Most commercially overused piece of classical music?

[BlueIris]

My vote is for Grieg's "Morning Mood." It's been in the background of one too many shampoo/coffee commercials for me to be able to even enjoy it anymore. And your vote?

[electron_blue]

1. Pachelbel's Canon

I was enthralled the first time I heard it at about 14 yrs of age and then by the time I had turned 16 I had heard it another 24,000 times on commercials. wugh.

[Tyler Durden]

2. I vote Canon.

Morning Mood is never placed through, and the chops and pieces of it are seldom representative of the whole selection.

[DarkTirade]

3. 2nded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

[Inchworm]

13. Hell yes.. so cool!

I'd need a guitar but there is also a chord pattern that goes with 90% of 50s music lolol.

One guy at a party did something similar to what this guy did about it. :P

So true

:hi:

[DarkTirade]

14. Yeah, a lot of songs have a very simple basic chord progression.

[krispos42]

22. That was excellent!

I'm glad I clicked on it!

:-) :rofl:

[ThomCat]

45. That is a funny rant!

:applause:

I didn't realize how frequently that has been ripped off.

[DarkTirade]

49. I found his comment about which parts get the pretty solos especially funny...

since I played 2nd violin the last time I played that song. :)

[cemaphonic]

6. I associate that with weddings more than commercials.

Still heard it way too often.

The overture to The Marriage of Figaro turns up all the time.

[Iris]

7. yep.

[Burma Jones]

So Commercialized it's now Taco Bell's Canon.............

[Hand]

10. Dang! Ya beat me to it! nt

[City of Mills]

54. Another vote

It's the first thing that came to mind.

[Archae]

4. Ad from years back...

This one ad was on so many times I lost count, showing this dweeb "selling" the "personal realtionship with God" books, and used the final movement of Beethoven's "Pastorale" symphony.

:snarl:

[Hand]

11. That's ironic!

The "Pastorale" was a celebration of some pretty darn pagan themes--fertility and all those dreadful things. :rofl:

[begin_within]

32. Or else they use "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"

[UncleSepp]

60. Bwahaha!!

My sister's school's song (UND) is the same as that. In a packed stadium, it's more than a little creepy.

[Pool Hall Ace]

5. Whatever it is that Keith Olbermann uses

The Googles were of no help, but I'm tired of that tune (not just from him).

[Drum]

8. It's a theme from Beethoven's 9th Symphony

Edward R. Murrow also used it...back at the dawn of television. :)

[Archae]

9. Beethoven's 9th symphony.

He uses Toccatta and Fugue by Bach for the "Worst Persons" theme.

[BlueIris]

12. Beethoven's 9th would have been my second choice.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

63. Keith uses Toccata Fugue in D Minor n/t

[GoddessOfGuinness]

73. It's a nod to Walter Cronkite, I think...

I seem to remember as a kid, that this movement of the 9th was used in its original form on Cronkite's news show. But that was long ago, so I may be confusing it with another show.

[hellbound-liberal]

15. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igAy4bG8Q6Q

If it's not the most overused, it IS the most annoying when it is used,IMO.

[Telly Savalas]

26. Were they only to use Deodato's arrangement...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6JQhZRu8aw

[hellbound-liberal]

58. Thanks for posting that Telly! That is an excellent version of this song!

haven't heard it since I lived in DC and listened to WPFW.

[vogonity]

16. "The Nutcracker"

Commercials for Christmas Comedies.

[TheMightyFavog]

17. Nobody mentioned Orff's O Fortuna?

Anyone? Bueller?

[ironflange]

18. "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana

I hope Orff's estate still gets residuals from it, judging by how many basketball and hockey games drag this out when the home team appears. That's kind of ironic considering the text. It shows how bulletproof the music is, though, when you still enjoy listening to it in context. Same goes for Zarathustra and many other overused pieces; works like this are deservedly well-known, they're all top-drawer stuff.

[bbernardini]

19. Don't forget about movie trailers...

When a trailer is created before the post-production (including the musical scoring) of a film is complete, "O Fortuna" is one of the most widely used pieces of music to fill the space until the real score is done.

[ruiner4u]

20. If ya ever wondered what the lyrics mean...

http://web.comhem.se/hansdotter/carmina.html


#8 is particularly pevish...:)

[ironflange]

27. Oh, I know what it's all about

I've sung it on two different occasions. What a hoot!

[IntravenousDemilo]

21. You say...

...Carmina and I say Carmana.
You say Burina and I say Burana.
Carmina Carmana,
Burina Burana,
Let's Carl the whole thing Orff.

[CBHagman]

24. I'm Carmina Burana and I'm here to say...

...O Fortuna is the music that is here to stay...

[kwassa]

42. you beat me to that joke.

I also sang Carmina in concert, and frankly, it's trash, AFAIC.

[IntravenousDemilo]

48. I once attended a very long choral concert...

...made up of the entirety of "Messiah" and "Camina Burana", under the title "The Sacred and the Profane". Even my throat hurt after listening to three or four hours of flat-out, non-stop belting.

[kwassa]

69. well, if they only belt, they ain't doing it right

There are plenty of dynamics in both of those works.

I still love the Messiah, which I have pretty much memorized. At least the bass part.

[UncleSepp]

23. Wagner, Ride of the Valkyrie

I'm *sooooooo* tired of hearing it underneath the stupidest, least appropriate images. Gah! The other one I can't figure out is why anyone plays the wedding march from Lohengrin at their own wedding. That wedding didn't exactly turn out so well!

On the other hand, one of the best uses of a piece of classical music in a film, I think, was the use of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in the movie of Needful Things.

[ironflange]

28. They never use horses on stage any more

So I always refer to it as "The Walk of the Valkyries."

