The Most Unwanted Song

Last updated
"The Most Unwanted Song"
Komar & Melamid and Dave Soldier The People's Choice Music Album Cover.jpg
Song by Komar and Melamid and Dave Soldier
from the album The People's Choice: Music
Released1997 (1997)
Genre "Unwanted":
"Wanted":
Length21:58 ("Unwanted")
5:09 ("Wanted")
Label
Composer(s) Dave Soldier
Lyricist(s) Nina Mankin

"The Most Unwanted Song" is an avant-garde novelty song created by artists Komar and Melamid and composer Dave Soldier in 1997. The song was written to incorporate lyrical and musical elements that were disliked by most respondents to an opinion poll, including bagpipes, cowboy music, an opera singer rapping, and a children's choir that urged listeners to "do all [their] shopping at Walmart!" [1] [2]

Contents

Along with its counterpart "The Most Wanted Song", it was released on the CD The People's Choice Music in 1997, which was sold at the Dia Art Foundation bookstore and later through Soldier's Mulatta Records. [3] [4] Although deliberately designed to be as unpleasant as possible, "The Most Unwanted Song" became the more popular of the two songs. The album has been praised both for its comedic value and as a social statement criticizing the influence of market research, focus groups, and opinion polling on contemporary society. [5] [6] [7]

In 2019, The People's Choice: Music was remastered and reissued on vinyl, CD, and cassette by Needlejuice Records. [8]

Background

Beginning in 1994, Russian-American graphic artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid created a series of "most wanted" and "least wanted" paintings ("Выбор народа"), based on visual aspects found to be most "wanted" and "unwanted" by the public according to professional opinion polls. These paintings were published in the book Painting by Numbers: Komar and Melamid's Scientific Guide to Art in 1997. [9]

When asked by an art gallery owner to make a CD for him, Komar and Melamid approached American neuroscientist and musician David Sulzer (known in his musical career as Dave Soldier), with whom they were working on the opera Naked Revolution for The Kitchen in Manhattan. Soldier suggested adapting the concept of The People's Choice painting series to music, to be titled The People's Choice: Music. This project again used the opinions of the public, as measured by polls, to determine which elements of the medium were "most" or "least wanted". The polls were written by Soldier and taken via the Dia Art Foundation in the spring of 1996. [1] [3]

The online survey of approximately 500 Dia visitors and participators revealed that the themes, instruments and other musical and lyrical aspects that people least wanted to hear included cowboy music, bagpipes, accordions, opera, rapping, children's voices, tubas, drum machines, and advertising jingles. The artists then incorporated all of these elements into "The Most Unwanted Song", which lasts almost twenty-two minutes as recorded. [5]

Soldier composed "The Most Unwanted Song" and its companion "The Most Wanted Song" with lyricist Nina Mankin. They debuted the songs at a 1997 performance in New York with soprano Dina Emerson, a large ensemble conducted by Norman Yamada, and a children's choir; Soldier played banjo, while Komar and Melamid jointly played a bass drum. [5]

"The Most Unwanted Song" and "The Most Wanted Song" were performed live for the first time since 1997 at a concert to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Manhattan arts venue (Le) Poisson Rouge in June 2023, alongside other works by Soldier. [10]

Lyrics and music

"The Most Unwanted Song"

Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (pictured in 1929) is referenced in both "The Most Wanted Song" and "The Most Unwanted Song". Ludwig Wittgenstein 1929.jpg
Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (pictured in 1929) is referenced in both "The Most Wanted Song" and "The Most Unwanted Song".

