Pachelbel’s Canon in D: Its hiding in plainsight!
by jtalwar
Have you ever heard of the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel? Whether or not you recognize his name, you have undoubtedly heard his Canon in D major. Pachelbel originally wrote this Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo before the 18th century. His composition remained relatively inconspicuous and was almost forgotten until one fateful day in the 20th century.
Pachelbel’s Canon was first published around 1920, but that was just a footnote with relation to the piece’s popularity in the century. French conductor Jean-Francois Paillard started the snowball effect for the pieces popularity when he made a recording of the piece in the 1970’s. Ever since then, Pachelbel’s Canon in D has found its way into even the most popular of songs such as U2’s “With or Without You,” Green Day’s “Basketcase,” or Coolio’s “C U When You Get There.”
Pachelbel’s Canon in D has been recorded more than hundreds of times. Whether in popular songs, jingles for advertisements, or music for a film, it is almost impossible to spend a day without hearing Pachelbel’s famous eight bars of music. No longer do a violin and a cello hold the reigns for this piece. It can be hears in all instruments from the piano to the guitar. Whether you know it or not, Pachelbel played an important part in the harmony of modern pop music, through what may be called the original “one-hit wonder” with his Canon in D.
How many songs can you think of that utilize Pachelbel’s Canon in D? 1? 2? 10? Whether you can identify each song that utilizes Pachelbel’s Canon in D, one slightly humorous video is presented below to highlight the prevalence of Pachelbel in music today:
The Thousand-Year Ears 
I’ve seen the video you posted before, and I LOVE it. Ever since I watched it, I’ve been hearing the chord progression everywhere. The fact is that it has a very pleasing chord progression: I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V (those numerals being the root of the chord in relation to the key center). I am sure many people have written songs with it, not even realizing that Pachelbel got there first. Especially ubiquitous is the chord progression I-V-vi-IV. A good example of how many songs have those exact chord relations can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I.
The Axis of Awesome video is fantastic, but they’re wrong about a few of the songs. The two Offspring songs and the GaGa song are in minor keys. They go (Offspring) Am F C G and (GaGa) G#m E# B F# (so C#m A E B to play along with them in E). It’s the same cycle starting on the third chord of the major progression, though.
There are a few other songs that use the minor-key version, too.
I guess this is why most people complain about the fact that all pop music on the radio sounds the same. It’s still hard to complain because so many of those songs are iconic despite their similar chord structures. There is still variation across the spectrum of music though, with different progressions and ideas. Thats why so many music lovers tend to turn off the radio and search more deeply.
Thanks for sharing this! I think this is a very interesting point because I have heard many songs that utilize Pachelbel’s Canon in D without even realizing it. I think the fact that the melody is repetitive makes these songs more catchy. I found that one of Green Day’s song, “Basket Case,” is based on Pachelbel’s Canon. It was kind of difficult to identify it at the beginning, but after listening to this merge (look below) the chord progression from the original song was easier to identify.