I have to confess to actually liking a lot of the songs listed in this thread or in Dave Barry’s “Book of Bad Songs”. I’m not snobbish about music, unless one considers a loathing for foul, misogynistic gangsta rap played at ear-shattering volume at godawful hours snobbish, and a lot of the “bad song” listings I’ve seen came across as rather elitist and pretentiously self-congratulatory about the compiler’s superior taste.
I do dislike metal and a lot of opera, due to issues with high pitches.
My husband and his friends are Beatles fans and musical snobs. More than once I’ve heard them revile Peter and Gordon’s “World Without Love”. I really like it, especially the harmonies. One time I was walking through the drugstore and it stared playing. I couldn’t stop myself from singing along and then around the corner in the next aisle another woman was singing along too
I was a hardcore Beatlemaniac, and when my friends and I first heard “World Without Love” on our little radios during recess (I was 14) we couldn’t decide whether or not it was The Beatles. It was obviously a “Beatles song.” I loved it then and still like it, despite Paul’s lyrics* in the middle eight. He composed that part in a hurry and it shows.
“…She may come, I know not when. When she does, I’ll know.”
I’m fine with every other song in this thread up to now, but that’s a line crossed right there.
Weirdly, although this is my most-loathed Madonna song (or at least released single - she’s got some appalling stuff on the MDNA album), one of my favorites (“Beautiful Stranger”) came out at about the same time with the same Orbit production quality. I just think Madonna and Orbit sucked everything that was charming about the McLean version out of it and turned it into bland Muzak.
I’ve heard rumors that such an abomination existed, but had never heard the song. So I found it on YouTube. The first few seconds, where she starts to sing the song a capella, were ok. But then this horrible synth track kicks in. It sounded like a half-hearted Karaoke backing track, or something a teenager created on a cheap Casio keyboard.
And the ‘snapshots of Americana’ video itself was so in-your-face glurgy, it was making me cringe.
I’ve always considered “Rocky Racoon” along with the Stones’ “Dead Flowers” and “Far Away Eyes” to be fun Country music parodies, filtering Country music through Brit eyes and coming out as distorted and grotesque as a view in a funhouse mirror.