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1. 'Man in the Mirror' (the ultimate)
Feelings.
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2. 'I Will Always Love You'
With apologies to Dolly, Whitney rocks the key change.
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3. 'To Be With You'
This was the favorite of my entirely unscientific focus group.
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4. 'I Want It That Way' (by the Backstreet Boys)
I'M 12 AGAIN. (Also, remember these guys?)
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5. 'My Girl'
Not the bees!!!!!
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6. 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
Obligatory.
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7. 'My Heart Will Go On'
Celine is another master of the key change.
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8. 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'
This song is like one big key change. Which is great.
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9. 'I Wanna Be Sedated'
See, key changes are not just for cheesy emotional singers.
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10. 'Love Story'
Yeah, that's right, Taylor Swift.
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11. 'Build Me Up Buttercup'
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12. 'Invisible Touch'
This might be my personal favorite.
12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
So the key change in “Man in the Mirror” is one of the greater musical legacies that Michael Jackson left us. In honor of MJ, and because I'm a sucker for a well-placed key change, here is a collection of my favorites. (Thanks to my polling/support group for suggestions.)
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20 Responses So Far
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Anyone else see a bunch of random symbols and japanese coding where the videos should be?
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Best. Keychange. Out there.
- ades 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
- Kelly Reeves 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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AR Rahman's (Slumdog Millionaire) 1995 hit from the movie 'Bombay'
- Emily W. 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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Uh, how DARE you leave out this song by Peter Cetera, master of the key change?
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The key change in The Zombies' “This Will Be Our Year” is the greatest of all time.
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Well, you did say the “12 greatest key changes in POP music”… which I suppose is why I'm less than impressed.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is the only tune here with any real musical ambition, something for a musician to chew on.
And Genesis could certainly offer up better key changes than the clumsy one in “Invisible Touch”… try the Trick of the Tail album, specifically the bridge in the tune “Eleventh Earl of Mar.” -
3:15 if you're impatient
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The Truck Driver's Gear Change Hall of Shame
![[link]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png)
gearchange.org
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Glad I never watched 'The Bodyguard'…looks pants
![[link]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png)
gearchange.org
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Stacy's Mom
![[link]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png)
youtube.com
- Amanda Little 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
- Amanda Dobbins 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
- Rita D. 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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Excuse me, Amanda. But stop stealing things from my facebook feed.
- lucky shoe 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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THAT KEY CHANGE IN I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU GIVES ME GOOSEBUMPS EVERY TIME.
- Lindsey Weber 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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Penny frickin' Lane! PENNY LANE!
- Chris Wieneke 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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I have always loved a big, massive, overwrought, juicy, chills-down-your-spine key change. Truth: I can't necessarily cry on cue, but if I need to get the waterworks flowing for a good stage cry, Man in the Mirror is my go-to song. That key change never fails me. Then again, I have every Bono rant from Rattle and Hum totally memorized. Artistic bombast, employed to overwhelm the senses of the witness as a way of capturing what words alone cannot—just nothing better that that in my book, ever since I was a kid.
- Patrick Dillon-Hughes 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
- Matt Stopera 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
- Jack Shepherd 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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Some folks in the biz have said that a songwriter will go for a key change (modulation) because they've run out of ideas to finish the song. Cheesy, but effective!
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A good number of these *are* the “Manilow key change”. Go Barry!
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Did Men at Work Rip Off Kids’ Campfire Song?
![[link]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png)
blogs.babble.com
- Coop 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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oops
- Jackson G + 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music and thinks it’s OMG
- Rebecca DeWitt 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music
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It might be cheating, but what about The Beatles' “Strawberry Fields Forever”? The key change was created by George Martin in the studio, true, (by melding the two versions John Lennon liked) but the song does change keys pretty radically halfway through.
- Alena Marie 12 Greatest Key Changes In Pop Music and thinks it’s Geeky
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BARRY MANILOW!



