[UncleSepp]

59. LOL!! At least sometimes you can see real fire...

... instead of "Magic Tinfoil".

[u4ic]

25. Vivaldi's The Four Seasons: Spring

seems to be the one I hear all the time.

[ironflange]

29. In Edmonton?

I thought it was always winter there!

[u4ic]

30. We live in hope...

[Canuckistanian]

66. LOL!

Reminds me of the joke about Winnipeg.

One day, the wind stopped blowing at Portage and Main. Everyone fell down.

[u4ic]

67. And the western exodus to Ontario ceased

:7


:hi:

[DarkTirade]

50. Yeah, I was listening to the classical station on my way home from work one night

and it was piece after piece of stuff I'd never heard before... then suddenly, Vivaldi. Spring. A piece that I'd heard and played gods only know how many times. I was a little annoyed 'cause I wanted to keep hearing stuff I hadn't heard before. :P

[BeyondGeography]

31. Barber's Adagio for Strings

Stirring, but after signalling sadness and destruction in Platoon, Elephant Man, Lorenzo's Oil, El Norte, Amelie, etc., it needs to be banned from films for awhile.

[bridgit]

37. fine piece, but not 'commercially' over used...

[begin_within]

33. "Gymnopedie" played while flying slowly over a devastated disaster area

[begin_within]

34. "William Tell Overture," "Russian Dance" or "Flight of the Bumble Bee" advertising cleaning products

all of them supposed to make it seem like cleaning house is a quick, jiffy, joyful task (while in actuality it is hours of drudgery)

[WinkyDink]

35. Handel's "Messiah".

[bridgit]

36. .

[bridgit]

38. DU Please! Greig? Flight of the Bumble Bee? Pachelbel's Canon? It's Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerti!!!!

They're EVERYWHERE!!! Oozing out of salad dressing bottles!! In Norstrom dressing rooms!! Elevators!! Escalators!! Olive Gardens!! OLIVE FREAKING GARDENS!!!!!! Airline tickets to shreiking TUSCANY!! CHEESE! Fucking Italian CHEESE!! PASTA!! Sweet Holy Mother The Pasta!! Shit, DU!! Get with the program!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StNAG4gCIxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6mNYAZP1mk

[annonymous]

39. Fur Elise

This is especially annoying as a ringtone.

[Colorado Progressive]

72. Yup. nt

[mikeytherat]

40. Hands down, without a doubt: Carmina Burana

Often used for a movie's commercials - can't have a big explosion or serious impact without it!

mikey_the_rat

[unpossibles]

46. I agree!

Oh, For tuna!
tuna sandwich!


I don't remember the rest of the words.

[formerrepuke]

41. Not strictly 'classical' but an American classic: Rhapsody in Blue...

..a magnificent piece, but completely bastardized..mostly by United Airlines. The UA terminal in O'Hare airport has given it the "It's a Small World" Disney over-kill treatment.

[Rabrrrrrr]

43. Bach's Polka in g-minor for scrap metal, banjo, and vomiting leprechaun.

I hear that one all the time.

Even when the TV isn't on.

[DarkTirade]

51. That sounds like something P.D.Q. Bach might do.

[BlueIris]

44. Wait, I forgot Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers."

That even showed up on "CSI" a while ago...playing from a Hallmark-style music box, one venue through it has been perhaps most viciously overused.

[FloridaJudy]

47. Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings"

Ever since Stone used it in "Platoon", it crops up all over the place, whenever someone wants to indicate sadness. Moore used it in "Sicko" - even Michael shows lapses of judgment at times.

And Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man". Some nature program used that as its theme for ages. Now it's used to indicate "triumph".

[DarkTirade]

53. Although it was used rather brilliantly in an episode of Daria that I just watched...

where they were at a paintball range. :)

[Aristus]

52. The overture to "The Marriage Of Figaro". It pops up EVERYWHERE.

And Copeland's "Rodeo" is musical shorthand for "This commercial has cowboys in it."

Beef...it's what's for dinner...

[u4ic]

57. How true...

:7

[Aristus]

64. I LOVE "What's Opera, Doc?"!

"Oh Bwoonhildaaaa! You're so wuvvwee!"

"Yes, I knoo-oo-oo-w it, I can't help it!"

:rofl:

[MissMillie]

55. Ode to Joy

great piece of music.... overused.

[MnFats]

56. "WM. Tell Overture?" Naw, actually that's about right...

....i was about 12 when i realized that half the music i heard in my favorite cartooons came from Wm Tell.
but the use of it for the Lone Ranger theme was absolute genious.

i have it on CD now. Whenevre I take my family somewhere, a trip, say, i put it on and blast our way out of town. It cracks the kids up.
kinda dumb, huh?

[UncleSepp]

61. Funniest thread in a long time... thanks n/t

[BlueIris]

70. Awww; someone thought a thread of mine was funny!

Thank you, UncleSepp.

[ironflange]

62. There's really no excuse for this kind of thing

All that a commercial/TV/movie/whatever producer has to do is phone the nearest university's music department and put out word that he's looking for classical music to fit a particular mood or situation, and wants something not often heard. I guarantee you the students will send on avalanche of suggestions, and it won't cost a penny. Then people will say, "Wow, what neat music, I wonder what it is." Instead, a consultant or whatever is probably paid to think of "Ode to Joy," and the viewing public yawns once again.

[ironflange]

68. Here's a really cool website if you're lookin for mood music

http://musicovery.com/index.php?ct=us

Musicovery. Choose your mood and genre(s) and off you go.

[BlueIris]

71. Niiiiiice.

I was just looking for something like this. Thanks!!!

[sakabatou]

65. Bach - Air on the string of G