Is this the worst song ever?

[CTyankee]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/20/lifestyle/worst-pop-song-built-city/

My opinion is just "meh."

I wonder why it got singled out for being bad. Lots of bad songs.

What do you think, O DU Loungers?

[True Dough]

1. It's all so subjective, of course

I can honestly say that I'd rather listen to "We Built This City" than this noise:

[DBoon]

3. that is a cover of a classic blues song

?list=RDw1xBwWm46ug

[efhmc]

45. I like that a lot!

[efhmc]

57. What is the name of that first song?

[justaprogressive]

6. Not really representative

This is what they're about.

[True Dough]

12. I find that no better

These cats are just not my jam!

[OldBaldy1701E]

66. Yep. Musical taste is completely subjective.

Like what you like, people. Music is its own language and if only you can hear what a particular song is saying, who cares?

[johnp3907]

2. No.

Ray of Light by Madonna is a billion times worse.

[justaprogressive]

4. nope this is

Barry Sadler "The Green Berets"

I won't link to it, to spare your ears!

[Grim Chieftain]

23. Oh, I remember that one!

My cousin used to play it on his accordion and would cry all the way through it. Yes, really.

[electric_blue68]

36. Oh, my goodness 😄

[Walleye]

54. Lee Greenwood song Trump always plays "Proud to be an American"

Not only are the lyrics obnoxious, but the melody is one of the worst I’ve ever heard

[Wiz Imp]

68. The title is actually "God Bless the USA" and that gets my vote

[Walleye]

71. Thanks I knew I had the title wrong

[malaise]

5. Not by a stretch

😂

[chouchou]

72. Amen.

[Diamond_Dog]

7. Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

MacArthur Park
Billy Don’t Be a Hero
Theme from The Titanic

To name a few……

[dgauss]

27. Theme from The Titanic on Recorder

There's nothing quite like it. (You have to listen for at least half a minute)

[Dulcinea]

67. MacArthur Park gets my vote.

I first heard it when I was a little kid, & I remember thinking, "What a stupid song. Who would leave a cake out in the rain?"

[cloudbase]

8. I humbly nominate Mari Wilson's "Telephone Man."

[Donkees]

9. Yoko Ono

[NameAlreadyTaken]

21. Can someone please put her out of her misery?

[catbyte]

10. This one is way worse

It still pisses me off every time I hear it, which fortunately is very rarely.

&list=RDumrzGr_etQw

[Diamond_Dog]

15. How could I forget that one, catbyte!

[House of Roberts]

17. Not as bad as Johnny Fever's playing the version

by the Hallelujah Tabernacle Choir in Season one, Episode one of WKRP.

[Oeditpus Rex]

25. That wasn't Johnny Fever

He didn't change his name until the classic format change. He was going by his reeal name, John Caravella.

I remembered it as the Cincinnati Tabernacle Choir, though, so we each got one wrong.

[callous taoboy]

31. Previously known as Heavy Early.

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. That was a later episode

The one where he went back to an LA station, but got fired after a cup o' coffee because he found you can say "booger" on LA radio now, but you couldn't say "__________."

Anyway, he came back to KRP but they'd given his morning drive slot to a guy who was dealing coke (he told Mr Carlson it was foot powder) and they gave Johnny midnight-6.

[House of Roberts]

43. He wasn't Heavy Early until he changed shifts

and started following Venus' show. That was episode 14 of season One. I had to look that up to get the exact show.

[Keepthesoulalive]

11. Sugar Sugar by The Archies

[3catwoman3]

19. To my profound disgust and embarrassment, this dreck was the song of the year in 1969...

…when I graduated from high school. The songs the years before and after were Hey Jude and Bridge Over Troubled Water.

WTH, class of ‘69?

[Skittles]

29. WTF

it beat Aquarius? I always thought that signaled the end of the 60's

[yorkster]

56. I used to call it The Age of Malaria...

although that was mostly a case of terminal word play, a family affliction, rather than actually hating the song.

[Skittles]

58. oh dear

I do find the current reaction videos of young folk to this song quite amusing, it truly is quite unique.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

22. Awww. That's a fun song

[2naSalit]

13. Well...

I can't read the article because I HAVE BEEN SELECTED for a big discount deal to subscribe to the Boston Globe! No way to get beyond that pop up unless I sign up for 26 weeks!

And what a horrible photo of the band... that's all I got to see.

And I HATE that song, always have.

[The Blue Flower]

14. My worst: I'm Ambivalent About You

From the 40s or 50s.

