Customer Reviews

People's Choice Music

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this CD because I'd enjoyed David Soldier's work with the Thai Elephant Orchestra, and because I found the concept amusing. The scientific credibility of the study is questionable, but hey, it's a joke.

"The Most Wanted Song" ("a musical work that will be unavoidably and uncontrollably 'liked' by 72 ± 12% of listeners") is a tongue-in-cheek parody of bland, schlocky, inoffensive pop love songs at their worst. Aside from the somewhat eccentric lyrics ("maybe she likes reading Wittgenstein"), I can actually imagine this getting regular airplay on easy listening stations. It's spectacularly insipid, and it WILL get stuck in your head.

But "The Most Unwanted Song" ("fewer than 200 individuals of the world's total population will enjoy this") is where the real fun is. It's a 22-minute cacophony of abruptly changing tempos, bizarre stylistic juxtapositions, passages full of blaring atonal bagpipes, Casio keyboard beats, children singing about holidays and Wal-Mart, and, yes, an opera singer rapping about cowboy life and philosophy. In short, it's carefully calculated to be as annoying and obnoxious as possible. You'll be cringing the whole way through, but you'll be laughing too.

Like Soldier's Thai Elephant Orchestra project, this CD is basically a novelty album - one that you'll listen to every six months or so, or when you want to irritate/entertain your friends. For that, it's worth it.

Interestingly, the lyrics of the Most Wanted Song are not totally atypical of anything off a Bon Jovi album (i.e., trite and insipid). The music is syrupy and bland as you would expect. Don't bother buying the download of just the one song as, removed from context, it's not worth having by itself. Get both tracks (either through purchasing full-album download or ordering the actual disc) for maximum enjoyment.

The Most Unwanted Song is quite enjoyable if a bit long (but that's the point). Who doesn't want to hear an opera singer rap about being a cowboy? I also have a driving need to shop at WalMart now, so caveat emptor.

Fans of any odd music - from Zappa to Negativland - are 72 +/- 12% likely to totally dig this disc.

This CD is based on a survey of people's musical preferences for instruments, styles, subjects, lengths, and singers (the idea came from a similar study for art). When the results were in, they created one song that combines most of the highly favored elements, and one that's an arrangement of the least liked stuff. Perhaps this was done to show that you can't go by the numbers, because the "most wanted song" is really not too great, but the "most unwanted song" is a treat to listen to. In addition to some interesting (and sometimes discordant) combinations of instruments, such elements were thrown in as an operatic soprano rapping about cowboy life, children singing about holidays and plugging Wal-Mart, and a political activist shouting through a megaphone to the sounds of elevator music. It's not something to play on a daily basis or as background, but to be listened to carefully. For best results, the listener should take a look at the numbers; he or she will probably enjoy seeing the disliked items coming up. It's also a fun piece to play for other people, but not if they're unlikely to pay attention (or to appreciate the concept if you don't explain it to them), because then their impression will be of a strange piece of music they don't want to hear again. I've played it a few times on my radio show (once during a telethon, yet) and it usually has a favorable reception. As long as you expect to enjoy it, you will.

Anyone who enjoys humor in their music, or so-bad-it's-good music, will love The Most Unwanted Song. It's an incredible, epic endurance test of musical appreciation. The Most Wanted Song is kind of boring in comparison, but I guess that's to be expected.

However, there's no reason to spend money on this! It's free on iTunes.

I used to have a copy of this album, but it disappeared in one of my moves a few years ago. I found the Most Wanted Song a bit insipid, but the Most Unwanted Song is actually quite good, in a weird sort of way.

Of course, maybe I'm one of the 200 oddballs who will actually like it.

5 stars because the idea is so cool, even though the Most Wanted Song is boring.

This is what happens when you set out to write the worst song imaginable. An opera singer rapping about cowboy life and philosophy, accompanied by children singing about holidays and shopping at Walmart. Not to mention the atonal intervals rendered in tuba, bagpipe and accordian, all set to the drumbeat of a cheap synthesizer probably purchased at a drug store. Variations are then repeated for about 20 minutes. This is the song to exact revenge upon noisy neighbors with. Set it on your stereo at 4AM, crank the volume to 10, and then leave the house. This is the nuclear option of stereo wars.

The most-wanted song is deliberately vanilla, while the least-wanted song is taken to silly, fascinating extremes. This CD says volumes about society's love affair with familiar, inoffensive music and naked hatred of anything that "shaves against the grain."