Was “On the Amazon” among the suggestions? Or “Narcissisma”?
The public gets what they deserve, not what they demand
Unless we all decide to be a business, not a band.
–Agent Orange
BJ is a fantastic artist, but that attitude makes me sad. A little.
Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum wrote a song about how much he disliked playing “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” Years later, he sued for royalties, so maybe he changed his mind.
I guess Lou Reed really doesn’t think that Transformer is some of his best, or even better, work.
The anecdote is that, when someone congratulated him on the success of The Nutcracker, he snapped, “I gave them a masterpiece in Swan Lake, but all they want from me is fluff!” I don’t know what the original source is for that story, and it may be apocryphal.
I remember hearing a radio DJ talking about getting an interview with Don McLean and right before they went on the air, Don said “Just don’t ask me about American Pie”. I don’t know what the DJ actually said, but he said in his head he was thinking “Um, ok, so…what’d you have for breakfast?”
I’ve heard the guy from the Flock Of Seagulls saying he hates doing I Ran (which may be different then hating the song). I’m sure he does, but he really shouldn’t have been saying that on TV. Without that song he wouldn’t have been on TV, he would have been just another washed up 80’s band that only the most hardcore fans would remember.
Really? I’ve read is that he was surprised to hear the song released in what he considered to be a working version, his expectation having been for horns to overdub his fuzz guitar part. Never heard anything about a deprecating attitude toward the song.
Anything else you can add to the story you heard? Genuinely curious, not challenging.
He’s told the story a few times. He thought it was filler and went nuts when the label guy told them it was the first single…
The one the jumps to mind is Radiohead and Creep.
I don’t have a cite. . . I just remember hearing in a radio interview years ago, on “Rockline” or some late-night show, and it was one of the Stones producers or something that told the story of how Richards thought that Satisfaction was a joke and was dismayed that it was made the first single. That’s all I got.
Simple Minds didn’t write ‘Don’t you forget about me’, and they hated performing it almost immediately after Breakfast Club was released.
This surprises me. Richards’ only references to ‘Satisfaction’ in his autobiography led me to believe he was quite proud of the tune if I recall correctly.
John Lennon, on the other hand, had badmouthed several Beatles songs in interviews, some of which he actively loathed. I was quite unhappy to read this. Many, not all, were primarily Paul-written numbers.
mmm
I know Richards originally wanted the legendary guitar riff to be performed by a horn section, mainly since “Dancing In The Streets” was a major influence on “Satisfaction”. He felt the song was less powerful with just guitar. Don’t know if he’s changed his attitude since then.
I don’t know if he actually hates the songs but Paul Simon has commented at least once that he doesn’t think much of his early S&G material. In particular, he singled out “The Dangling Conversation” and “I Am a Rock” as songs he’s rather embarrassed about now.
This. I own a piano roll of him playing it.
Jesus, not “Feelin’ Groovy”?
Not a particular artist, but folks just love hearing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes. Pipers often refer to the tune as “Amazing Disgrace”. If you want to please a piper, request a hornpipe. AG is for paying the bills.
It’s stories like this that make me appreciate Rush more. I’ve heard each of them describe how they never get tired of playing any of the songs they’ve recorded. Here’s Neil Peart talking about Tom Sawyer, 30 years after the fact:
Here’s Tchaikowsky’s own comments on his 1812 Overture André Tchaikowsky - Wikipedia, third paragraph:
And Rachmaninoff came to hate his famous Prelude in C#-Minor. Harpo Speaks! - Harpo Marx - Google Books
From an earlier thread. Artists who hate their biggest hit - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
There is a famous photograph from the '30s of Louis Armstrong and his band in front of a sign that reads something to the affect of “Requests 25 cents—When the Saints go Marching In $5”. They hated playing it, but in the early 1930s $5 was very, very good money.
Kevin Bacon has mellowed, but for the longest time any mention of Flashdance would get shouts of rage. It is easy to dismiss it, and probably not his “best” work, but he did do a very good job in that part.