Is there something common between renaissance music and some good pop music from 1980s?

Question

I think there is something in the melodic/harmonic narration. Something that escapes the classical functional harmonical rules. I like to listen to Morales or Clemens(1500) and Mike and the Mechanics or Midge Ure (1980). I wonder if there is a definable bridge between those styles even though they sound so different. Both don't stick to classical harmonics for example (I think so anyway).

Answer 1

One thing they would have in common is "modality". A lot of renaissance (and just about all medieval) music was built around modes instead of classical keys and harmonic structures. This early music was constructed by building melodic lines around (for example) just the white keys of the piano based around the note D (this example would be called dorian mode). An example of this from later classical music would be Vaughn William's "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" (Tallis was an English renaissance-era composer.)

Because this modal structure is easy to play and sounds good when played on the synthesizer (and the fact that many 80's new-wave bands like Mike + The Mechanics were English and would have thusly been exposed to this music), a lot of the pop music of this era would show these modal influences. (Keep in mind: these groups would also have been influenced by the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and other bands which incorporated non-Western harmonies and medieval mythology into their music as well.)

To make an obvious point about the comparisons, just look at (and listen to) the work of Men Without Hats (try to do so without shuddering), where the influence of renaissance music and culture is nauseatingly explicit.

Answer 2

Today there are some good artists, but most put out mindless garbage with a catchy beat just to have a hit and make some quick money. Then they fall off the face of the earth. There aren't many current artists that stand the test of time. There were a lot of artists in the 70's that stood the test of time and will never be topped. There are no Rolling Stones, no Beatles, or no Elvis in current music. 30 years from now there will be no one from today's music that will be considered Legends like these.

Answer 3

Some of the melodies are chant-like, actually. Also, the Renaissance had a few hundred years of evolution, and the earliest has some very awkward chord changes, even though they didn';t think of tof chord changes back then. They thorught linearly, polyphonic textures, with awkward sounding quite often changes. Seems some pop of the '80s fits the bill.

Answer 4

You're speaking of the Medieval Era understand this as time change people and their habits change.But it is still music.What they have in common both are music,performed by a person,they are both in time periods and I don't know much about either.

Answer 5

in 1980 Ure was in Ultravox .Their keyboard player was Billy Currie who went to music college and played the viola. I have a dim of recollection of someone, possibly Currie, refering to the use of the devil's interval in, possibly, Vienna.
Might that be a link

Answer 6

I don't know about the Renaissance, but I know that Elton John used the base line from baroque period's "Dido's Lament" in one of his songs.

Answer 7

yes. music in any form follow just one rule... it is the language of the soul.