# Are there songs the artists regret making? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363 "2009-02-11T14:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/41 "2009-02-11T21:56:11Z")
A particularly germane article: [“No One Admits to Singing, Writing, Producing Nation’s No. 1 Song”](http://www.theonion.com/content/news/no_one_admits_to_singing_writing) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/42 "2009-02-11T22:33:09Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > The legendary Vanilla Ice grew to hate “Ice Ice Baby” so much that he destroyed MTV’s tape of it during some MTV interview show, and then proceeded to destroy some other stuff on the set as well. I think that might have more to do with the lawsuit David Bowie filed against him and its affect on the Icer’s career than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/43 "2009-02-11T23:40:51Z")
I have heard that Nick Cave hates being asked to perform O’Malley’s Bar live due to the length. ---
**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/44 "2009-02-11T23:59:49Z")
Eddie Vedder has been known to sing “glorified version of I hate this song” instead of “glorified version of a pellet gun”. Might not mean he regrets Glorified G, but I’d say he doesn’t really like it so much. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/45 "2009-02-12T00:03:08Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I’ve also read that Rundgren also hated “I Saw The Light” (“a string of meaningless cliches,” I think he called it). He disparages many of his early pop songs and ballads for being too “easy”, that he didn’t have to work at writing them. Of course that could make a “Behind the Music” episode about him where he would be entirely alone - no drink, drugs or evil manager to blame. He’s managed to shoot himself in the foot so many times it’s a wonder he can walk. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/46 "2009-02-12T00:31:11Z")
**Dan Hicks** , on the album _Alive and Lickin’_, introducing the song “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away”: “This is one of the first songs I ever came up with, so we’ve been doing it a few years. In fact, what is this, is this March 13? This is the FOUR BILLIONTH time we’ve played this one. So there’ll be a little surprise party, a little cake later on…” Hey, at least he has a sense of humor about it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/47 "2009-02-12T02:25:25Z")
According to the Pop-Up Video version of the video, Simple Minds hated “Don’t You Forget About Me” from the start and didn’t want to do it. I don’t think it was mentioned how, but I assume that they were forced to somehow. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/48 "2009-02-12T04:04:33Z")
Sinatra said something once about how much he hated “Strangers in the Night”. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/49 "2009-02-12T04:30:34Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > I heard the singer from Warrant say he regrets writing “Cherry Pie”, he felt it defined the bands sound in the public’s mind in a unflattering way. This is the one I was going to mention. In the VH1 documentary “Heavy: The History of Metal”, vocalist Jani Lane says of “Cherry Pie”: _“I could shoot myself in the head for writing that song!”_ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/50 "2009-02-12T05:20:29Z")
Doc Pomus’ “Can’t Get Used to Losing You” was one of Andy Williams’ biggest hits, but I heard Andy tell Larry King he always thought the song was “dumb.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/51 "2009-02-12T05:50:38Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > This is the one I was going to mention. In the VH1 documentary “Heavy: The History of Metal”, vocalist Jani Lane says of “Cherry Pie”: _“I could shoot myself in the head for writing that song!”_ IIRC, he said he had finished writing all he songs for the album, and the record company told them they needed to fill up like 4 more minutes, so, according to Lane, he wrote “Cherry Pie” in like ten minutes just to be a filler, that he put no thought into it and expected it to be buried at the end of the CD. Then the record company decided to make that the first single and video, it became a hit, and the whole band always despised it. I think a lot of bands and artists become frustrated at becoming highly identified with a particular song. Warren Zevon sent up his own hatred of _Werewolves of London_ on an episode of _Larry Sanders Show_ (“Let me play anything but fucking ‘Werewolves,’ man”). I’ve heard that Jimmy Buffet is sick to the back teeth with “Marguaritaville” (and with people buying him marguaritas). I remember seeing an interview once with the singer from Macy Playground in which he was bitching that the only song anyone ever wanted them to play was “Sex and Candy,” and was saying that having a big radio hit could be as much of a curse as a blessing. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/52 "2009-02-12T05:57:25Z")
