The science of why Adele's "Someone Like You" makes people cry. [WSJ.COM]
posted by Fizz on Feb 11, 2012 - 160 comments

Pop song analysis, English teacher style (SLYT)
posted by litnerd on Dec 13, 2011 - 39 comments

A corpus analysis of rock harmony [PDF] - The analyses were encoded using a recursive notation, similar to a context-free grammar, allowing repeating sections to be encoded succinctly. The aggregate data was then subjected to a variety of statistical analyses. We examined the frequency of different chords and chord transitions ... Other results concern the frequency of different root motions, patterns of co-occurrence between chords, and changes in harmonic practice across time. More information, analysis, and explanation here.
posted by Wolfdog on Jul 29, 2011 - 33 comments

An Overly Intense Track-By-Track Analysis Of Joanna Newsom’s ‘Have One On Me’ [part one] [part two] [part three] (prev prev prev) {Amazon link with previews} {Label site for album}
posted by jtron on Mar 17, 2011 - 26 comments

Rhetorical analysis of Rush's "Free Will"
posted by jtron on Aug 31, 2010 - 86 comments

If MetaFilter took a shower, this is what it would sing. [via] [more inside]
posted by robcorr on Feb 19, 2010 - 56 comments

If you were a child of the '90's, then Regulate by Warren G and Nate Dogg was probably your jam. Here is a critical analysis of the song by comedian Sean Keane. If only all gangsta rap had such deep meaning.
posted by reenum on Jul 30, 2009 - 63 comments

Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same motion picture soundtrack, reverse engineered. [more inside]
posted by melorama on Nov 17, 2007 - 58 comments

Beatlemaniac It took Alan W. Pollack 10 years to pick apart every Beatles song and describe in detail the mechanics behind the music.
posted by minkll on Mar 20, 2006 - 36 comments