"...But the opening credits sequence is so weird and goofy and . . . amazing? . . . that I can’t get it out of my head."
I had to wait till evening, when I could sing and play along to check, but I think there's a musical reason why you can't get it out of your head:
The refrain uses *the* bog-standard Axis progression, but gives it a fun, uplifting twist that makes the song infectious and the dancing adorkable:
The Axis progression has two usual forms, major Axis: I, V, vi, IV; and minor Axis: vi, IV, I, V — really, it's a chord loop that doesn't always have (or need to have) an obvious beginning, creating that Escherlike effect of music ascending and descending at the same time. It's not even clear — and doesn't have to be — whether Wig Wam's "Do you wanna taste it?" is in D minor or F major.
The set up to the refrain slams an A major chord (suggesting the key of D minor), and then continues the E of the A major chord over into the first chord of the refrain, D minor (vi). This means you crash into the refrain with a suspension (E against a D minor chord), which resolves to a beautifully clear IV (Bb major), that in turn leads to I (F). Decorating the vi (D minor) with the leading tone to F, E, makes the arrival at I (F) feel more eventful and open — uplifted. The nifty part is the chord after F, C (V) also contains E, setting up the same suspension when the loop repeats. The suspension adds some electricity to the refrain's otherwise-familiar chord loop, and it probably helps that the opening credits repeat the refrain twice.
At least, that's what I hear, and what fits when I play and sing along. I'm not used to music with much distortion, so I could be mistaking heavy distortion for an added note — though, if I am, that may mean the distortion changes the waveform similar to how adding the extra note would.
If you like the opening credits, you might also like Axis of Awesome's 4-chord sketch or subsequent music video:
If you know a hymn whose lyrics you love, but whose tune you hate, I might could rework it with a tune incorporating progression used in the refrain — though minus the eagle and adorkable dance moves.
"...But the opening credits sequence is so weird and goofy and . . . amazing? . . . that I can’t get it out of my head."
I had to wait till evening, when I could sing and play along to check, but I think there's a musical reason why you can't get it out of your head:
The refrain uses *the* bog-standard Axis progression, but gives it a fun, uplifting twist that makes the song infectious and the dancing adorkable:
The Axis progression has two usual forms, major Axis: I, V, vi, IV; and minor Axis: vi, IV, I, V — really, it's a chord loop that doesn't always have (or need to have) an obvious beginning, creating that Escherlike effect of music ascending and descending at the same time. It's not even clear — and doesn't have to be — whether Wig Wam's "Do you wanna taste it?" is in D minor or F major.
The set up to the refrain slams an A major chord (suggesting the key of D minor), and then continues the E of the A major chord over into the first chord of the refrain, D minor (vi). This means you crash into the refrain with a suspension (E against a D minor chord), which resolves to a beautifully clear IV (Bb major), that in turn leads to I (F). Decorating the vi (D minor) with the leading tone to F, E, makes the arrival at I (F) feel more eventful and open — uplifted. The nifty part is the chord after F, C (V) also contains E, setting up the same suspension when the loop repeats. The suspension adds some electricity to the refrain's otherwise-familiar chord loop, and it probably helps that the opening credits repeat the refrain twice.
At least, that's what I hear, and what fits when I play and sing along. I'm not used to music with much distortion, so I could be mistaking heavy distortion for an added note — though, if I am, that may mean the distortion changes the waveform similar to how adding the extra note would.
If you like the opening credits, you might also like Axis of Awesome's 4-chord sketch or subsequent music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ
and you might love/hate Pachelbel's canon enough to love the Pachelbel rant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxC1fPE1QEE
(warning, some bad language)
12tone's channel is good for pop music theory, including the Axis progression:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d46gO5FUh-g
If you know a hymn whose lyrics you love, but whose tune you hate, I might could rework it with a tune incorporating progression used in the refrain — though minus the eagle and adorkable dance moves.