According to the survey, 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 poll determined that the least wanted ensemble would be large, featuring accordion, bagpipes, banjo, flute, tuba, harp, pipe organ and synthesizer. The least desirable singers would be an operatic soprano and children's choir, singing atonal melodies and rapping. The most unwanted genres were commercial jingles, political slogans, and elevator music. The most unwanted lyrical subjects were cowboys and holidays, while the most unpleasant listening circumstances were involuntary exposure to commercials or elevator music. [12]

"The Most Unwanted Song" is slightly under twenty-two minutes long. [6] Lead singer Dina Emerson raps lyrics about the American frontier in an operatic voice. The narrator of the song is a cowboy who kills wild animals with a knife, lassos cows, and rides through the wilderness "wild and free". The cowboy rests by reading philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's 1921 work Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and pondering his philosophy of language. After singing a verse about Wittgenstein in German, he returns home to make love to Miss Kitty, shoots a suspicious stranger, and fights "Injuns" in order to build a grocery store on their land that will sell American cheese. [2] Emerson's verses are repeatedly interrupted by a children's choir that describes various holidays and urges listeners to call their relatives and shop at Walmart, and by several sections of dissonant free improvisation designated in the score as "slams". [2] Towards the end of the song, Mankin shouts various political terms and slogans into a megaphone over harp-driven "elevator music", followed by a unison "folk song" refrain. [1] [2] According to Soldier, there were less than 200 people in the world who could be expected to like "The Most Unwanted Song" at the time of writing. [12]

"The Most Wanted Song"

According to Soldier, the survey confirmed that "today’s popular music indeed provides an accurate estimate of the wishes of the vox populi ". Based on the responses, the most desired ensemble contains between three and ten instruments, the most popular of which were guitar, piano, saxophone, bass guitar, drums, violin, cello, and synthesizer (the only instrument that was both wanted and unwanted). The most wanted singer was a low-pitched rock or R&B singer of either gender. The most popular lyrical subject was love, and the music was preferably listened to at home. The only lyrical topic that appeared in both the most wanted and unwanted categories was “intellectual stimulation”; [12] for this reason, Wittgenstein is referenced in both songs. [11] Songs deviating from moderate tempo and pitch were viewed very negatively. [12]

"The Most Wanted Song" has two singers, Ronnie Gent and Ada Dyer; while writing the lyrics, Mankin imagined Whitney Houston as the female singer and Bruce Springsteen as the male singer. According to Stewart Mason and Sarah Vowell, "The Most Wanted Song" is reminiscent of songs by Houston, Mariah Carey, and Celine Dion that were popular at the time. [6] [7] Vernon Reid of Living Colour plays electric guitar on the song, including a solo. [13] "The Most Wanted Song" tells a simple and emotional story with a clear rhyme scheme about a woman who meets a lonely traveler and falls in love with him. [1] At the end, guitar and saxophone solos are heard, after which Dyer and Gent sing several choruses in unison. The last chorus is played half a step higher. According to Soldier, 72 ± 12% of listeners would like the song "unavoidably and uncontrollably". [12]

Reception

Stewart Mason of AllMusic described The People's Choice Music as "a hilarious parody of the concept of 'art for the people' and a pointed critique of how thoroughly market research and polling influences daily life". Mason considered The People's Choice: Music "even more conceptually brilliant" than Komar & Melamid's paintings, and felt that "The Most Wanted Song" could have been a hit, though he considered "The Most Unwanted Song" to be superior. [6]

Mankin was not surprised that "The Most Unwanted Song" was the more popular of the two songs. [1] Michael Colton of The Washington Post called "The Most Wanted Song" clichéd and boring, which he interpreted as reflecting Mankin's attitude towards mainstream music; on the other hand, he regarded "The Most Unwanted Song" as "anything but boring" and "hilarious in its atrociousness". [11] Sarah Vowell of Salon pondered whether the music audience is divided into those who focus on what they hear and those who do not. According to Vowell, "The Most Wanted Song" is not significantly different from the radio hits of the time, causing her attention to falter. Vowell considered the song's undisturbing nature a weakness rather a strength, whereas she called "The Most Unwanted Song" "a real crackup". According to Vowell, Komar and Melamid pondered questions important to both art and society: "What would art look like if it were to please the greatest number of people? Or conversely: What kind of culture is produced by a society that lives and governs itself by opinion polls?" [7]

Eliot van Buskirk of Wired described "The Most Unwanted Song" as "a scientific attempt to create the most annoying song ever", [14] but ironically deemed "The Most Wanted Song" "horrible" and "a way rougher listen" than "The Most Unwanted Song". [15] Jordie Yow of The Tyee described "The Most Wanted Song" as "bland, boring, and completely terrible" and "The Most Unwanted Song" as "so bad it's good", explaining that "it takes all the qualities that make songs stand out and combines them together." [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yodeling</span> Form of singing

Yodeling is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word yodel is derived from the German word jodeln, meaning "to utter the syllable jo". This vocal technique is used in many cultures worldwide. Recent scientific research concerning yodeling and non-Western cultures has shown that music and speech evolved from a common prosodic precursor.

Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard-biniou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branched out into numerous subgenres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Carter</span> American singer-songwriter

Dave Carter was an American folk music singer-songwriter who described his style as "post-modern mythic American folk music". He was one half of the duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, who were heralded as the new "voice of modern folk music" in the months before Carter's unexpected death in July 2002. They were ranked as number one on the year-end list for "Top Artists" on the Folk Music Radio Airplay Chart for 2001 and 2002, and their popularity has endured in the years following Carter's death. Joan Baez, who went on tour with the duo in 2002, spoke of Carter's songs in the same terms that she once used to promote a young Bob Dylan:

"There is a special gift for writing songs that are available to other people, and Dave's songs are very available to me. It's a kind of genius, you know, and Dylan has the biggest case of it. But I hear it in Dave's songs, too.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)</span> English musician, songwriter and record producer (born 1952)

David Allan Stewart is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for Eurythmics, his successful professional partnership with Annie Lennox. Sometimes credited as David A. Stewart, he won Best British Producer at the 1986, 1987 and 1990 Brit Awards. Stewart was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020 and the duo were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Outside of Eurythmics, Stewart has written and produced songs for artists such as Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, Mick Jagger and Tom Petty.

<i>Black Eyed Man</i> 1992 studio album by Cowboy Junkies

Black Eyed Man is the fourth studio album by Cowboy Junkies, released in 1992. The album continues the band's evolution from a spare country blues style to a more mainstream country rock style.

<i>I Want You</i> (Marvin Gaye album) 1976 studio album by Marvin Gaye

I Want You is the fourteenth studio album by American soul singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye. It was released on March 16, 1976, by the Motown Records-subsidiary label Tamla.

Komar and Melamid is a tandem team of Russian-born American conceptualist artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid. In an artists' statement they said that "even if only one of us creates some of the projects and works, we usually sign them together. We are not just an artist, we are a movement." Both artists were born in Moscow, but emigrated to Israel in 1977 and subsequently to New York in 1978. The pair's co-authorship of works ceased in 2003–2004.


The Go Set are a five-piece punk rock band, which were formed in 2003 in Geelong by founding mainstays, Justin Keenan, on vocals and guitar, and Mark Moran on bass guitar. By 2017 they had released seven studio albums and toured Australia, Europe, New Zealand and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemon Demon</span> American pop rock band

Lemon Demon is a musical project and band created by American comedian and musician Neil Cicierega in 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts. Lemon Demon's studio work is performed solely by Cicierega, who is the project's sole official member. Live performances also include a backing band, with previous performances consisting of Alora Lanzillotta, Charles Sergio, Anthony Wry, Dave Kitsberg, and Greg Lanzillotta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulldozer Exhibition</span>

The Bulldozer Exhibition was an unofficial art exhibition on a vacant lot in the Belyayevo urban forest by Moscow and Leningrad avant-garde artists on 15 September 1974. The exhibition was forcefully broken-up by a large police force that included bulldozers and water cannons, hence the name.

Non-religious secular music and sacred music were the two main genres of Western music during the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. The oldest written examples of secular music are songs with Latin lyrics. However, many secular songs were sung in the vernacular language, unlike the sacred songs that followed the Latin language of the Church. These earliest types were known as the chanson de geste and were popular amongst the traveling jongleurs and minstrels of the time.

