research as follows:

"We found evidence of a progressive homogenization of the musical discourse," Serra told Reuters. "In particular, we obtained numerical indicators that the diversity of transitions between note combinations - roughly speaking chords plus melodies - has consistently diminished in the last 50 years."

and,

‘An old tune re-recorded using modern techniques that allow for increased loudness and with slightly simpler chord progressions and new instrument sonorities could be perceived as novel and fashionable.’

They also found the so-called timbre palette has become poorer. The same note played at the same volume on, say, a piano and a guitar is said to have a different timbre, so the researchers found modern pop has a more limited variety of sounds.


The Telegraph covers this report as follows:
Modern music really does sound the same
For fans of the golden oldies it is confirmation of something they have already known: modern music really is louder and has less variety than 50 years ago.
It appeared to support long-standing claims that the music industry is engaged in a "loudness war" in which volumes are gradually being increased.
Although older songs may be more varied and rich, the researchers advised that they could be made to sound more "fashionable and groundbreaking" if they were re-recorded and made blander and louder.