Worst song by a major artist

[Mendocino]

I'll start- Island Girl by Elton John

[spooky3]

1. We built this city - Jefferson Starship

[Mendocino]

2. A Twofer

Freeze Frame and Centerfold by The J. Geils Band.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Had Me. Lost Me

Centerfold is ok. Freeze Frame, i agree with you on.

[OriginalGeek]

12. One of the first records I ever bought

I had the 45 with Centerfold on side 1 and FF on 2. Sneaked it in the house and could only listen when parents were at work because rock music was the devil. I also had the Marcells Blue Moon.


My musical taste got a little better but back then I didn't have a whole lotta exposure to good music. OR any music. Except church music. And not the good church music. just the crap my step-father played badly on the piano we had.

[smirkymonkey]

54. Oh they are both ear-splittingly bad!

[hifiguy]

42. Thread winner.

Perfectly ghastly.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. Run For Your Life, by the Beatles

The tune is catchy, but the lyrics leave a little to be desired.

[pink-o]

8. John rued those lyrics practically the moment Rubber Soul was released.

I read his apologies in more than one article!

[Archae]

4. Eric Clapton, "I'm So Glad"

Or "Revolution #9" by John Lennon.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Wasn't I'm So Glad A Skip James Tune?

I thought that Clapton did that as a tribute. Also, wasn't that Cream, not just Clapton?

[pink-o]

7. I was going to say "Don't Go Breaking my Heart" by Elton John, but Island Girl is right up there!

Called the Schlocky Seventies for a reason!

But PS: Every time I wrote Elton off, he'd surprise me with something amazing. I was totally over him, then I heard "Sacrifice" which is one of my favorite songs ever. Nothing will ever match the songs from Tumbleweed Connection, though.

[Mendocino]

9. Another from EJ

Philadelphia Freedom, ugh.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. I'm With Ya, There!

IIRC, that was 1976 and he was cashing in on the whole bicentennial thing.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

18. Wasn't that the one he did as a favor to Billy Jean King?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

25. Yes - it was the theme song for her tennis team.

Team tennis was a thing in the mid 70s (e.g. the time of the bicentennial), and her team was the Philadelphia Freedom.

BTW, I saw Elton 3 weeks ago, and he did that song, and it was awesome!

[spooky3]

48. It's still a "thing"! Go Kastles!

[hifiguy]

43. I have long had a theory about Elton John and Rod Stewart.

The originals were kidnapped by space aliens after "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' and "Smiler" respectively and replaced with decidedly defective clones. They looked the same and sounded the same but were missing most of the talent.

[Mendocino]

52. Rod

Case in point:"Do You Think I'm Sexy"???? How could the same artist who did gems like Mandolin Wind or Every Picture Tells A Story put out pap like that? I remember a quote about Rod (paraphrasing here) "the goal of fame isn't to be a great artist, but to make a lot of money and screw movie stars. If it was necessary to be a great artist first in order to get the money and the stars, he was willing".

[hifiguy]

53. Ton o' truth in that.

The albums he made in England with his football/drinking/Faces buddies were classics every one that still sound fresh and wonderful today.

Hasn't done one thing worth wasting thirty seconds on since he moved to Hollywood.

[Mendocino]

73. Maybe the late great

Ronnie Lane had a good early influence on him. Ronnie was a rock and roll gypsy, a true eccentric who after leaving the Faces toured England in an old bus, camping out and putting on shows in little towns and farms. I figure Woody was too wasted to care one way or another about what Rod wanted to do, left soon after to join the Stones.

Ever heard the Ronnie Lane/Pete Towshend collaboration album "Rough Mix"? The Lane material: April Fool and Annie is the best on it.

[Enthusiast]

72. +1 a whole bunch!

[catbyte]

10. "Having My Baby" Paul Anka

Worst.Song.EVER.

[BlueJazz]

14. Boy, we are truly on the same wave-length.

"The need inside you
I see it showin'
Whoa, the seed inside ya, baby, do you feel it growin'?"

It's like some sick nasty ass disease that somehow got turned into audio waves.

AGGGHH!

[catbyte]

19. It's truly heinous on every level. I actually get pissed off every time I hear it lol.

So that means it's been pissing me off for the last 4 decades or so.

Oh, and let's not forget to guilt trip the floozies who choose to terminate their pregnancies:

"Didn't have to keep it
Wouldn't put you through it
You could have swept it from your life
But you wouldn't do it, no, you wouldn't do it"

[sarge43]

21. If I had any talent

I'd love to write "Your baby, Dipstick? Seriously?"

