Why *Those* Four Chords Are Everywhere

I don't care what anyone says, these four chords are great.
Get 40% off CuriosityStream and a free Nebula account: http://www.curiositystream.com/12tone and use promo code "12tone"

I'm sure you've all seen the Axis of Awesome video where they show that every hit song of the last few decades uses this one four-chord progression. For a lot of people, this looked like proof that pop music is stale and unoriginal, but as a music theorist, I have a slightly different take. If so many songs are using this same progression, then the obvious question to me is... why? Clearly there's something great about these chords, but what is it, and why do so many artists in so many genres feel drawn to them? What makes them so great?

Patricia's video: https://youtu.be/K-XSTSnqXxo
My chord-loop video: https://youtu.be/JvyChMVvqnQ

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/12tonevideos
Merch: http://standard.tv/12tone
Discord: https://discord.gg/pq2QBEw
Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/bCTDaj
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/12tonevideos
Twitter: https://twitter.com/12tonevideos
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/12tonevideos
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/12tonevideos/
Email: 12tonevideos@gmail.com

Last: https://youtu.be/q0QqS8QOErA

Script: https://tinyurl.com/y2oxr6va

Huge thanks to our Elephant of the Month Club members:

Susan Jones
Jill Jones
Duck
Howard Levine
Ron Jones
Brian Etheredge
Khristofor Saraga
Paul Ward
Len Lanphar
Ken Arnold
Elaine Pratt
William (Bill) Boston
Chris Prentice
Jack Carlson
Christopher Lucas
Andrew Beals
Dov Zazkis
Hendrik Payer
Thomas Morley
Jacob Helwig
Davis Sprague
Darius Rudominer
Alex Knauth
Braum Meakes
Hendrik Stüwe
Dan Bonelli
Kevin Boyce
Allyson
Luke
Kevin Wilamowski
Nicholas Lennox

And thanks as well to Henry Reich, Gabi Ghita, Owen Campbell-Moore, Gene Lushtak, Eugene Bulkin, Logan Jones, Oliver, Anna Work, Bina Thiessen, Adam Neely, nico, Rick Lees, Dave Mayer, Paul Quine, CodenaCrow, Nikolay Semyonov, Arnas, Caroline Simpson, Favrion The Man, Michael Alan Dorman, Dmitry Jemerov, Michael McCormick, Blake Boyd, Luke Rihn, Charles Gaskell, Ian Seymour, Trevor, Tom Evans, Elliot Jay O'Neill, Max Wanderman, Chris Borland, Alex Atanasyan, Elliot Burke, JH, Tim S., Elias Simon, David Conrad, Jerry D. Brown, Chris Chapin, Lamadesbois, Ohad Lutzky, Jake Lizzio, James A. Thornton, Benjamin Cooper, Ken Bauso, Brian Dinger, Todd Davidson, Stefan Strohmaier, Shadow Kat, Adam Wurstmann, Kelsey Freese, Angela Flierman, Richard T. Anderson, Kevin Johnson, Peter Leventis, Ryan, Matthew Kallend, Rodrigo Roman, Jeremy Zolner, Patrick Callier, Danny, Francois LaPlante, Volker Wegert, Joshua Gleitze, Britt Ratliff, ml cohen, Darzzr, Charles Hill, Alexey Fedotov, Joshua La Macchia, Alex Keeny, Emilio Assteves, Valentin Lupachev, John Bejarano, Aaron Epstein, Blake White, Phillip N, Chris Connett, Scott Frazer, Niko Albertus, Luke Wever, Gary Butterfield, Kenneth Kousen, James, h2g2guy, W. Dennis Sorrell, Steve Brand, Rene Miklas, Connor Shannon, Melvin Martis, max thomas, Professor Elliot, Jozef Paffen, Jamie Price, Red Uncle, Doug Nottingham, Roming 22, Nicholas Wolf, Scott Howarth, Andrew Engel, Robert Beach, ZagOnEm, Peter Brinkman, Thomas McCarthy-Ward, Tuna, Hexa Midine, Mathew Wolak, T, Lincoln Mendell, Vincent Engler, Sam Rezek, Matt McKegg, Beth Martyn, Lucas Augusto, Marcus Doyle, Caitlin Olsen, Naomi Ostriker, Alex Mole, NoticeMK, Anna, Evan Satinsky, James Little, RaptorCat, Kaisai Morihito, Jigglypuffer, leftaroundabout, Jens Schäfer, Mikely Whiplash, room34, Austin Amberg, Francisco Rodrigues, Elizabeth, Michael Tsuk, Betsy, Stephen Jones, Tonya Custis, Mike Lin, Dave Shapiro, Jacopo Cascioli, David Van der Linden, Carter Stoddard, ThoraSTooth, Robert McIntosh, Brandon Legawiec, Brx, Fernando Gonzalez, CoryC, Rafael Martinez Salas, Walther, Jim Hayes, Evgeni Kunev, Graeme Lewis, Jake Sand, Kayla Sparks, Max Glass, Alon Kellner, Özgür Kesim, Rob Hardy, Patrick Chieppe, Eric Stark, Jon Prudhomme, David Haughn, Gordon Dell, Aditya Baradwaj, Matt Ivaliotes, Yuval Filmus, Byron DeLaBarre, Matty Crocker, anemamata, Brian Miller, Lee-orr Orbach, Eric Plume, Kevin Pierce, Jon Hancock, Richard Goldberg, Caleb Meyer, Juan Madrigal, Jason Peterson, Peggy Youell, EJ Hambleton, Mark Henning, Byron Williams, Symmetry, Jos Mulder, Daryl Banttari, Tarragon Eames, J.T. Vandenbree, David Taylor, John Carter, Cereus, Marcus Radloff, Wayne Robinson, kay rhodes, Gabriel Totusek, Geoffrey Edwards, Dragix PL, Nicolas Gort Freitas, SecretKittehs, Mnemosyne Music, and AkselA! Your support helps make 12tone even better!

Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!

Видео Why *Those* Four Chords Are Everywhere канала 12tone