History Main / ClassicalMusicIsBoring

Compare and contrast RockMeAmadeus, when melodies from the classical repertoire are quoted in songs from other genres.

* The musical entertainer [[Wladizlu Liberace/Liberace]], despite being trained as a classical concert pianist, referred to his acts as "classical music with the boring parts left out".

** In "The Seven-Beer Snitch", in order to try and look more "cultured", [[MayorPain Mayor Quimby]] allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house...''and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played'', with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony. Then, everyone ''stampedes their way out'', '''''including the orchestra''''', when Marge [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tells them the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required, and everybody else letting it go to waste]], that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.

Related to TrueArtIsBoring and/or TrueArtIsIncomprehensible. Contrast OrchestralBombing. Can sometimes transpire when characters are AtTheOperaTonight. Of course, this can be something of a FandomBerserkButton for real-life fans of ClassicalMusic, who consider it to be a ShallowParody.

* This trope is averted with many, many film scores using classical music. This goes at least as far back as ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and definitely after ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars: A New Hope]]'' in which Music/JohnWilliams' classical score soundtrack became a top seller on the music charts. Since then, Williams and many of his contemporaries like Music/DannyElfman and Music/HansZimmer have become mainstays in popular culture for their classical film scores. On the other hand, though, [[FandomBerserkButton many purist fans are quick to insist]] that modern film scores aren't technically ''classical'' music [[note]]except for films like ''2001'' that straight-up quote preexisting works from the classical repertoire[[/note]], just ''orchestral'' music. To be fair to both sides, it's obvious that modern film composers [[SincerestFormOfFlattery draw a lot of stylistic inspiration from classical models]], so if you like John Williams you'll love Music/LudwigVanBeethoven.

** In order to try and look more "cultured", [[MayorPain Mayor Quimby]] allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house...''and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played'', with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony. Then, everyone ''stampedes their way out'', '''''including the orchestra''''', when Marge [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tells them the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required, and everybody else letting it go to waste]], that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HulkHogansRockNWrestling'', [[{{Heel}} chief heel]] [[RoddyPiper Rowdy Roddy Piper]] [[DamnedByAFoolsPraise likes classical music]], in contrast to Hulk Hogan's preference for... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, you know]].

* In ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'', Music/JustinBieber was pitted against Creator/LudwigVanBeethoven, and one of Justin's arguments was this trope.

* This trope is averted with many, many film scores using classical music. This goes at least as far back as ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and definitely after ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars: A New Hope]]'' in which Music/JohnWilliams' classical score soundtrack became a top seller on the music charts. Since then, Williams and many of his contemporaries like Music/DannyElfman and Music/HansZimmer have become mainstays in popular culture for their classical film scores.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In order to try and look more "cultured", [[MayorPain Mayor Quimby]] allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house...''and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played'', with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony. Then, everyone ''stampedes their way out'', '''''including the orchestra''''', when Marge [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tells them the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required, and everybody else letting it go to waste]], that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretLifeOfPets'', Leonard the poodle is seen sitting obediently listening to Vivaldi music while his owner leaves the house; as soon as the door closes he switches the music to Heavy Metal. [[TrailerJokeDecay This was seen in all the trailers]].

* Music/FrankZappa, despite being a classical composer himself, held the opinion that he felt that most classical music before the 20th century was ''boring to him''. He adored 20th century composers such as Music/EdgardVarese, Music/IgorStravinsky, Music/BelaBartok, Music/CharlesIves, Anton Webern, and Music/OlivierMessiaen because their work was more personal, adventurous and less monotone. He went into more detail in his autobiography ''Literature/TheRealFrankZappaBook'' where he explained that most classical music from previous centuries was written to please some king, duke or abbott who forced composers to make everything sound according to their wishes. In that regard it's [[NotSoDifferent not much different]] from mainstream pop music nowadays, only with record producers forbidding artists to make songs that clash with their conventional tastes. Recent research has proven, however, that Zappa did often listen to pre-20th century composers like Music/JohannSebastianBach, Henry Purcell, and Music/RichardWagner too and was more knowledgeable about their music than he showed to the outside world.

* In Creator/ArmistedLupin's Literature/TalesOfTheCity, while a couple of the main characters are at the opera, they go to the men's room. The younger men each do a line of coke to get them through the evening; an older man reveals that the "hearing aid" he has plugged into his ear is actually the earpiece of a transistor radio, and he's listening to the baseball game.

* Also averted by many, many western cartoons. Works like ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'', ''WesternAnimation/TheBandConcert'', ''WesternAnimation/TheCatConcerto'' and others would not nearly be as hilarious without classical music, either as the source of gags or as {{Standard Snippet}}s.

* OlderThanSteam. Joseph Haydn supposedly wrote a joke (an [[ScareChord unexpected fortissimo]]) into his "Surprise" Symphony to awaken the audience.

* OlderThanSteam. Joseph Haydn supposedly wrote a joke (an unexpected fortissimo) into his "Surprise" Symphony to awaken the audience.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In order to try and look more "cultured", [[MayorPain Mayor Quimby]] allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house...''and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played'', with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony. Then, everyone ''stampedes their way out'', ''''including the orchestra'''', when Marge [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tells them the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required, and everybody else letting it go to waste]], that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In order to try and look more "cultured", [[MayorPain Mayor Quimby]] allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house...''and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played'', with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony. Then, everyone ''stampedes their way out'', '''''including the orchestra'''', when Marge [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tells them the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required, and everybody else letting it go to waste]], that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In order to try and look more "cultured", [[MayorPain Mayor Quimby]] allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house... ''and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played'', with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony, ''and stampeding their way out'' when Marge [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tells them the next piece is an atonal medley by Philip Glass]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required and everybody else letting it go to waste]] that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.

* Also averted by many, many western cartoons. Works like ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'', ''WesternAnimation/TheBandConcert'', ''WesternAnimation/TheCatConcerto'' and others would not nearly be as hilarious without classical music, either as the source of gags or as {{Stock Snippet}}s.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In order to try and look more "cultured", [[MayorPain Mayor Quimby]] allows the construction of an opera house. The opening night is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, full house... ''and every single Springfieldian leaves after the first four notes are played'', with them saying that it was the most "interesting" part of the symphony, ''and stampeding their way out'' when [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Lisa]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tells them that the rest of the symphony lasts several hours]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Quimby gets mad enough at the amount of resources that the house's construction required and everybody else letting it go to waste]] that he mournfully calls them "dumb rednecks", after which Mr. Burns buys the property and converts it into a prison.