Yo, Yo, I'm a Cowboy Now
I have been trying for some time to track down a recording from
the mid-1990s. A couple of Russian-born conceptual artists had
determined, via a poll of listeners, what the most unappealing kinds of
music were -- then created a piece embodying all of them. For example,
people hate songs about holidays, choirs, and kids singing. So there was a passage where a children's chorus singing about Labor Day.
My efforts to Google it kept failing, and it started to seem like something I might have imagined. And now, out of the blue, here comes Phil Ford to prove that it was no hallucination.
He quotes an account of how the sonic parameters were selected:
Hiphop tuba plus a soprano rapping about the Old West -- what's not to like? You can listen to it here.
As I recall, they also recorded a song combining all the qualities that people said they particularly enjoyed in music. If anyone has a link for it, I'll post that, too.
UPDATE: More on the project at Design Observer.
I've only recently discovered DO and added it to the blogroll -- an adventurous site, not to be missed.
My efforts to Google it kept failing, and it started to seem like something I might have imagined. And now, out of the blue, here comes Phil Ford to prove that it was no hallucination.
He quotes an account of how the sonic parameters were selected:
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 commercials 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.Well damn....it turns out I'm one of them.
Hiphop tuba plus a soprano rapping about the Old West -- what's not to like? You can listen to it here.
As I recall, they also recorded a song combining all the qualities that people said they particularly enjoyed in music. If anyone has a link for it, I'll post that, too.
UPDATE: More on the project at Design Observer.
I've only recently discovered DO and added it to the blogroll -- an adventurous site, not to be missed.
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