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Pet hates...

Bryan Burnett | 19:57 UK time, Thursday, 22 September 2011

Our whistling theme was very popular which surprised me as I know a lot of people can't stand whistling. So, following on from that theme I thought it might be fun to find out about the other elements of a song that make your teeth grate.

I asked around in the office and found out that Mandi can't stand harmonicas, Richard hates songs with children singing on them and poor Gavin was forced to use earplugs during the eighties as he has a thing about the saxophone.

I'm not a big fan of distortion and if I was the executive producer of River Deep, Mountain High then I'd be asking Phil Spector to hold back on the wall of sound.

If you were producing a song what would you leave out? Are you turned off by talky bits or can't stand key changes? Get in touch and tell me what drives you mad.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    I hate the fact that the C is missing from Rap

  • Comment number 2.

    Anything that is Auto-tuned makes me want to get out the knives. If you're a professional singer, you ought to be able to hit your notes at least once in a recording session.

  • Comment number 3.

    Comedy songs or those oh so clever lyric ones like the Divine Comedy and sometimes Beautiful South. Give me peace.

    No way am I suggesting anything like that so here is one for Richard:

    Fleetwod Mac - Say You Will

    Skids - Circus Games

    both superb, both with weans.

  • Comment number 4.

    I would leave Morrisey out of all songs

    DC

  • Comment number 5.

    Bob Dylan singing.
    Great song writer but singer?

    Nope!

    Hard Rains Gonna Fall - Bryan Ferry

    Al.

  • Comment number 6.

    #1 You should try listening to some Goldie Lookin' Chain - they do a good line in parody of the """genre""". Funny, too.

    Vocal acrobatics for the sake of filling in time and just to prove they've got the range. And I'm not talking about scatting in jazz (though some of that is tiresome, too) but the octave surfing much beloved by the Mariahs and Celines. That, thankfully, doesn't appear to be so popular anymore. Nuff said.

    Forced voices. Heather Small's is a prime example. Can't work out if she has a good voice underneath it or not. She probably has. But it's really distracting to listen to any of the music or lyrics because she overtries, too hard.

    Over-enthusiastic use of vibrato. It's up there with the octave surfing thing. It really is irritating. To be used it in moderation only. (Duffy - there's no excuse. You can sing)

    Obviously, none of this is especially useful for a request show as I'm not about to ask for any examples....... however I will be leaving on a jet plane as the show airs, so, perhaps, aye, why not?
    M People Search For The Hero
    I'll spare you the rest. That one is painful enough.

    Otherwise, rubbish covers of classics by crappy wannabe madie-uppie bands who want to appear "credible" are a bugbear. Unless it's
    Take That Could It Be Magic
    which is actually rather good.

    Off for some bubbles.

  • Comment number 7.

    Well, Michael Marra should be in full flow by now.

  • Comment number 8.

    I'm with Mary-Doll. Whats all that vocal acrobatic nonsense all about.

  • Comment number 9.

    #8

    Are you at the Michael Marra gig too?

  • Comment number 10.

    Right I suspect it could be a late night the night as one or two of us might have quite a large axe to grind.

    For want of a better description groups of boys / girls who take a song and all sing one line each and step away.
    There is no timing, breathing, musicianship, emotion, passion or indeed all that stuff proper artists learn through years of work, but it doesny matter cos there not singing live anyway.

    Lassies who don't sing quiet is a clue to one such band I have in mind but there are many others, I'm no requesting any of them though.

    Eeeeh,

    Jailbait - Wishbone Ash (they were rubbish :-) )

  • Comment number 11.

    #9 No it is Scotch that is going. I could not manage.

  • Comment number 12.

    Is that the thing he's going with JfE to?

  • Comment number 13.

    #8 are you leaving on a jet plane with M-D, Norrie? Is there something of which we should be telt?

  • Comment number 14.

    Not been invited to jet anywhere with M_D. I should clarify:

    I'm with the doll in disliking pointless vocal acrobatics such as Whitney Houston etcetera.

  • Comment number 15.

    I'm no sure I get this theme. Do we suggest songs we don't like?



    If that's the case, I love the Smiths and rap (with a capital C) and all the stuff Mary Doll mentioned

  • Comment number 16.

    #12

    Yes, Adam, Michael Marra. They'll be going for a kebab soon.

    The World Tonight will been on in a few minutes. Maybe they'll have an update..

  • Comment number 17.

    This is a ridiculous theme. IMHO. I can understand it might provoke a discussion but how the hell does it make for a programme of good music? Anyway, Mary-doll's summed up a lot of my pet hates nicely, so

    night, all.

  • Comment number 18.

    and another thing - last week was one of the best for a long while - and it was all about the music.

    You'd think they'd take a hint instead of landing us with this week's set of pathetic themes.

  • Comment number 19.

    #17 #18 Talked me into it - seconded.

