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[miko2]

Today's Song: The Least Wanted Song by David Soldier, Komar and Melamid

This was featured on This American Life and I knew I had to look it up. Komar and Melamid are two artists who designed artwork based on a poll they commissioned about what kind of artwork people liked and wanted. They extended this to music with the help of composer David Soldier, and based on another poll, created the most likable song and the least likable song possible. The most likable song is a love song with low male/female vocals sung in a moderate tempo rock/r&b style with a small collection of popular backing instruments... it's pleasant enough, if very generic.

What caught my attention was their "Least Wanted Song", which is over 25 minutes long, includes abrupt changes in tempo, timbre, and loudness, includes banjo, accordion, and bagpipes, and has an opera singer rapping about cowboys and a children's choir singing jingles about the holidays. It's a masterpiece of weirdness and I couldn't help but be entertained by it.

This was actually done in the 90's, but I found a recent link at Wired where you can download the song:

Wired article about The Least Wanted Song

Perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of musicians apparently like this song too. ^_^