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Monday, 17 January 2022

Sound Market



For some reason, this morning Mrs H and I were discussing examples of pop music from our past which has been both horrible listen to but impossible to erase from the memory. We agreed that it would have been much better not to have wasted that memory capacity on such abysmal rubbish.

I suppose the discussion arose from Mrs H wondering who sang My Boy Lollipop and why something so ghastly still lurks at the back her mind decades later. I'm not even going to provide a link to it.

Who was the worst ever female singer though? That was the question we asked each other over slightly over-roasted coffee and a bun. Mrs H insists it was Cilla Black and I’m not prepared to argue although there are plenty of other potential candidates. It reminded me of an Alexa incident a few days ago.

Our TV prompted me to ask Alexa to play some relaxing music, so without thinking through the possibilities I did. Before I managed to switch the thing off, it played about ten seconds of someone called Billie Eilish who is famous apparently. I don’t know why, even worse than Cilla in my view. Few of us can avoid it altogether and maybe we shouldn't, but there is something horribly revealing about entertainment.

14 comments:

Penseivat said...

What now seems like thousands of years ago, when I were but a lad, for some reason the Berb seemed to be always showing a blonde lady called Yana. She couldn't sing, but was nlonde, very good looking, and had big boobs, so no doubt the Dad's didn't mind her lack of talent. Perhaps she should be added to Mrs H's list?
On the make side, I would nominate Jess Conrad's "This Pullover" as the worst song ever, being 'sung' very, gery, badly, though it did allow him to have a career as being Jess Conrad.

Penseivat said...

Please forgive spelling mistakes. My fingers started trembling at the same time as I was thinking of Yana's boobs!

Woodsy42 said...

What a way to start the week - now I can't get the dratted song out of my head - it was a teenager called Millie I believe and the pirate stations Radio London and Radio Caroline played it, in their 60's heyday, over and over and over again...and again...

Ed P said...

I've never (knowingly) heard Ms Eyelash, but any voice-'corrected' pop song is anathema here.
Yup, Millie was responsible for the lollipop ghastliness.

decnine said...

Brings back memories of the Kenny Everett bottom 40 on Capital. At number 2 was Zara Leandra(?) who performed Wunderbar in a very Sing-Along-With-The-Waffen-SS style. Unforgettable. Sadly.

dearieme said...

I once asked Alexa for Fur Elise. Her choice must be the worst Beethoven recording ever made.

My daughter was once setting up a ring tone for me on my mobile. "What would you like, Dad?" "Scott Joplin, please".

The next time it rang I got Scots Wha Hae. Challenged, she said "it is Scott-ish".

Doonhamer said...

Susan Boyle.

That is just for Pensievant.
Now, is the trembling worse or better?

The Jannie said...

Worst ever? If you graph in the sainthood they get from "those who were there" - Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks. I can't list the recent vocoder-powered "pop singers" because there are so many of them, I avoid listening to them and they all sound equally bad.

Tammly said...

My all time hates are, in no particular order
Honey. Bobby Goldsborough
Je'taim. Birkin & Gainsborg
Sugar sugar. Archies
Bridge over troubled water. Simon & Garfunkle
And anything by Meatloaf.

DiscoveredJoys said...

We usually have Gold Radio (The Greatest Hits of All Time) playing in the background all day on the DAB radio.

Hits from the 50s, 6os, 70s and 80s. There's something very comforting about music which was once so important to 'the youth'. And although there was a lot of trash, and some which has been replayed far too many times, there was also The Beatles, The Who, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Elvis...

A K Haart said...

Penseivat - your mention of Jess Conrad stirred an old memory in Mrs H because as a girl she used to have a photo of him. She doesn't recall any of his songs, just the photo. Presumably a heartthrob of the times.

Woodsy - Mrs H looked it up and played it to me. You are right - what a way to start the week.

Ed - I'm not even sure what voice-corrected is, but I can guess. May as well use computers and avatars. Maybe they do.

decnine - if it's sadly unforgettable I think I'll avoid looking it up. I'm still getting rid of that lollipop song.

dearieme - Alexa is quite strange in its responses. Clever in the way it recognises speech, but can be odd in its interpretation.

Doonhamer - I'm past the trembling stage, but I do need a coffee now.

Jannie - as far as I can tell, "those who were there" tended to be stoned or loons.

Tammly - I vaguely recall Je'taim. I was just embarrassing I thought - embarrassing that they thought it worth doing.

A K Haart said...

DJ - I couldn't do that. I could never listen to popular music for long, even if I quite enjoyed it, which wasn't often. One or two tracks maybe, but that's it. I like 1920s jazz, and some classical music, but I'm not musical.

wiggiatlarge said...

Penseivat is correct about Jess Conrad as is AK missus, I met him in I think the early nineties as he was a customer of a tailor I did a job for, very personable bloke and even then past his prime very striking looks,and always immaculate, he is not without talent and has appeared in numerous films and tv parts, now 85 and with a little surgical help still appears well.

A K Haart said...

Wiggia - interesting, I'll tell Mrs H. We googled him afterwards and yes, very striking looks. Must be a huge advantage in life.