Contemporary Hits Radio

Chasing the Chords

In this podcast, music educator/guitarist, Brian Jump speaks to bassist/singer, Jonny Southern about contemporary hits radio (CHR). They examine the banal, often offensive music inhabiting Billboard’s Hot 100, and they critique the top ten songs occupying the list for the week of October 6, 2018. For context, the thesis of John Seabrook's book, The Hit Factory, is covered. This book declares that hits are still what matters in the music industry despite the virtual annihilation of the record business. Moreover, Seabrook explains that the same few writers and producers are responsible for a significant number of hits and a disproportionately large share of the revenue. To perform this dark magic, Seabrook explains, the hitmakers rely on two principle types of hit: one descended from Europop, which have long-ish melodies and clear verse/chorus structure; and another descended from R&B, which have melodic hooks repeated over rhythmic grooves. To make these two forms of music, producers today rely on the track-and-hook approach, which features one musician writing the beat and the chord progression and another musician writing the melodies and the hooks. Essentially, today’s hit songs are constructed by teams of experts who know how to pack their music full of irresistible ear candy. If you'd like to support Jump, you can do so via Venmo and PayPal: https://account.venmo.com/u/Jump76 paypal.me/brianjump