People's Choice or The People's Choice may refer to:

Mulatta Records, which, in 2020, has changed its name to EEG Records, is a record label established in 2000 by the Nigerian record producer and DJ Ayo Osinibi and the American composer/performer Dave Soldier

<i>The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy</i> 1974 studio album by David Allan Coe

The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy is the third album of American singer David Allan Coe, and his first on Columbia Records. Released in 1974, it is his first release in the country music genre.

<i>The Boy in Me</i> 1994 studio album by Glen Campbell

The Boy in Me is an album by the American singer/guitarist Glen Campbell, released in 1994. It is an album of Christian music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Sulzer</span> American neuroscientist and musician

David Sulzer is an American neuroscientist and musician. He is a professor at Columbia University Medical Center in the departments of psychiatry, neurology, and pharmacology. Sulzer's laboratory investigates the interaction between the synapses of the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia, including the dopamine system, in habit formation, planning, decision making, and diseases of the system. His lab has developed the first means to optically measure neurotransmission, and has introduced new hypotheses of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease, and changes in synapses that produce autism and habit learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folk process</span>

In the study of folklore, the folk process is the way folk material, especially stories, music, and other art, is transformed and re-adapted in the process of its transmission from person to person and from generation to generation. The folk process defines a community—the "folk community"—in and through which folklore is transmitted. While there is a place for professional and trained performers in a folk community, it is the act of refinement and creative change by community members within the folk tradition that defines the folk process.

<i>Río</i> (Aterciopelados album) 2008 studio album by Aterciopelados

Río is the seventh studio album by Colombian band Aterciopelados, released in 2008. The album is environmentally themed, lamenting the pollution of the Bogotá River. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it number 6 on its list of The 10 Greatest Latin Rock Albums of All Time. It was nominated at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards for Best Latin Rock/Alternative or Urban Album.

<i>Spirit Phone</i> 2016 album by Lemon Demon

Spirit Phone is the seventh studio album by Lemon Demon, a musical project created by American musician Neil Cicierega. Released in 2016, the album was Lemon Demon's first full-length album in eight years. The album was released digitally through Bandcamp on February 29, 2016, and other streaming services the following day. On July 10, 2018, independent label Needlejuice Records announced vinyl, CD and cassette releases, which shipped on October 21, 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Mankin, Nina. "America's Most Unwanted Song". Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Soldier, Dave (June 2, 2008). "The Most Unwanted Music: Full Score" (PDF). davesoldier.com. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Dave Soldier and Komar & Melamid: The People's Choice Music". Dia Center for the Arts . Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  4. "Komar & Melamid and Dave Soldier "The People's Choice: Music"". Artists : Release. Mulatta.org. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Wolk, Douglas (December 1997). "The Most Unwanted Song: Focus Group Rock". CMJ New Music Monthly (52): 12–13.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Mason, Stewart. "The People's Choice Music: The Most Wanted Song, The Most Unwanted Song". AllMusic . Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 Vowell, Sarah (December 12, 1997). "Survey Says...Give the People What They Want". Salon. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  8. "The Most Unwanted Song coming vinyl/CD/cassette". Needlejuice Records. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  9. Wypijewski, JoAnn, ed. (1997). Painting by Numbers: Komar & Melamid's Scientific Guide to Art . Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN   0-374-22880-9.
  10. "LPR 15: Dave Soldier Orchestra". LPR. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  11. 1 2 3 Colton, Michael (January 21, 1998). "'People's Choice': The Ears Have It". Washington Post. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dave Soldier and Komar & Melamid: The People's Choice Music". Dia Center for the Arts. January 2, 1998. Archived from the original on January 17, 1999. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  13. "The People's Choice Music - The Most Unwanted Song - CD". Needlejuice Records. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  14. Van Buskirk, Eliot (April 18, 2008). "MP3: Scientific Attempt To Create Most Annoying Song Ever". Wired.com . Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  15. Van Buskirk, Eliot (May 19, 2008). "Survey-Produced 'Most Wanted Song' Sounds Horrible". Wired. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  16. Yow, Jordie (September 18, 2008). "When Science and Research Are Wrong". The Tyee. Retrieved May 2, 2021.