[Iggo]

35. Oh my gawd, what a great title!

[The Blue Flower]

61. It's many decades old

I first heard it on the radio in the 80s. Just heard it recently on a jazz program on Virginia Public Radio. The lyrics are the funniest I've ever heard, although they aren't meant to be.

[Bristlecone]

16. It's a top 5 for sure

[mwmisses4289]

18. Actually worst songs ever: punk rock and

heavy metal. Cats screeching on a backyard fence are more musical.

[Oeditpus Rex]

26. ...

[Americanme]

20. I never liked that song, but that's just my opinion.

Thankfully, we are not required to all like the same thing.

[Oeditpus Rex]

24. Not even close

I don't understand why so many people bag on this one when "Free Bird" still exists.

[Iggo]

34. The first half of Free Bird makes me want to badly murder myself.

But the extended outro is superb!

[Oeditpus Rex]

40. Other way around

The eight-bar B-3 intro (studio version) is rather nice, but for a long dual-guitar solo, gimme "Hotel California" every time. Even live, it's extremely clean. The "Free Bird" dual solo is so basic and rough, I want to stop it before it's half over.

[TexLaProgressive]

28. I get annoyed about claims of best/worst whatever

There's no accounting for taste. Or opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one and they all stink.

My nominee for worst song is, "The Bird is the Word"
https://m.

[MIButterfly]

30. This may not be the worst song ever, but it's definitely in the top five.

She's a Lady sung by Tom Jones. "She's got style, she's got grace. She always KNOWS HER PLACE." WTAF? Oh, HELL no!

You're Having My Baby sucks too. Both written by the same man, Paul Anka. Imagine that.

[electric_blue68]

38. "She always knows her place" ??? 😬

Never was a Tom Jones fan.
Blargh

[3catwoman3]

46. The oldies station I listen to in my car has this one from time...

…to time, and I always hit mute immediately. Really antediluvian lyrics.

[Iggo]

32. It's excellently produced. So, no, not even close to the worst song ever.

This is just my opinion, of course. But I was there. And I think it’s an “I didn’t read the room” situation. A corporate rock misfire. Wrong band. Wrong time. Wrong song.

Just a bad idea.

[LogDog75]

33. Really? We Built This City is worse than

You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone?

[CTyankee]

48. OMG. It was kinda scary, it was so awful.

[electric_blue68]

37. These were not hits but I intensely dislike them....

Mr Moonlight - The Beatles
Miami - U2

As for the OP's song; it's a "eh" for me

Oh...wait.... I think I do have a song I hate:
Aqualung - Jethro Tull - GAK!

I used to like them but by that time I called them Jethro Dull. 😬

[Florida Dem]

39. This is pretty bad

This is from an album put out in 1983 by Rhino Records. It came with its own barf bag. I was working at Record Bar in the mall while attending college. Just for a laugh, we'd occasionally put this on the in-store music system. Believe me, we got some weird looks. Don't ask me about the video; I have no idea how it relates to the song. Lol

[Iggo]

42. Lol...I had a buddy back in the 80s that sang a version of that.

He’d sing it during string changes, or any other unplanned stage interruption. I only remember one verse. And it’s bad. In fact, it’s not even worth attempting to type out here…lol.

[sl8]

50. "A Disgusting Parody of the Lighthearted Classic 1973 Country Music Song 'I Love' by Tom T. Hall"

https://laughingsquid.com/i-like-heathen-dan-i-love-tom-t-hall/

A Disgusting Parody of the Lighthearted Classic 1973 Country Music Song ‘I Love’ by Tom T. Hall

Lori Dorn
July 16, 2018

In 1983, a parody album entitled The Rhino Brothers Present The World’s Worst Records featured disgusting, yet very funny cover of the classic country music song “I Love” by Tom T. Hall. Called “I Like“, artist Heathen Dan substituted some rather racy lyrics into the otherwise wholesome song.



[...]

[ProfessorGAC]

44. Worst?

It's pretty bad, but there have been many hit songs that were worse.
The song got worse for my wife & I because of that horrible toilet paper commercial.
For me, a song would have to be worse than almost anything by the Beach Boys!
This ain't it.

[LudwigPastorius]

47. "Is this the worst song ever?"

It's not close to the worst. It's got a melody, chord changes, a bridge, and Grace Slick to boot. Sure, it reeks of the 80s, but so did every other pop song that came out at that time.

I don't know why it became such a hipster thing to hate on that one, but compare it to the current Spotify Top 10 in the USA. Seven of the ten songs are not even from real artists. They are from the "bands" in an animated movie called KPop Demon Hunters.

