# Rock or pop songs in minor keys

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 20, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217 "2013-04-20T14:27:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217/61 "2015-07-27T16:04:07Z")

</div>

Black Magic Woman

No milk Today

A song is in a key when it’s the stable home chord it resolves to.

A major chord is the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes in a major scale

A chord is minor when the 3rd note is flattened one half step (one fret or one piano key). It sounds kind of sad to western ears.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217/62 "2015-07-27T16:06:00Z")

</div>

“Behind Blue Eyes”, “All Along the Watchtower”, and “My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue)” immediately come to mind.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217/63 "2015-08-01T03:13:16Z")

</div>

_I Won’t Back Down_ by Tom Petty, though possibly the verse is minor and the chorus major.  
_Venus_ by Bananarama (and someone else before them)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217/64 "2015-08-01T04:13:16Z")

</div>

Van Halen - I’ll Wait

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217/65 "2015-08-05T20:44:55Z")

</div>

Quite a few Pink Floyd songs are in minor keys: “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (Gm), “Comfortably Numb” (begins and ends in Bm, tho’ chorus is D), and “Another Brick in the Wall” (Dm), off the top of my head.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217/66 "2015-08-10T22:18:27Z")

</div>

How about one of my all-time favorites, _Badge_, by Cream?

[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EeGyQIgvSV0/hqdefault.jpg "Cream - Badge") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeGyQIgvSV0)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217/67 "2015-08-10T23:02:19Z")

</div>

All Along the Watchtower.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-or-pop-songs-in-minor-keys/656217.md?page=3)