Are you saying that nobody could possibly like it, or are you just commenting on your limited imagination? :dubious: We Built This City was #1 on the Hot 100 for two weeks in 1985 in the U.S, and it was #1 in Australia and Canada. It was nominated for a Grammy. Can you imagine that?
I’m not saying that any of this means that the song is good, but it’s obvious that more than one person thought that it was good.
And, speaking of what someone can or can’t imagine …
It’s great that you present an opinion that runs counter to some of the sweeping dismissals in this thread but why “of course”?
Is it because the RIAA ranked Imagine number 30 on the list of the 365 Songs of the Century bearing the most historical significance? Or that the song earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”? Perhaps you said “of course” because Rolling Stone ranked it number 3 in their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”? Link.
You don’t have to like something just because millions of other people do, but I see that it’s common in this forum to dump on popular success. Yes, it’s a very popular thing to do.
Anyway, I don’t hate any song that is “universally loved by the public and critics alike”. There are many songs that I don’t enjoy listening to but I’m a long way from hating them. A few years ago, I got fed up with Bohemian Rhapsody but it’s too interesting a song to hate.
I guess I just haven’t developed the type of discriminating taste that enables some of you to hate all ELO songs with vocals, any Beach Boys song, all Bee Gees, anything by The Carpenters, any Steely Dan, 100% of all Eagles songs, and all Rolling Stones songs.
I can’t imagine how fellow performers and music critics fell for all that crap.
Truthfully, I’m sure many of us can tolerate the songs other people are dumping on here. I know I still listen to the classic rock station, even though it’s like chewing old gum.
I thought about starting another thread, “What beloved classic pop/rock song do you still like even though it’s been played to death”, but then I said nah…
I was just trying to point out that it was a beloved song at the time, and it’s definitely old enough to be a classic. I think some were saying it’s neither. Also, it’s a free concert.
Ya gotta remember that Milli Vanilli won a Grammy for an album they didn’t even sing on. Said album was permanently deleted (i.e. made out of print) by the record label, so if you want a copy, you have to buy a secondhand one that’s at least 22 years old.
Wait until you’ve been subjected to the thumpa-thumpa DANCE MIX! of that song at 2 in the morning, courtesy of some (thankfully ex-) neighbors of mine. Dear Og, make it stop.
“Insipid” is the word that applies. Lyrically and musically.
All of this is exactly correct. And I’m a person who worships Duane Allman.
My entries: “I’ve Seen All Good People” Can’t stand it. Awkwardly non-musical music.
and “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” I’ve hated this anthem for 44 years now. Insipid (there’s that word again) dreck sung by what sounds like castrati dolphins.
And seriously…apologies to those who like any of these songs. Different strokes and all that. No accounting for taste.
Yep. I can’t listen to Classic Rock anymore because it’s played-out for me, but all this sniggering at Led Zep, Beatles, Stones, etc. like they were no better than boy bands is a bit much.
The song I personally cannot stomach is “China Girl” by David Bowie. That song was huge back in the day and I hated it like Ahab hated Moby Dick.
I’m so inspired by this thread that I’m ordering Best of the Doobie Brothers, with Michael McDonald, from Amazon (#5 in R&B “blue eyed soul” category) :D.
I like a lot of crappy music that I honestly know is just pop-tripe but I still love it. But “We Built This City” is just a bridge too far to me. I guess I do have a limited imagination… haha.
Well thanks for sharing anyway. I know it was a popular song and a classic and I just can’t figure out why. But I do understand that people liked it in the time (and still do). Just hard to imagine why.
Not sure if this qualifies because I’m not sure “Tonight’s the Night” was beloved by anyone. The unsubtle lyrics completely squick me out on their own (lack of) merit, but it didn’t help that Rod Stewart, king of the too-tight leopard skin pants, crooned it.
“C’mon angel my hearts on fire
Don’t deny your man’s desire
You’d be a fool to stop this tide
Spread your wings and let me come inside”
There are so many. I’ll start with any Steely Dan. Except Rikki, because I dated a Rikki in high school. Even then the song is almost unbearable.
Since nobody else mentioned it, I’ll say YMCA by the Village People. A nice peppy tune but it is overplayed and it’s just strange hearing little kids at my pool singing “They have everything that you need to enjoy, You can hang out with all the boys …”
I’ll fight ya both with one hand tied behind my back. Dear god, do I hate that song.
Also hate everything the Beach Boys ever recorded. I do not get all of this acclaim that is heaped on Pet Sounds. It’s the fucking Beach Boys, people. All of their songs sound the same, and they all sound like this sugary beachy pop. Ugh.
And James Taylor. All of it.
Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park”.
Everything I’ve ever heard of the Iggles that isnt “Hotel California”.
Therre’s lots of other stuff, but that’s all I can think of for now. Also, I too like many of the songs mentioned here; along with Hotel California, I like “Imagine” just fine.
I could start a whole other thread about songs that I used to hate, but have come around into being quite fond of…
Thought of another “softer” song that drives me bonkers. Pat Benatar’s Love Is A Battlefield.
How that hot, hard rockin cutie who did Heartbreaker, covered I Need a Lover, and intrigued with My Clone Sleeps Alone would do this dreck… Yeach. And yet, LIAB is the Benatar song that gets all the airplay here.
One of the worst songs i’ve ever heard. A song with no redeeming value. Poorly written, an atrocious melody and vapid lyrics. It boggles the mind that this turd was even on the charts.
