# Musical Artists who hate their "best" work **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232 "2013-10-14T17:29:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/1 "2013-10-14T17:29:27Z")
I have two cases where artists trashed songs of theirs that I really liked: 1. Eagles, Glen Frey, Song: On the Border. That’s my favorite Eagle’s song, and in a interview I heard recently Glen Frey talked for 10 minutes about how it didn’t work and didn’t turn out the way they intended. 2. Dire Straits, Marc Knopfler, Song: One World. This song was getting heavy radio play in my region in 1985 or so, and I really dug it. Then Marc Knopfler commented in an interview about how it was the worst song he’d ever written and regretted putting on the album. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/2 "2013-10-14T17:44:45Z")
Robert Plant refers to Stairway to Heaven as “that bloody wedding song”. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/3 "2013-10-14T17:53:10Z")
Billy Joel wrote “Just the Way You Are” for his first wife, Elizabeth. Joel didn’t really like the song and almost excluded it from “The Stranger.” After his divorce, he stated that he now hates to play it live because of the bad memories associated with it. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/4 "2013-10-14T18:03:58Z")
While arguably not their “best” work, every member of KISS has stated how awful their [Music From The Elder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64qwCuilGoE) album was. They’re being much too hard on themselves. It wasn’t all that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/5 "2013-10-14T18:07:43Z")
The guys who recorded “Na-Na-Hey-Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” were pretty embarrassed of the success of that [song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Na_Hey_Hey_Kiss_Him_Goodbye): > [@](#): > > Gary DeCarlo recorded his first single for Mercury Records and was recording a throwaway “flip side”-something so bad, no DJ would accidentally play it as the “A” side. It was described as “an embarrassing record…an insult.” Mercury Records decided it was great and planned to release it as a single. Nobody wanted to be identified with the record, so it was credited to “Steam”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/6 "2013-10-14T18:14:02Z")
Trying (and, at the moment, failing) to find proof of these stories which I’ve heard more than once: 1. Don McLean and “American Pie”. The story is that, in the years just after the song’s release, McLean got tired of feeling like it was the only song of his that people knew, or wanted to hear. Allegedly, he walked off stage in the middle of a concert, when the audience kept yelling out for “American Pie!!” 2. Kristin Chenoweth and “Popular”. My understanding is that she just doesn’t think it’s a particularly good song (but it’s indelibly linked to her). Nonetheless, she seemed very happy to use it [to lampoon Anthony Weiner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAjzlwClBw) a few weeks back. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/7 "2013-10-14T18:18:23Z")
Tchaikovsky hated “The Nutcracker.” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/8 "2013-10-14T18:53:14Z")
Can I throw a slight curve? An artist who stopped playing his first-generation instrument? Eric Clapton became God playing a Les Paul through a Marshall. His Woman Tone - amongst guitar geeks, a signature, named sound - originated on a sunburst LP. He and Page are what led to 'bursts going for $300,000. He played other Gibsons, too. He moved to Strats around 1970 - after having his mind blown by Hendrix, although claims no connection. Either way, he’s been a Strat guy ever since. He uses Gibsons occasionally, but 95% of the time plays Strats. The Onlone Old Clapton Purists howl about missing that tone, but Clapton really doesn’t care and says he simply prefers “working a bit” on a Strat and moved on. Would that count? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/9 "2013-10-14T18:59:36Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Tchaikovsky hated “The Nutcracker.” Ignorance Fought. I didn’t know that. My entry is Rachmaninoff famously hating his piano Prelude in C#minor. Not his “best” work but probably (?) his most popular and recognizable. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/10 "2013-10-14T19:27:13Z")
I don’t know if “Incense and Peppermint” is the best work of Strawberry Alarm Clock but it is their best-known. They weren’t impressed by it at the recording session, so the lead vocal was done by a friend visiting the studio. > **[Incense and Peppermints (song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense_and_Peppermints_(song))** > > "Incense and Peppermints" is a song by the Los Angeles-based psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock. The song is officially credited as having been written by John S. Carter and Tim Gilbert, although it was based on an instrumental idea by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King. It was released as the A-side of a single in May 1967 by Uni Records and reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for one week before beginning its fall down the charts. Altho Prior to... ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/11 "2013-10-14T19:51:29Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Billy Joel wrote “Just the Way You Are” for his first wife, Elizabeth. Joel didn’t really like the song and almost excluded it from “The Stranger.” He also doesn’t much care for “Piano Man” (or so claimed that on “Inside the Actor’s Studio”) but figures he owes his audience what they want, rather than what he wants. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/12 "2013-10-14T20:02:31Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > He also doesn’t much care for “Piano Man” (or so claimed that on “Inside the Actor’s Studio”) but figures he owes his audience what they want, rather than what he wants. Considering how much he got screwed on that song (and album), I’m sure it’s a load of bad memories too. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/13 "2013-10-14T20:06:08Z")