[Paper Roses]

23. agree. n/t

[we can do it]

24. Yes.

[hifiguy]

44. More emetic than ipecac.

Sorry for the poor video quality, but it's appropriate

[smirkymonkey]

55. Ugh - that song just makes me cringe!

[bigwillq]

11. The Taylor Swift Collection

She is awful.

[Mendocino]

13. My Ding-A-Ling

Chuck Berry, how could you?

[Xyzse]

15. That was real?

[hifiguy]

46. Not only real, it was Chuck's ONLY #1 song.

[malthaussen]

93. But most of his #1 songs were on the R&B charts

I think that's more a marketing/categorizing issue than anything.

-- Mal

[jmowreader]

67. It was the same practical joke as "Pictures of Lily" by The Who

"Ten bucks says we can get a song about masturbation on the radio."

[Liberal_in_LA]

108. Awful awful

[Mendocino]

16. The Who

Just Another Tricky Day

I heard this spoofed at a comedy club as a Thanksgiving song; "Just Another Turkey Day".

[Lizzie Poppet]

20. "It's Still Rock & Roll To Me" - Billy Joel

Weird Al hit the nail on the head in his parody version:

"Hand clap, finger snap,
Even if it's mindless pap,
It's still Billy Joel to me."

Every time I hear that song, I ask myself, "how can the guy who made 'Piano Man' and 'Captain Jack' (etc...) have farted out that crap?"

[Aristus]

22. Going obscure here: "More Than This" by Chris De Burgh.

The guy who wrote "The Lady In Red", which people seem to either love or hate. I've been a fan of his for about thirty years, and he has some great stuff. (Not TLIR, which I think is only so-so).

"More Than This" seems to be an endorsement of adultery. Not so shocking, since this is popular music we're talking about here. But from the nice, unthreatening, sweater-wearing pop troubadour Chris De Burgh, it's a little off-putting.

[trof]

26. Lee Marvin: "Wanderin' Star"

[KamaAina]

27. "Let The Eagle Soar" by John Ashcroft.

[spooky3]

49. Hahahaha!

[Yavin4]

28. Living in America by James Brown

Embarrassingly bad.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

29. The Doggone Girl is Mine…Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney

[Mendocino]

30. Speaking of Paul

Silly Love Songs

[NightWatcher]

31. Still speaking of Paul

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

32. Holiday songs by major artists could be its own thread

[Capt.Rocky300]

58. Gave a Neil Diamond Christmas CD to my wife......

who is a huge fan. We didn't make it all the way through a single song before clicking "NEXT" the first time we listened to it. Come to think of it, that was also the last time we listened to it. It was gawd awful.

[Mendocino]

33. More Paul

My Love

WHOA WO..WHOA.. whoa. WHOAWO..WHOA whoa my love does it good

This song makes me want to ram an ice pick in my ears

[Algernon Moncrieff]

34. Red Rose Speedway is easily Wings worst album

[Tommy_Carcetti]

80. Oh yes. Earworm and a half. nt

[fishwax]

87. what's wrong with that?

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

35. "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" by the Beatles

Love the Beatles, but always hated that song.
Completely pointless. Annoyingly repetitive and with a whopping two lines of lyrics.
Even "Revolution #9" (same album, already mentioned in this thread) is more interesting...

[Mendocino]

36. The White Album

is uneven. Some great work, some astonishingly bad. You can sense the creeping breakup. At least George was finally given a real chance to shine.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

37. They worked solo a lot on it.

Each one was doing his own thing by then. But it's got some of my favourite Beatles songs on it, and I really like most of the others as well. The only songs I usually skip are the one mentioned above, "Julia" and "Revolution 9" (I can just imagine Lennon thinking "The conspiracy nuts will go crazy over this" as he was compiling it! )

I even love the goofy songs (Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Bungalow Bill, Rocky Raccoon, Honey Pie) probably because I came to this album when I was a kid...

[callous taoboy]

57. re: your White Album comment-

"I even love the goofy songs (Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Bungalow Bill, Rocky Raccoon, Honey Pie) probably because I came to this album when I was a kid..."

You took the words out of my mouth. I was in kindergarten / first grade when my older brothers turned me on to the Beatles, and I became absolutely absorbed by Sgt. Peppers and the White Album, so I love both in their entirety.

BTW- I got to attend a lecture in Abbey Road studio 2 in 2013 on my 48th birthday. I managed to finagle my way into playing the final chord of "A Day in the Life" on the Mrs. Mills piano which was used extensively on Peppers and the White Album and was one of the pianos used for the final chord, as two other guys played the other two pianos used on that chord. It was like sheer magic for me to be able to do that.

