# Iconic bad song of the decade **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560 "2010-07-13T17:37:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![toxo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@toxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toxo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/41 "2010-07-13T22:30:14Z")
I agree with every 80’s song listed except maybe _Sister Christian_, that one is somewhat tolerable. Here are two I would add 1. Somebody’s Watching Me - Rockwell 2. I Wanna Be a Cowboy - Boys Don’t Cry There is a lot of bad music to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/42 "2010-07-13T22:34:59Z")
Crazy Frog always comes up in discussions like this, but it’s honestly not that bad (hear me out). I mean, the song is Harold Faltermeyer’s Axel F, which is a pretty great (or at the very least inoffensive) synth instrumental which was used really well in the original context of Beverly Hills Cop. Having an animated frog go “ding ding” at various points during the song is certainly not a good thing, and if I’m going to listen to Axel F you know I’m gonna be listening to the original, but really, does that make it the worst song of the whole decade? Unless of course you’re of the opinion that the original was among the worst of the eighties, I can’t see how an animated frog saying “ding” pushes it into worst-song-of-the-decade territory? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/43 "2010-07-13T22:37:29Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > 1980’s: “Ebony & Ivory” by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. Rarely has such talent produced such shit Except for “The Doggone Girl Is Mine”, of course, by McCartney and MJ! 🙂 1960’s: “Which Way You Goin’, Billy?” by The Poppys 1970’s: “Looks Like We Made It” by Barry Manilow 1980’s: “The Warrior” by Patty Smyth 1990’s: “Rico Suave” by Ricardo 2000’s: “Thong Song” by Sisquo ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/44 "2010-07-13T22:40:28Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > Crazy Frog always comes up in discussions like this, but it’s honestly not that bad (hear me out). > > I mean, the song is Harold Faltermeyer’s Axel F, which is a pretty great (or at the very least inoffensive) synth instrumental which was used really well in the original context of Beverly Hills Cop. Having an animated frog go “ding ding” at various points during the song is certainly not a good thing, and if I’m going to listen to Axel F you know I’m gonna be listening to the original, but really, does that make it the worst song of the whole decade? > > Unless of course you’re of the opinion that the original was among the worst of the eighties, I can’t see how an animated frog saying “ding” pushes it into worst-song-of-the-decade territory? Plus, it spawned [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHCxU4lStlw). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/45 "2010-07-13T22:40:39Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” for the 80s. No . . . Even if it was the worst song released in the '80s, it was not “representative of the worst cultural and musical trends of that decade” – quite the reverse of them, rather. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/46 "2010-07-13T22:41:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No . . . Even if it was the worst song released in the '80s, it was not “representative of the worst cultural and musical trends of that decade” – quite the reverse of them, rather. Plus Bobby McFerrin is pretty cool for vocalizing all the sounds/percussion/singing. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/47 "2010-07-13T22:43:38Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > Crazy Frog always comes up in discussions like this, but it’s honestly not that bad (hear me out). > > I mean, the song is Harold Faltermeyer’s Axel F, which is a pretty great (or at the very least inoffensive) synth instrumental which was used really well in the original context of Beverly Hills Cop. Having an animated frog go “ding ding” at various points during the song is certainly not a good thing, and if I’m going to listen to Axel F you know I’m gonna be listening to the original, but really, does that make it the worst song of the whole decade? > > Unless of course you’re of the opinion that the original was among the worst of the eighties, I can’t see how an animated frog saying “ding” pushes it into worst-song-of-the-decade territory? I did put “for me” at the start of my post! (mainly cause I usually get jumped on about how much I hate **Rivers of Babylon!** ) In New Zealand you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing that damn song when it came out. (Crazy Frog I mean, but that goes for **Rivers of Babylon** too) I’ve never heard the original. (again, the Crazy Frog song) &, as another example, I think most of the Op’s songs weren’t that bad - its the constant playing on top 20 radio that gets to me. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/48 "2010-07-13T22:59:08Z")
1960’s: “Light My Fire” by The Doors 1970’s: “You Light Up My Life” by Debbie Boone 1980’s: “Bad to the Bone” by George Thoroughgood (or whatever) 1990’s: “Believe” by Cher I’m not up enough on the last decade to even hazard a guess. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/49 "2010-07-13T23:02:29Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > I’d vote for “I’ve Never Been to Me” for the worst song of the 80s. > For the 70s, probably “Havin’ My Baby” by Mac Davis. “I’ve Never…” was a 1970’s song. “Having My Baby” was by Paul Anka ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/50 "2010-07-13T23:12:36Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > My Humps This is exactly the song that came to mind when I read the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/51 "2010-07-13T23:16:33Z")
