Actually this next sound clip dates back over a decade but has recently re-emerged (like the Creature From The Black Lagoon, actually) on such sites as Dial “M” for Musicology, Boing Boing and Wired. It’s a project by conceptual artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid based on an online poll of people’s likes and dislikes in popular music. The artists delivered the tabulated results to composer Dave Soldier and Nina Makin, who then concocted a “most favorite song” and the following number (“[F]ewer than 200 individuals of the world’s total population will enjoy this”).

But before you listen, perhaps you should note that the “least popular” elements in popular music included cowboys, rapping, accordions, harp glissandi, bagpipes, children, holidays, political jingoism, commercial jingles and (yes) soprano vocals. The “Most Unwanted” track mashes all that stuff up together into a song of the least favorite length (23 minutes). The result is the ultimate in pop filth.

Not to contradict Komar and Melamid, but the combination of soprano and cowboy songs can be delightful. Maybe the secret ingredient is tap dancing.

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