Worst Musical Experience...........Ever.

[XNASA]

Saturday night, I was strolling down the street at the local neighborhood summer festival. It's a pretty big affair. Three stages, dozens of food booths and an entire block of arts & crafts shops. The entire affair ran up and down about 8 city blocks and draws about 40,000 for the weekend. Anyway.....

I turn down one side street and walk right into my own personal musical nightmare.

One of those Peruvian Pipe Bands playing "Tears in Heaven".

The horror.

What's the worst live music you've ever heard? Can you possibly top a Peruvian Pipe Band playing "Tears in Heaven"????

[HEyHEY]

1. Yes - a trooper concert

AHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

[Philostopher]

7. You mean you didn't know?

Kid, you'd have had to leave after 'Raise A Little Hell,' it's about the only decent song they ever did ...

Just like you take off from the April Wine show right after 'Sign of The Gypsy Queen.' Pack your things and leave, right?

[HEyHEY]

22. Or after "Too bad" by doug and the slufs - you go!

[Philostopher]

40. Yeah, the only 70s Canadian rocker I ever thought much of

was Kim Mitchell. He puts on a hell of a show, and anybody who leaves after 'Patio Lanterns' ... is probably a Yank. I am, don't get me wrong, but I actually liked his early solo stuff.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. The group I always think of as "The Inca Spots"?

Never heard them do "Tears in Heaven". Mostly, I'd rather hear them do "El Condor Pasa".

[XNASA]

4. 'The Inca Spots' LOL!!!!1

At least 'El Condor Pasa' is a native song to someone who would play the Peruvian Pipes.

It cracks me up when bands like that step outside their genre.

:hi:

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Are there more than one such Peruvian band in Chicago?

Or is it the same one, and they are really busy?

:hi:

[XNASA]

6. I'm sure there are many.

They're all over the place. This band was here at Homewoodfest. I'll bet that several more of these 'bands' were performing at any number of fests over the weekend. Doncha think?

It's a big racket, I'm sure.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. I've often wondered....

Back when I worked at Michigan Avenue and the river, they played often during the weekdays. In Evanston, I've seen the same group as downtown -- recognized them.

And they certainly seem to be all over the place. I enjoy most of their songs.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. I've seen them in Portland, Vancouver B.C., and Tokyo

Maybe they're one organization with several touring troupes--like the Vienna Boys Choir. :-)

[greatauntoftriplets]

30. Did they look like the same people?

Maybe they are cloned.

Just being silly on a Sunday night.

[phaseolus]

38. They're at every festival in Milwaukee it seems... AND,

I ran into them at the weekly summer town festival in Neumünster, Germany ... !

[KG]

3. every time i accidently stumble into a kareoke bar.

:eyes:

[ChoralScholar]

13. At our Summer Convention of

ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) all us choir directors descend on a karaoke bar near the convention center. From their reaction, you'd think these guys had never heard anyone sing on key before. But hey... Karaoke is all about having fun.. and most people there are too drunk to know the difference.

That being said, my worst musical experience was judging All-Region auditions and listening to 300 14-year old 'sopranos' trying to sing a G above the treble staff. Made me want to dig out my eardrums with a dull pencil.

[brainshrub]

8. Ever seen "Up With People"?

I still have nightmares.

[greatauntoftriplets]

10. I always called them....

Upchuck With People.

[KG]

16. i've always called them

up yours, people! :)

[XNASA]

11. No but, we were forced to learn a few of their songs on grade school.

"Up, up with people...you meet 'em wherever you go.
Up, up with people...they're the best kinda folks, you know.
If more people were for people, then people everywhere...
There'd be a lot less people to worry about and a lot more people who care!"

35 years later and it's still floating about in my head.

[brainshrub]

15. Damn you! Damn you to hell!

Gah! It's struck in my head now! It's like a leech that won't go away! AAAARRRGGG!

You will pay for this!

[Mobius]

23. well you brought it up...

:shrug: now thanks to you I have it stuck in my head as well. :cry:

[dancing kali]

26. Arrrrgh

I had hoped I would never hear that one again. . . oh, memories of teenage angst in high-school choir. Oh and thank you for pointing out just how lo-o-o-ng ago that was.:cry:

[BlackVelvetElvis]

12. The ice cream truck driving by my house when I lived in Chicago

It was broken and whatever tune it played sounded like it came from the gates of hell.
"Oh god, here comes the satanic ice cream truck again".
It came out like some modernist/experimental twinkle piece in a minor key that gave me chills.

[XNASA]

18. That sounds right up my alley.

A satanic ice cream truck. Perfect.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

19. I actually missed it when it stopped coming.

My girlfriend and I would jump and run to the window when it came by.