Speaking of Billy Joel, he’s totally repudiated his pre-solo career output. He termed the short-lived metal band Attila “psychedelic bullshit”. When Capitol Records reissued his teenage band the Hassles on CD in the late ‘90s, Joel hated it so much he convinced Capitol to withdraw the CD. A closely related subject is bands who liked the actual songs but hated the production. The most famous is Paul McCartney’s objections to Phil Spector’s production on “Let It Be”, which he got back at with the release of “Let It Be…Naked”. Lou Reed has criticized the production on pretty much all the Velvet Underground records. Tommy Ramone said the $6000 budgeted for the Ramones’ debut was “nothing”. Regina Spektor hates the plain sound of her debut record so much she won’t reissue it despite lots of clamor from her fans. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/53 "2009-02-12T06:36:13Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > This is the one I was going to mention. In the VH1 documentary “Heavy: The History of Metal”, vocalist Jani Lane says of “Cherry Pie”: _“I could shoot myself in the head for writing that song!”_ To expand on this (because it was pretty funny) the lead singer said that: “The album was done, it was gonna be called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, that was gonna be the first single, so we were going to take a break, but the record company kept saying they needed a catchy single like Bon Jovi’s Give Love a Bad Name or Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar. So I literally wrote and recorded Cherry Pie in like an hour, then we left for the weekend. Come Monday, the record company tells me, ‘Ok, the albums been renamed Cherry Pie, the lead single’s gonna be Cherry Pie, the first video you’re gonna shoot is Cherry Pie…’” The lead singer looks at the camera and says, “I’m the Cherry Pie guy. I could shoot myself for writing that song…” ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/54 "2009-02-12T07:03:28Z")
In 1995, David Bowie said, “My nadir was [the 1987 album] ‘Never Let Me Down.’ It was such an awful album. I’ve gotten to a place now where I’m not very judgmental about myself. I put out what I do, whether it’s in visual arts or in music, because I know that everything I do is really heartfelt. Even if it’s a failure artistically, it doesn’t bother me in the same way that ‘Never Let Me Down’ bothers me. I really shouldn’t have even bothered going into the studio to record it.” One song from the original album, **Too Dizzy** , is not on any of the re-releases, including the version of the album on iTunes. As far as I know Bowie has never said why, but it seems very telling that one song has been singled out to be deleted from an album that he despised that much, and it wasn’t the one with Mickey Rourke rapping. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/55 "2009-02-12T07:31:43Z")
I’m sure Tori Amos got extremely burned out on [Me and a Gun."](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_and_a_Gun) She used to sing it at most of her live shows, but stopped after a while. It’s not exactly a crowd favorite, considering the subject matter, but a certain segment of her fan base was extremely emotionally invested in the song so she probably felt pressure to include it in her play set. Considering that it’s semi-autobiographical it must have been exhausting to perform it so often. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/56 "2009-02-12T16:16:49Z")
“Take My Breath Away” was pretty much credited as the final straw that broke up Berlin. Terri Nunn liked it but John Crawford did not: > [@](#): > > “(Producer) Giorgio Moroder asked us if we’d like to record that song for the movie soundtrack and John got very upset. He thought it wasn’t our song – we didn’t write it, it didn’t sound like what we do, and he didn’t want it on our album. But I loved (Moroder’s work), I loved the song, I loved romance. Everything about it worked for me.” ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/57 "2009-02-12T17:07:51Z")
The Pat Metheny Group supposedly dislikes their _American Garage_ album, and I’ve never heard them play anything from it in the 14 times I’ve seen them in concert. It does include “The Epic”, which can stand with any of their other music, IMHO. The one time (which was more than enough) that I saw Dio in concert, he introduced “Rainbow In The Dark” as a “chain around our fucking necks” before playing it. Thanks, Dio! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/58 "2009-02-12T19:10:47Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Has Sting ever said he regretted recording it though? I thought he just hated how the meaning is often lost on people. They shouldnt have made Every Breath You Take sound so innocent and adoring, those lyrics needed a more sinister song to go with them. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/59 "2009-02-13T00:16:12Z")
Eric Clapton used to do a fine rendition of the old warhorse _Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out,_ but he said in an interview he didn’t intend to ever play it again. After he hit bottom as a junkie and crawled up through rehab, lots of people **did** know and help him when he was down and out, so for him the song didn’t ring true any more. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/60 "2009-02-13T00:20:29Z")
Clapton’s been playing that song on his recent tours, so he must’ve changed his mind about that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363.md?page=4)