No one has mentioned 6/4 yet: pretty sure “Stranger In Town” by Toto is 6/4 (Altho it is probably fast enough to qualify for 12/8
And the bass intro is in 11/4. Never knew Whipping Post went into 5/8, though, I’d just read the whole thing was 6/8.
[QUOTE=sturmhauke]
There’s this one Beatles song I can’t remember the name of, but it starts with this weird, chunky drum beat: DUM-da-daa-DUM–daaa—daa-DUM-da-daa-DUM–daaa—daa
It almost sounds like 8/8 but the last two beats are noticably off.
QUOTE]
“Tomorrow Never Knows”? Check out the very different alternative beats that the Beatles considered for this revolutionary song, in the “Anthologies” sessions recordings.
According to the guitar tab songbook, the whole song is in 3/4 time.
“#34”, the instrumental off of the same album is in 9/8 tho.
Re Heart of Glass by Blondie, that’s the disco song I was trying to think of. I remember it being one of the first songs with a disco beat that I tried playing on the drums and I hadn’t realised about those 7/4 bits. (Or bars of 3/4 if you prefer). Confused the hell out of me, but it’s very effective as it “inverts” the beat and kind of makes it feel more urgent. The parts in question are at the end of the chorus IIRC.
I’ve heard that You, the first song on their first album, is in 23/8 time.
That makes sense; I hear 3/4 in “Satellite” except it’s counted as eighth notes, i.e. 3+2+2+2 and 2+2+2+3. There are other parts where it’s in a straight 9/8 time, but I’ve never sat down and tried to work out the whole thing. Knowed Out’s explanation doesn’t make much sense to me.
Dream Theater and Fates Warning (along with every other progressive-rock band) write lots of songs in odd time signatures, but I wouldn’t classify any of them as “pop”.
The one I can’t figure out is Tool’s “Schism”, with the neat bass intro. I think I decided it was 11/8 one day, but still couldn’t make it fit.
Heh… you’d think I would’ve noticed that, considering how often I listen to the song. :smack:
Not positive, but I think that might be Bonham in one meter and the rest of the band in another. The Grateful Dead and Phish dabble in the overlapping meters too…you know, “you play four measures in 3/4 and I’ll play three measures in 4/4 and we’ll meet in twelve beats” kinda stuff.
“The Ocean” feels like alternating measures of 4/4 and 7/8 to me in the opening.
Steely Dan hides a lot of that stuff in their songs too. Try playing along with the title track from Gaucho sometime…I won’t even TRY to guess what meters they’re wandering through.
Dire Straits do something similar on “Once Upon A Time In The West” from Communique, although I think that restricts itself to measures in 7/4, 4/4 and the occasional 6/4 measure as well. (I don’t have it in front of me to check right now, sorry!)
The Alice In Chains song “Them Bones” has the verses in 7/4 and the choruses in 4/4.
I can’t recall, but did anyone mention “Living In The Past” by Jethro Tull? That one’s in 5/4.
Finally, the original Mission: Impossible theme (the TV show, not the movie) is in 5/4. (Depends how elastic your definition of pop is, I guess, but that’s the one I point to for an easy, everyone-knows-it example of 5/4.)
Although 3/4 is considered a common meter, I should also mention that what was unusual for a rock band like the Eagles is that four of their songs are in waltz time. “Take It To The Limit” is the most popular example, not just for them, but also probably in the pop charts. I can’t think of another rock song since that has taken 3/4 into Billboard…though it wouldn’t surprise me to find out there’s at least one.
Although not necessarily a well known ditty, I was listening to Dismemberment Plan’s “Gyroscope” today and think it’s in 15/16. Worth a listen just for that(album: Emergency & I).
This thread has titilated me for some reason. I must find the ultimate example. Although y’all already found Money.
I think Schism is in 7/4.
Yeah, I only said 6/4 earlier because it made more sense for me to break up the verse that way.
Regarding Black Dog, I remember reading that they had a hard time playing it until Bonham finally just told everybody to count it in 4/4 or something and just ignore everybody else. From that same article, I think they also did it purposely because they wanted to write something people couldn’t dance to. That second part could be pure UL though.
I think the song I had in mind was Ticket to Ride, but I’m not sure. I’m not really a big Beatles fan, I just heard it on the radio a few times.
That’s what they did in “Kashmir”: drums in 4/4 and everything else in 3/4. Very cool result.
“Open Arms” by Journey is the only other hit song I can recall by a bonafide rock band that’s in 3/4.
Not rockers, but there’s also:
“Kiss From a Rose”, Seal
“Piano Man”, Billy Joel
“Could I Have this Dance”, Anne Murray
I know what you mean about the drum beat but, playing it over in my head, I’m pretty sure it’s straight 4/4 but with the drums playing a triplet over the last two beats:
[~~~3~~~]
o---o---o--o--o--
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
Something like that anyway. I haven’t got a copy to hand so I can’t remember exactly how it goes.
Ahh - Coldplay’s “Clocks” is like that I think. The way the beats and music go has always made me think 1-2-3-4-5-6-1-2.
Nice to know what I think I hear actually does exist. 
Ditto with the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun.”
Wish someone would tell me if Bruce Hornsby’s The Tango King is in 9/8, as I suspect.
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Led Zeppelin’s songs The Ocean or Four Sticks yet. The first is 15/4 (or three measures of four and one of three) and Four Sticks alternates between 5/4 and 3/4.