The Ice Cream Changes
2011-03-30 · list · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube
Topic: Pop culture · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: song or performance, punishment or challenge
Hank shares the '50s progression, which he prefers to call the Ice Cream Changes, and sings snippets of songs from the 1950s to 2011, from Earth Angel to Slipknot, Justin Bieber, his own I'm Not Edward Cullen and Rebecca Black's Friday, to show how widely it is used; he does not know why our brains like it.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — Hank's discovery, made while looking for guitar songs, not on Reddit: the 50s progression; 1950s examples
- ★★★ Hank shares something fascinating he recently discovered while searching for songs to play on guitar, not on Reddit: the '50s progression. — 00:00:00 · Reddit
- ★★ Hank says the progression was popular in the 1950s, in songs like Earth Angel, Donna and A Teenager in Love, but also before and after. — 00:00:13
00:00:29 — Popular before and after the 50s; Hank's preferred name, the Ice Cream Changes
- ★★ Hank prefers the alternate name the Ice Cream Changes: smooth and sweet like ice cream and liked by everybody, except lactose-intolerant people. (playful) — 00:00:37
00:00:53 — 1960s, 1970s and 1980s examples; Every Breath You Take changes the beats per chord
- ★★ Hank says it continued into the 1960s with Duke of Earl, Where Have All the Flowers Gone? and Octopus's Garden. — 00:00:53
- ★★ Hank says it kept going in the 1970s with a song actually designed to sound like it was from the 1950s. — 00:01:20
- ★★ Hank says it continued into the 1980s with Every Breath You Take, the first time the number of beats per chord was changed. — 00:01:37
00:01:56 — 1990s: one beat per chord; Hank's own Edward Cullen song uses it too; the 'Bieber flip'
- ★★ Hank says in the 1990s it went from two or four beats per chord change to one, as in She Has a Girlfriend Now. — 00:01:56
- ★★ Hank says no one is exempt: his own song I'm Not Edward Cullen uses the Ice Cream Changes too. (playful) — 00:02:12
00:02:34 — 2000s: Justin Bieber's Baby, Slipknot, and the recent 'Friday'
- ★★ Hank says it was sweetened up for the 2000s for 'our little friends', as in Justin Bieber's Baby. (playful) — 00:02:34
- ★★ Hank says it is not only happy songs: Slipknot uses the same chords as Justin Bieber. — 00:02:49
- ★★ Hank says the progression is also in a very recent song, Friday. — 00:03:09
- ★ Hank jokingly introduces Friday as the most popular song of the year, depending on your definition of popular, of year and of song. (joke) — 00:03:09
00:03:40 — Hank doesn't know why our brains like it; sign-off
- ★★★ Hank says he doesn't know why our brains like these progressions, but they obviously do. (unsure) — 00:03:40
In the description and comments
- ★★ Hank writes that the video has no cuts, a moonpasta challenge he silently accepted, and that viewers should keep challenging him because he likes it. — video description
- ★★ Hank writes that he found the progression and every song in the video himself, except Slipknot's use of it, which he learned from a Justin Bieber and Slipknot mashup he found on Reddit while already working on the video. — video description · Reddit
- ★★ Hank thanks everyone who came out to see the Nerds and Music show, calls it amazing, and says his full show is uploading to hankschannel. — video description · hankschannel
Humor (significant)
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Hank says he likes the name Ice Cream Changes because everybody likes it, like ice cream. — 00:00:42
“Except for lactose intolerant people, who hate this chord progression.”
-
Hank's glasses start falling off mid-song and he flicks them back with his hair. — 00:02:27
“I did the Bieber flip, I Bieber-flipped them back on!”
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After singing Slipknot's angry lyrics and greeting any Slipknot fans watching, Hank lands the comparison. — 00:03:07
“They used the same chords as Justin Bieber.”
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Hank introduces Friday as the most popular song of the year, depending on your definition of popular and of year… — 00:03:09
“and also on your definition of song”
Threads in this video
- performed · John and Hank: do a difficult or horrible challenge set by Nerdfighters as the space pasta reward (2010) — Hank makes this video with no cuts, a challenge from Nerdfighteria's space pasta reward that he silently accepted. (video description)
- result reported · John asks Nerdfighters to suggest and upvote challenges for the brothers after space pasta (2010) — Hank takes up a Nerdfighter challenge, a video with no cuts, which he silently accepted. (video description)
- reminder · John asks Nerdfighters to suggest and upvote challenges for the brothers after space pasta (2010) — Hank invites viewers to keep challenging him to do things, because he likes it. (video description)
Where the stories that moved here went next
- John asks Nerdfighters to suggest and upvote challenges for the brothers after space pasta (2010) — reported back; last: reminder, 2011-03-30
Mentioned
Central: '50s progression
Also: People: Justin Bieber
Works: A Teenager in Love · Baby · Crocodile Rock · Donna · Duke of Earl · Earth Angel · Every Breath You Take · Friday · I'm Not Edward Cullen · Octopus's Garden · Psychosocial · She Has a Girlfriend Now · Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Organizations: Reddit
Groups: Slipknot
Only in the description or credits: hankschannel · Nerds and Music show · Ritchie Valens
Also centred on '50s progression: An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall
Later videos replying to this one
- 2011-04-01 · Many Truths, 1 Lie! (John) — continues — “if you haven’t seen Hank’s video about the Ice Cream Chords, your mind is about to be blown” (00:02:36)
- 2014-02-11 · A Middle Aged Man (John) — continues — “The "Ice Cream Changes" song, I know it because of your song!” (00:02:52)