The Fredösphere

This ... Is ... Science!  You've got to read The Most Hated Holiday Song in the World at Design Observer, about a very intelligent but not very sincere attempt to use the science of opinion polls to design art with likableness maximized and minimized.  The most and least liked music are two utterly brilliant songs.  The satire is subtle; I honestly liked the likable song, at least the first half, which would not been out of place on a Kenny G (Mr. Likable himself) album.  In short, I liked it.  The unlikeable song is a patchwork affair with a rapping operatic soprano, accordion, pipe organ, banjo, tuba, Walmart jingles...aw, heck, just what you expect:

The Most Unwanted Song, however, is mesmerizing: over an accompaniment of bagpipe, tuba and accordian (statistically, America’s least favorite instruments), an operatic soprano (our least favorite type of singer) raps (ditto) about cowboys (ditto). Their research indicated that the most hated lyrical subject is holidays (disliked by 33%), so the song is suitable not only for Christmas, but Easter, Labor Day, Veterans' Day, and Halloween. These interludes are introduced abruptly by a children’s chorus (“Hey everybody, it’s Yom Kippur!”), who couple their refrains with cheerful commercial messages. By the end, the subject has shifted to human slavery and genocide. The whole thing, going on for nearly 22 minutes (the least favorite song length), is as impossible to ignore as a car crash.

Besides the music, there's painting.  You'll get George Washington in a landscape with deer, drinking from a stream--the deer, not the former president.  Plus, some utterly delicious Socialist Realist parodies.  I recommend Stalin and the Muses.

I haven't laughed this hard in ages.  Wow.

Labels: Composition, Creativity, Culture, Design