    Maff tae.

    Night

    Al.

  • Comment number 20.

    #12...last time I saw his profile pic on Last FM, JimfraeErskine was a beardie brown-haired bloke, not a beautiful blonde! I'll give up my JfE nickname when it suits me. I've been at the pictures in Edinburgh tonight...sorry to disappoint! Keep guessing folks!

  • Comment number 21.

    I hate that bit in 'Ferry cross the Mersey' by Gerry and the pacemakers...the "ne...........ver" bit...ugh!

    Generally don't like when singers take a break between syllables, Donny Osmond was particularly bad for that.

  • Comment number 22.

    #21 Shouldn't have had that vodka...do I mean 'You'll Never Walk Alone'?...I probably do...sigh!

  • Comment number 23.

    thx for that beatles track.
    the best story of the night tho' was the one that mentioned andy cameron because that threw a switch onto gerry mckenzie!!!! where o where is gerry?
    he was great.
    now ma wee boy entered gerry's competition (aye wans where ye actually get a prize you caption producers...you know who you ur)....unfortunately he didnae win(unlike me who'se always winnin' the caption comp) but the following week he was astonished to find that he was now a member of 'gerry's club'!!!some club gerry...nae forms tae fill in and nae membership card either.at least he didnae ask ye tae take oot a direct debit.(if they were invented).
    bring back gerry mckenzie on a saturday morning.

    onwards

    things which grate that are less than great

    'tonite thank god it's them instead of you'..............

    must be, in the history of anything, the most crass, insensitive 8 words ever. and every single person involved in that song is culpable.
    so when they brought out the new version i thought that someone with a fraction of an ounce of sense would delete that line.
    no chance. its still there. although its not xmas its worth bringing it up just before the festive season gets into full swing as a reminder of just how stupid people can be.

    i'll awa' and sleep oan anything else that springs tae mind.

    cheers frae the dale

  • Comment number 24.

    Caption:

    'Is that a harmonica in my pocket or am I pleased with this theme?'





    Beat that @ya Dale

  • Comment number 25.

    #23
    i have been to a few xmas party nights where folk stth turkey and beer are gien that song laldy on top of the tables. Doesn't quite sit right somehow.

    And Marytall has summed up a few of my pet hates as well,,, the technically gifted singers with no emotion and the mincey manufactured boy bands that sing a line each. However she forgot the x factor where every bliddy contestant has to greet like a wean thats lost their lollipop cos it means so bliddy much to them. As for cover version singers, if you are gonna do them do them differently or better or not at all.

  • Comment number 26.

    #25
    What happened to my uffed wi

  • Comment number 27.

    Gaie etc., yeh not sure where to go wi this theme, need to sleep on it.....

    MD - just wanna add my endorsement to your post about irritating stuff, looks like you hit a chord so to speak

    Previously on blog

    Adam - good to hear about your Elton John record, hope you liked hearing Border Song again. Incidentally I bought Captain Fantastic shortly afterwards and played it even more than Greatest Hits. This put me on the road to buying original albums.

    JfE (the one and only) - I think that K-Tel record is the one we talked about before on the blog, the one with Dandy Livingstone on. Wish I still had my copy too!

  • Comment number 28.

    #25 boy bands that sing a line each...

  • Comment number 29.

    #28
    That's a verse each/ Like the harmonica though ;-)

  • Comment number 30.

    #29...oh c'mon...artistic licence.

  • Comment number 31.

    I just can't stand the sound of Neil Young's voice.

    To me it sounds like the howling noise dogs make along to music...that daft folk call singing.

    I quite like other people's version's of his songs - Prelude's After The Goldrush is great -

  • Comment number 32.

    #24 @ ya DC............yer too slow. the world has moved on...........i turn the tables on the caption setter(s)..........

    caption comp ( D_K setting the question, stroke o' genius)

    name that tune............'blow blow suck blow'..............

    as naebody will get it i'll keep the special one off prize o' a dozen bottles o' morrisons sparkling water to masel' (to be mixed with waitrose lime juice...the one that uses 75% mexican limes...nuffin better obviously)

    cheers frae the dale

  • Comment number 33.

    #31
    Oops - apologies for the inappropriate apostrophe!

  • Comment number 34.

    this song has induced a great deal of anxiety for ni' on 4 decades.
    i've tried a stop watch...leaving the room....turning the volume down...switching the radio off then on.... but no matter what i try i always get caught out and never get the ending of the song.

    'virginia plain'.................roxy muxic

    i think the ending coud lhave been improved by a voice-over ( sir ian mckellen perhaps) .....something like...

    'wazzz her name, virginia plain and now the song is finished' (sing it to yourself, it definitely works)

    cheers frae the dale

  • Comment number 35.

