Aerosmith · Pump
Monkey on My Back
Monkey on My Back is in A major at 123.6 beats per minute.
Tempo
124 BPM · Allegromedian of 226 analyses · 120.7–123.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A major3 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 81%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 226people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 485.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 2.78dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.951Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.117Essentia'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
226 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 81% — put it in A major, a key signature of 3 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 226 readings; 81% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 120.7 to 123.7 BPM.
At 123.6 BPM one beat lasts 485.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 121.4 ms and a dotted eighth 364.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 61.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 247.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.3 Hz, which is 5 cents above 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 2.78 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 0.951 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 major; 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 major
Each of these differs from A major 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 value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1941.7 | 0.52 |
| Half note | 2 | 970.9 | 1.03 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 728.2 | 1.37 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 485.4 | 2.06 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 323.6 | 3.09 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 364.1 | 2.75 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 242.7 | 4.12 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 161.8 | 6.18 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 182 | 5.49 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 121.4 | 8.24 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 80.9 | 12.36 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 60.7 | 16.48 |
Half time 61.8 BPM · double time 247.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (485.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Houses of the HolyLed ZeppelinA major124BPM
- Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (The Neptunes remix)Daft PunkA major124BPM
- Boys Keep SwingingDavid BowieA major124BPM
- Astronomy DominePink FloydA major124BPM
- Harder, Better, Faster, StrongerDaft PunkA major123BPM
- Rip Her to ShredsBlondieA major123BPM
- Sinner’s PrayerRay CharlesA major123BPM
- All I Really Want to DoThe ByrdsA major123BPM
- I Heard a RumourBananaramaA major123BPM
- White Blank PageMumford & SonsA major123BPM
Recordings in A major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 124 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A majorAll songs at 124 BPMA major at 120–129 BPMAerosmith
MusicBrainz collapses 34 recording ids into this one. Recording id 42d6da1f-7561-4ace-ac5c-52eb2139a7bc.