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Pop Culture

Comedy rock band use 38 songs to prove how 'every pop song' uses the same four chords

The Beatles, U2 and Maroon 5 are all guilty of the same crime.

Axis of Awesome on stage

Australian comedy group Axis Of Awesome

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was found not liable on April 4 in a lawsuit where he was accused of stealing elements of the Marvin Gaye classic "Let's Get It On" for his 2014 hit, “Thinking Out Loud."

The case called attention to the fact that there are motifs and musical structures common in pop music that no one owns, and all are free to use. When it comes to chord progressions, the 12-bar blues and basic I, IV, V, I progressions you hear in country and folk have been used and reused since people first picked up the guitar.

In the wrong hands, the progressions can result in music that is boring and formulaic, but in the right hands, they can be a springboard for fresh ideas.


In 2009 Australian comedy group Axis Of Awesome did a funny sketch showing how one four-chord progression, famous for being the basis of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” has been used countless times by musicians to great effect.

They played a medley of 38 major hits using the same progression to prove their point. For musicians, it’s known as the I–V–vi–IV progression, and when played in the key of C it would be C, G, Am, F.

Warning: Video contains strong language.

Here’s a list of all of the songs in the medley.

Journey - “Don't Stop Believing”

James Blunt - “You're Beautiful”

Alphaville - “Forever Young”

Jason Mraz - “I'm Yours”

Mika - “Happy Ending”

Alex Lloyd - “Amazing”

The Calling - “Wherever You Will Go”

Elton John - “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”

Maroon 5 - “She Will Be Loved”

The Last Goodnight - “Pictures Of You”

U2 - “With Or Without You”

Crowded House - “Fall At Your Feet”

Kasey Chambers - “Not Pretty Enough”

The Beatles - “Let It Be”

Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Under the Bridge”

Daryl Braithwaite - “The Horses”

Bob Marley - “No Woman No Cry”

Marcy Playground - “Sex and Candy”

Men at Work - “Land Down Under”

Banjo Patterson - “Waltzing Matilda”

A-ha - “Take On Me”

Green Day - “When I Come Around”

Eagle Eye Cherry - “Save Tonight”

Toto - “Africa”

Beyonce - “If I Were A Boy”

The Offspring - “Self Esteem”

The Offspring - “You're Gonna Go Far Kid”

Pink - “You and Your Hand”

Lady Gaga - “Poker Face”

Aqua - “Barbie Girl”

The Fray - “You Found Me”

30h!3 - “Don't Trust Me”

MGMT - “Kids”

Tim Minchin - “Canvas Bags”

Natalie Imbruglia - “Torn”

Five For Fighting - “Superman”

Axis Of Awesome - “Birdplane”

Missy Higgins - “Scar”

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But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

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Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

The workers who responded to the Dali's mayday call saved lives with their quick response.

As more details of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore emerge, it's becoming more apparent how much worse this catastrophe could have been.

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Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

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A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

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There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

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