    #21...correcting myself again...the Donny Osmond type singery thing I hate is really when the singer breaks down a word into parts instead of gliding from one note to the next..."and they called it puppy lu-uh-uh-uhve" for instance. Of course now I'll find out he sang that perfectly well and I've slipped up again. Oh well...sigh...again.

    I don't actually want to hear that song any more than I want to hear 'You'll never walk alone'.

    If there are any good songs featuring dry blackboard dusters in use then that'll be a song to play featuring a sound I hate.

    For all the yodelling haters out there...'Swiss Maid' - Del Shannon or Suzy Bogguss - 'I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart' (worth another try).

    Louise...shame on you!!!

  • Comment number 36.

    Cheer up Adele why do you always sound so blooming miserable? I'm not going to request a song as they've all been played to death already.

  • Comment number 37.

    #32 the song continues:

    blaw blaw sook blaw
    blaw blaw blaw blaw-blaaaaaaw
    blaw blaw sook blaaawwwww......



    Are we thinking the same?

  • Comment number 38.

    Blowin In The Wind? I'll bring the tequila DC, we can share D_K prize.

  • Comment number 39.

    Cowboy Hats - yep clearly wearing such headgear on your napper impacts the voice and causes you to become what we term as 'a no bad country singer'
    Such people should be, and indeed are, ignored by the GIO team.
    Quire right.

    Welcome to the Future / Brad Paisley
    Live Those Songs / Kenny Chesney
    My Next Thirty Years / Tim McGraw

    Big hats, the lot o' them

    Al.

  • Comment number 40.

    #37 @ ya DC.............the moderator(s) must be on the back shift....it's no' that wee govan folk tune.

    #38 @ ya nm...........on a good day that would get a fair hearin' but have ye looked oot the windae this mornin'.......dinnae crack open the mexican fire water just yet.

    cheers frae the dale

  • Comment number 41.

    #31

    Neil Young's singing voice has always been devisive. It's true that he sometimes sounds like The Muppets impersonating Neil Young however, I defy anyone to dislike:

    Cowgirl In The Sand - Crosby Stills Nash & Young from the album Four Way Street.

    This is doubtless not in the library, but would be well worth ordering up if there's time - shockingly it's not even on Spotify, though you can hear a snippet on i choons..

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 42.

    #40 football song but no that one. Apparently one o the singers holds a unique position in Top Of The Pops history (if 'On The Ball' is to be believed)

  • Comment number 43.

    actually just realised last line should have been

    blaw blaw blaw sooooooook

  • Comment number 44.

    The tapes...

  • Comment number 45.

    Ìý
    ÌýPOLITICAL INDOCTRINATION AT LIVE GIGS. (AS OPPOSED TO DEAD GIGS).


    Ìý Ìý If you have a political statement to make, put it in a song. Don't get all earnest between songs banging on about your "cause" and telling me for whom I should vote.



    redneck git

  • Comment number 46.

    #45

    100% agree....I'm there to be entertained, not lectured about the views of the artist or have it suggested that I'm a murderer because I'm partial to the occasional lamb chop.Meat is protein.

  • Comment number 47.

    #40 I'm not allowed "windaes" in here.

  • Comment number 48.

    As for bad cover versions well that would probably be a whole different show, dare say it has been done already.
    Only going to name a couple in the hope that an original may get played;

    True Faith / George Michael (awful!)
    Itchycoo Park / M People (the afore mentioned Heather what's her name murdering the Small Faces classic)
    Take On Me - Jonas Brothers (Sorry Adam you may want to look away as I know your a fan of the original from recent posts, some daft American boy band wrecking a great song)

    Al.

  • Comment number 49.

    The "Rock in Rio" festival kicks off today and Elton John is the headliner this evening. Well he was but he switched slots with Rhianna for some reason – probably when he discovered that it would be way past his bedtime by the time he got on.
    Talking of EJ I see this week that a bio-pic project is finally getting underway. Rumour has it that 8 or 9 different actors will play the part. What I’d like to know is if Henri Hannah is one of them.

  • Comment number 50.

    #35

    (bowing head in shame)

    I'm sorry.

  • Comment number 51.

    #50 Maybe you shouldn't blog while skiing?

  • Comment number 52.

    Ìý
    LouiseJulieFromEdinburghsPal,

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, nae wunner Ronnie Van Zant wis scunnered!

    Dinnae apologise, hen. Ye were right the first time...


    >8-D

  • Comment number 53.

    Pet Hates - Themes where you are expected to request things you dont like.

    Trying to get around this I've come up with this:

    Bands who have a sax player as a permanent member. This means there is an obligation to have a bit of sax in every song you do and its not always necessary. Sadly The E Street Band dont have this problem anymore but they were guilty of this.

    Aint Good Enough For You - Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.

    The song that inspired Racey and has Hilda Woodward (Lieutenant Pigeon) guesting on the piano.

  • Comment number 54.

