Why is the 6-4 bass change so powerful?

[Cadillac_Mike]

Like, so many of the later 70's AOR hits ala Journey to mid 80's ballads utilized this change.... In C major it's A-F. playing off the relative minor. As bassists we all know how powerful that change is lol... When you thump on the A for a while than go down to the F it's so powerful that immediately the audience grows a Steve Perry Mullet.

LOL I think one of my fav songs "Who's Crying Now" utilizes that change.... Doesn't matter what key; seems like all the AOR rockers and ballads 1977-1989 did it.

Here's a good example:

 

[bassbrad]

I worked with a band leader that called that sequence of chords ' the ice cream changes' ( I scream )
I always love the ii vi VI V I sequence.

 

[Michedelic]

I worked with a band leader that called that sequence of chords ' the ice cream changes' ( I scream )
I always love the ii vi VI V I sequence.

Or "malt shop" changes, from a billion and one 50's doo-wop/teen dream smoochy epics. But it's always popped up over the decades, from Santo & Johnny and J.Frank Wilson…


…to The Clash…

..and this little ditty about the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima…

It dates back to this, probably even further…


But I'm not exactly hearing it in the OP; is it in the verse, pre-chorus, or chorus?