I’m swapping Once Bitten, Twice Shy for Unskinny Bop. That was definitely worse (and I liked hair metal!)
I’m also nominating Nickelback as the Worst Band of the Last 50 Years.
That was “Poison” which was so poisonous that I forgot about it. I don’t know if that’s worse than “Do Me” or not.
Can we not give Glen the “Wichita Lineman” exemption? Because that song is still awesome.
WHAT?!?! Admittedly, it got seriously overplayed, but “Hey Ya!” is a great song.
I shall give this important research question the consideration it deserves before I return with my own picks.
Agreed. It’s not deep and philosophical, but it’s a great party/dance song.
I don’t think it’s deep or philosophical, but it’s not even just a dance song. It’s about the difficulties of remaining monogamous and maintaining a relationship. It has an actual point even beside all of the requests for people to dance.
It’s also a very innovative and musically unique song.
The 60’s Yummy Yummy Yummy I’ve Got love in My Tummy actually made it to #4 on the singles chart.
For the 70’s I nominate “Funny Face” by Donna Fargo. Or maybe “Convoy”.
80’s “I Made it through the Rain” by Barry Manilow vies with the “Whip It Up” song by Devo.
90’s “She’s Lump”
Please don’t destroy my childhood. You might as well have nominated “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” or “Beep Beep”…or even “My Green Tambourine”.
You cannot fuck with K-Tel compilations!
Blasphemy! 
But that one is a cover, shouldn’t we limit this to originals?
We need to make this a poll and vote.
But “Whip It” is that way on purpose. I don’t think that counts.
That’s interesting, I didn’t know it was a cover. I looked it up and listened to the Perez Prado version from 1949; it is instrumental, and the melody that Lou Bega used for his lyrics isn’t there. The only similarity is the mambo beat and the chord progression, and I’ll bet there are lots of mambos from that era that sound similar.
Should MECO 's body of work get an honorable mention for the 70’s?
On some level, you have to respect the cojones of artists who not only put lyrics like this on their records, but perform them with a straight face:
Hey ya!
Oh ohh, don’t want to meet yo’ mama ohh oh
Hey ya!
Just want to make you cumma ohh oh
Big Boi, I salute you.
“Once Bitten, Twice Shy” listed above is also a cover (originally composed and performed by Ian Hunter. Fun song.)
I don’t think it should matter if something is a cover, since a cover can be way better (or way worse) than the original.
For example, the original Guns N’ Roses version of Sweet Child O’ Mine is a great song (even though the band originally thought it was just filler for the album), and among my all-time top 25. By contrast, after hearing Sheryl Crow’s version, I wanted to break her fingers and stab her in the throat.
Andre 3000, dude. Big Boi is the other guy in Outkast. (“I Like the Way You Move” is the song he released at the same time that Andre released “Hey Ya!”)
While “My Humps” is a worthy contender, for the 2000s, I nominate “Milkshake” by Kelis.
She has all the vocal range and talent of the automated woman who says “We’re sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again.”
Milkshake has a pretty cool backing track, though.
Whoops. You are correct.
Okay, my picks. This involved ~research. (And by “~research”, I mean “I googled a little to make sure I wasn’t repressing anything horrible. Also, I was born in 1978 so I kind of missed out on the first two decades in question.”)
60s - I’m gonna have to go with with “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini”. An abomination unto my ears.
70s - “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).” (P.S. Did you guys know that the Star Wars Cantina song topped the charts in 1977? It’s true.)
80s - Someone else already nominated “Ebony and Ivory”. So close. The actual answer is “That Girl is Mine”. Horrendous.
90s - JohnT already hit the nail on the head with “Believe”. I fucking hate that song. Either that or “My Heart Will Go On”. I don’t know. Oh god, they’re both so awful. Maybe one day Celine Dion will cover “Believe” and we will reach the pinnacle of horribleness.
10s - Definitely “My Humps”. Abominable in every way. “My lovely lady lumps”? UGH. The least poetic way of describing the female form EVER. Also, my 7th grade EFL students once asked me what this song meant. Traumatic.
“Milkshake” is vastly superior. Kelis may not be a great singer, but it’s a fun song.
Is “Believe” the one with the steampunky black and white zeppelin video? If so, I quite like that song. Actually, I kind of like “My Heart Will Go On” too, but I find it’s safer not to admit it.
That song is appallingly bad. But…I actually like the Alanis Morrissette version enough that I have it in my iTunes. Ditto Richard Cheese’s version of “Baby Got Back.” Amazing what you can do to a horrible song if you re-record it as a slow ballad or a lounge-lizard song.