What was the most prevalent decade for the four-chord progression of pop?
In the late 2000s, comedy trio The Axis of Awesome became a viral sensation off the back of their ‘4 Chords’ medley, a live number with an ever-evolving repertoire of hits that all supposedly follow the I-V-vi-IV chord progression.
While taking liberties with some of its principles to ensure the medley’s smooth segues, the vast litany of hits from pop’s yesteryear to the contemporary chart monsters of the day all strike with a remarkably similar chord DNA. Cutting an official studio version for each of their three albums, The Axis of Awesome’s 2011 version stitches numbers from as disparate as Bob Marley, Eminem, The Beatles, and the theme from America’s Funniest Home Videos, yielding nearly 50 million views on YouTube.
The trio’s comedy song lent the four-chord progression its subsequent nickname. Henceforth, any song that largely follows the I-V-vi-IV progression has been dubbed the Axis progression in honour of the Aussie comedy rockers and their defining bit. Its structural ubiquity among the worldwide charts across the years had become a source of fascination with budding musicologists eager to identify the level of songs based on the progression and when the arrangements reached the peak of popularity.
It’s a topic explored by pianist and music theorist David Bennett. Examined in 2022’s When did the Axis chord progression become so popular? YouTube video, Bennett takes a broad look at the last 70-odd years of pop and gleans scores of singles that are built from the four-chord progression, as well as the era that witnessed its utter over-saturation.
In Bennett’s estimation, the earliest example is 1958’s ‘To Know Him Is to Love Him’ from The Teddy Bears, the early pop trio featuring a teen Phil Spector as both member and songwriter. It takes another five years before the progression resurfaces, sitting in Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ despite its slight variations and fleeting presence, but as the decades roll along, the progression maintains a steady if not dominating chart presence.
A spike in the 1980s sees the Axis progression not only rise in trend, but stick solidly to the I-V-vi-IV cycle with little deviation. The 1990s’ pop-punk explosion utilises the Axis chords extensively; bands from Green Day, NOFX, Rancid, and Blink-182 all owe their biggest hits of the decade to their adherence to the four-chord alchemy.
It’s the arrival of the 21st century that sees an explosion of the Axis chords. Climbing steadily across the 2000s up to The Axis of Awesome’s comedy skit by the decade’s close, Bennett reveals an absolute fever pitch of the four-chord progression in the first half of the 2010s, its peak being 2011, with as many as 30 songs identified as containing the I-V-vi-IV cycle in its makeup.
Yet, with such a command of the pop trends of the day, naturally, the four-chord progression eventually grew stale, producers and songwriters eager to forge new sounds for pop fans. Plummeting as 2020 arrived, Bennett’s study shows the four-chord progression slowly picking up two years later to levels seen in pop-punk’s 1990s heyday. A formula that never quite goes away, it’s likely the Axis progression will enjoy another unexpected surge as the 2010s reach the obligatory nostalgic cycle sooner than you think.
