History Music / TheMostUnwantedSong

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_peoples_choice.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''Yahoo, yahoo, yahoo.'']]

''The People's Choice: Music'' is an album by painters Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, and novelty musician Dave Soldier. Komar and Melamid usually had been making "The Most Wanted/Unwanted Paintings" for a while, based on what people in a certain country liked and didn't like in a painting. They were approached by Dave Soldier to translate this into music, and the result was two songs: "The Most Wanted Song" and "The Most Unwanted Song." By far, the latter is the more famous of the two, [[{{SoBadItsGood/Music}} for obvious reasons.]]

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!!Tropes applying to both
* GoldenMeanFallacy: The entire project (and its preceding "Most Wanted/Unwanted Paintings" series) is meant to be [[{{Deconstruction}} a satirization of the concept]], inspired by the use of polling data to dictate political consensus. The hypothetical impetus can be summarized as "If politicians use opinion polls to assess democracy and entrepreneurs use consumer polls to assess the market, why can't artists use polls to assess art?", and the end result should explain why.
* TheSomethingSong: The Most Wanted and Unwanted, respectively.
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] with the juxtaposition with the two songs. The Most Wanted Song is carefully crafted with the most popular musical tropes (at the time) in the most aurally-pleasing way possible. Meanwhile, The Most Unwanted Music is a highly experimental piece that uses the ''least'' popular musical trope, in ways that range from working in surprising unison to [[SensoryAbuse being an absolute mess]]. The general consensus is that the former is insipid and generic, while the latter is impressive and at the very least [[RuleOfFunny entertaining]].
* Administrivia/TropesAreTools: The defining theme of these two songs, meaning that no matter how "unwanted" a trope is, it's ultimately how it's used that determines whether it works. An example is how synthesisers are used on both the Most Wanted ''and'' Unwanted songs, given that they ranked both high and low on levels of enjoyment in the surveys used.

!! As she fills the list of tropes... [-(The Most Wanted Song)-]
* AwardBaitSong: The song practically uses the listed cliches as a checklist.
* {{Munchkin}}: How this trope manifests in music theory, by arranging the most "wanted" musical tropes in the most effective was possible.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The results of survey suggest that most people in the time period wanted a duet between Music/WhitneyHouston and Music/BruceSpringsteen. And they got them... somewhat.
* SillyLoveSong: A straightforward song about love, with little depth.
* TruckDriversGearChange: Does this near the end, just before the fade-out.

!! Do all your troping... at Wal-Mart! [-(The Most Unwanted Song)-]
* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The children's chorus exuberantly urges us to celebrate Yom Kippur and Ramadan, both somber observances involving fasting and reflection, by shopping at Walmart.
* CountryRap: Sung by a soprano singer, no less!
* ChristmasSongs: Combined with an advertisement for Walmart.
* GenreMashup: Mashes up CountryMusic, HipHop, yodeling, {{opera}}, holiday music, and experimental music.
* GratuitousGerman: Part of the second CountryRap verse is in German, for some reason.
* EpicRocking: Clocks in at over 21 minutes.
* EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes: Bagpipes are featured quite a lot in this song.
* InTheStyleOf: A few internet wags have joked that, with the numerous stylistic shifts, odd instrumentation, and ironically-deployed Americana, it sounds like something Music/BrianWilson might've composed for ''Music/SMiLE''.
* {{Jingle}}: A series of songs themed around {{UsefulNotes/Christmas|InAmerica}}, Easter, Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, Ramadaan, UsefulNotes/LaborDay, and Veterans' Day that tell the listener to shop at Walmart.
* KidsRock: An enthusiastic children's choir sings all the holiday songs and some other interludes.
* SensoryAbuse: Some segments are painful to listen to, especially when they incorporate [[EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes bagpipes]].
* SloganYellingMegaphoneGuy: Implied in the last few minutes with a segment that sounds like it was recorded through a megaphone that consists of a woman saying some politically charged but difficult to understand words about America.
* SpokenWordInMusic: The last few minutes feature a woman speaking something about America and freedom through a distorted megaphone.
* SongStyleShift: Possibly more than any song on Earth, with a total of 23 different sections repeated over and over again.
* StylisticSuck: It deliberately includes all the musical elements average American listeners were found to hate most.
* UnbuiltTrope: The lyrics of the CountryRap sections could be taken for a parody of [[Music/LilNasX "Old Town Road"]], except for the fact that they predate it by a couple of decades.

* InTheStyleOf: A few internet wags have joked that it sounds like something from ''Music/{{Smile}}''.

* StylisticSuck: It deliberately includes all the musical elements average American listeners were found to hate most.

* SongStyleShift: Possibly more than any song on Earth, with a total of 23 different sections repeated over and over again.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Round 'em up boys, the desert is a-calling\\
Yahoo, yahoo, yahoo.'']]

