In recent decades, there has been a subtle shift in popular music, as the idea that the human voice itself can be considered an instrument, rather than merely a delivery system for lyrics, has gained widespread acceptance among the general

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. PROGRAM-ID. HELLO-WORLD. ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. DATA DIVISION. PROCEDURE DIVISION. DISPLAY "Hello, world!". STOP RUN. — COBOL

public.

This has led to the recognition and thus to the success of such singers as Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, and Pat Benatar, whose ethereal voices have a purity of tone unmatched among mere mortals. Most singers looking to make a name for themselves, though, do not have the kind of staggering talent that, for example, the divine Kate Bush does. However, those who are able to make some reasonable pretense at “vocal stylings” can often gain some measure of success—in fact, often more success than the angelic and most deserving Ms. Bush. (Thus the abomination that is Celine Dion—but I digress.)

One unexpected source of vocal uniqueness is speech disorders. While some may still recall fading country music star Mel Tillis’s stutter (which went away when he sang), most do not realize the evidence of other speech disorders in many popular songs:

• Glossolalia/Foreign Accent Syndrome—The most famous example is Def Leppard’s infamous intro to “Rock of Ages”: Gunter glieben glauten globen. Often suspected by their English-speaking fans of being a mysterious and meaningful phrase in German, the words are in fact gibberish—gibberish that did much to cement their popularity in the 1980s.

• `0:"Hello world\n" — K

  Logorrhea—Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, and, even more so, R.E.M.’s earlier “The End of the World as We Know It” are potential examples. These are two of the most well-known songs by two of the biggest acts of all time, with fans that span all age brackets.

  Some less-charitable theoreticians in the field have claimed that R.E.M.’s more fluent lyrics are a true example of the phenomenon, while Billy Joel—seeking to prop up his sagging career—was merely a copycat poseur. We have at least one clear data point in any event.

• Tourette’s Syndrome—Disturbed’s songs “Down with the Sickness” and “Stricken” both show evidence of Tourette’s. The band’s lead singer’s signature verbal tick “Oo-wa-ka-ka” and the explicit lyrics are telling. While less well-known than some of the other examples here, Disturbed is hot property in the alternative hard rock scene. This verbal tick is the most quoted and imitated snippet in the band’s repertoire.

• document.write('Hello, world!'); — Javascript

  Kurt Cobain, of the band Nirvana, had famously slurred speech (the clinical definition of dysarthria), and his song’s lyrics were often fluent but incoherent (evidence of Wernicke’s aphasia). Even the title of the band’s most famous song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” shows evidence of linguistic disturbance. The oft-quoted and surprisingly memorable lyrics, more so:

  With the lights out it’s less dangerous / Here we are now / Entertain us / I feel stupid and contagious / Here we are now / Entertain us / A mulatto / An albino / A mosquito / My libido

  Kurt Cobain’s excessive success may in fact be attributable to his double disorder.

None of these insights, however, can explain the disturbing phenomenon of the dreaded “Boy Band”. These talentless frat-boy wannabes might be able to understand the ideas in this

fmod HELLOWORLD is protecting STRING . op helloworld : -> String . eq helloworld = "Hello, World." . endfm red helloworld . — Maude

paper if only they had two brain cells to rub together—but they don’t. Their success comes from a more mundane source—massive corporate marketing to impressionable but not particularly discerning young girls—and lies outside the scope of this article.

Perhaps a new musical act will soon emerge, with a lead singer with not only a touch of dysarthria and Wernicke’s aphasia, but also apraxia and Broca’s aphasia. Or, I think, after having recently listened to a certain hardcore thrash-punk/flamenco/death-metal/emo/zydeco band out of L.A., perhaps that has already come to pass. If so, expect to see Supernova Wombat Lick rocket to superstardom in the years to come.

	Parable of the Two Kingdoms—Metalleus
	Generative Speech Recognition: A competence model of ASR—Stanislaus Gorky
	SpecGram Vol CLI, No 2 Contents