TempoPeek

Talking Heads · Talking Heads: 77

Psycho Killer

Psycho Killer is in A minor at 123.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

124 BPM · Allegromedian of 262 analyses · 122.3–123.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
84%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
262people who ran the extractor
One beat
485.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
438.7Hz · -5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.29dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.903Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.387Essentia's danceability, 0–3

Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.

What the numbers say

262 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 84% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 262 readings; 92% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 122.3 to 123.6 BPM.

At 123.5 BPM one beat lasts 485.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 121.5 ms and a dotted eighth 364.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 61.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 247. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 438.7 Hz, which is 5 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.29 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.903 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.

10 other recordings here are in A minor; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.

Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.

Keys that fit with A minor

Each of these differs from A minor by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.

Delay times at 124 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41943.30.51
Half note2971.71.03
Dotted quarter1.5728.71.37
Quarter note (one beat)1485.82.06
Quarter triplet0.667323.93.09
Dotted eighth0.75364.42.74
Eighth note0.5242.94.12
Eighth triplet0.333161.96.18
Dotted sixteenth0.375182.25.49
Sixteenth note0.25121.58.23
Sixteenth triplet0.1678112.35
Thirty-second note0.12560.716.47

Half time 61.8 BPM · double time 247 BPM. Every row is one beat (485.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. FleshAerosmithA minor124BPM
  2. Magic TouchAerosmithA minor124BPM
  3. After AllDavid BowieA minor124BPM
  4. EasilyRed Hot Chili PeppersA minor124BPM
  5. Like a StarCorinne Bailey RaeA minor123BPM
  6. HelloLionel RichieA minor124BPM
  7. Other SideRed Hot Chili PeppersA minor124BPM
  8. One KissCalvin Harris & Dua LipaA minor124BPM
  9. Behind Blue EyesThe WhoA minor124BPM
  10. CrescendollsDaft PunkA minor124BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 124 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 124 BPMA minor at 120–129 BPMTalking Heads

MusicBrainz collapses 73 recording ids into this one. Recording id e66ea0ae-72e9-4471-a3ab-964b6c25696b.