# What are the worst songs from the 90s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305 "2010-04-25T16:18:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/81 "2010-04-27T13:33:54Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#): > > Come on, Marley - you’re supposed to post a video link or at least an audio clip! [I’m not going to listen to it to make sure, but this should be it.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji0pyRmSnTY) > [@WordMan](#): > > I actually dig that song, but can’t deny its generic nature. While the songs are normally in different keys, I used to start playing Good, then shift to Green Day’s When I Come Around, then to Glycerine by Bush and Closing Time by Semisonic - some of the chords are different, but they have the same basic structure and it was easy to blur them together… I think I can hear how that would work. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/82 "2010-04-27T13:40:21Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think I can hear how that would work. Scary, innit? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/83 "2010-04-27T13:47:28Z")
I second “Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm” by Crash Test Dummies. And I raise you “My Sister” by Juliana Hatfield. Important Messages give me the hives. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/84 "2010-04-27T13:48:05Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Scary, innit? It kind of is. Although _When I Come Around_ was an okay song. Not Green Day’s best, but I’d prefer it to the other three in that medley. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/85 "2010-04-27T13:48:08Z")
Wow, no “_Right Here, Right Now_” by **Jesus Jones** yet? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/86 "2010-04-27T13:49:13Z")
…or **Hootie and the Blowfish** either? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/87 "2010-04-27T13:55:23Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It kind of is. Although _When I Come Around_ was an okay song. Not Green Day’s best, but I’d prefer it to the other three in that medley. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/88 "2010-04-27T13:57:05Z")
I didn’t want to have to do this, but… [No Way No Way by Vanilla](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m9n5Uv0bp0) [Even the producers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_(band)) thought it was terrible: > [@](#): > > It was revealed on the latter that the song, was the result of a bet between two record company executives who in the words of James Masterton “decided to make the worst song imaginable and still send it to No.1”. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/89 "2010-04-27T15:11:43Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Wow, no “_Right Here, Right Now_” by **Jesus Jones** yet? It was a good song. Not great, but not bad and surely not the worst song of the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/90 "2010-04-27T15:31:11Z")
“_Unbelievable_” **EMF** ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/91 "2010-04-27T15:42:53Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Grunge. All of it. And I’ll throw in “alternative rock”, whatever that was supposed to be. > > I remember the day that our college radio station changed from your normal eclectic mix of, well, everything that college students listen to, to “Your Alternative Rock Station”. When I want to listen to rock I want to listen to rock, not an alternative to rock. Based on their playlists they considered the alternative to rock to be “whiny suckitude”. > > There’s really only so many times you can expect people to listen to something like “Man In The Box”; I think about zero per lifetime is adequate. Now you’ve gone and done it! Grunge music was the escape hatch from hair metal! I needed that when I was in college! You don’t like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Nirvana, Mudhoney, AIC, etc? None of them? FTR, “Man In The Box” wasn’t one of AIC’s better songs, but I cannot fathom placing it here in this thread with some of the other titles we’re seeing… ---
**Author:** ![Elvis\_Chimney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/50afbb/32.png) [@Elvis\_Chimney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvis_Chimney)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/92 "2010-04-27T15:45:52Z")
And in a similar Deep Blue Something / Hootie-ish vein… I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts If there weren’t a million and one other reasons to hate the show Friends, this would be enough on its own. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/93 "2010-04-27T15:50:40Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > “The Drugs Don’t Work” had some success but, yes, you’re right: The Verve was mostly a OHW in America. However, “Bittersweet Symphony” was fucking awesome. I could listen to that song over and over again. [Lucky Man](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qujfdzLJPyU)was also a pretty good song. > [@Valgard](#): > > Grunge. All of it. And I’ll throw in “alternative rock”, whatever that was supposed to be. > > I remember the day that our college radio station changed from your normal eclectic mix of, well, everything that college students listen to, to “Your Alternative Rock Station”. When I want to listen to rock I want to listen to rock, not an alternative to rock. Based on their playlists they considered the alternative to rock to be “whiny suckitude”. > > There’s really only so many times you can expect people to listen to something like “Man In The Box”; I think about zero per lifetime is adequate. Where you the guy still wearing his Motley Crue and Van Halen shirts in 1992?☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/94 "2010-04-27T15:50:49Z")