[ms liberty]

51. And Mickey Thomas, who had a magnificent voice.

He sang lead on "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" when he was with the Elvin Bishop Band, some years before his gig with The Starship.

[MIButterfly]

49. Thought of another one. Wives and Lovers sung by Jack Jones.

Starting off with "Hey, little girl..." and then instructs women to always wear full makeup and be cheerful when hubby comes home because there are "girls at the office" who may sway his attention if they don't.

"Wives should always be lovers too. Run to his arms when he comes home to you."

Ick.

[gab13by13]

52. Tiptoe Through The Tulips

not even close.

[LogDog75]

59. The Tiny Tim version?

[bucolic_frolic]

53. People sing to dump their angst on you

So no song surprises me

[sl8]

55. From "The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records":

to Florida Dem

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rhino_Brothers_Present_the_World%27s_Worst_Records

The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records is a compilation album released by Rhino Records in 1983.[1][2] It purports to compile the worst music ever recorded and features mostly novelty songs, parodies and cover versions of popular songs, performed very poorly (though in many cases, intentionally so, either as a novelty or as a joke). The original album included an airsickness bag and a warning that the album "may cause internal discomfort". Dr. Demento wrote the liner notes for the album.[citation needed]

[...]

Track listing

Volume 1

"The Crusher" (The Novas) (see also: The Crusher (wrestler))
"Big Girls Don't Cry" (Edith Massey and The Eggs)
"I Want My Baby Back" (Jimmy Cross)
"I Like" (Heathen Dan)[3]
"Kazooed on Klassics" (The Temple City Kazoo Orchestra)
"Fluffy" (Gloria Balsam)
"Paralyzed" (Legendary Stardust Cowboy)
"I Wanna Be Your Dog" (The Seven Stooges)
"Boogie Woogie Amputee" (Barnes and Barnes)
"Kinko the Clown" (Ogden Edsl)
"Umbassa and the Dragon" (The Turtles)
"Ugly" (Johnny Meeskite)
"Surfin' Tragedy" (The Breakers)[4]
"Young at Heart" (Wild Man Fischer)

Volume 2

A follow-up album was released in 1985, under the title The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records, Vol. 2.[5] This volume featured some more recognizable names from the novelty music field; it also included at least one top-40 hit ("Nag" by The Halos) and was more focused on the comedy than the outright-bad tone of its predecessor.

"Downtown" (Mrs. Miller)
"K'nish Doctor" (Mickey Katz)
"Party in My Pants" (Barnes and Barnes)
"Foreign Novelty Smash" (The Credibility Gap)
"Nag" (The Halos)
"Who Hid the Halibut on the Poop Deck" (Yogi Yorgesson)
"Goodbye Sam" (Shad O'Shea)
"Just a Big Ego" (Bob Rivers and Zip)
"Candy Rapper" (Bird & MacDonald, misattributed to "Sticky Fingers&quot
"Hands" (Debbie Dawn)
"Baseball Card Lover" (Rockin' Richie Ray)
"Fudd on the Hill" (Little Roger and the Goosebumps)
"I Live in a Split Level Head" (Napoleon XIV)
"Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage" (Killer Pussy)
"The Troggs Tapes" (The Troggs)

[...]

[LogDog75]

60. Sounds like a pair of albums Dr. Demento would play

[Upthevibe]

62. CTyankee ..........

I have a special dislike for the song, We Built This City... I'm not sure why, and I wasn't able to access the article.

[Aristus]

63. I think if 1960's Jefferson Airplane never existed,

this song would be remembered as a catchy ‘80’s pop song about the joys of rock and roll, and how it can transport us out of mundane everyday life.

But when people listen to Grace Slick, they want to hear “White Rabbit” and game-changing psychedelia.

I always enjoy WBTC. I thought it was cool that radio stations around the country would insert their own station identification riff into the San Francisco-based interlude when playing the single on the air.

[efhmc]

64. What is it? Cannot get through all the goop to get to it.

[CTyankee]

65. "We Built this city"

[Wiz Imp]

69. Jordy - « Dur dur d'tre un bb

This actually hit number one in Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Greece, Mexico and Spain and got as high as #58 in the US. It apparently holds the record for youngest singer to ever hit #1 anywhere in the world.

[Wiz Imp]

70. Another candidate -anything by Wild Man Fischer

&t=27s

[chouchou]

73. There's people who know the language OF music and then there's people who think that words are music.