pop songs in a major key vs. pop songs in a minor key

Also... "Andy Warhol"... I think that was a single.

good stuff.

Not necessarily "teen" either, minna. I think Nirvana's "Sliver" is in a minor key, as well as The Sugarcubes' "Motorcrash".

I tend to prefer music that's in a major key to that in a minor key, pop songs or otherwise. This isn't to say I have anything against minor keys/chords (and many of my favorite songs are in a minor key), but when I hear an album where a majority of the songs are in a minor key the music becomes like a dull wash after a while.

It's far from pop, but the clearest example of "minor-key wash" for me is the music of Klaus Schulze. His 70s records sound great and are full of amazing cosmic synth textures, but every single one is front-to-back natural minor. It just gets exhausting after a while.

It's also not about a preference for "happy" music; for example Sufjan Stevens's Carrie and Lowell is one of the most devastatingly sad albums I know, and almost every song is in a major key, which I think makes it hit even harder. See Joanna Sternberg's Then I Try Some More for a similar effect.

I'm curious to hear about others' similar (or even the opposite) biases. I remember reading a interview with Van Dyke Parks where he talks about preferring major to minor keys, but I can't find it now. Preferences/matters of taste like these are fascinating to me.

Also it feels wild to bump a thread after 20+ years...