[otohara]

14. Lord Of The Dance

Yuck - it was in the center where basketball games are played and they had big screens - the camera only focused in on the lead dancer Michael Flately - what a ego maniac.

We walked out - all the women around us looked as if we were crazy

[Hand]

42. Ugh, ugh!!!!

Good god, the HORROR!! THE HORROR!!! Thank heavens you got out alive... my idea of hell would be an endless LOTD concert. I can't abide the swine on a 21" television.

:scared: :puke:

[Sporadicus]

17. This One Time, at Band Camp

No, really...in Ensenada I heard a mariachi band play a polka for some German tourists :puke:

[Mobius]

20. the IMAX Rolling Stones concert

I didnt actually go see it, but the thought of Kieth Richards 6 stories high, still gives me the willies :scared:

[Kat45]

21. One time, at a ski lodge,

the band played "Smoke on the Water," a pre-metal metal song, particularly popular for its guitar riff. However, said band did not have a guitarist!

[TroubleMan]

24. Kareoke bars in Okinawa

Small disclaimer...I enjoyed the hell out of it, because I'd usually be the only American there, so I'd often drink free all night. So it wansn't my "worst musical experience." I went to Nago, where very few Americans went, instead of Naha or Ginowan. They treated Americans a lot better there, because we were a rarity.

Anyway, it was fun, but I heard the most distorted versions of songs. They always made me sing "Yesterday," "Love Me Tender," or "Take On Me" (yes, the Aha song, I have no idea why that was popular). I can't sing at all, but of course I obliged because they bought me drinks all night.

LOL...in the kareoke book, Blondie's "Heart of Glass" was listed as "Heart of Grass."

[XNASA]

27. Heart of Grass. *snort*

[ikojo]

25. The WORST concert I have attended was Chicago

THEY SUCKED....It was an error on my part that caused me to attend that show. At least it was free....at that time concerts were still held at the Muny in Forest Park in St Louis. They had free seats and if you were willing to stand in line you could see a show for free.
Well, I thought my friend and I were standing in line to see Ziggy Marley and the B 52s. As the line grew in length I noticed that those standing in line appeared to be more conservative in appearance than I expected of folks wanting to see Ziggy Marley or the B 52s. I said something to my friend and someone overheard me and let me know I was a day early for the Ziggy show.
Since we had committed so much time to standing in line my friend and I decided to stay. We regretted it. CHICAGO (the group definitely not the city) SUCKS! They sounded just like their albums. I see live music with the hopes that the musicians will explore and take me on a musical journey.

Guess I've been spoiled by the Grateful Dead.

[XNASA]

28. Funny you should mention The Dead because.......

Every Sunday morning a local radio staion features a program called "Breakfast With the Beatles" and this morning they played a version of "Rain" as performed by the Dead about 20 years ago.

It was, uh, off-key. Very off-key. I wouldn't say it was the worst thing I've ever heard, but it was the worst thing I've heard since hearing the Peruvian Pipe band. LOL!!!

[BlueJazz]

31. Mine was the Grateful Dead

I saw them in San Fran years ago and having never really paid much attention to them was curious what the big deal was about.

Man O Man..What a pack of no talent bullshit. They use every worn-out
musical cliche that has been down the pike.
They play out of tune, out of key....not one of them solos good
enough to play in a crappy corner honky-tonk...They go on these (supposedly) "musical trips" that anybody whose ever taken 2 music lessons would blow them off the stage.

In short the Greatful Dread are for idiots with no ear, no musical training and about as much class as a dog's asshole.

[XNASA]

34. You obviously didn't take the correct kind of acid for the occasion.

I'm not a fan either...but....hey, at least they, The Dead, are sincere.

I respect them. In a weird drug addled kinda way.

[BlueJazz]

35. That may be true but I wouldn't waste a hit on them now...

that I've see them straight.

[northzax]

53. true, they used a ton of musical cliches

of course, they pioneered many of those things, and they only became cliches after they became icons and people started copying them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. A record store in Portland held an annual karaoke opera contest

Yes, that's right, karaoke opera.

Some real voice students always participated, but you'd also get people who sang as if they had never heard the accompaniment before, people who'd have to start over five times, kids who couldn't sing on key, and worst of all, a rendition of "Che Gelido Mannino" from La Boheme by an alleged tenor who howled the piece.

I can never hear that aria anymore without remembering that appalling rendition.

[ForrestGump]

33. John Lennon's "Double Fantasy" LP -- some of the best work that he ever

did intercut with the godawful heinous screeching of Yoko Ono. I'm still recovering...and lifting the needle before it hit her tracks was always so annoying. Thank goodness for compilations that have all of John's tracks and none of hers.

