# What's the worst song ever that reached #1? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170 "2020-04-06T04:28:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/181 "2020-04-08T16:56:16Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/182 "2020-04-08T18:03:40Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > Paul Simon refers to it as his biggest embarrassment as a composer. Was that before or after he recorded that really boring [song about the wristband](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3crKHaBdy4)? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/183 "2020-04-08T18:34:52Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Jeeze, that’s the second time in this thread someone’s said “I can’t believe no one’s mentioned…” a song I already posted. It’s cuz of the fruitcake thing, isn’t it? It’s because you posted a list of songs that you _like_, so someone scanning through the thread to see if a song had been mentioned as _the worst_ would gloss over your post. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/184 "2020-04-08T18:41:25Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Of the songs I know [on this list](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/all-the-number-1-singles__7931/) (and granted, I recognize very little from about 2000 forward and about 1963 back) I’m surprised to find things like “Men in Black” (4 weeks at #1), which may not be “the worst” but it was definitely not a good song. > > OTOH, “Ice Ice Baby” is definitely total dog shit. Have you ever had the experience of being tired of a song when it came out, and then many years later you heard it for the first time in a really long time and, because you weren’t suffering from overexposure, found yourself thinking “Goddamn, you know what? That really is a great song. I guess I was just tired of it, but now that I can hear it a bit more fresh, I realize why it was popular. It really was a fabulous tune.” I’ve had that feeling about “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, “Stay” by Lisa Loeb, any song U2 put out in the 80s, and lots more. Well, “Ice Ice Baby” is like that but shitty. I thought it was shitty when it came out, but a few years ago I heard it for the first time in a really long time and it was actually MUCH shittier than I remembered. It wasn’t just irritating; it was amateurish. I can’t believe it was even on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/185 "2020-04-08T19:00:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A lot of good ones here. I’ll nominate **Okie From Muscogee** , by Merle Haggard for a country tune. Are you kidding? It’s a fun song! I’ve heard both sides of whether Haggard meant it seriously or satirically (probably the former is my WAG), but I heard it sung by longhaired friends of mine many times, always intended satirically, before I heard Merle’s recording. Which made me go, “WTF?? Somebody meant this _seriously_??” Because it’s so easy to perform as a parody of anti-hippie groupthink. ETA: It’s Mus **k** ogee. > [@](#): > > And **Ballad Of The Green Berets** , by Barry Sadler for pop charts. “Fighting men, who jump and die” always sounded like a poor career choice. Totally agree on this one. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/186 "2020-04-08T19:30:21Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Well, “Ice Ice Baby” is like that but shitty. I thought it was shitty when it came out, but a few years ago I heard it for the first time in a really long time and it was actually MUCH shittier than I remembered. It wasn’t just irritating; it was amateurish. I can’t believe it was even on the radio. What do you think about the [source material](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKiBG8y2UsY) from which it was stolen? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/187 "2020-04-08T20:00:35Z")
While less successful than “Ballad of the Green Berets” (it only reached #37 on the Billboard Hot 100), “Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley” achieved a unique position in recording hell, as well as an honored place in my 45s collection.\* [For your enjoyment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq_1r0S7WzQ). The visuals are a nice touch. \*Back in my college radio DJ days, I once segued out of a public service announcement for the U.S. Army (“The Army wants to join _you_”) into that song. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/188 "2020-04-08T20:09:18Z")
I must have missed the post nominating “Feelings” by Morris Albert because it’s such an obvious choice. Does hitting #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart count? If so, I nominate “Watching Scotty Grow.” _Micky Mouse says it’s thirteen o’clock. Well, that’s quite a shock, but that’s my boy._ And the only reason for _not_ putting “Convoy” at the top of the list is that it’s barely a song. The sole reason for its popularity was the CB craze. The Pet Rock trend hit at about the same time. Obviously 1975 was a cultural low-water mark. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/189 "2020-04-08T20:20:33Z")