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] with the juxtaposition with the two songs. The Most Wanted Song is carefully crafted with the most popular musical tropes (at the time) in the most aurally-pleasing way possible. Meanwhile, The Most Unwanted Music is a highly experimental piece that uses the ''least'' popular musical trope, in ways which range from working in surprising unison to [[SensoryAbuse being an absolute mess]]. The general consensus is that the former is insipid and generic, while the latter is impressive and at the very least [[RuleOfFunny entertaining]].
* Administrivia/TropesAreTools: The defining theme of these two songs, meaning that no matter how "unwanted" a trope is, it's ultimately how it's used that determines whether it works.

!! Tropes in The Most Wanted Song

!!Tropes in The Most Unwanted Song

* {{Jingle}}: A series of songs themed around {{UsefulNotes/Christmas|InAmerica}}, UsefulNotes/{{Easter}}, UsefulNotes/{{YomKippur}}, UsefulNotes/{{Thanksgiving}}, UsefulNotes/{{Ramadaan}}, UsefulNotes/LaborDay, and UsefulNotes/VeteransDay that tell the listener to shop at Walmart.
* KidsRock: An enthusiastic children's choir sings all the holiday songs, and some other interludes.

* TropesAreTools: The defining theme of these two songs, meaning that no matter how "unwanted" a trope is, it's ultimately how it's used that determines whether it works.

''The People's Choice'' is an album by Komar and Melamid, with the help of musician Dave Soldier. Komar and Melamid usually had been making "The Most Wanted/Unwanted Paintings" for a while, based on what people in a certain country liked and didn't like in a painting. They were approached by Dave Soldier to translate this into music, and the result was two songs: "The Most Wanted Song" and "The Most Unwanted Song." By far, the latter is the more famous of the two, [[{{SoBadItsGood/Music}} for obvious reasons.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The results of survey suggest that most people in the time period wanted a duet between Music/WhitneyHouston and Music/BruceSpringsteen. And they got them.

* InTheStyleOf: A few internet wags have joked that it sounds like something from ''[[Music/{{Smile}} [=SMiLE=]]]''.
* {{Jingle}}: A series of songs themed around {{UsefulNotes/Christmas|InAmerica}}, UsefulNotes/{{Easter}}, UsefulNotes/{{YomKippur}}, UsefulNotes/{{Thanksgiving}}, UsefulNotes/{{Ramadan}}, UsefulNotes/LaborDay, and UsefulNotes/VeteransDay that tell the listener to shop at Walmart.

* SongStyleShift: Possibly more than any song on Earth.

* SillyLoveSong: A straightforward song about love, with little depth.

''The People's Choice'' is an album by Komar and Melamid, with the help of musician Dave Soldier. Komar and Melamid usually had been making "The Most Wanted/Unwanted Paintings" for a while, based on what people in a certain country liked and didn't like in a painting. They were approached by Dave Soldier to translate this into music, and the result was two songs: "The Most Wanted Song" and "The Most Unwanted Song." By far, the latter is the more famous of the two, [[SoBadItsGood/Music for obvious reasons.]]

''The People's Choice'' is an album by Komar and Melamid, with the help of musician Dave Soldier. Komar and Melamid usually had been making "The Most Wanted/Unwanted Paintings" for a while, based on what people in a certain country liked and didn't like in a painting. They were approached by Dave Soldier to translate this into music, and the result was two songs: "The Most Wanted Song" and "The Most Unwanted Song." By far, the latter is the more famous of the two, [[SoBadItsGood/MusicSongs for obvious reasons.]]

* {{Jingle}}: A series of songs themed around {{UsefulNotes/Christmas|InAmerica}}, UsefulNotes/{{Easter}}, UsefulNotes/{{YomKippur}}, UsefulNotes/{{Thanksgiving}}, UsefulNotes/{{Ramadan}}, UsefulNotes/LaborDay, and UsefulNotes/VeteransDay that tell the listener to show at Walmart.

* GenreMashup: Mashes up Country Music, hip-hop, yodeling, opera, holiday music, and experimental music.

* {{Jingle}}: {{UsefulNotes/Christmas|InAmerica}}, UsefulNotes/{{Easter}}, UsefulNotes/{{YomKippur}}, UsefulNotes/{{Thanksgiving}}, UsefulNotes/{{Ramadan}}, UsefulNotes/LaborDay, and UsefulNotes/VeteransDay.

* {{Jingle}}: {{UsefulNotes/Christmas|InAmerica}}, UsefulNotes/{{Easter}}, UsefulNotes/YomKippur, UsefulNotes/Thanksgiving, UsefulNotes/Ramadan, UsefulNotes/LaborDay, UsefulNotes/Veter
* SongStyleSwitch: Possibly more than any song on Earth.

!!Tropes in The Most Unwanted Song