The Most Unwanted Music

Russian conceptual artists recorded a song in the mid-1990s based on a survey of what the most hated kinds of music were. David Soldier, another conceptual artist based in NYC who also spearheaded the amazing Thai Elephant Orchestra, basically took the results from the survey and created a song that embodied all of the most despised elements of bad music. For instance, it was shown that people hated music about holidays, choirs, and kids singing. So there was a passage in the song that included a children’s chorus singing about Labor Day.

Here is an account of how Soldier created the song:

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.

You can listen to the Most Unwanted Music here. Enjoy. (I actually like it, but then again, I am an accordion player.)