There are certainly a few chords that go together nicely and they have been put together literally 1000's of times - especially in hit songs. It is very, very lazy songwriting if you can even call it that. Pop music in particular is the main culprit, with absolutely no artistic value nor originality to their progressions. I watched a youtube vid a few years ago and this girl played 3 chords in a continuous session and belted out 25 recognisable chart topping hits. The only difference was her strumming patterns and breaks. For nearly all of them, the order of the chords she played remained the same.
Happy when I checked out that one direction song you mentioned I found there was another of theirs which ripped off Baba O'Riely by The Who. I went through the comments section and was amazed to find all these teenage girls defending the boy band and claiming that The Who had ripped off their intro and rhythm section.
The levels of musical illiteracy amongst the groups who spend the most cash on music is astounding…..