And one my subconscious just dredged up: “It Must Be Him” by Vikki Carr, the 1967 histrionic song about a woman waiting for a phone call: _Let it please be him, oh dear God It must be him or I shall die Or I shall die Oh hello, hello my dear God It must be him but it’s not him And then I die That’s when I die_ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/190 "2020-04-08T20:29:01Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A lot of good ones here. I’ll nominate **Okie From Muscogee** , by Merle Haggard for a country tune. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > Are you kidding? It’s a fun song! I’ve heard both sides of whether Haggard meant it seriously or satirically (probably the former is my WAG), but I heard it sung by longhaired friends of mine many times, always intended satirically, before I heard Merle’s recording. Which made me go, “WTF?? Somebody meant this _seriously_??” Because it’s so easy to perform as a parody of anti-hippie groupthink. > > ETA: It’s Mus **k** ogee. [Haggard & Burris started a joke.](https://www.wideopencountry.com/the-lasting-impact-of-merle-haggards-okie-from-muskogee/) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/191 "2020-04-08T20:57:43Z")
[quote=“nearwildheaven, post:7, topic:851170”] “Convoy” by C. W. McCall. [/QUOTE] Weeeeell - there has been much vilification of this song in this thread, and rightly so; it’s appalling. But after much soul searching, I’m here to tell you that there was a “fun” British parody “version” of this song as well. And that was far, far worse. > [@](#): > > In 1976, an on-air parody of C W McCall’s US hit Convoy led to a release of the song Convoy GB as a single, recorded with fellow DJ Paul Burnett under the name Laurie Lingo and the Dipsticks. The song reached number four in the UK singles chart and Travis appeared as the song’s narrator “Super Scouse” on Top Of The Pops. [Source.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Lee_Travis) Upthread I commended posters for omitting links to these horrors, and urged them to keep up the discipline. But I think science demands that I provide a link here, just to make available proof how awful it was. For decency’s sake I have spoilered it, and I would urge you not to click - just take my word on this one. You have been warned: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d189uP-48sU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d189uP-48sU) j ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/192 "2020-04-08T21:00:01Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I hate to tell ya, but it’s something else. 😛 You fuck\* one\* goat… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Brother\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_brother_1/32/3513_2.png) [@Little\_Brother\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Brother_1)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/193 "2020-04-08T21:35:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Have you ever had the experience of being tired of a song when it came out, and then many years later you heard it for the first time in a really long time and, because you weren’t suffering from overexposure, found yourself thinking “Goddamn, you know what? That really is a great song. I guess I was just tired of it, but now that I can hear it a bit more fresh, I realize why it was popular. It really was a fabulous tune.” I’ve had that feeling about “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, “Stay” by Lisa Loeb, any song U2 put out in the 80s, and lots more. > > Well, “Ice Ice Baby” is like that but shitty. I thought it was shitty when it came out, but a few years ago I heard it for the first time in a really long time and it was actually MUCH shittier than I remembered. It wasn’t just irritating; it was amateurish. I can’t believe it was even on the radio. I will risk bringing opprobrium upon my head for belatedly appreciating Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe”. It was despised in 1967 because of its nominal Southern-fried corniness, but I think that was partly because it was an AM radio hit that was played to death-- Bob Dylan even wrote a parody, “The Clothesline Saga”, because he was sick of hearing it on the radio so often. It’s Southern Gothic all right, and the “mystery” of what got thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge is arguably a kernel of corn, but it’s much more sophisticated than meets the eye. For one thing, it really is an “ode” in the classical sense. I imagine it in cinematic terms: a mini-movie consisting of one continous shot starting out in the fields (Delta Barbizon School), then one of those complete circles around the dinner table; each verse and speaker adds another layer circling back to the heart-stricken narrator. It’s under-appreciated. OTOH, I never could stomach “A Boy Named Sue”. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/194 "2020-04-08T21:59:09Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Weeeeell - there has been much vilification of this song in this thread, and rightly so; it’s appalling. But after much soul searching, I’m here to tell you that there was a “fun” British parody “version” of this song as well. And that was far, far worse. > > [Source.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Lee_Travis) > > Upthread I commended posters for omitting links to these horrors, and urged them to keep up the discipline. But I think science demands that I provide a link here, just to make available proof how awful it was. For decency’s sake I have spoilered it, and I would urge you not to click - just take my word on this one. > > You have been warned: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d189uP-48sU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d189uP-48sU) > > j Even I, as a true lover of the CW McCall original, despise this one. Actually, that’s possibly in part because it’s making a horse’s arse out of a favourite track…but also because that lazy humour (“do a cod-scouse accent, that’ll be funny!”) just doesn’t do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/195 "2020-04-08T22:05:55Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Are you kidding? It’s a fun song! I’ve heard both sides of whether Haggard meant it seriously or satirically (probably the former is my WAG), but I heard it sung by longhaired friends of mine many times, always intended satirically, before I heard Merle’s recording. Which made me go, “WTF?? Somebody meant this _seriously_??” Because it’s so easy to perform as a parody of anti-hippie groupthink. I agree that _Okie from Muskogee_ is a great song; it’s only if the lyrics are taken unironically that it’s bad. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/196 "2020-04-08T22:15:59Z")
> [@Little\_Brother\_1](#): > > I will risk bringing opprobrium upon my head for belatedly appreciating Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe”. It was despised in 1967 because of its nominal Southern-fried corniness, but I think that was partly because it was an AM radio hit that was played to death-- Bob Dylan even wrote a parody, “The Clothesline Saga”, because he was sick of hearing it on the radio so often. > > It’s Southern Gothic all right, and the “mystery” of what got thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge is arguably a kernel of corn, but it’s much more sophisticated than meets the eye. For one thing, it really is an “ode” in the classical sense. > > I imagine it in cinematic terms: a mini-movie consisting of one continous shot starting out in the fields (Delta Barbizon School), then one of those complete circles around the dinner table; each verse and speaker adds another layer circling back to the heart-stricken narrator. > > It’s under-appreciated. OTOH, I never could stomach “A Boy Named Sue”. Agreed. Bobbie Gentry called it “a study in unconscious cruelty”, which is spot on. Lyrically, it’s brilliant; it’s like a short Faulkner story. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/197 "2020-04-08T22:30:35Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Agreed. Bobbie Gentry called it “a study in unconscious cruelty”, which is spot on. Lyrically, it’s brilliant; it’s like a short Faulkner story. I was lying in bed in my teens, listening to the radio late at night, and this came on. I immediately adored it and never stopped. Something slightly sinister and other-worldly in the deceptively gentle harmony, something with just a faint hint of menace, while also resigned. It’s at once bleak and sweltering…and that’s just the music. Add the lyrical intrigue and it’s a masterpiece. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/198 "2020-04-09T00:13:37Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The Baby Boomers were in kindergarten. Whaddaya expect? OK non-Boomer, Baby Boomers are generally considered to be in 1946 and after. The oldest Baby Boomers would have been 2 in 1948 and too young for kindergarten. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/199 "2020-04-09T00:26:54Z")
> [@Little\_Brother\_1](#): > > I imagine it in cinematic terms: a mini-movie consisting of one continous shot starting out in the fields (Delta Barbizon School), then one of those complete circles around the dinner table; each verse and speaker adds another layer circling back to the heart-stricken narrator. It’s been done: > **[Ode to Billy Joe (1976) ⭐ 6.6 | Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074995/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)** > > 1h 46m | PG ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170/200 "2020-04-09T08:46:09Z")
> [@Little\_Brother\_1](#): > > I never could stomach “A Boy Named Sue”. I feel like the closest I ever get to believing in the Mandela Effect is my being able to remember when Johnny Cash records would only be played as a joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-song-ever-that-reached-1/851170.md?page=11)