[hifiguy]

47. In any other band in the history of the world

George would have been the focal point and superstar.

[Demoiselle]

45. I've always thought they were being intentionally stupid with that one…(nt)

[Mendocino]

50. I find it uneven.

Should have stopped after one disc. My personal favorite is Revolver.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

68. Probably.

Supposedly Paul came up with the idea in India when he saw a couple of monkeys copulating on the road and wondered why people were too "civilized" to do it.

I guess I was too young to pick up on the silliness and my distaste for the song stayed with me...

[PassingFair]

38. "Heartlight"

I don't like Neil Diamond to begin with, but THIS...

[Mendocino]

40. His worst

The Coming to America song ranks up there too.

[Mendocino]

39. ZZ Top

Too many to list, but the worst is likely "Velcro Fly". Where they in misogyny contest with Nugent ?

[TexasBushwhacker]

107. I like early ZZ more than later

I'm not crazy about the synthesizers they added in the 80's. That's when Velcro Fly came out. Not their best work.

[mainstreetonce]

41. Jesus Take The Wheel

Carrie Underwood

[Skittles]

51. not that I was ever a fan of hers

but IT'S MY LIFE by the whining Gwen Stefani was HIDEOUS

[OhioChick]

63. Her whiny voice gets on my last nerve

[Skittles]

64. oh yeah

I loved the Talk Talk version of that song and when I heard her sing it, OMG, like fingernails on a blackboard

[OhioChick]

65. Here's another that drives me crazy

Ugh.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

76. Same here.

The whole "fake pout" thing of hers, coupled with her "I'm a Japanese white girl" act, is so annoying. Her voice reminds me of the Bernadette Peters character in The Jerk, except un-ironic.

[smirkymonkey]

56. I have a few:

"Hey Baby, I'm the Telephone Man" - Meri Wilson
"Afternoon Delight" - Starland Vocal Band (has this been mentioned?)
"I've never been to me" - Charlene
"MacArthur Park" - Donna Summer
"Muskrat Love" - Captain and Tenille
"Pfft you were gone" - Buck Owens and the Buckaroos

There are tons more, but those are all I can think of off the top of my head. Interestingly enough, when you google the worst songs of all times, none of these come up. It's almost like they were so bad they were too under the radar to even be in the running.

[Capt.Rocky300]

59. MacArthur Park by anybody.

[Jade Fox]

75. Worst song the otherwise talented Jimmy Webh.....

every wrote.

[kwassa]

60. "Touch Me" The Doors

Now, I'm gonna love you
Till the heavens stop the rain
I'm gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky for you and I

[kwassa]

61. " I Just Called to Say I Love You" Stevie Wonder

[Mendocino]

62. Lay Down Sally

A low point Eric Clapton has never recovered from.

[hifiguy]

95. He should have kept snorting heroin.

Nothing he's done on his own since kicking the junk has been worth diddly-squat.

[Wolf Frankula]

66. Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye

It's sounds like a bad book by a quack doctor.

Wolf

[IDemo]

69. "Space Cowboy" - Steve Miller

[Mendocino]

70. Abdacadabra

Stevey could have a whole sub thread here.

[IDemo]

71. Jungle Love

Pretty goofy stuff, most of it. I spoke to him on the phone about 20 years ago when I was working in telephone repair, and he did seem like a genuinely nice guy.

[Mendocino]

78. Plagiarist

Steve steals songs then recycles them ever so slightly.

Rock n' Me Baby-Free "Alright Now"

The Stake-Joe Walsh "Rocky Mountain Way"

Jet Airliner-Robert Johnson/Cream "Crossroads" (RJ wrote it, Cream refined it but never tried claimed it as their own)


We called his Book of Dreams album The Book of Imitations.

[Throd]

74. D'yer Maker by Led Zeppelin

[Algernon Moncrieff]

85. No -- Zep did worse songs than that

I'm a huge Zep fan, and I'm here to tell you I can name worse songs.

Some will tell you that All of My Love, which was a huge pop hit, is their worst song, and I suspect you'd have an ally in Jimmie Page if that is you opinion.

Carouselambra is a bizarre, lengthy, tune that is kind of disco, kind of techno, and not good.

The untitled album is mostly great songs (Stairway to Heaven, Black Dog, Rock N Roll), but there is a song called Four Sticks that is essentially filler.