[Blue-Jay]

36. I heard a guy from the Philippines sing "Feelings" once.

At a local bar on Karaoke night. Funniest fucking thing EVER!

"Peelings.....nutting more dan Peelings...." HAHAHAA

[XNASA]

37. Wait....didn't that happen on the 4th, at that party??

Or am I getting that confused with the guy who sang "Brue Vervet"?

[Blue-Jay]

39. Haha! I was having fun until that guy started butchering Neil.

(I thought it was "Bruised Marmot")

EDIT: I can't type tonight. Geez.

[swimmernsecretsea]

57. That happened to my sister when she visited Hawaii!

There was a lounge singer there who was doing the same thing. She said she cracked up when he got to the second line...

"trrrying to porget my peelings ub lub..."

...and we're both Filipino, so we know how funny this sounds...

[bobthedrummer]

41. I've been disappointed by the performances of many

but the worst musical event was a David Cassidy show at SummerFest that I got stuck into going to because we were babysitting my wife's then teenaged sister who was raging hormonally for David:puke:Cassidy:puke:

I wanted to hit something after that POS show...

The Kids From Wisconsin ROCKED compared to that, lol.
:smoke:

[Bridget Burke]

43. Three guys with bagpipes playing the Aggie Fight Song

(Aggies attend Texas A&M.)

Bagpipes can be impressive played with skill. No skill was discernible on this occasion.

[Ganja Ninja]

44. A few bars of "Let the Eagle Soar" and I was looking for the remote.

[Magrittes Pipe]

45. Blue-Jay singing "Let the Eagle Soar" at Station One.

[bif]

46. Yesterday I saw

A choir of elderly Italians singing. They were mostly out of tune as were the musicians backing them up-an accordian player and a clarinet player. I wanted to go up and ask them if this was the first time they've sung together.

[XNASA]

47. Were they singing, 'Tears in Heaven'?

Cause that would have really been very bad. Very bad indeed.

[bif]

48. They might have been

But my Italian isn't that great so I couldn't tell.

[TrogL]

49. An amateur choir sight reading something well beyond their capabilities

I started howling in the middle of it.

Nobody noticed.

[XNASA]

50. Hmmmm....most of these replies are regarding poor musicianship.

I can handle poor musicianship. Perhaps the musicians love music but lack talent, or they're old and can't play well any longer.

Or like the Portsmouth Sinfonia play badly on purpose "to reclaim classical music from the tuxedo-nazis, and place it in the hands of people who loved the music for its own sake."

But the Peruvian Pipers played well. It's just that the horrible tone of those pipes and the horrible song selection combined to make it the worst musical experience of my life.

Know what I mean?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

51. Oh, in that case, I'll say...

Chinese opera: I've heard catfights that were more pleasing to the ear.

(No offense to Chinese culture. I like Chinese instrumental music, but I saw Beijing opera in Beijing, and that was okay ONCE, but then our hosts in Chongqing took us to hear Sichuan opera, which had more acrobatics but sounded just as bad.)

52. John Cougar opening for the Kinks in 1978 or 79

I didn't dislike John Cougar really, but I couldn't wait for him to get off stage so the real thing would be on stage.

[2bfree]

54. A polka band playing Paper Roses........

I think they were called the Hub City Dutchmen, it was evil beyond comprehension.

[m-jean03]

55. I don't know, probably when other people hear my a capella singing.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

56. I'm a live concert engineer. Where to begin? With Lee Greenwood.

He and his band showed up at the 2001 Orange County Fair and played for 10,000 fans. I ran the pa system that summer and had to mix that gawd-awful faux Gulf War anthem 'I'm Proud to be an American.' I loathe that piece of shit and I had to responsibly make it sound as good as possible for his ticket-buyers. Echhhh. It still hurts.

Good music find: The streets of Chicago are full of musicians. My fave was a tuba player belting out 'The Girl From Ipanema.' Brilliant.

Back to bad: One folk duo had such abrasive voices that I used to say that they put the 'harm' in harmony.

[leftofthedial]

58. I don't know if this was "worst," but it was sublime-to-ridiculous

Hot Tuna opening for the Carpenters, 1972 or 73.

I was the only one there for the opening act.

[Red State Rebel]

59. High School Marching Band - Inna Godda Davida

It was a sad day for Rock & Roll....

[Cerridwen]

60. Las Vegas lounge - Johnny Cash impersonator - I worked cocktails in

the lounge. Had to listen to it every night!

I'm almost over the trauma now.

[Burma Jones]

61. The Sandy Spring Theatre Company doing Fiddler on the Roof

A friend was in it. It was held in the community room of a swim club. The orchestra was awful. The singers were worse. They were adults damn it. I paid to get in. Every time the singing started - howl.....