Fine. No need for the douchebag rolleye. No one said you can’t have a particular opinion; just that it only has no value without context. If you say Morrisson is bad but that Randy Newman is a good singer, then you’ve demonstrated that you have a hearing problem. That you dislike Morrisson but like Caruso shows you prefer a technically pure voice. See how easy that was?
The 90’s spawned “I say boom boom boom” by the Outhere Brothers.
Eurodance is bad. Ameridance is 10 times worse.
One Tin Soldier was recorded in the late 60s but is really a 70s song and is my nominee for the 70s.
I also would like to nominate Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm by the Crash Test Dummies for the 90s.
Man! As I read this thread I kept thinking “now that, THAT is the worst song of that decade” and then the next post would have me thinking “I forgot about that one, that’s definitely worse!” over and over again.
I stand in awe of this list.
One song I don’t think was mentioned was “Set on You” by George Harrison. It’s so repetitive and simplistic its enough to make me insane.
I also have massive issues with “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred, but that’s mainly because I used to work with a guy I hated who went around singing it all the time. On it’s own it would be forgettable, but coupled with that it blossoms into hatred.
Okay, so early Beatles are arguably not “representative of the bad trends in music of their decades”, (although it’s my opinion that they are, since they are well-known and overly poppy.) But the other two definitely represent the worst, and what’s moreso all three of them are so utterly pervasive as to be iconic, and I have been exposed to them enough that any lingering aspect of vague indifference has been replaced by the seething loathing of passionate hatred. Although in a couple decades I guess I might like early beatles again (I am already starting to warm up to the Help! era after a couple decades [I always liked the stuff after that], so perhaps on my deathbed I might say that Love Me Do is okay.)
Interesting. This thread is quite fascinating to me as to what people consider “bad.” I would never have guessed any of those to be the worst of their respective decades. Nor “Hey Ya!,” which was mentioned earlier. I would suggest that that tune is one of the iconic songs of the decade, and will make the cut years from now when oldies stations play the hits of the 2000s. “Unskinny Bop” may be a bit adolescent, and “Rockerfella Skank” a bit repetitive, but there’s just so much more garbage to choose from. (Although I don’t think either of these songs is particularly bad.)
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby for the 90s
I don’t know how anyone can argue with this: 1980’s: “The Warrior” by Patty Smyth being a utterly terrible song.
I mean…the chorus, it makes the ears bleed from the triteness!
Chorus:
Shootin’ at the walls of heartache, bang, bang, I am the warrior
Well I am the warrior, and heart to heart you’ll win…if you survive
the warrior…the warrior
I mean…“bang bang”?
Ugh.
Link to the music video for laughs at the 1980’s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDuWFYOTyqA
You win.
When her band ‘Scandal’ first broke, her dad (or uncle) kept coming into our record store demanding that her record be put on the wall. I understand a dad’s love but man, that made me sick.
You’re calling for cites and qualifications in an opinion thread. Rolleyes are perfectly non-douchebagish in this context.
I dislike Morrison’s voice. I cannot stand the song. The organ is especially grating. The song is iconic. Therefore, it gets my vote as the “iconic” “bad song” of the 1960s. YMMV.
Adding to my own post -
90s- House of Pain - Jump Around
00s- that “Feel the rain on your skin” song
80s: Let’s Hear It For the Boy by Deneice Williams (1984)
90s: Steal My Sunshine by Len (1999), Possum Kingdom by the Toadies (1994), Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe (1992), anything from the “swing” trend
00s: With Arms Wide Open by Creed (2000), Jesus Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood (2005)
I guess I might as well put forth my nominations:
1960s: Any of the dead teenager songs. I’ll go with Dickey Lee’s Laurie (Strange Things Happen), although his Patches is up there, too
1970s: Disco Duck - Rick Dees, all the worst elements of disco, distilled and concentrated into one song
1980s: Kokomo - The Beach Boys
1990s: Barbie Girl - Aqua
2000s: My Humps - Black Eyed Peas
I might also want to put “My Ding-A-Ling” in as honorable mention for the 70s, mostly because of all of Chuck Berry’s wonderful music, this obnoxious novelty ditty is the only one to have hit number one on the charts. I might also add “Kokomo” to the 80s.
Anyone want to agree with either “Pac Man Fever” or “Pass The Duchy On The Left Hand Side”?
Seriously: “I’ve got a pocketful of quarters and I’m going to the ARCADE”…yeesh…
OMG, I totally tried to scrub any evidence of that song from my brain.
I didn’t realize this, but Buckner & Garcia (the guys who wrote Pac-Man Fever) had a whole album of video-game related songs:
- “Pac-Man Fever” (Pac-Man)
- “Froggy’s Lament” (Frogger)
- “Ode to a Centipede” (Centipede)
- “Do the Donkey Kong” (Donkey Kong)
- “Hyperspace” (Asteroids)
- “The Defender” (Defender)
- “Mousetrap” (Mouse Trap)
- “Goin’ Berzerk” (Berzerk)
I’ve looked up some of these on Youtube just now, and Pac-Man Fever is a musical and lyrical masterpiece compared to some of these others.
I’ll nominate “Into the Night” by Benny Mardones as the worst song of the 80s. My argument -
It charted in the Top 20 twice, in 1980 and 1989.
It’s saccharin awful and creepy as hell:
She’s just sixteen years old
Leave her alone, they say
Separated by fools
Who don’t know what love is yet
Benny was 36 when this charted.
YES!
Holla Back Girl for the Oughts.
70s: Disco Duck (Rick Dees)
80s: Once Bitten, Twice Shy (Great White)
90s: Tie between What If God Was One of Us (Joan Osborne) and Bitch (Meredith Brooks)
00s: *Rollin’ *(Limp Bizkit)
And the absolute worst song of the last half-century is: My Heart Will Go On. No question, really.
Celebration by Kool and the Gang goes for whatever decade it came from.