Don’t ask about the pathetic sequence of events that led to this pathetic discovery, but according to Wikipedia (who never lie), Kenny G holds a spot in the Guiness Book of World Records “for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone”, an E-flat for 45 minutes. I can honestly think of nothing that I would want less to listen to for 45 minutes.
Posts Tagged crimes against good taste
Three arguments that the 80’s killed the saxophone in rock music
Watching Sadao Watanabe earlier tonight, I was wondering why I generally prefer the trumpet to the saxophone as a lead instrument in jazz (it’s true – I’ll take Miles Davis over John Coltrane, Chet Baker over Gerry Mulligan, Freddie Hubbard over Wayne Shorter). And I started to wonder if there was any connection between this and a theory I’ve long harbored, that the saxophone – a staple of early rock music – was forever spoiled as a rock instrument after all the serious misuse it went through in the 80’s. I’m not sure why record producers of the era absolutely loved to throw squawking saxophones on top of songs, nor why it somehow always came out sounding like a dying mongoose.
Don’t believe me? Listen to this:
Pretty bad, huh? (I almost didn’t include the actual video, since the bits of movie dialog distract from the pure lethargic awfulness of the song, but jesus christ look at that saxohphone player’s hair!)
Next, one that really pains me, because I’m actually sort of a pro-Rick Springfield type of guy. But I can’t really support him on this one:
Actually, it’s pretty hard to forgive Springfield for that video in general. It’s kind of a shame, because shorn of its awful 80’s production, there’s actually a pretty good bridge in there.
Finally, there’s Men At Work:
This one really isn’t a very good song at all, which didn’t stop me from loving this band to death when I was 9 years old.
