Analysing NIN - The hand that feeds

[BeyondAntares]

I was going through some old Rick Beato shows on "What makes this song great?" and came across the Hand that Feeds.



When it first came out, I didn't quite understand music theory, not that I'm that much better now.

But, how was it written such that:

* the verse is in A minor
* the chorus is in A mixolydian
* the melody is in A Minor pentatonic

Why do these transitions seem fit? What was the song writing choice to keep everything in different modes and scales of A?

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Was it a choice informed by music theory, or was it just a happy little accident of Trent making up things he thought sounded cool? I don't know, but I'm inclined to think that it's more often the latter.

Also wow his hair is so floppy in that thumbnail.

 

[Dave Mustpain]

* the verse is in A minor
* the chorus is in A mixolydian
* the melody is in A Minor pentatonic

You could simplify this as:

* the verse is in A minor
* the chorus is in A major
* the melody is in A Minor

Forgetting about scales and modes, the song is just changing from minor to major, which is quite common.

Was it a choice informed by music theory, or was it just a happy little accident of Trent making up things he thought sounded cool? I don't know, but I'm inclined to think that it's more often the latter.

Not saying this is not the case, but Trent is a trained pianist and knows what he's doing even if he might not be thinking actively about it.

 

[tedtan]

These are all in the key of A, so A is the “home base” for each section of the song. You’re just changing the other notes you use along with A to add different flavors. This approach is called parallel scales (or parallel modes) and is pretty common.

 

[gnoll]

What note choices "fit" in music comes down to our ears, what we like and are used to.

Playing a minor pentatonic scale over a major tonic chord is kind of a blues thing.

One thing that can add cohesion is, if you introduce something unexpected, to have the *other elements* in the song stay the same. And I think that's happening here. We get that C# note which is a bit unexpected, but the drums just keep drumming along and the pentatonic riff thing is there which we are already used to. If, on the other hand, we got that unexpected C# note and at the same time the riff changed to something completely different AND the drums started doing blast beats, it probably wouldn't sound very cohesive.

Anyway, it seems to be pretty much just the lead guitar playing the C#? So as far as songwriting choices go, it could have just been the guitar guy going "yoo check it guyz it sounds super sweet when I play this thing".

It's always hard to know how people wrote stuff, unless they explicitly tell us. But we can of course still look at the music and learn from it.