A brief history of the West's weirdest music episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 16, 2026 · 16 MIN

A brief history of the West's weirdest music

from The World: Latest Stories · host Jenna Gadbois

Most songs that reach the top of the charts have a few traits in common: They are a few minutes long, they're played on familiar instruments, and you can dance to them. But what if a composer doesn't care about popularity or dancing? That's when they get into mischief. That's the theme of a new book, "The Madman's Orchestra: The Greatest Curiosities from the History of Music." Author Edward Brooke-Hitching joins Host Marco Werman to take us on a tour through some of history's musical oddities.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 16, 2026

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A brief history of the West's weirdest music

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