What makes a hit?

I've been thinking a lot lately about that anthemic indie rock sensation "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.

You probably listen to it a lot too. It was the feel-good song of the summer. Maybe of the year. And I don't know many under 25s that can't help stomping a foot, clapping a hand, singing a part, shouting the chorus as loud as they can when it comes on. But I've begun to wonder if the altfolk 10-piece really are indie rock revolutionaries as they sometimes seem to be when you feel changed, happier, hippier when you listen to "Home". Or if they've just bought into a fail safe formula. Think about it.

They say that in this iPod generation, when discovering new music is quick easy and cutthroat, the first seven seconds are essential to hook the listener. In the good old days of radio, songwriters had no idea when a listener wold tune in and hear their song. They were compelled to not only write a catchy tune, but repeat that same infectious phrase several times throughout the song in the hopes that one play, even just a part of a play, would hook the listener and sell their album. Nowadays, it is in the first seven seconds that a listener decides whether the song will float or flounder, and songwriters have got to cater to that demand.

So now, songwriters take heed: a WHISTLED MELODY, especially in the opening phrase, is a tried and true hook. Lay it over something rhythmic and simple, like a propulsive bassline or acoustic guitar jangle, and you've got something that glitters real nice whether it's gold or not.

In the first seven seconds of "Home", this is what the listener hears. That catchy-as-hell whistle melody. In the first 30 seconds, "Home" exhibits two other aural hooks that have worked for other hit-songwriter's in the past. The first is that all-in-unison "HEY!" that follows the whistle phrase. What is it about an in unison "HEY!" that always catches you wanting to throw your fist in the air? Arcade Fire know how to put them to work. Overtime, actually. But people eat that shit up.

The second is the male-female vocalists duet. Survey says m/f duets are all that. Just ask Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Plus, the lyrics are almost disgustingly adorable. Marvin and Tammi were willing to climb mountains and cross rivers, but she's the apple of his eye. And her love for him, well it's a different sort than that for Maw and Paw. You may just have to hear it to get it, though.

I call it the "Young Folks" formula. No, Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks" didn't have any in unison "HEY!"s, but it had just about every other marketable component that "Home" does, and it had it first. I'm not exactly suggesting that Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's consciously extracted the hit-maker ingredients of "Young Folks" and used them in their own hippie anthem, but they could have taken them into account.

And anyway, I think part of that songs popularity is about their oh so charming image. Catchy or not, you can't help but smile when you see them perform that song. Who doesn't want to be as happy are? As free-spirited and in love as they appear to be? It's sort of become the prolific happy hippie tune. Kind of like "Gangster's Paradise," y'know?

Here's a real treat. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's "Home" filmed and performed in a crowd of indie darlings and hippie disciples, part of the Blogotheque's Take-Away Shows.

And now for something comparatively frightening. Edward Sharpe's frontman Alex Ebert used to be in post-punk indie group Ima Robot. Remember them?

His pseudonym Edward Sharpe was the same in that group as well, but their sound and image couldn’t be more different.