Cello there ! My music puns might be bad , but stave off your criticism until you ’ve heard this :   A new study has popped up hint that euphony behaves like a live on ecosystem .

This intriguing conclusion   is the resultant of fresh research head byMatthias Mauch , an engine driver atQueen Mary University of London , who has been busy scrutinizing 1000 of songs from the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 between   1960 and 2010 .   For the intent of the study , which has been publish in theRoyal Society Open Sciencejournal ,   Mauch   part these 50 old age intothree main evolutionary leap :   soul , discotheque and hip - hop .

Next , his   team began   analyze a vast collection of music ' fossils ' from these decades . To collect   a significant quantity of music , the team used 30 - second gear   samples of more than 17,000 Song dynasty .

Music is really extremely numerical and therefore easy to study and separate . It hasharmonics , chord changes , rhythm , and timbral qualities ;   all of which   were assume into news report when skim   the data using information retrieval and textual matter - mining tools​.

One of the most reassuring conclusions that Mauch create in his subject is that , adverse to popular belief ,   music multifariousness hasnotin fact declined .   The information show   that there is no evidence of chart homogenisation , but or else music course have periods of stasis fall out by speedy modification . " You take something that exists . And that in biology would be factor . But it ’s not genes here . You just take some style . You recombine them , like genes are recombined , and you alter them as well — a bit like mutation,“says Mauch .

So if you ’re worried that music is becoming stagnant ,   then perhaps   it is instead signaling the next rotation .   So take a moment to compose yourself , allow ’s embark on a journey through the popular chart .

From 1960 onward , the rife seventh chord all but disappeared from music . Examples of this chord can be found inRock Around The ClockbyBill Haley and the Comets orI Feel So BadbyElvis Presley . This was treble - ing news as it signaled the ' death ' of jazz and blue .

Mauch enounce   1964 was the first of our three medicine revolutions : the rock and soul revolution . For rock , thinkSympathy For The DevilbyThe Rolling Stones , and for soul recallI try It Through The GrapevinebyMarvin Gaye .

The predominant 7th chord was exchange with the pocket-sized seventh : Lady MarmaladebyLaBelle orThat ’s The Way ( I Like It)byKC & The Sunshine Band as the ‘ 60 crept towards the ‘ 70s .

As the ‘ fourscore rolled in , it signaled the disco music , Modern wave and hard rock revolution in 1983 . However , the ‘ 80s became a sluggish prison term for the advance of music . 1986 stand out as a period of   minimum   modification in diversity where chart - high hat all sounded the most alike . For example , Don’t Leave Me This WaybyThe Communards , Living On A PrayerbyBon Jovi , andPapa Do n’t PreachbyMadonna were all hits in 1986 .

Just when music was in a progression   depressive disorder , it was saved by rap and hip - hops in 1991 . cut likeMama Said Knock You OutbyLL Cool J head the magnanimous detonation of variety in euphony since 1960 . " This is so prominent in our analysis , because we looked at harmoniousness — and rap and hip - hop do n’t use a hatful of harmony . The emphasis is on speech sound and rhythm,“said Mauch ,   whilst   hash out which element of music they used to categorise the songs .

This bring us to modernistic day music ; anything after 2010 was n’t included in the analysis . I could drum up a few more instance but I call up i ’ll result you to rock out , or baroqueness out , if you ’d favour .

[ ViaRoyal Society Open Science , Scientific American , BBC ]