UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

But what is a castrato?

A castrato is a man who was forcibly castrated at an early age in order to ensure that he would not experience the hormonal changes of puberty that lead to the lowering of the male voice. This meant that as an adult man he would sing like a modern soprano because he would’ve retained his boy soprano voice.

Alessandro Moreschi (1858 - 1922)

In 1903 the Catholic Church officially banned the practise of castrating for musical purposes

In the following recording he was already over 50 years old (some say he was in his 40s), hence rightly his voice sounded incredibly eerie.

Click here to listen to the recording

And hence probably the last song you’d expect these world-famous vocalists to sing at their concerts. But they did! As expected, all of these performances received very mixed reviews.

But first off, last year I mentioned U2 covering ABBA’s Dancing Queen. That was pretty surreal, but there’s more.

Tell me what you think of the following.

Celine Dion & Anastacia performed AC/DC’s “You shook me all night long”, apparently described by Guitar Magazine as the worst cover of all time. Commenters particularly took offence with Celine duckwalking and having violins as accompaniment:

Still, some people said Shania Twain’s cover of the same song is worse:

Click here to see the video

Penang-based band Paku is the first Malaysian band ever to tour the United Kingdom.

According to their record label, Deathstar Productions, they are:

- the 1st Malaysian Band to Ever do a UK Tour (February - March 2007)
- the 1st Malaysian Band to be on and do a LIVE Set on British National Radio (BBC Radio Wales)
- the 1st Malaysian Band to Ever do a show in Wales and Northern Ireland.
- the 1st Band ever to be allowed to be introduced on a Premiership football pitch and have one of their songs played at the same time. That song, Insomniac, has apparently been played at every league and European game at Newcastle United FC since February 2007.

Paku and Deathstar were promoted to over 5 million listeners on BBC Radio Wales and Northern Ireland’s City Beat.

According to their record label, the reception they got was very good, and that other bands should consider doing the same thing.

They were supposed to go on a European Tour in September 2007: I haven’t checked that one out.

IMHO, it’s got to be in Saturday Night Fever (1977) starring none other than John Travolta. Of course some have called him “John Revolta, the dancing Thetan.”

Anyway, his role as hot dancing stud Tony Manero in the film earned him an Academy Award nomination, turned him into a superstar, and definitely chick magnet.

The movie poster:

A cut from the dance scene:

Someone has commented that he’d break his bones if he ever attempted some of the moves. Watch and learn from the master of disco

Click here to watch the dance scene video

Really bad singers abound, and this topic is a very subjective matter. So I think I’d limit myself to performances in nationally-known competitions or events, and which had been at least televised on TV (worldwide availability not a prerequisite).

The audition of American Idol Season 1 (2002) contestant Derek Stillings, 20 which Simon Cowell described as “The Worst Singer in America”:

The audition of American Idol Season 2 (2003) contestant Keith Beukelar, to which Simon Cowell described as “The Worst Singer in the World”:

Click here to see the rest of this post

Tijs Verwest, 39, better known as Tiesto, is arguably the world’s greatest living DJ, and certainly one of the world’s most famous trance DJs.

A native of the Netherlands, he’s the only DJ who has been voted the World’s Number One DJ three years in a row from 2002 to 2004 by the world’s top electronic dance music magazine, DJ Magazine.

He’s still active now, and still perennially in the annual top 10 list. For the 2007 list, he placed second behind Armin Van Buuren.

Although he has not clinched the top spot for several years, he’s still regarded by many as the greatest DJ in the world.

One of his biggest achievements is being the first DJ to play live at an Olympic Games. That happened at the 2004 Athens Olympiad opening ceremony.

Click here to see the video

Muchmusic.com did a take on this last month, but I think the 80s New Wave group, Flock Of Seagulls, and in particular its lead singer, Mike Score is the undisputed champion.

Score was also the keyboardist for the band, but he’s best known for his strange hairstyle, which was sometimes combed over his head and sometimes in a cat-like appearance by bringing the sides up.

However, by 1984, he ditched this style, preferring to grow out his hair making it longer in the back and combed it to the side.

Apparently, before making it big with their hit song I Ran (So Far Away), Score was a hairdresser. Therefore, his hairstyle was his very own creation, and hence, the blame lies squarely on him.

Source
Muchmusic.com
wikipedia

On 3rd Apr 2008, the BBC reported that Mariah Carey has broken Elvis’ US singles (Billboard Hot 100) chart record when she scored her 18th number 1 single with Touch My Body, from her new album E=MC2.

