Hell, the one time I saw Van Morrison, he didn’t sing any of his hits. No “Moondance.” No “Blue Money.” No “Domino.” No “Wild Night.” No “Jackie Wilson Said.” Nothing from Astral Weeks. He did do a few other people’s hits, like “That’s Life” (Frank Sinatra had just died), “This Is a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,” and “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin.”
RealityChuck beat me to Matthew Fisher and “Going for a Song.”
The Beastie Boys did (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) as a goof. They were making fun of the frat boy aesthetic, but that’s who ended up making the song a hit.
Michael Ian Black on Billy Joel
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2005/4/27black.html
Don McLean is apparently the poster child for this sentiment. He says that the only thing worse than being known for one big hit is being known for one big hit that’s eight minutes long. He always does it near the beginning of his live shows to get it out of the way.
His concert rider even specifies that if you mention one song in your promotional materials, you have to mention at least five. That way you can’t put up a poster saying, “You know, the ‘American Pie’ guy!”
I’m listening to Sister Christian on youtube now. I loved that song when I was 8. 
And now, to go find Stand, one of my favorite REM songs…
Grace Slick "apparently didn’t like “We Built This City” much.
& Sammy Davis hated Candy Man. (understandably!)
Lulu hated Boom-Bang-a-Bang, which she won the Eurovision Song Conest with and was a huge hit.
But you can hardly blame her!
It really is a terrible song and completely unrepresentative of the rest of their work. I just finished reading Michael Lang’s book The Road To Woodstock and I would have loved to have met the Grace Slick described in that book.
I saw him in concert once, and he had this great bit of stage patter about the song. He acknowledged the responsibility to perform the song, because it’s many people’s favorite song, and might be the song couples in the audience fell in love to, so even though he’s tired of it, he owes it to them to do that song. But as a performer, he’s singing about loving someone he’s long divorced from, and his mind wanders:
Don’t go changing
(What will I have for dinner?)
To try and please me
(Steak or chicken?)
You never let me down before…
(I really should eat more fish…)
One time while playing it, his long time drummer Liberty DiVito shouted out right after Joel sang:
I just want someone that I can talk to…
She got the house, she got the car!
Classic case of one of an artist’s weakest songs becoming their most famous. I don’t kave any evidence, but Todd Rundgren appears to be royally sick of “Bang on the Drum All Day”, performing it on ukulele as a pastiche with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.
I love that song - but I have very commercial tastes! 
I’ll add the Michael Lang book to my must read list.
Haha! Classic! 
Sorry, you can’t hate you ONLY hit, it’s what puts food on your table, it’s what they know you from.
If you are long time, multiple-album multiple-hit guy, OK hate it.
Alec G. is, for me, Prince Faisal and Charles I.
I always wondered about that–how did Grace Slick, singer for Jefferson Airplane who did “Go Ask Alice,” wind up in that song??
Peter Wolf, the Starship’s producer for that album, started out with the premise that the project would rely on outside songwriters (I think there’s one song written by Starship members on the finished album), so the band had to take what he came up with for them.
John Cleese hates it when people ask him to demonstrate a silly walk.
Dave Chappelle got angry at his standup audience after they kept quoting his Rick James sketch.
Tom Lehrer stopped performing as he tired of playing the same songs every night.
(why I only thought of comedy-related people I have no idea)
He may have had a number of changes of heart about that song.
Two years ago, I saw him here in Austin, performing with the Austin Symphony. He did “American Pie” as the last song in the set, and before singing it, he told the audience, “A lot of people think I’m a commercial artist who’s had a long dry spell. In reality, I’m an UNcommercial artist who got very lucky a few times. Whenever people ask what this song means, I say it mean I’ll never have to work again if I don’t want to. I can record when I want, I can tour when I want, or I can stay home. This song gave me a great gift of freedom.”
So, he MAY be sick of the song (who wouldn’t be?), but he knows how lucky he was to record it.
For what it’s worth, he has written to Cecil about the song.
No cite, but I seem to recall Jimmy Buffett saying something along the same lines, even if it’s more blunt, and possibly more crass (but just as honest). IIRC, he said, “I’m paid, and paid very well, to perform certain songs people want to hear. So I play them.”
And to Astorian’s comment about McLean, Carl Perkins wrote “Blue Suede Shoes,” and was grateful for what that song purchased for him (although I don’t know how he felt about the song itself – I can imagine at worst, it’s like what Michael Caine said about Jaws 4).
Would you believe that I SAW this tour? Took a girl named ‘Sonji’ when I was sixteen. The talky sections didn’t bother me that much and she seemed to like it a lot, if you get me. Twelve dollars well spent back then.
As for the rest of these? They might hate the hit…but I bet they love the royalties.
Ronnie James Dio wanted to destroy the master of “Rainbow In The Dark” after the recording session, but was dissuaded from it by the rest of his band. When I saw him in 1996, he introduced the song as a “chain around my fucking neck”. I’m guessing his opinion of it did not improve with time.
I think that was for a different reason than you’re thinking of. He got sick of white guys coming up to him and saying nigger. I’m pretty sure he still liked the bit as he was talking about making a movie out of it until he effectively blacklisted himself.
Moderator interjection on personal insults:
Cisco: Personal insults are NOT permitted in this forum, as you well know. You may discuss what Claire SAYS, but not make comments/assumptions about her as a person. Please do not do this again.
I note that there are a number of comments following this, but they all are commenting on the opinion, not the person. As a few examples fop clarification (mainly for any new posters who may not be familiar with our rules):
Contrapuntal says: “I feel justified in calling that characterization elitist and snobbish at best.” This is acceptable comment, criticizing the characterization (i.e., the opinion), not the person.
Cisco’s later comment: “Your standards of cultural literacy are ridiculous and contradictory” is also acceptable discussion, critizing the standards and not the person.
I’m not going to issue a warning because it’s two days old, and because it was obviously a temporary lapse.
Moderator interjection on hijack:
The question of what makes “interesting tangential comments” vs “total hijack” is sometimes not clear. In this situation, a discussion about what constitutes cultural illiteracy or elitism would be interesting, but I suggest a different thread. This is about actors who hate their biggest roles, not about cultural illiteracy or elitims (although a few such comments are not inappropriate.)
There’s little question but that STAR WARS was Alec Guiness’s biggest role (defined in terms of seen by the most number of poeple); whether it was his best role, or what you think he should be remembered for, is reasonable comment for a couple of posts, but let’s not hijack the thread down that route. It’s been said now, so back to major topic.