The Most Unwanted Song

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
Probably old news, but hey, the operatic rapping is something else:

The most unwanted music is over 25 minutes long, veers wildly between loud and quiet sections, between fast and slow tempos, and features timbres of extremely high and low pitch, with each dichotomy presented in abrupt transition. The most unwanted orchestra was determined to be large, and features the accordion and bagpipe (which tie at 13% as the most unwanted instrument), banjo, flute, tuba, harp, organ, synthesizer (the only instrument that appears in both the most wanted and most unwanted ensembles). An operatic soprano raps and sings atonal music, advertising jingles, political slogans, and “elevator” music, and a children's choir sings jingles and holiday songs. The most unwanted subjects for lyrics are cowboys and holidays, and the most unwanted listening circumstances are involuntary exposure to commericals and elevator music. Therefore, it can be shown that if there is no covariance—someone who dislikes bagpipes is as likely to hate elevator music as someone who despises the organ, for example—fewer than 200 individuals of the world's total population would enjoy this piece.

http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/komar_melamid/KomarMelamid_The-Most-UnwantedSong.mp3

http://www.diacenter.org/km/musiccd.html
 

BareBones

wheezy
The most unwanted subjects for lyrics are cowboys and holidays

what the fuck? cowboys and holidays?? What odd choices. I don't think i can even think of one song about cowboys.

EDIT: oh yeah i can, isn't there a crap pop-country shania twain style tune that goes "where have all the cowboys gone?"
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
what the fuck? cowboys and holidays?? What odd choices. I don't think i can even think of one song about cowboys.

EDIT: oh yeah i can, isn't there a crap pop-country shania twain style tune that goes "where have all the cowboys gone?"

Or Kid Rock's "Cowboy". Another gem.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Sounds like The Residents.
Ha ha. I can't listen at work but from the description it sounds like The Residents.

"what the fuck? cowboys and holidays?? What odd choices. I don't think i can even think of one song about cowboys."
Maybe everyone was thinking of Return of The Space Cowboy by Jamiroquai. A space cowboy sounds pretty cool actually, shame he had to ruin it.
 

BareBones

wheezy
shania twain, jamiroquai, kid rock... now i'm beginning to understand why people hate songs about cowboys so much

I'm actually enjoying listening to this a lot - i haven't laughed so much in ages, i'm actually crying... it DOES sound like the residents
 

zhao

there are no accidents
heard these on NPR when those 2 artists first did the project. good to revisit for a laugh. got a link to the Most Wanted? as i remember it was like easy listening crap rock sinatra christmas jingles or something
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
not even going to bother listening, I'm sure it's 300% brilliant.

Therefore, it can be shown that if there is no covariance—


all in good fun of course, just one thought - surely combining elements which on their own would be massively unappealing into something wonderful is one of the main components of good music production?


what the fuck? cowboys and holidays?? What odd choices. I don't think i can even think of one song about cowboys.

EDIT: oh yeah i can, isn't there a crap pop-country shania twain style tune that goes "where have all the cowboys gone?"

no, that's Paula Cole I believe. an MOR staple of my pre-adolescence. also re: cowboy songs there's trillions of them. 1000s of C&W tunes alone. a few from hip hop off the top of my head; The Fugees ft. Young Zee, Rah Digga & Pacewon - "Cowboys" (killer tune as well, the Outsidaz were so underrated), Jeru the Damaja - "Black Cowboys" (an answer to the Fugees, I believe), Bone Thugs - "Ghetto Cowboy", Sadat X - "Wild Cowboys" (of an LP of the same name). plus it seems like dancehall is fond of a Western if no specifically cowboy themes; Super Cat - "Scalp Dem", Pinchers - "Bandelero", Josey Wales, etc. oh & crap like Bon Jovi - "on a steel horse I ride I'm a cowboy..." whatever the name is.
 

BareBones

wheezy
Ok fair enough, there are thousands of songs about cowboys. But i still stand by my initial point that, as the most unwanted lyrical themes, cowboys and holidays are pretty random choices. No?
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
Ok fair enough, there are thousands of songs about cowboys. But i still stand by my initial point that, as the most unwanted lyrical themes, cowboys and holidays are pretty random choices. No?

Well a lot of people don't like country, and I assume this is where 99% of the cowboy songs come from, so...
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Ok fair enough, there are thousands of songs about cowboys. But i still stand by my initial point that, as the most unwanted lyrical themes, cowboys and holidays are pretty random choices. No?

oh sure. well holidays I actually can see - cash-in Xmas tunes & all that. the cowboys, I dunno, this was a poll of Americans? I'd guess it might have something to do with the general aversion to modern mainstream country music here which is shared by most everyone but the people who listen to it (and tbf there are quite a lot of them). which I'm behind sonically - really most of it is just unredeemable - though I suspect that it also has something to do with a bias against poor rural white people (aka "white trash", America's version of "chavs"). perhaps along the lines of something like donk where the music is genuinely shite but people look down their noses at it for class reasons as well.
 

BareBones

wheezy
well yeah, i guess if somebody told me that the two most hated genres of music were country & western and xmas songs, i wouldn't've been surprised at all... but i just find it a bit strange (and unbelievable) that it's specifically the lyrical content of the music which people have an aversion to. I mean, regardless of genre, surely you'd rather hear a song about a cowboy on holiday, than you would some self-pitying guff about how some girl doesn't love you....

suggestions of hundreds of great songs about unrequited love to be posted below i'm sure...
 

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
i have to imagine that country is a wildly popular genre of music in the USA
and cowboy songs too
:smh:

i imagine the people polled were on the eastern seaboard USA
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
oh sure. well holidays I actually can see - cash-in Xmas tunes & all that.
Heh, I was confused by holidays because in my English holiday = vacation so I was imagining that people were furious about songs about lounging on the beach or going for a walk in the mountains or something!? :D

I guess days like e.g. Xmas are also called holidays, but more often public holidays... anyway, being anti that as a theme makes a lot of sense to me, having heard the Xmas remix of the Macarena.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
i have to imagine that country is a wildly popular genre of music in the USA
and cowboy songs too
:smh:
i imagine the people polled were on the eastern seaboard USA

well yes & no. yes in that it has a large, devoted fanbase (more apt to buy stuff too I'd imagine), no in that that fanbase is very heterogenous, not very much crossover, and many people who don't like modern country absolutely loathe it. don't forget that the eastern seaboard is also everything south of D.C. (Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida) including the Appalachians - you know, where country music comes from - I mean the capital of country music is & pretty much always has been Nashvilee which is Tennessee. not exactly cowboy territory. plus a distinction really has to be made between older country (Cash, Haggard, Loretta Lynn,etc. all the way back to dudes like Hank Williams Sr.) and modern Nashville assembly line crap.

I guess you're, y'know, kidding but it's like me saying "oh yeah I have to imagine that awful commercial house is wildly popular in England". which of course it is, right;)?

I mean, regardless of genre, surely you'd rather hear a song about a cowboy on holiday, than you would some self-pitying guff about how some girl doesn't love you....

well of course. or better yet songs about self-pitying cowboys on holidays & the cowgirls that don't love them.
 
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