# Whyat were they thinking when they recorded \*that\*? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185 "2020-02-19T17:49:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/21 "2020-02-20T13:57:03Z")
I hopped in here expecting to find Lou Reed’s [Metal Machine Music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIMSbKU2oZM). It’s an hour long. If you’re not familiar, go ahead and click on any part of it and listen. I bet you won’t last a minute. mmm ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/22 "2020-02-20T14:52:22Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I hopped in here expecting to find Lou Reed’s [Metal Machine Music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIMSbKU2oZM). > > It’s an hour long. If you’re not familiar, go ahead and click on any part of it and listen. I bet you won’t last a minute. > mmm Ah, back when people made _real_ music, not the corporate pop crap of today! 😉 (Despite being a fan of VU and Lou Reed in general, I have somehow never actually listened to this album before. There’s some good sampling fodder in here, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/23 "2020-02-20T16:49:27Z")
Couple of contextual points: In the 60s, there was a lot of innovation tried on the Catholic mass. For hundreds of years, the mass had to be in Latin and use Gregorian chant. Well as those rules were abandoned, everyone from Bernstein to Brubeck had their shot at modernized versions of the Latin mass. Even more was attempted with folk or rock versions of the new English mass; one even yielded a hit single in the form of Sister Janet Mead’s version of the Our Father. And have you actually listened to lots of rock music from the late 60s? As pointed out, the world’s biggest rock band gave us nine minutes of musique concrete with “Revolution 9”. Bands like Pink Floyd were putting out [stuff like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9gf0_vRaEE) that makes “Mass in F Minor” sound like the Archies. Then compare what cult artists like Captain Beefheart to the Velvet Underground, and the free jazzers were doing, and this isn’t strange at all. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/24 "2020-02-20T19:17:40Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > **Moderator Action** Moderator action or [Psychotic Reaction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBTT3VPriV8)? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/25 "2020-02-21T01:59:41Z")
I asked that same question after watching _The Star Wars Holiday Special_. I am still baffled how the whole thing went through the entire film production process and no one said this is horrible. I also wonder if the network that aired it screened it **before** it was broadcast because I wouldn’t aired that if I had seen it beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/26 "2020-02-21T06:30:11Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > I asked that same question after watching _The Star Wars Holiday Special_. I am still baffled how the whole thing went through the entire film production process and no one said this is horrible. I also wonder if the network that aired it screened it **before** it was broadcast because I wouldn’t aired that if I had seen it beforehand. The show’s awfulness wasn’t as noticeable in 1978 as it is now. This was a time when variety shows and specials were still around and cheesy crap like _The Star Wars Holiday Special_ wasn’t much different than, for example, _The Paul Lynde Halloween Special_ or an airing of _Donnie & Marie_. Still, it is a good example of why the genre of variety shows and specials disappeared from American network television during the early 80s. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/27 "2020-02-21T14:36:05Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Ah, back when people made _real_ music, not the corporate pop crap of today! 😉 Ah, contract fulfillment album making! > [@](#): > > Despite being a fan of VU and Lou Reed in general, I have somehow never actually listened to this album before. There’s some good sampling fodder in here, I think.) Shit, I listened to Lou’s _Berlin_ exactly once. After 20 years I tried again, but failed, and skipped the 40th anniversary altogether. And FTR, Kyrie Eleison is Greek, not Latin. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/28 "2020-02-21T15:15:27Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Ah, contract fulfillment album making! \ [Happens to the best of us.](https://www.google.com/search?q=monty+python+contractual+obligation&source=lmns&bih=849&biw=1506&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwj91_Sl9-LnAhXWBFMKHQsOBlcQ_AUoAHoECAEQAA) ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/29 "2020-02-21T16:16:51Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I hopped in here expecting to find Lou Reed’s [Metal Machine Music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIMSbKU2oZM). > > It’s an hour long. If you’re not familiar, go ahead and click on any part of it and listen. I bet you won’t last a minute. > mmm Those comments! 😃 Does anyone have this transcribed for Ukulele? Look, honey! They’re playing our song! I love singing this in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Brandon\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@Brandon\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandon_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185/30 "2020-02-21T17:02:59Z")
Frankly speaking, not bad song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whyat-were-they-thinking-when-they-recorded-that/848185.md?page=1)