# Stuff that’s out of tune **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2002, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759 "2002-08-07T12:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/1 "2002-08-07T12:52:45Z")
Sometimes you listen to a record and can’t help thinking - didn’t they _notice_ that guitar’s not in tune? I don’t mean stuff that’s deliberate, like Santana’s presumably for effect rather sharp playing at the start of his version of _Black Magic Woman_ - but stuff that just an error due to tired ears in the control room. A couple of examples: Jack Bruce’s bass near the start of Cream’s _Badge_ is suddenly a quarter tone flat. Springsteen’s _Glory Days_ features a guitar that sounds miles out of tune. Any other examples? Let’s stay away from vocalists lest the thread take a turn which gets one of the Café Society’s mods’ dander up. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/2 "2002-08-07T14:55:43Z")
On all of those great Stax/Volt songs featuring the Memphis Horns, Wayne Jackson’s trumpet has always sounded just a bit flat to me, but I love their sound. Especially in “When a Man Loves a Woman” at the very end. It may be flat, but it’s perfect! ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/3 "2002-08-07T16:19:32Z")
Neil Young’s song “Out of My Mind” by the Buffalo Springfield has some seriously out-of-tune guitar work (forget his voice - it’s never really in tune). And the harmonies in the Grateful Dead’s classic “Uncle John’s Band” are shot to hell. I guess it’s a case of the medium being the message. They were stoned. Why weren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/4 "2002-08-07T16:57:24Z")
In just about every song Offspring does, the lead vocalist is sharp. I hate listening to them because I have perfect pitch. Yes, I know they’re a punk group. As long as punk vocalists scream, I can handle it. But they can’t sing in tune. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/5 "2002-08-07T17:36:00Z")
Many ABBA songs re-dub the vocals up by a quarter (or eighth, I forget) tone, which gave the vocals their distinctive quality. (Heard this in an ABBA documentary.) ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/6 "2002-08-07T18:06:22Z")
Lou Reed’s vocals Honky Tonk piano Guitar on “Aisle 10” by Scapegoat Wax - matbe this is just dissonant ill have to take a hear-see. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/7 "2002-08-07T18:17:00Z")
Slightly off topic, the beat on that new Brandy song (out a few months now), is off off off! It drives me nuts, the producer must have been deaf. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/8 "2002-08-07T18:56:37Z")
Is it just me or is the piano off on the Beatles’ “I Want to Tell You” or is it deliberate? ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/9 "2002-08-07T22:26:12Z")
The guitar in Nirvana’s ‘Polly’ was flat. In an interview I heard somewhere Cobain said that he got the guitar used on that song for something like $10 at a pawn shop and it would not stay in tune, but he liked it’s sound. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/10 "2002-08-08T05:20:45Z")
“Wild Honey Pie” by the Beatles. That song sounds like it was played on a bent saw blade, so how could it ever be in tune? Speaking of the Beatles, “Do You Want to Know a Secret” was recorded before George Harrison learned to sing. It could have been a really nice song, but his badly out-of-tune singing ruined it. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-s-out-of-tune/122759/11 "2002-08-08T06:04:27Z")
This may be slightly off topic in that this response deals with drums/timing, but it still seems like it would fit. I don’t really have any problems with Chicago’s drummer Danny Seraphine, I think he did a bang up job(no pun intended) on “Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is”, but on “Colour My World”, the drum track drives me batty, somewhat ruining an otherwise beautiful song. The tempo in the intro speeds up and slows down, and Mr. Seraphine, assuming that was him, even misses a rimclick on the backbeat, while not sounding very accurate throughout the song. Something of a contrast to the rest of their music.