Elvis has had 17 US number 1 singles.

With that achievement, she’s 2nd on the all-time list, behind The Beatles’ 20.

Does that mean Mariah Carey is now a bigger star than Elvis ever was? I don’t think so. I think she still can’t be considered a bigger international star than Elvis because she has only topped the other important chart: the UK’s singles chart twice, and both times with cover versions: Without You, originally made popular by Harry Nilsson, in 1994 and with Phil Collins’s Against All Odds, which she sang with Irish balladeers Westlife in 2000.

In contrast, Elvis has had 21 British number ones, beating the Beatles’ 17.

Here’s a list of all the acts to gain 5 or more UK chart toppers:

21 - Elvis Presley
17 - The Beatles
14 - Westlife
14 - Cliff Richard
12 - Madonna
12 - The Shadows
10 - Take That
9 - ABBA
9 - Spice Girls
8 - Kylie Minogue
8 - The Rolling Stones
8 - Oasis
7 - McFly
7 - Eminem
7 - Michael Jackson
7 - Elton John
7 - George Michael
7 - U2
6 - Blondie
6 - Queen
6 - Slade
6 - Robbie Williams
6 - Boyzone
6 - Rod Stewart
6 - Sugababes
5 - Britney Spears
5 - All Saints
5 - The Bee Gees
5 - David Bowie
5 - The Police

Here’s a list of all the acts to gain 5 or more US chart toppers :

20 - The Beatles
18 - Mariah Carey
17 - Elvis Presley
13 - Michael Jackson
12 - Madonna
12 - The Supremes
11 - Whitney Houston
10 - Stevie Wonder
10 - Janet Jackson
9 - Bee Gees
9 - Elton John
8 - Rolling Stones
8 - George Michael
8 - Usher
7 - Phil Collins
6 - Daryl Hall and John Oates
6 - Wings
6 - Diana Ross
6 - Pat Boone
6 - Paula Abdul

So, by combining the total number of #1 singles from arguably the two most important singles charts in the world, we can conclude that the most popular / best-selling act of all time is Elvis Presley at 38 (21+17) number one singles on both sides of the Atlantic, closely followed by The Beatles at 37 (17+20). It’s interesting to note that each of these two legendary acts are more popular “on the other side”, i.e. British band The Beatles has more no.1 singles in the US than it has in their native US; the opposite is true for Elvis.

In fact, Elvis and The Beatles are the only acts with more than 30 number one singles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Now the question is: who’s the 3rd most popular act in the world? Is it Mariah Carey? Nope. Actually, it’s none other than Click here to read more

Last month I wrote about the commonly held view that Queen’s Live Aid set in 1985 is the greatest live rock performance of all time, but after watching for the first time Jimi Hendrix’s set at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, I think Jimi at least equalled Freddie in terms of sheer entertainment value.

The Monterey Pop Festival is considered important in rock history, not least because it’s the precursor to the legendary Woodstock festival held 2 years later, where Hendrix headlined.

But, if not for his legendary performance at Monterey, his first-ever American show, he might not have made such an impact in the USA.

At Monterey, the 24-year old Hendrix’s set was 45 minutes long: a very fast arrangement of Howlin’ Wolf’s 1965 R&B hit “Killing Floor,” then an equally lively rendition of B.B. King’s 1964 R&B hit “Rock Me Baby,” Tim Rose’s “Hey Joe” and Bob Dylan’s 1965 Pop hit “Like a Rolling Stone.” The set ended with The Troggs “Wild Thing”, and Hendrix’s iconic act of burning his guitar on stage, then smashing it to bits and tossing pieces out to the delirious crowd who were watching Hendrix’s first-ever American show.

Watch how Hendrix performed “Wild Thing” in the following video: 40 years on, I think it’s still an incredible performance; for those wannabe rock stars, watch and learn from the master:

Click here to see the video

I took the following video on 19th February 2008, around 9pm from the Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur monorail station.

By my calculation the caucasian guy was playing 6 instruments at once:
- didgeridoo
- a one-stringed instrument, a strange guitar like contraption which can be played with one hand: you move its body sideways to invoke a note slide
- drum
- cymbals and a percussion instrument on his right leg
- tambourine on his left leg

There are several videos on youtube of locals (KLites) playing didgeridoo, but always *only* didgeridoo and not going to extremes like this guy.

He was selling CDs of his music.

Does anybody know the name of the guy?

Click here to see the video