We’ve done Favorite Song, Fave Performance, now I’m looking for all time “Jesus Christ, Forgive them for they know not what they do” worst Rock and Roll song. Must have achieved airplay and some fame or infamy.
My Vote: Dead or Alive “Round and Round”
Or anything by Lynrd Skynrd, Allman Brothers, or any other “Southern Rock” group in that vein.
I like Round and Round, particularly as sung by Sandler in Wedding Singer.
Worst song ever has to be “I Only Wanna Be With You”, by Hootie and the BlowJobs.
Worst successful Rock Band of All time by far is Poison.
Inna Gadda da Vida…Iron Butterfly
Horror of horrors! Cthulu on bass Vlad Tsepes,lead bummer
I’m sorry, but I have an estimated 76-way tie between:
-Every Limp Bizkit, KoRn, Blink 182 song ever made.
-“Everything you want” by Vertical Horizon.
I know many people who would cold-cock you with a Jack Daniels bottle for that statement.
My pick–and hear me out before you call me nuts–“Johnny B. Goode”.
Now, this wasn’t such a bad song in its original incarnation. However, it’s been covered by everyone from your shitty high school garage band to the house band at your local college bar to Phish. No one has ever managed to make it any more interesting. I’ve often called for a total “Johnny B. Goode” moratorium in the music industry, but no one takes me seriously.
Dr. J
Oh, and the aforementioned Hootie and the Suckfish track definitely wins my pick for most annoying song of the 1990’s. They even had the balls to lift an entire passage straight from one of my favorite Dylan songs (“Idiot Wind”). The video is somewhere in the bottom ten as well.
That was one of those songs that makes me question the idea of “popular” music–you would think that song was incredibly popular, but I don’t know anyone who actually liked it.
Dr. J
Anything by Creed or Limp Bizkit.
I am not sure if this constitutes “Rock and Roll” but this particular song is at the top of my “Worst songs in the history of the World” list. I am ducking my head for those of you who actually like this song…those of you who might throw something at me but here goes! I hate, loathe,detest,dispise,you get the picture by now, the song from the Titanic…My Heart Will Go On…and it does…go on, and on and on, ad nauseam! If you actually listen to the words, you realize that it says absolutely nothing…and who the heck could lose her heart over a wimpy guy like Leonardo DiCaprio anyway? 'Nuff said…
Lynyrd Skynyrd? Are you high? Allman Brothers? They’re boring, but not all that crappy. Dead or alive? They aren’t even CLOSE to Rock! Since you can’t distinguish 80s New Wave dance tracks from Rock and Roll, you can be excused this once for your bad taste.
There have been some fine candidates mentioned so far (johnny b. goode covers, inna gadda da vida, hootie and the blowfish, etc), but my vote for worst rock song is for “Muskrat Love” from America. Yeah, it’s folk rock, but still.
In fact, I think that may be the worst song ever written, and whoever gave the ok for that to go on a record should commit seppuku. I mean, isn’t that what producers are supposed to PREVENT?
I suppose someone should bring up Dave Barry’s Bad Song Survey, so it might as well be me. The most votes went to “MacArthur Park”.
I include the above only for the sake of completeness. My vote goes to “In the Year 2525”. If you haven’t heard it, consider yourself lucky. Nothing mentioned so far comes near it’s level of badness.
Hmmm. I can trump that with “Seasons in the Sun,” perhaps the nadir of early 70’s AM radio airplay.
Hm. Good point, it did get played on the air tho.
Hey, I’ve got tons I’d rather not suffer through again. 
I shall think out my picks in the future however.
Rock and Roll: Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven. Dude, Look. I’m sorry your son is dead, but after this song I want to join him. 
What about that song about the guy whose dog just died? I can’t think of the title, but it’s pretty bad.
I also cast a vote for: “We Built this City” by Starship, “Cum on, Feel the Noize” by Quiet Riot (the worst part about that song is they didn’t even write it. It was a cover–their most popular song not only sucked ass, but they didn’t even come up with it themselves), every Ted Nugent song about what a man he is, and “Dancing Queen” by ABBA–I just any song that rhymes seventeen with queen, scene, or magazine. On a similiar idea, I hate an song that rhymes fire with desire. Jimi Hendrix is the only person who can get away with it.
Among the many honorable mentions…
Lay Down Sally
Havin’ My Baby
Isn’t She Lovely
Solid As A Rock
Candle in the Wind (Diana version)
Only Sixteen
Tonight’s the Night
I’m Saving All My Love For You
Run Joey Run (Daddy Please Don’t)
Witchy Woman
Sherrr…errr…ERRRR, errr, errr eeee Bay yay beeeeeeee…
Rock around the Clock
Intruders onto Rock stations that WEREN’T rock AND sucked…
anything by Leo Sayer
anything with the word Funk in it
I’ll Be There Before the Next Teardrop Falls
anything with the word “Disco” in it
the Bee Gees
Bad Bad Bad Bad Boys Make me Feel so Good
A Fifth of Beethoven
And I…Will Always Love You…ooooh…oooh
…For a Woman to Be…Ordinary Woman
Amadeus (=AmadeusAMADEUSamadeusAmadeus)
Go Away Little Girl (Donny Osmond)
but here’s my finalist, an oldie but baddie that stuck in my head since grade school as a truly horrid song. It had pretty forgettable lyrics and tune at the beginning, but ended up with a long, repetitive, never-ending refrain over and over and over and over and over again:
“I’m get-ting CLO-ser to my wor-rld”
PS: the song about the guy whose dog just died was “Shannon”, I believe.
Anything by Peter Frampton. Yuk!
For crossover pop I nominate Islands in the Stream
I like Elton John okay, but Bennie and the Jets is really annoying.
The song “Fly Away” by Lenny Kravitz. God, I hate that song. It’s used as the music in some Nissan commercial, I think, and every time it comes on, I lunge for the remote.
Well, (I don’t know if it counts as rock; I’m really not sure what to call it…) there’s always “My Dingaling”. I would like to recommend “I Shot the Sheriff”. I dislike that song.
Macarthur Park wins the prize for worst lyrics in [b}any** song, **ever[/]. If you can think of any song that tops “Sweet green icing flowing down…”, I would like to hear it.
I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one xenophon41. Yes, “Seasons in the Sun” is a terrible, terrible song. But it just doesn’t provoke that needles-in-the-eyeballs-and-knee-to-the-groin reaction I get from “In the Year 2525”.
Oh yeah, and “Eve of Destruction”. What a smarmy song.
“In the year 2525, if man is still alive… If woman can survive, they may find…” (Thanks to Trion for reminding me.)
I thought Captain and Tennille did that one. I find it hard to believe that America would have been THAT stupid?
Scotti