Hey Sallier,
I second Casey's comment. The music industry is an extremely competitive business, and even if the artist was a one-hit wonder, those "lame pop songs" you were re-writing in junior high were on the radio. As a songwriter trying to get other people to use your material, you narrow your chances considerably if you don't write in a format that most people are both familiar with and conditioned to respond to. Speaking strictly as one of your many competitors for those limited opportunities, in a word, 'Thanks!'
But in the spirit of helping others (which I believe is everyone's true mission anyway
), I'll offer an explanation about WHY "people in the industry" (and Taxi screeners merely represent them) want songs in VCVCBC structures more often than other possible structures.
There are several common song structures. The main ones, ALL of which were THE dominant form in the heyday of their popularity, are:
VVVV (with a refrain at the beginning or end of each verse): not enough variety = boring
VVBV: adds the novelty the previous structure lacks, and just when we expect it, but without a chorus, there's not enough of the familiar, and it's harder to sing along to
VCVCVC (including variations with a double first verse, instrumental third verse, etc.): this gives us both novelty (to keep us interested) and familiarity (to sing along with), but by the third verse, our brain is ready for something different again...
Hence, the most popular song form today is... the VCVCBC structure. Why? Not because Taxi screeners, big media corporations, music industry execs or anyone else conspires to limit our artistic expression, that's for sure. It's how the human brain has EVOLVED over hundreds of thousands of years.
The simple fact is that the VCVCBC structure provides both the NOVELTY and the FAMILIARITY that our brains PREFER in just the right proportions, AND in the ORDER that we want them in (otherwise the ABACAB structure, in which A=chorus, B=verse and C=bridge, would have surpassed it by now
). According to recent estimates, this structure accounts for about 80% of current chart songs.
That doesn't mean that there isn't a niche for avante garde or otherwise creative song structures, but you either have to be a hugely successful performing artist (with fans who will buy whatever you produce), or so hugely talented that you captivate everyone who hears your songs to pull off a new form. So, if you have a following like the Beatles, sing like Joni Mitchell, play guitar like Eric Clapton, etc., etc. - go for it. Post yourself performing your original songs on youtube, build a following, go on tour, take the world by storm... I remember seeing a Norwegian band (Tempest) playing a hybrid style of Celtic and Norwegian folk-rock; not my cup of tea, but they've been performing for more than 25 years, so maybe you'll find your audience... It just isn't likely to be what the mainstream music industry is looking for NOW.
In the meantime, IF you want placements with artists, or in film and TV, your challenge is to write songs in the most popular form so much BETTER than all those other "lame pop songs" that the gate keepers stand up and take notice.
And if you get a review that you disagree with, post a link to the song AND the feedback you got from the screener. I can't guarantee that you'll learn anything from every rejection, but if you never light the candle, you're gonna be bumping around in the darkness for a looong time.
Hope this helps. Good luck whatever you decide!
Casey
