The power of multiplier effect in music

This New Year eve, I heard Marvin Gaye by Charlie Puth on the drive, being played by an FM radio station.

Listening to the upbeat and raunchy song, I noticed the faint glimmer of a concept entering my mind. Since that evening, this concept has somewhat crystallised. Honestly, I am not sure if it really deserves the dignity of being labelled a concept. Nevertheless, I am sharing it with you, more in the way of thinking aloud.

Here goes. I call it the “reference-multiplier effect”; I have noticed it brilliantly at work in Puth's song which topped the UK Singles chart.

It draws upon the popularity of Marvin Gaye’s funk song ‘Let's Get It On’ and, of course, that of the legendary singer himself.

With the reference to both in the very first line – ‘Let's Marvin Gaye and get it on’ – Puth's song builds an imaginary bridge to a different era, which automatically multiplies its “reach quotient”.

Now, ‘Let's Get It On’ by Marvin Gaye from the Seventies was so popular that the sentiment of the song got transferred to the singer. Check Urban Dictionary, and you will receive confirmation of this. Without being explicit, let me say that Puth is using ‘Marvin Gaye’ in one of the ways Urban Dictionary defines it.

The sentiment of Puth's song matches that of the nearly four-decades-old song, and thereby benefits from the “reference multiplier effect”.

Now, Puth’s song is impressive on various counts, hence its popularity. Its effective reference to the neo-soul genius has added to it.

In the hip-hop song ‘Mope’ by Bloodhound Gang, you see it at work. There are references to musical and other creations, which includes the super-popular ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ by Johann Holzel (known by his stage name Falco) and the video game Pac-man.

What Mindcraft is to Millennials, Pac-Man is to the 1980s generation. With the Pac-man blended into it and Pac-Man appearing in the music video, the song ensures a long-range connect, and the multiplier effect kicks in.

From a purely chart-numbers point of view, Mope may not be called a great success. It has to be slotted into the "comedy hip-hop", and it does great justice to this category, partly by those evocative references.

There is a sub-category to this concept, where the references in a song don’t leap across eras and generations, but stay in the present. In the process, it is presented to later generations as a musical-whiff of history.

‘I can’t Get started’ (1936) fits into this category. There are references to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Greta Garbo.

Here are some great lines from the original song written by Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke: ‘I've been consulted by Franklin D./ Even Greta Garbo has asked me to tea/ But now I’m broken hearted/ Can’t Get started with you." In other versions through the years, some names and situations have been replaced with contemporary ones.

Let me close this column, on a slightly tangential note. The reference-multiplier effect is at work in various forms of entertainment.

For example, here in Kollywood and other “film-woods” across India, there is the often-adopted practice of a film being named after the first line of a popular song from elsewhere. Isn't that an attempt to harness the power of the reference-multiplier effect?