Little Anthony and the Imperials apparently really hated “Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop” because it was so racist. They needed the cash and did it and then regretted it. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/14 "2013-10-14T20:15:21Z")
The Cocteau Twins (Robin Guthrie mostly, I believe) hated their IMO brilliant and most popular album Treasure, even calling it “an abortion.” Fuck that. It’s still my favorite album by them. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/15 "2013-10-14T20:22:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Tchaikovsky hated “The Nutcracker.” > **[The Nutcracker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker)** > > The Nutcracker (Russian: Щелкунчик\[a\], romanized: Shchelkunchik, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced \[ɕːɪɫˈkunʲt͡ɕɪk\] ⓘ), Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a ballet-féerie; Russian: балет-феерия, romanized: balet-feyeriya) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas t... I swear I’ve read all the sections where a reference to this might be included and don’t see it mentioned. I will look around for a better source… ETA: okay, waitaminnit - > [@](#): > > Tchaikovsky was less satisfied with The Nutcracker than with The Sleeping Beauty. (In the film Fantasia, commentator Deems Taylor observes that he “really detested” the score.) Tchaikovsky accepted the commission from Vsevolozhsky but did not particularly want to write the ballet[17] (though he did write to a friend while composing it: “I am daily becoming more and more attuned to my task”).[18] ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/16 "2013-10-14T20:25:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 1. Don McLean and “American Pie”. The story is that, in the years just after the song’s release, McLean got tired of feeling like it was the only song of his that people knew, or wanted to hear. Allegedly, he walked off stage in the middle of a concert, when the audience kept yelling out for “American Pie!!” Apparently, he’s had a change of heart. Only now when he begins “American Pie,” he’ll accidentally slip into the opening bars of Weird Al Yankovic’s parody [“The Saga Begins.”](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DhEcjgJSqSRU&sa=X&ei=_VFcUuzkAYm-8ATdm4HwBA&ved=0CAsQqwQ) ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/17 "2013-10-14T20:47:50Z")
“Tell Mama” is probably one of Etta James’ two or three most popular songs, but she didn’t care for it: _“There are folks who think “Tell Mama” is the Golden Moment of the Golden Age of Soul; they rant and rave about the snappy horn chart and the deep-pocket guitar groove, about how I sang the shit out of it. I wish I could agree. Sure, the song made me money. It warmed Leonard Chess’s heart to see the thing cross over to the pop charts, where it lingered for a long while. You might even say it became a classic. But I have to confess that it was never a favorite of mine. Never liked it. Never liked singing it - not then, not now. I almost never perform it. It’s not that I don’t admire the chart and the songwriter. Clarence Carter… is great. Maybe it’s just that I didn’t like being cast in the role of the Great Earth Mother, the gal you come to for comfort and easy sex. Nothing was easy back then…”_ ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/18 "2013-10-14T20:55:38Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > The Cocteau Twins (Robin Guthrie mostly, I believe) hated their IMO brilliant and most popular album Treasure, even calling it “an abortion.” Fuck that. It’s still my favorite album by them. Now, that’s what I’m talking about. I’ll be the judge of whether what you did is crap or not! Seriously. But on a less personal note, there’s the story about how much Keith Richards, of the Rolling Stones, hated Satisfaction and thought of it as a joke and flew into a rage when the record company decided to make it a single. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/19 "2013-10-14T21:02:41Z")
Here’s a list of such songs and artists: > **[5 Iconic Songs Despised by the People Who Created Them](https://www.cracked.com/article_20231_5-iconic-songs-despised-by-people-who-created-them.html)** > > Sometimes musicians slap together what they think is their worst song, only to see it become the hit that makes them famous. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232/20 "2013-10-14T21:20:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 1. Don McLean and “American Pie”. The story is that, in the years just after the song’s release, McLean got tired of feeling like it was the only song of his that people knew, or wanted to hear. Allegedly, he walked off stage in the middle of a concert, when the audience kept yelling out for “American Pie!!” That’s why he always opens with it now. He says that he just goes into a trance when he plays it, and that while he’s happy that the song gave him a career he might not have had otherwise, if he was going to have one song he’d never be able to get away from he wishes it hadn’ t been one that’s eight minutes long. He also has it in his rider that if a poster or any sort of commercial mentions any of his songs on it, it has to list (I think) five of them. (It offers suggestions.) (I’ve worked a few of his shows.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-artists-who-hate-their-best-work/671232.md?page=2)