Anatomy of a chorus: AC/DC - "War Machine"
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/hqZGJXsiY_s&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0
I’ve always wondered why extreme metal bands don’t write more choruses. By “extreme,” I mean growling/screaming/etc. metal. Singing metal is often based on pop music, so choruses aren’t lacking there. But extreme metal is full of “the voice is just another instrument,” so entire songs and albums go by without the listener understanding a line, much less remembering one.
They say you need to tell a message seven times before people will hear it. So full-blown choruses aren’t even necessary; just repeating a line or two will suffice. Watain’s “Sworn to the Dark” and Cannibal Corpse’s “Make Them Suffer” are the only songs I remember from their respective albums because the vocalists repeat those lines often enough. Are they the best songs on those albums? I’m not sure. Are they the most memorable? By a country mile.
I bet choruses were why AC/DC won a Grammy for “War Machine.” The song’s music is solid, but nothing extraordinary. As the above video shows, the lyrics are about…well, virtually nothing. It’s kind of sad that this song, which didn’t even come out last year, won “Best Hard Rock Performance.” I like the song, but to call it an industry-wide best-of-anything is a stretch.
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Enter its chorus. When I first heard Black Ice, “War Machine” immediately registered with me due to its call-and-response refrain. I’ve broken it down above. Brian Johnson sings the first “War Machine”; his bandmates reply with the second one.
This chorus is interesting because of its rhythm. Johnson’s “Machine” starts on beat 2 and ends on its “and.” This is off the beat, leaving the word hanging, almost creating a question. His bandmates answer by offsetting the second “Machine” by half a beat. Now the “chine” in “Machine” falls squarely on beat 3, pinning the word down, creating a feeling of resolution. It’s subtle but unexpected, and it totally makes the song. Instead of simply echoing Johnson, his bandmates add a slight tweak, with a big payoff: the band’s first Grammy.
