Well, yeah, some of those are pretty bad, but I don't get the hate for "Sugar Shack" which I find to be a sprightly little time capsule (I thought it was earlier than 1963 though). And I guess I don't know much about Norman Petty so I'm not sure how he figured in to sending Buddy Holly to an early grave, unless the implication is that Buddy had to get on that plane and make the next gig because he needed money and Petty wasn't giving him his share.
That must be the implication about Petty, Deb. And I have to say that I've hated "Sugar Shack" since the first time I heard it. I was glad to see it on the list.
I don't know who "Serene Dominic" may be - nor do I care - but her snark is often misplaced. Yes, "Billy Don't Be a Hero" was awful but Harry Chapin? That is just mean and not right. I'm no fan of "Sugar Shack" either, but hardly one of the worst songs ever. Of course, I've been fortunate to have never heard of (or heard, obviously) a number of these. But Bonnie Tyler? She must be kidding, right? I love Bonnie Tyler. And Meat Loaf? Not! I guess she's not a Jim Steinman fan.
I do agree that "We Built This City" and "Ebony and Ivory" and "You Light Up My Life" belong on any bad songs list.
But how can she include the Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf songs while leaving off these:
One Bad Apple - The Osmonds My Ding-a-Ling - Chuck Berry Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks (preceded Bo Donaldson's crap by a few weeks) Coming Up - Paul McCartney (can't tell you how much I HATE this)
That only goes to 1985, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Cher's odious "Believe," which makes "Copacabana" sound good.
I have nothing against "Sugar Shack," though hearing it once every 3-5 years is about right. But any list of bad songs that doesn't include Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" is automatically suspect. And "Seasons in the Sun"--Terry Jacks's version of Rod McKuen's butchered travesty of Jacques Brel's "Le Moribond" remains one of the top five bad songs of all time (the B side, "Put the Bone In"--my brother had the 45 single--is, incredibly, even worse, but got no significant airplay).
Pretty lame group of songs. Glad to see the odious Meatloaf/Steinman song here. Seasons of the Sun and Honey both deserve to be here.Don't know if any Wayne Newton songs charted number 1 but they would deserve to be on here if they did.
Meanwhile, things like "Teeney Weeney Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" and the one with the repeated line "Beep beep, beep beep, his horn went beep beep beep" lurk on while they should have been exterminated before ever receiving any airplay. But they surely didn't make it to number 1. By the way, I like Total Eclispe of the Heart quite a bit.
I can stand You Light Up My Life and We Are the World. Of the remainder, I know about half and consider them lousy, though there are others as bad or worse, as Jeff notes. Did Tiptoe Through the Tulips reach #1?
In case you want to make sure you haven't missed something truly odious, here are the #1 hits (Billboard) from 1958 to 2013. http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5149230/hot-100-55th-anniversary-every-no-1-song-1958-2013
I note that no one yet has mentioned "The Chipmunk Song" (and that was in 1958).
Personally, I think it would be hard to beat (be worse than?) "You Light Up My Life," but that's just me.
Interesting. Jeff is utterly correct about his suggestions of what should be on the list, but utterly incorrect about the Bonnie Tyler, the most overblown/overproduced song in the history of US recording (sorry, Robert as well) and the Meat Loaf (sorry, Bill as well, I think I've gathered). "American Woman", "Touch Me in the Morning" and so many other relentlessly inane songs, and so often nearly the worst things their recording artists, or whatever Cher is, have produced.
12 comments:
Well, yeah, some of those are pretty bad, but I don't get the hate for "Sugar Shack" which I find to be a sprightly little time capsule (I thought it was earlier than 1963 though). And I guess I don't know much about Norman Petty so I'm not sure how he figured in to sending Buddy Holly to an early grave, unless the implication is that Buddy had to get on that plane and make the next gig because he needed money and Petty wasn't giving him his share.
That must be the implication about Petty, Deb. And I have to say that I've hated "Sugar Shack" since the first time I heard it. I was glad to see it on the list.
I don't know who "Serene Dominic" may be - nor do I care - but her snark is often misplaced. Yes, "Billy Don't Be a Hero" was awful but Harry Chapin? That is just mean and not right. I'm no fan of "Sugar Shack" either, but hardly one of the worst songs ever. Of course, I've been fortunate to have never heard of (or heard, obviously) a number of these. But Bonnie Tyler? She must be kidding, right? I love Bonnie Tyler. And Meat Loaf? Not! I guess she's not a Jim Steinman fan.
I do agree that "We Built This City" and "Ebony and Ivory" and "You Light Up My Life" belong on any bad songs list.
But how can she include the Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf songs while leaving off these:
One Bad Apple - The Osmonds
My Ding-a-Ling - Chuck Berry
Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks (preceded Bo Donaldson's crap by a few weeks)
Coming Up - Paul McCartney (can't tell you how much I HATE this)
That only goes to 1985, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Cher's odious "Believe,"
which makes "Copacabana" sound good.
And stay off my lawn!
I have nothing against "Sugar Shack," though hearing it once every 3-5 years is about right. But any list of bad songs that doesn't include Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" is automatically suspect. And "Seasons in the Sun"--Terry Jacks's version of Rod McKuen's butchered travesty of Jacques Brel's "Le Moribond" remains one of the top five bad songs of all time (the B side, "Put the Bone In"--my brother had the 45 single--is, incredibly, even worse, but got no significant airplay).
Pretty lame group of songs. Glad to see the odious Meatloaf/Steinman song here. Seasons of the Sun and Honey both deserve to be here.Don't know if any Wayne Newton songs charted number 1 but they would deserve to be on here if they did.
Meanwhile, things like "Teeney Weeney Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" and the one with the repeated line "Beep beep, beep beep, his horn went beep beep beep" lurk on while they should have been exterminated before ever receiving any airplay. But they surely didn't make it to number 1. By the way, I like Total Eclispe of the Heart quite a bit.
I don't think Honey made it to #1, otherwise it was a sure winner.
My mistake. Honey did hit #1 the week of Martin Luther King's assassination. Coincidence? You make the call.
The misuse of funds from "We are the World" exacerbated the violence of the civil war in Ethiopia so,yeah, it actually killed people.
I can stand You Light Up My Life and We Are the World. Of the remainder, I know about half and consider them lousy, though there are others as bad or worse, as Jeff notes. Did Tiptoe Through the Tulips reach #1?
In case you want to make sure you haven't missed something truly odious, here are the #1 hits (Billboard) from 1958 to 2013.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5149230/hot-100-55th-anniversary-every-no-1-song-1958-2013
I note that no one yet has mentioned "The Chipmunk Song" (and that was in 1958).
Personally, I think it would be hard to beat (be worse than?) "You Light Up My Life," but that's just me.
Interesting. Jeff is utterly correct about his suggestions of what should be on the list, but utterly incorrect about the Bonnie Tyler, the most overblown/overproduced song in the history of US recording (sorry, Robert as well) and the Meat Loaf (sorry, Bill as well, I think I've gathered). "American Woman", "Touch Me in the Morning" and so many other relentlessly inane songs, and so often nearly the worst things their recording artists, or whatever Cher is, have produced.
Post a Comment