"Accessible" songs that feature unusual chord and/or rhythmic elements

I've always been impressed by the ability of songwriters in "popular" styles - whether that be rock, pop, country, metal or whatever - to write songs which incorporate harmonic and rhythmic elements outside of the usual "predictable" chord progressions and rhythms, whilst remaining accessible and writing the kind of thing non-musical people can sing or whistle along to without difficulty. The Beatles were great at it of course, and Steely Dan comes to mind. Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, another two. I'm not talking about modern jazz, classical, prog rock or any other styles which go out of their way to sound esoteric and unusual. Just catchy tunes which twist and turn and modulate in usual ways but which still remain accessible and catchy. I live for music like this. 
 
Two that immediately spring to mind are from Radiohead, "Knives Out" and "The Pyramid Song." Knives Out uses pretty standard chord types (major, minor, m7, m6 etc) but modulates in interesting ways - it's both dark and disturbing yet immediately catchy, to my ears anyway. The Pyramid Song has very beautiful chords which aren't that unusual, but the rhythm of the song is very unusual whilst still being the kind of thing you can nod your head to. Would be interested to hear of other examples. I'm constantly trying to incorporate usual musical elements into my own music without sounding "nerdy," and it's hard!
 


 
 
 
 

Yes Turn It On Again is a great example, instantly recognizable but very odd meter.

Some of the Beatles stuff has a lot in common with folk music in the way the meter changes to fit the words. You'll hear folk singers adding and removing bars when it suits them, sometimes on a whim, sometimes to fit a lyric that wouldn't otherwise fit. The great singer/guitar player Martin Carthy (from whom Paul Simon stole his arrangement of Scarborough Fair) once maintained that his music was in 1/1 time.

Just because the song is "accessible," doesn't necessarily mean it's legal!
 
HTH. 

'Take Me Out' by Franz Ferdinand does something quite unusual at 0:53, almost like they stitched two different songs together.
 

On a related note, one thing that changed for me when I started working with a DAW instead of working with musician is that I tend to stick to 4/4 when writing, partly subconsciously I guess.
 
Back in the days, I'd let the drummer figure out a way to write a solid backbeat for my songs. As such, I have songs that I've been wanting to record for years but just can't because I can't play or program those drums parts.
 
Covers are a different story.

In a more current vein, despie being a world class narcissistic  a-hole, Kanye West has occassionally pulled out a 6/8 rhythm or two. Kind of impressive in a genre so heavily dominated by 4/4.

1901 by Phoenix - the verse and chorus are pretty similar but the pre-chorus completely shakes things up.
 
A lot of Vampire Weekend's stuff tends to have rhythms taken from African and Latin sources.

Rain
I dig that stuff. Even something as simplistic as Nirvana's About a Girl which is all Em-G, but then shifts to a C#-F#. Very simple, but it sort of throws you off a bit at first.
 

Nirvana are a great example in general. 
 
Madness had some pretty quirky chord progressions and some quite involved arrangements, considering they were very much a "fun" band. 
 
Here's one: The Kinks, Autumn Almanac. 
 

Here's another one I always liked, Carrie by Cliff Richard. Fair enough the guy has a reputation of being a sex symbol for the over 70's, but I really like this song. The chords in the chorus have a nice Steely Dan-style twist, always nice to hear some sophisticated harmony in a pop song. 
 

Moshkito
Hi,
 
I don't know music intimately like you folks do, but one of the bands that was best at changing times and still continuing, in my book, was Amon Duul 2. Another band that was very tough on time changes and combinations was Nektar in their best period.
 
I don't see it as a big deal, I just see it as the fact that rock/pop musicians are not advanced enough to play around with other things that have been a part of music history since the beginning of the 20th century. Even Terry Riley, had several things going at the same time, many of them using different time elements, albeit I thought they were mathematically matched to make it easier on the ear. Guru Guru in the early days with Ax Gernrich was also a terrific off the cuff time and such, and Mani Neumeier used to say that he never plays with the bass guitar ... he only plays with and against the guitarist ... and you could see that again when he toured with that Japanese thrash band!
 
I just think that (at times) we're too concerned with intellectualizing something that is not particularly worth discussing within a true/meaningful musical context ... but I will accept that I do not know music as far as you guys do from a playing standpoint!
 
 

I think you're probably reading too much into it. It's really quite simple - there clearly ARE rock/pop musicians who are advanced enough to play around with sophisticated musical ideas, and their genius is in writing technically sophisticated music which is accessible to the masses. As much as I love esoteric musicians, I don't think that many of them have the talent to turn their virtuosity into something which is both "popular" sounding and musically advanced.

sharke

I think you're probably reading too much into it. It's really quite simple - there clearly ARE rock/pop musicians who are advanced enough to play around with sophisticated musical ideas, and their genius is in writing technically sophisticated music which is accessible to the masses. As much as I love esoteric musicians, I don't think that many of them have the talent to turn their virtuosity into something which is both "popular" sounding and musically advanced.

Yep, Steely Dan are masters of it. From 'The Royal Scam' onwards, that's some of the most sophisticated 'popular' music ever (or so far). Elvis Costello came close on occasion though, so did Squeeze.

I was happy to see Nirvana mentioned. Kurt's poppier stuff was definitely quirky (of course) while being "accessible".
 
I think Townsend was quite good at this and an early influence for later artists. He however did it from a musically analytical background whereas Kurt more or less just played what felt right without really thinking it out.
 
It's funny hearing about how he came up with lyrics too. He chalked it up to laziness. He'd have a song together but was dragging his ass on lyrics so would just pull dumb crap out of his butt that fit the music. Everyone tries to find some deep meaning to it but it really is mostly just dumb stuff that fit in the groove. It does show a naturally artistic heart though if that's just his brainfarts.

Not much of a Sting fanatic but he (and the Police) were very good with the appealing progressional quirkiness. Good call.

Beepster
Not much of a Sting fanatic but he (and the Police) were very good with the appealing progressional quirkiness. Good call.

Of course.  They gave us the "Roxanne Chord" (something like a Cm13 ?).  Not many other chords are named after a band/song.  ("Hendrix", "Hard Day's Night", and not much else).  
 
For unique chords, also a shout out to Squeeze, as "Pulling Mussels from the Shell" has another of those chords that you aren't likely to hear anyplace else.
 
Coldplay's "Clocks" had a rhythm you didn't hear a lot before that song came out.