That doesn’t mean it can’t work.  Listen to The Rolling Stones “Angie.”  You hardly notice the strings at first listen. Strings can also be dramatic.  The Electric Light Orchestra incorporated strings in almost all their hits, but again the strings don’t sound like the same kind of full orchestration that you hear in many pop songs. Probably the best at using the full force of strings was Procol Harum in their live album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.  One of the reasons it is one of the best live albums of all time is because the strings really merge so well with the original music.  It is very hard to get that kind of blend and very few can pull it off anywhere near as well as Procol Harum.

Where it is really bad is when it takes away any emotional raw edge in either Rock or Jazz? Is there anything worse than hearing a great Jazz piece by someone like Oscar Petersen or George Shearing and then all of a sudden these full orchestra strings come in and completely ruin the entire mood?  These strings not only spoil the mood, but take over the song and often sound like the strings were added without even listening to the song. They just don’t fit and sound like they belong to another song or even recorded in another room. This is not only annoying, but it rarely accomplishes the reason that the string arrangements are added, to become popular and sell records.  Generally, the pop audience doesn’t get it and Rock or Jazz audiences just don’t like it.