Yesterday, I mentioned Radiohead's "15 Step", and it got me thinking about 5/4 time and why it is so rare. Nearly all popular music is in 4/4 for a very simple reason: it's symmetrical and it makes it easier for everyone who might participate - musicians, improvisers, dancers, even listeners. I had a teacher once who said that the history of music can be largely understood by the fact that we have two hands (ergo the piano, and its massive influence on virtually every aspect of music) and two feet (thus the prevalence of rhythms in 2 or its multiples). Of course, there are some time signatures that have flourished in conjunction with certain types of dance (3/4 and the waltz is the prime example), but for the most part 2 and 4 have taken up nearly all the room. Let's hope that changes.
One of the ways that young writers and musicians can avoid cliche (or sounding like those that have come before) is to explore new time signatures and methods of overlapping or combining rhythms. One idea is to write with music paper, but without bar lines. Because as soon as a bar or measure line is written, a pattern has been implied. And of course it's best if the pattern is discovered rather than imposed.
Here are three great songs, in three completely different styles, in 5/4: "Take Five" by Paul Desmond on The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out (1959), Nick Drake's "River Man" from Five Leaves Left (1969), and Radiohead's "15 Step" from In Rainbows (2007). Perhaps the title of "15 Step" may refer to a dance or rhythmic concept - and the need to count and think for those who participate, until it becomes second nature. Ballet and other forms of dance based on classical music and its offshoots have been using unusual time signatures for many years - there's no reason that other styles can't as well. Let's not be lazy here, people.