Cheesy melodies

[pekadan]

what's wrong with cheesy?

Nothing, especially if that was what you or whatever artist intended. But then usually you can also hear that, can't you? That's "cool cheesy", not "bad cheesy".

I'm talking about the latter. So I'm thinking more of when you (maybe just *you*) hear a song and don't really like what you hear cause the melody sticks out in a cheesy-bad/cheesy-wrong way somehow. Is it the melody itself then or how it's presented? That's my Q.

Again, *of course* something that sounds cheesy to you may sound great to someone else. That's pretty obvious. But I'm interested in personal opinions and reflections.

[bluelife]

hello

and just for fun, another 3 chord (actually 4 if you count the sus4) I recorded today:

http://www.littleblueroom.net/mp3/anoth ... e_rain.mp3

not cheesy I think:)

blue

[JimmiG]

Old, but interesting thread. I'm struggling with making my music less "cheesy" and less hum-along friendly but I'm not sure where I go wrong.

Part of the problem I think is my limited knowledge of music theory. I write mostly with a bunch of minor and major chords repeating the same 4 or 8 chords indefinitely. On the other hand that's what most pop music does! Something like "New Song" by Howard Jones is cheesy and extremely simple musically, but it's also catchy and people clearly liked it. My songs are just cheesy. Avicii's "Levels" also has an extremely simple and corny melody (somewhat similar to New Song), but people still dance to it.

In the second example, production clearly is the key to un-cheesing the melody - it's a pumping wall of sound. But what about "New Song"? It's made with simple 80's recording equipment and not a lot of layering or effecs at all.

One thing I've found is that holding chords for longer and using fewer of them makes the song sound "darker" and more emotional, but instead it quickly gets uninteresting. It's hard to take the melody anywhere when you're locked into one or two chords.

[lfm]

In sweden we've got something called "dansband", that is dance bands that make cover versions of all songs to fit dancing in clubs, boats, restaurants and so on easier.

This genre makes everything sound cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze.

It's 4/4 all the way through, no switches in tempo, everything just to be able do the foxtrot, bugg or whatever steps.

There were a competition on tv(like idol) for this genre of bands. And the winner was a band doing "Purple Rain" in 4/4 all the way through - no shift in tempo. It's really horror scenario to me - makes my skin crawl off my body.

So with that in mind - it's very much to do with production. It's easy to ruin a good song with sleezy arrangement. It's all to do with phrasing of the melody and words.

[GeckoYamori]

I find it's usually melodies in the context of overused chord progressions that make them cheesy.

[Trakstar]

Now this is cheese..

[Vintage73]

Now this is cheese..

An instant wedding reception classic!

P.S. Talk about Necroposting!

[FarleyCZ]

I LOVE philosophical topics!

I strongly believe that key to cheassiness are songs for kids. Kids understand simple music. They don't know complexity of our world yet, so only way you can make their brain entertained is by really vivid and obvious musical stuff. Repetition, quick resolving. Stuttering makes them lough for some reason. ... and so on and so on.

Once your taste is more defined, you enclose those as kind of "OMG" things that are embarassing at your age. Well and if someone makes a song based on them pretending to present some mean by it, you find that cheesy.

[hibidy]

But what is "cheesy"

I mean, this is an old thread so I'd bet that 5 years later the idea of cheesy is different.

autotune is easily the cheesiest thing currently (followed by "yeah, un hun" which isn't even really musical)

btw, is it really a crime to have something "cheesy" that is because it's "catchy?"

(btw, I'm terrified to read through this old thread

[debra1rlo]

Mama mia, I like gouda melodies.

[Trakstar]

But what is "cheesy"

I mean, this is an old thread so I'd bet that 5 years later the idea of cheesy is different.

autotune is easily the cheesiest thing currently (followed by "yeah, un hun" which isn't even really musical)

btw, is it really a crime to have something "cheesy" that is because it's "catchy?"

(btw, I'm terrified to read through this old thread

You forgot " oh oooohh" , "oh yeah" and "Unghh"

[hibidy]

Sorry about that I guess my exposure to current pop hits is lower than I though!

[tapper mike]

Well at least they aren't saying Baby or Babe anymore..... wait scratch that.

[hibidy]

Baby doesn't bother me.

edit: Other than justin beiber, is this a phenomenon??? I really don't know (a yes or no will suffice, links might be too brutal )

Baby baby I fallin in love, fallin in love again. I'm not sure that is cheesy. But having "yeah, uh hun" in EVERY SINGLE rap anything is CHEESY. Ok, so it was probably cool to some people at first......but 15 years later, wtf?????

And like I said, now they autotune people who CAN sing.

Cheesy. Not pizza or mac n cheese cheesy, but stringy toe jam cheesy

[hibidy]

Then again I just had a butterfinger, and though not cheesy, has kinda got me thinking too much about this.

The "I want to sound like greenday" vocal thing was cheesy, but not really too overdone. Emo was cheesy. I think I though disco was cheesy back in the day, but now it's all "hip".

Soul was never cheesy James Brown, TOP, Parliament Funkadelic, NOT CHEESY! Blues isn't cheesy either. Jazz isn't, but SOME think "smooth jazz" is. If only we'd never have had Kenny G!