    #49

    Funny you should say that. I was in The Corinthian a few years back and a guy at the bar said 'Evening Elton'. I wasn't sure what he meant, exactly, but I later realised he could see a kind of caricature resemblance. I'm naturally skinny but when I'm carrying weight, I start to look a little like him, which is certainly not how I want to see myself. But If I'm offered the part I'll take it:-))

  • Comment number 55.

    Pet hates... well, let's give Dignity a rest, besides Rikki's on afterwards.

    I have a whole panoply of reasons why Imagine irritates the hell out of me, but you'll be relived to know I'm not going to spell them out, so we'll keep it simple.

    It's a terrible recording, muffled and sounds like it was recorded from the room next door.

    I should point out I don't 'hate' the record, and many people like it - I'm not unhappy to hear it, it just annoys me -above all because anyone who instructs us to 'imagine no possessions' and uses the proceeds to buy hundreds of fur coats,prizewinning Holstein cattle and half the property on the eastern seaboard probably didn't really mean it?

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 56.

    A lot of people hate rap...I love it so Get It On so they can have a good old moan and I'll enjoy it...

    I think they'd particularly hate:

    'Numb Encore' - Jay-Z and Linkin park
    'Juicy' - Notorious B.I.G.
    for (and on the recommendation of) The Daughter who's been away on a Uni field trip but is back today...I actually missed her :o)

  • Comment number 57.

    #56 Good twist Julie ☺

  • Comment number 58.

    What gets my back up is playing one particular song by an artist when you know they've recorded hunners. A good example (not a request) is The Whole of the Moon. Can you please play instead:

    The Waterboys - This Is The Sea

  • Comment number 59.

    Adam,

    I've never listened to Jeremy Vine's Sounds of the 20th Century but next week's show concentrates on 1976, so you might wanna Alison Again.

    ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio2, Thursday, 22:00

  • Comment number 60.

    #58

    Aye. Oliver's Army gets played 17 times a year on average.

  • Comment number 61.

    #60 Is that all? What about Sunday Girl?

  • Comment number 62.

    #60

    And that's just on this show.


    ;o)

  • Comment number 63.

    #61

    Sometimes we get the French version.

  • Comment number 64.

    #56

    The thing about Rap is that they never managed to better their first effort. A touch of the Orson Welles I'd say with Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill Gang.
    "Ho-tel, Mo-tel, Holiday INN" is still one of my favourite lines.

    #59
    Thanks SG. I'll give it Alison. Is Jeremy as good as his brother David?

  • Comment number 65.

    #64

    You mean who like to spend time in Edinburgh every August.

  • Comment number 66.

    some really original themes next week............

  • Comment number 67.

    Ìý




    Ìý

  • Comment number 68.

    Looks interesting Gaie.

  • Comment number 69.

    #68

    From where? The Dark Side?


    >8-D

  • Comment number 70.

    #68

    Three Steps to Heaven on Wednesday though, Norrie. Not all bad.

  • Comment number 71.

    would that not be Sunday? assuming, not that it's a religious theme, but that it's the number of words in the song title. We are repeating themes after all, now that the second jotter's gone missing.

  • Comment number 72.

    I am assuming there will be some new twist to the theme. But failing that Adam is right.

  • Comment number 73.

    Norrie, I just love your eternal optimism and cheery outlook.

  • Comment number 74.

    #71

    Sunday?!?

  • Comment number 75.

    Ìý
    Thanks, Julie! Bryan & Babs have alienated half of the West of Scotland audience.

    Howzabout Sunshine on Leith?


    >8-D

  • Comment number 76.

    Here Scotch. Did you and your "friend" catch Iain Anderson last night. I believe there was a wee request for you.

  • Comment number 77.

    /iplayer/console/b014r5h0

    about 1:08:00 in

  • Comment number 78.

    #76

    Aye? We were in the casino. I'll go check the playlist.


    :o)

  • Comment number 79.

    Ìý
    Brilliant. Thanks, Norrie!


    :o)

  • Comment number 80.

    #75. Not my fault...I said I didn't want to hear it. I wanted to hear some rap!

  • Comment number 81.

    Ìý
    Ah kain! Only teasing.


    ;o)

  • Comment number 82.

    #58 Sorry Billy meant to get round to your comment this evening. Interesting point and I think we are going to turn it into a theme in the next week or so.

  • Comment number 83.

    #82

    Did Tull do anything apart from Living in the Past?

    We should be telt!

  • Comment number 84.

    You might have heard Love Story from the 60s? (Talk about Living in the Past...)

    And it was a strange pleasure to hear Cher's auto-tuned vocals Friday - oddly enough, that was the exact song I was thinking on when I posted, so good work on the telepathy, GIO.

  • Comment number 85.

    #84

    SAHB do a very good cover of Love Story. (Penthouse Tapes album).

Ìý

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