Why are some of you so hatifying of songs that I love from my youth?
Some of the gems I love that you people love to hate:
One Tin Soldier
Never Been To Me
He Ain’t Heavy, He;s My Brother
Mr. Bojangles
Let Your Love Flow
Just a few, but I get bad vibes from some malefactors. These are good songs , and get bent if you don’t like them.
Whenever there is the a top 100 worst songs list, it’s like WOW someone has copied my playlist. I like all the songs on your list, however “Never been to Me” is the only one on my I-pod.
Possibly a bit strong for Cafe Society, but I feel your pain. Actually, I do agree with some of your picks, don’t agree with others. I’m infamous myself for having very quirky taste in music…I have Muppet songs (including the theme from Muppet Babies) and 80s cartoon themes (and some 60s and 70s cartoon themes) on my iPod.
Aww, hey I love Rainbow Connection but I don’t know any other Muppet songs.
I got your reference title straightaway. Possibly the single most tragically nihilistic song ever. It puts anything Trent Reznor or Kurt Cobain wrote to shame in that arena.
As to why they’re disliked on a ‘serious’ end?
Simple: Reviewers are, in general, pretentious bastards with an overwhelming sense of both their own importance and the seriousness and importance of pop music. In the end it’s entertainment. Sometimes it can be enlightening, as most art can be, but still entertainment.
Take, for my favorite example, The Velvet Underground. What the hell did they do except some albums where they said they were serious and got liked by Warhol? Nothing. They were damn all terrible, in my opinion, and Lou Reed has ALWAYS deserved a smack in the mouth just for being Lou Reed. Yet they’re critical darlings because they’re ‘art’ whereas Coven doing ‘On Tin Soldier’ is dismissed as lightweight pop.
Ugh. Sore subject.
In short, realize that music criticism, like the miserable Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is terrible, humorless, and pretentious and you should dismiss it. And for those you know who fall for that sort of line? Know that you should take their sheeplike attitude into consideration whenever they recommend something to you, whether it’s music or a plumber.
I recorded Rainbow Connection in the late 70s by holding my shoebox sized cassette recorder in front of the radio! Real high tech. I still have the tape.
Other songs I am playing right now:
Coal Miners Daughter -L Lynn
Maybe it was Memhphis - Pam Tillis
Bandstand Boogie- Barry Manilow
Three Wooden Crosses- Randy Travis
We’re All Alone- Johnny Mathis
MacArthur Park- Vic Damone
People hate on Mr Bojangles?! :eek:
I like that, and One Tin Soldier, haven’t heard the others.
I know what you mean, though, pretty much everything I like is loathed by some segment of my friends…silly j-pop girl bands, goth rock, metal of all eras (and multiple countries), Disney musical tunes, cartoon theme songs, William Shatner (seriously, his Common People is better than the original!)…
I did a “remix” of Hank Williams’ Lovesick Blues by just copying most of the song, but copying the bridge by playing it through a tape recorder, then recording it off my cassette recorder’s mic. (Trying to make the bridge more “detached”.)
It didn’t work too well: the sound quality hardly decreased at all!
I’m a Billy Joel fan. I don’t criticize other people’s musical tastes.
When I heard that on the radio I knew it was an artist that I needed to investigate before they told me who they were playing. I’m like :smack: I like William Shatner!
Not even Mah Na Mah Na (not original to them, I know, but they made it famous)? It’s Not Easy Being Green? The theme songs to the Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, or Sesame Street?:eek:
(I’m probably going to :eek: a lot in this thread…)
Rubber Duckie!
My Muppets iPod list:
Theme to the Muppet Show
Mah-na Mah-na
Rainbow Connection
Moving Right Along
Happiness Hotel (from “The Great Muppet Caper”)
John Denver & The Muppets We Wish You A Merry Christmas
John Denver & The Muppets 12 Days of Christmas (Mee-mee-mee-mee-mee-meeee!)
John Denver & The Muppets When The River Meets The Sea
Muppet Babies Theme
Muppet Show Ethel Merman Medley
Muppet Show Banana Boat Song (“I do not work with tarantulas!”)
It’s Not Easy Being Green (both the Kermit and the Ray Charles versions)
Fraggle Rock Theme
Old-School Sesame Street Theme
Doin’ The Pigeon
Rubber Duckie
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (It starts out like an “A” word, as anyone can see, but somewhere in the middle it gets awful “QR” to me!)
Also some non-Muppets Sesame Street stuff:
The Alligator King
I’m an Aardvark
And some Electric Company stuff:
Silent “E”
-LY
Oh yeah, Mah Nah, Mah Nah… of course, and It’ Ain;t Easy being Green. I forgot all about those.
I see now that the cool people are “us” and the others are just radio head junkies.
I too got the referenced lyric in the OP as soon as I saw it. It’s a classic!
Some other songs that I like that always make The Straight Dope’s Least Wanted:
The Night Chigago Died
Billy Don’t Be a Hero
Seasons in the Sun ( oh yes, I did)
Undercover Angel
Chevy Van
Jeans On
At last, I have found my people! 
I’ll give you Seasons in the Sun and Billy, Don’t Be a Hero but the others are just bad songs, even by my standards. And, by the way, I like Having My Baby.
No “Simon Smith & the Amazing Dancing Bear”? No “Cottleston Pie”?
ETA: (I don’t have those on my ipod, they’re just my favorite Muppet songs)
I like all of those, more or less, EXCEPT Never Been to Me and here’s why:
She’s seen some things a woman ain’t 'sposed to see.
Come on! This isn’t Aretha or some other soul diva whom we can let slide because of the sort of Southern/African American vibe they have. It’s a very white sounding lady who could just say she’s seen some things a woman shouldn’t see and be done with it.
Also everything else about it.