Music Magic in Three Minutes or Less
Put aside American Pie and Stairway to Heaven and brevity is the secret to success when it comes to musical masterpieces. It turns out taste, technology, and volume are reasons why most pop songs clock in at three minutes or less. Radio stations like short songs because if a listener doesn’t enjoy a song, they know it won’t be long before the next one comes along. Plus, technological limitations of the first records made it hard to fit longer songs on the disc without sacrificing quality. Shorter songs made it possible to space the record’s grooves farther apart. Deeper, wider grooves delivered a louder, higher fidelity signal from stylus to speaker. To this day most songs hit the final note before the kettle whistles. Pick one of these classics while you wait:
Runaway – Del Shannon
God Only Knows – Beach Boys
Heartbreak Hotel – Elvis Presley
Waterloo – Abba
Fell in Love with a Girl – White Stripes
Whip it – Devo
You Really Got Me – Kinks/Van Halen
Tainted Love – Soft Cel
Hit the Road Jack – Ray Charles
I Won’t Back Down – Tom Petty
Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix
Honky Tonk Woman – Rolling Stones
7 Rings – Ariana Grande
Song 2 – Blur
Can’t Explain – The Who
Crazy – Patsy Cline
All the Small Things – Blink 182
I Feel Fine – The Beatles