After many posts in the "All music on 43800 Hz" thread, here is another (in)famous one for all those with sensitive pitch hearing.

We all know and love or hate this song, "Last Christmas" by "Wham!". Since I was young, I felt quite uncomfortable listening to it because it changes pitch at some time and it just sounded "wrong" to me, like someone was manipulating the record player.

Assuming it is intended to be in D major, from 1:00 to 1:10 it speeds up from about A=433Hz to about A=439Hz.

Have a listen:

This is the same version as available on Tidal for example: https://tidal.com/browse/track/677099

Later on, they tried to correct it and there is a version tuned to about A=431Hz throughout which appears on most compilations since.

Have a listen:

And the most annoying thing to me was that nearly nobody around me was even noticing it! Even people trying to play an instrument.

 

Tape speed techniques?

 

For sure, almost all was still analog at the time. But it was surely not intended and due to fluctuations of equipment.

 

The interesting thing about that song is that George composed and played all of the instruments on a Juno-60.

'The lush harmonies on “Last Christmas”? George Michael recorded every single part on a JUNO-60 (along with a bass guitar and some sleigh bells).'

https://articles.roland.com/juno-60-the-whole-story/

 

And obviously with a drum machine synced to a tape recorder. That was the tech of the time. Synth sounds in this song are nothing special, and synths like the Juno 6 or 60 had to be tuned manually, so being off A=440Hz is nothing special for recordings of that time. But the drifting pitch in the final recording made me mad at the time.

 

Joyously I have never heard this song and I don't intend to start now, but it sounds like it would drive me absolutely crazy.

 

That's exactly what I thought after reading your responses on the other thread.

 

That pitch drifting is intended to push you towards people of the same gender. Nobody wants you to know that the "Last Christmas" song was the masterpiece of the gay lobby conspiracy: the more I hear it, the more i'm attracted to hairy men dressed in leather jackets

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2023