The late Denis Norden, appearing on BBC Radio's "My Music" quiz program, famously quipped that his favorite instrument was "Bagpipes, receding into the distance". Fortunately, not everybody shared his opinion!
The previous record for the number of bagpipers assembled in one place to play the same tune was set in Bulgaria in 2012 by 333 players. Enthusiasts in Australia decided it was time to set a new record, and they chose AC/DC's current tour of that country to do it. The Guardian reports:
On Wednesday afternoon (12 November 2025), 374 bagpipers gathered in Melbourne’s Federation Square to play AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock’n’Roll), setting a new world record just up the road from where Bon Scott and the band famously played the song on the back of a flatbed truck riding up Swanston Street 50 years before.
There's more at the link. Here's how the record attempt went.
Looks like a good time was had by all.
Peter
6 comments:
I remember a picture of a bagpiper who had a pin from the Harley enthusiasts on his doublet "Loud Pipes Save Lives" I guess that is appropriate!
I was stationed near the old Naval Air Station Alameda, Ca. Two bikers pulled onto the old base and and parked in front of two open-sided shelters that were facing each other. They were abut 30ft apart. Then they each pulled bagpipes from their saddlebags and started playing, each player in a shelter, facing each other. It produced the most hauntingly cool sound I've ever heard!
Why do bagpipers March while they play? To get away from the noise.
Bagpipes good! Except I get tired of hearing Amazing Grace.
A book recommendation - likely you know of it. If not, John Grisham - The Guardians. Made me think of you.
The Guardians is a legal thriller novel by John Grisham, focusing on the world of wrongful convictions and the struggles faced by defense attorneys in exonerating innocent people. Cullen Post is a lawyer and Episcopalian priest working for Guardian Ministries, a non-profit organization dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted.
I initially misread the truncated Utube caption as "374 Bagpipers Break Wind". Heh. Must mean something.
From Max Weller's “B a s t a r d s I have met”
“Jock was in the Kilties and, one New Year's Eve after they'd been out carolling thet were blowing the take in the Commercial lounge.
About 2 a.m. Jock was up and down the lounge playing “Scotland the Brave” at full volume and Scotty was sitting in a big chair in the corner wandering the far green hills of home when a young copper pushes the door open, comes in and yells “Cut out that bloody row”.
Scotty left his chair, shot across the room, grabbed the young bloke by the tunic, lifted his feet off the floor and shook him and said
“THAH'S NAE ROO YAH OIRISH BARRSTARRD – THAH'S MUSIC”
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