It also accompanied the entry of nearly any black actor into a scene in the movies of the 70s.
Yah. I knew jazz saxophonist Don Lanphere (even took a few lessons from him 20+ years ago). Brilliant sax player, great composer, and quite a gentleman. I loved listening to him play the tenor sax. But not that soprano. I don’t know why that thing sounds so annoying. I played alto sax myself, and I enjoyed taking a turn on a tenor once in a while. Absolutely loved the baritone sax (honk honk honk). But the soprano? Meh.
All the really good ones are taken, so I’ll throw in the Wurlitzer Organ (like in Ice Skating Arenas) and the weird gord-like thing they play in Brazilian Samba music. You stick you hand into it and do something and it makes a sound like a kid scooting his desk around on a hard floor.
I have to say I have a little hate for alto saxes. The ones in my marching band always sound really sharp and grating.
Anything really high-pitched - flute, piccolo, calliope. Ugh. It’s eardrum-shattering for me.
That’s the sound I’m talking about!
For me, any instrument can be annoying under the right circumstances or during endless repetition. It’s difficult to pick just one as the most annoying, but I nominate the recorder because I never enjoy listening to it in any context. I disliked listening to kids (myself included) playing them in grade school and I disliked hearing one in The Beatles’ ‘Fool On The Hill.’
As a musician myself, I own several stringed instruments including various guitars, sitar, and banjo. My housemates love it when I play sitar while they work on homework, but they absolutely hate hearing the banjo at any time so I almost never play it. My guitars are barely audible when not plugged in so those never bother anyone. I only plug in when a party is over here and people request me to do so; headphones suffice otherwise.
That’s more like it.
I will admit though…it doens’t take much for a sitar to sound really bad especially if one is not in tune
If I’m thinking about the same thing…
That sound is created by a quickly strummed neck-muted electric guitar running through a wah-wah effects pedal. I’m not familiar with porn tunes, but I know I’ve heard it in 70s funk/disco music: ‘Theme from Shaft’ by Isaac Hayes comes to mind.
Crumhorns are pretty annoying. I’ve heard them be funny-annoying and just annoying-annoying.
Now, to me, that is one of the most annoying sounds there is. Shick schick schick ta-schick … But it’s probably because I’m a guitarist myself and I believe an electric guitar is meant to be heard a few blocks away 
Actually, I’m a bassist, and I imagine an unamplified electric bass sounds almost as annoying. I do the headphone thing a lot, too. Mainly because when you share a house with other people, there’s no such thing as playing the bass quietly. Even at low volume, the low frequencies permeate everything. And actually, now that I think about it I find a muffled, indistinct bass line to be outrageously annoying.
From your link:
Band name!
Hey, that’s a good answer! I think I’ll go back in time and post it as post #60 in this very thread.
:smack: I completely missed your post somehow. I read all the others though…I think.
I can’t stand to listen to clarinet music, don’t really know why.
To be fair, his answer is much more precise than yours, because the neck muting and chording is part-and-parcel of the porno sound. The song “Wah-wah” features a lot of wah–pretty much throughout the entire song, but if you’re listening for the “chicka chicka wakka” sound, you won’t hear precisely because the wah isn’t used using ArchitectChore’s method.
Another artist that used the wah pedal frequently and is responsible for much of its popularity is Jimi Hendrix. Once again you won’t hear the porno sound in his music, but there’s an assload of wah in it.
I love carillons, actually. Cast in Bronze is one of my favorite acts to catch at a Faire.
My most hated instrument is probably the oboe (or its precursor, the shawm). While I will concede the possibility that some misguided genius might find a way to produce a less than totally obnoxious sound from these instruments, I have never heard such an event.
Another vote for the saxophone. Doesn’t matter what kind really. I played the clarinet and had to sit in front of the alto saxes in high school band. I learned very quickly to despise them. Now the sound of any saxophone immediately grates on my nerves.
Jug – there’s just no good way to play a jug.
Or the Serpent (Serpent (instrument) - Wikipedia) – what a travesty that thing is.