[Throd]

86. I'll take Four Sticks over Stairway every time.

When the Levee Breaks is the best song on that record.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

89. I'd say it's the 4th best song on that record.

Stairway

Black Dog

Misty Mountain Hop

When the Levee Breaks

[LynneSin]

99. Stairway to Heaven sucks big time. Overplayed for a mediocre song

Even Robert Plant, who wrote the damn song, can't stand it.

Also please do no make me listen to 'No Quarter'. Droning, annoying crap song i cannot stand. And oh, I'm a huge Zeppelin fan!

[Algernon Moncrieff]

103. Alec Guinness is my favorite actor

..but just because he hates Star Wars doesn't mean I agree that he's right. That's pretty much how I feel about Plant's comments about Stairway. It may not be his favorite or yours. I love the song and I know I'm not alone in thinking it is one of their best works.

No Quarter is not among my favorites. It's not Carouselambra, but it does drone on...and on.

[LynneSin]

105. I don't think Stairway sucks because of what Plant thinks

I think it was just overplayed tripe of a bad song with cheesy lyrics and worshipped by too many people who have no clue the better music that LZ has done. Sure it has an awesome guitar solo, which is the reason why Page loves the song. But I don't think it's anything stellar in the way of Jimmy Page great guitar solos. He's done way better on songs that don't get half the AirPlay because everyone age 40+ still remembers that great 'Stairway to Heaven' prom they had in high school.

People love then song the same reason they feel they can't trust Clinton - because if you hear the same crap enough times it starts to stick to you. (Oh and I have no issues with Hillary Clinton, I just see through the bullshit).

[Algernon Moncrieff]

109. Oddly enough, I started a thread about hearing the same crap enough times

The thread is:

The artist/song you once loved that you are sick to death of hearing now.

..and I get that the song was overplayed -- especially in the 90s. Honestly, I don't hear it that often now. In this part of the world, I mostly hear Kashmir (which I'll never say sucks, but I am sick of hearing on the radio) and Black Dog.

So what it comes down to is you hate the song and I love it...of course, you like ELO -- a band that I'd rank musically right alongside Barry Manilow.

[underpants]

77. Any artist "Dancing in the Streets" or "Beast of Burden"

I hate those songs and I am a Stones fan.

[restorefreedom]

88. jagger/bowie d.i.t.s

ewwww

[hifiguy]

96. That is SO bad

I am at a loss to describe how embarrassing it is to them both. I thought at least Bowie had better taste than that.

[restorefreedom]

98. yeah, after seeing jagger

parade around stage in a spandex onesie, that was it for me

[malthaussen]

92. For a second, I wondered what you had against Martha and the Vandellas...

... but that song is "Dancing in the Street."

-- Mal

[Tommy_Carcetti]

79. REO Speedwagon, Take it on the Run (i.e. "Heard it from a Friend")

Just awful.

[Mendocino]

81. Telephone Line ELO

Was this a Bee Gees reject?

[LynneSin]

100. OMG I have to smite thee!!!

I love that song but then again I love anything done by Jeff Lynne and Electric Light Orchestra!!!

[Mendocino]

104. ELO

I really like Fire on High, even though I'm not a fan of much prog. (But I love Yes and King Crimson and most classical) so go figure. Strange Magic and I Can't Get It out My Head I appreciate. After that they just got too "pop" for me. I love his (Lynnes) work with the Wilburys, but who doesn't, except those without a soul.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

82. Jump, by Van Halen. Synth rock hell.

Immediately disqualifies any talk of Van Halen being one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever. (Not that I personally think that they were--I think they were okay, not great--but they might otherwise merit at least a discussion if not for the travesty known as "Jump". )

[hifiguy]

97. Nope. It's redeemed in part by that great

major/minor chord shift at the beginning of the chorus.

[mcar]

83. Born in the USA

Springsteen

[ghostsinthemachine]

90. Oh c'mon....

"Hungry Heart" is the worst Springsteen song IMO...... BIUSA doesn't even come close, in fact I love that song. The lyrics are very hard hitting.....

[mcar]

91. OK I'll give you Hungry Heart

I adore Springsteen. It's those two songs I really really don't like.

[Initech]

84. Pick just about any song by Toby Keith.

And don't get me started on how much I hate "Red Solo Cup" either.

[malthaussen]

94. "Ruby Red Dress," Helen Reddy

Depending, of course, on your definition of "major artist."

-- Mal

[rockfordfile]

101. any song by lynyrd skynyrd

[Mendocino]

102. I like "Tuesdays Gone"

the rest, Meh.

[Skittles]

106. what about "Simple Man"

I like that one