To **Marley** ,Now your,cooking! 😃 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/95 "2010-04-27T16:20:06Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > I guess that ties in with something I’ve been wondering throughout this whole thread - would we have liked many of these “worst songs” anyway? If it’s not of a genre we’d usually listen to, is it any surprise that we didn’t like it? Like with people saying ‘My Heart Will Go On’, is a Celine Dion ballad from a romance movie the sort of thing that you would have liked, regardless of how good it actually was? > > For example I could have put a nu-metal or modern country song as my choice but I chose a Steps song because I was heavily into teen pop back then, but even I knew ‘5,6,7,8’ was bad. I think the true measure of a Worst Song Ever is if, theoretically, it would be right up your alley but everything is just so bad that even though it’s of your favourite genre you can’t stomach it. > > I hope that makes sense. Absolutely. My music of choice is pop music, and I adore the majority of the songs in this thread. That being said, my choice of an awful song from a genre I like is: [“What’s Up” 4 Non Blondes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwCt0YQPn7g) ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/96 "2010-04-27T23:24:46Z")
I believe nobody has yet mentioned that godawful song “Firestarter,” by Prodigy. U G H. People I knew in England at the time absolutely fucking loved that song, but all it was was just some douche with weird hair singing that he was the “twisted firestarter.” Give me a break, man. Their other songs weren’t that great, either. “Smack My Bitch Up?” I don’t think so. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was bad, yes, but as bad as Nada Surf and their insufferable single “Popular?” Yeesh. ETA: Oh, also, that “Return of the Mack” song (blech)…and anything ever made by or in any way connected with Marilyn Manson. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/97 "2010-04-27T23:56:36Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Now you’ve gone and done it! Grunge music was the escape hatch from hair metal! I needed that when I was in college! And as a hard rock & heavy metal fan I will give you no argument that there was a lot of crappy music in those genres as well. Who can forget that great Albino Trio of Great White, White Lion and Whitesnake? > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > You don’t like Pearl Jam No. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Soundgarden No thank you. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Screaming Trees Absolutely not. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Nirvana Definitely not. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Mudhoney Most assuredly no. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > AIC, etc? Hell no. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > None of them? Holy Smokey Robinson, no. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > FTR, “Man In The Box” wasn’t one of AIC’s better songs, but I cannot fathom placing it here in this thread with some of the other titles we’re seeing… I suppose it could have been the fact that it was played over and over and over and OVER OH MY GOD IT’S SUCKING MY WILL TO LIVE! Hm, well let me reconsider that one for a second… [insert “Jeopardy” theme music here] Nope. That song still sucks more ass than a donkey vacuum. [QUOTE=msmith537] Where you the guy still wearing his Motley Crue and Van Halen shirts in 1992? [/QUOTE] I like both bands (although they too produced some crap in the 90s; Motley Crue sure peaked with “Dr. Feelgood” in 1989) but have never been to their shows or had one of their shirts (or any other merchandise). I am Spiritually Pure 😃 Grunge may have started as some kind of outgrowth of punk by people who hated the whole hair metal thing but it took about 15 minutes for everybody and his grandpa to dig out their old flannel and slap together yet another whiny album about how dark and miserable life is and sing it in an annoying monotone. Same bandwagon as LA metal saw in the 80s, sans S/M outfits, hair products and songs about things that are at least theoretically fun (partying and girls). ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/98 "2010-04-28T00:05:21Z")
> [@HISSNLISSN](#): > > OMC, “How Bizarre” > Lou Bega, “Mambo No. 5” > Semisonic, “Closing Time” > The Wallflowers, “One Headlight” > Smash Mouth, “All Star” One Headlight does not belong on that list. One of the best radio hits of that year (although in truth that’s not saying a whole lot). When it comes on now, I actually enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/99 "2010-04-28T03:15:43Z")
I would have expected a mention of _Tub Thumping_ by Chumbawumba, but if it’s listed I missed it. Anyway, _Butterfly Kisses_ wins, hands down. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305/100 "2010-04-28T03:38:06Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > I believe nobody has yet mentioned that godawful song “Firestarter,” by Prodigy. U G H. People I knew in England at the time absolutely fucking loved that song, but all it was was just some douche with weird hair singing that he was the “twisted firestarter.” Give me a break, man. Their other songs weren’t that great, either. “Smack My Bitch Up?” I don’t think so. > > “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was bad, yes, but as bad as Nada Surf and their insufferable single “Popular?” Yeesh. > > ETA: Oh, also, that “Return of the Mack” song (blech)…and anything ever made by or in any way connected with Marilyn Manson. To be somewhat fair, if you actually listen to Prodigy on an ear-splitting system with copious amounts of subwoofer bass, AND you’re high…its surprisingly OK… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-worst-songs-from-the-90s/537305.md?page=6)