Talks to Watch

The Most Unwanted Song (FULL VERSION)

2.1M views · Sep 25, 2012 · 21:59 · 2 HN recommenders · 7 mentions · discussed 2015–2024

The 1997 novelty song by Komar and Melamid with composer Dave Soldier, built from survey results on what listeners dislike most in music. It features bagpipes, an opera singer rapping, and a children's choir urging shopping at Wal-Mart.

Why Hacker News points people here: Cited in threads about taste and terrible music as a famously engineered 'worst song', mostly for its curiosity value.

“They surveyed people to find the things they liked least in music and put it all together.”HN comment, 2024

What Hacker News said 7

RecommendsjonnycatMar 2023

“the results are amazing/hilarious”

Komar and Melamid's song of everything people dislike in music.

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A tangent from the point of the post, but Komar & Melamid did a similar "experiment" with music to produce both the most wanted and most unwanted songs, and the results are amazing/hilarious. The most unwanted song, for example, features all the thing people dislike in music (according to their surveys): opera singers rapping about cowboys, bagpipes, uncomfortably slow tempos, and choirs of children singing ad jingles among other things. this video

RecommendsendgameNov 2024

“They surveyed people to find the things they liked least in music and put it all together.”

A creatively awful song assembled from least-liked musical elements.

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I know your description includes "still get regular radio play", but one of my favourite pieces of troll music is "The Most Unwanted Song". They surveyed people to find the things they liked least in music and put it all together. I don't want to spoil just how creatively awful it is or what's in there, so I'll just drop the link and go. this video

in “An oral history of "We Built This City," the worst song of all time (2016)” · view on HN
Cites itcpetersoSep 2016

“designed to incorporate lyrical and musical elements that were annoying to most people.”

A novelty song built from survey results on disliked music.

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Somewhat related: "The Most Unwanted Song" is a novelty song created by artists Komar and Melamid and composer Dave Soldier in 1997. The song was designed to incorporate lyrical and musical elements that were annoying to most people. These elements included bagpipes, cowboy music, an opera singer rapping, and a children's choir that urged listeners to go shopping at Walmart. link Most Unwanted Song: this video Most Wanted Song: link

in “An experiment in crowd-sourced songwriting” · view on HN
Cites ittinus_hnNov 2017

“the most unwanted song is a bizarre mishmash that is kind of interesting to listen to.”

An odd mishmash song built from what people dislike.

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Reminds me of the process used to build the most wanted and unwanted song. The most wanted song is a terribly cheesy pop song, the most unwanted song is a bizarre mishmash that is kind of interesting to listen to. link this video

in “Electric Sheep on Ubuntu Linux 17.10” · view on HN
Cites itSohcahtoa82Nov 2021

“A few years ago, a group engineered the most un likeable song ever”

A deliberately unlikeable song engineered from survey data.

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> written by a team constructed by a label to create the most generically likeable music possible A few years ago, a group engineered the most un likeable song ever: this video Featuring bagpipes, a rapping opera singer, country music, and a children's choir singing holiday music that ends with telling you to do your shopping at Wal-mart.

in “Is there such a thing as good taste?” · view on HN
JokeInclinedPlaneSep 2015

“made a song featuring those, calling it The Most Unwanted Song”

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If you want to listen to The Shaggs: link Also, someone figured out all of the least generally desirable aspects of songs and made a song featuring those, calling it The Most Unwanted Song: this video

in “List of music considered the worst” · view on HN
JokejpfedOct 2017

“so bad it's good”

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The next step is obviously to take the most-disliked technologies and combine them into something so bad it's good, like "the most unwanted music" ( this video ).

in “What Are the Most Disliked Programming Languages?” · view on HN