_Seasons in the Sun_ should be in contention worst song of the 20th century. Curiously, I had never heard _The Thong Song_ until now. It is quite bad. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/52 "2010-07-13T23:19:23Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > All certainly worthy contestants, but I have a few other contenders: > > 1960s - “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire. Bad lyrics, bad singing, bad song, Number one on the Billboard charts. > > 1970s - “Seasons In the Sun” by Terry Jacks is herewith summarily decreed the worst song of that decade and no dissenting opinions shall be tolerated. So let it be written, so let it be done. > 1980s - “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler. Sample lyric: “We’re livin’ in a powder keg and givin’ off sparks…” The prosecution rests. > > 1990s - “Hands” by Jewel. Sample lyric: “These hands, they are my own. They are not yours, they are my own.” Really, Jewel? > > 2000s - I’m tempted to vote for “All the Single Ladies” by Beyonce. But that may just be my annoyance at how overplayed it got. Beyonce aside, I love all those songs. They’re all songs I used to love playing ironically to annoy my hipster friends in high school and college, and now weirdly like in a partly-non-ironic way. Especially “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – Jim Steinman is a god. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/53 "2010-07-13T23:21:42Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > _Seasons in the Sun_ should be in contention worst song of the 20th century. > Curiously, I had never heard _The Thong Song_ until now. It is quite bad. Oh, now that I think of it _The Thong Song_ and _Who Let The Dogs Out_ along with possibly _The Ketchup Song_ should all be ranked ahead of _My Humps_ for worst song of the 2000s. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/54 "2010-07-13T23:31:01Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “I’ve Never…” was a 1970’s song. You would think so by the sound of it, but it was kind of a throwback. It actually came out in [1982](http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fzfqxqq5ldde). ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/55 "2010-07-13T23:33:38Z")
I’ve Never Been To Me was first released in 1976 and took several years to become a hit. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/56 "2010-07-13T23:34:01Z")
Some good nominations for the other decades, although I too am not up on _bad_ music of the 2000s to nominate anyone. 60s: Anything by the early Beatles since stations played everything off their first 1 and 1/2 albums to death, to the exclusion of their later, [del]better[/del] good, stuff. 70s: Too many to choose from! 80s: Unskinny Bop by Poison. Yes, it was 1990. That means they should have known better. Even in 1986 when I was a young teen, I couldn’t find anything cool about hair metal. Fast forward to 1991 for the good stuff. Now I’m not saying I embraced grunge with open arms, but compared to Hair Metal? 90s: Rockefella Skank. Symbolizes the worst in bad Big Beat techno, of which there were inexplicably 3 or more hit songs of in the late 90s. Too. Damn. Repetitive. Please alter your sampling more and use more interesting “instruments”! And would it hurt to have some actual lyrics? If you only took the harder-sounding “instrumentation” and occasional use of one-or-two-verses from Trance songs and combined them with the simple beats from Big Beat I’d have a genre I LOVE, but there are very few examples of this that I’ve found. (The latter half of Movements in Still Life by BT is one example, but the first half is pure unimaginative Big Beat. But it’s true, my little sister who was 4 years old at the time LOVED “Dance to the beat, shuffle my feet” being sung 10 bazillion times in that BT song, and it’s sadder in a way because you should know better than Fatboy Slim. I GET IT NOW! Big Beat was marketed to kindergarten girls!) > [@JohnT](#): > > I’m not up enough on the last decade to even hazard a guess. Me either. Oddly enough the worst song for me would probably be an off track on some album I purchased voluntarily, (which is odd because usually the worst tracks by good bands are better than the crap they keep playing on the radio.) I take that back, in the early 2000s I did have terrestrial rock radio on occasionally. So I’d have to vote for anything by Nickelback or Puddle of Mudd. They do represent the worst trends in the early to mid-2000s in rock (i.e. a horrid mixture of faux-metal hardness and faux-sensitivity. Note that that last sentence doesn’t refer to emo which tends to do _both_ of those more genuinely than the above two groups) ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/57 "2010-07-13T23:39:20Z")
70s- Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (Carpenters) 80s- Shakedown (Bob Seger) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/58 "2010-07-14T03:05:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > 1960’s: “Light My Fire” by The Doors :eek::eek::eek:😕😕:mad::mad::mad: ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/59 "2010-07-14T03:13:20Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > :eek::eek::eek:😕😕:mad::mad::mad: I share your bewilderment. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560/60 "2010-07-14T03:26:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > “representative of the worst cultural and musical trends of that decade” I would nominate a Milli Vanilli song for that then for the 80’s. In the 90’s, something by New Kids on the Block. In the 2000’s…I’m not sure yet, but probably a song that has one stanza repeated 8 times with no other lyrics sung by a no-talent child who was the product of the Disney Channel marketing machine…Jonas brothers maybe, but I haven’t really listened to any of their songs yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-bad-song-of-the-decade/546560.md?page=4)