11 Songs That Have Been Called the Worst Song Ever

worst

(via 11 Points) by Sam Greenspan

Creating the worst song ever is quite an achievement. (At least under the “it’s better to inspire hate than indifference” ethos.) Like, there have been so many songs. Just standing out enough to be in the conversation for the worst ever is tough to do.

These are 11 songs that have been called the worst song ever by a major publication or TV network. And most of them… yeah, feel potentially worthy. Although I DO have a lot of issues with a few.

And now, onto the worst…

  1. My Humps by Black Eyed Peas (named the worst by The Guardian, A.V. Club and Rolling Stone readers)It’s hard to say exactly when we hit Peak Fergie. Was it when her lyrics included spelling out “tasty”… but misspelled it “t-to-the-a-to-the-s-t-e-y”? Was it her modern twist on London Bridge, turning it into a sexual metaphor? Or was it in My Humps, a tribute to her lovely lady lumps? Man I miss Peak Fergie.
  2. We Built This City by Starship (named the worst by Blender)We Built This City is before my time, but I have distinct memories of enjoying listening to it in college. (Maybe after Homer sang it on The Simpsons? The episode where the Simpsons were briefly incarcerated and on the lam after Spring Break in Florida did come out around that time.) I think I liked it because I didn’t know it was terrible. It’s so optimistic! And it has that interlude where the radio DJ talks. Bad call, Blender.
  3. Friday by Rebecca Black (named the worst by the BBC)Friday remains one of the most fascinating moments in social media history. It’s going to be included in SO many theses on the rise, power and influence of YouTube over the next 30 years. But despite the inane lyrical content and transparency that it’s generically manufactured — I still don’t hate it.

Read more:

http://www.11points.com/Music/11_Songs_That_Have_Been_Called_the_Worst_Song_Ever

Songs You May Have Missed #612

melody

Bee Gees: “Morning of My Life (In the Morning)” (1971)

For such an obscure song, the Bee Gees’ “Morning of My Life” has quite a long history in the Gibb family. It was first recorded by the band in 1966 during sessions for their debut Spicks and Specks album. During the period when Robin Gibb left to pursue a solo career, Barry and Maurice performed the song acoustically with their sister Lesley on a BBC-TV special. And the group recorded the song once again with Robin during the sessions for their 2 Years On reunion LP.

bee-geesWhile the song was ultimately left off that album it appeared a short time later on the soundtrack to the 1971 film Melody. It has appeared on Bee Gees compilations and box sets but never on an official Bee Gees album. Andy Gibb too recorded a version that was never released.

As a Moody Blues fan, when I first heard “Morning of My Life” I thought the similarities to the Moodies’ 1971 “Emily’s Song” were striking. Since the Bee Gees song has origins half a decade previous, if one song influenced the other it was certainly the Bee Gees tune that inspired the one by the Moody Blues, and this seems fairly likely to me.

Take note not only of the common lyrical threads but of the general similarity in feel between the song Barry Gibb seems to have aimed at a young child and the composition John Lodge of the Moody Blues wrote for his newborn daughter Emily (and which parenthetically inspired the naming of my own daughter Emily):

 

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/03/22/songs-you-may-have-missed-58/

Songs You May Have Missed #611

mika

Mika (featuring Ariana Grande): “Popular Song” (2015)

Cheeky British singer-songwriter Mika sells platinum elsewhere but resides in the musical margins in the U.S.

Here with the help of Ariana Grande he sings a song about fickle popularity, karma and sweet schadenfreude.

La la, la la
You were the popular one, the popular chick
It is what it is, now I’m popular-ish
Standing on the field with your pretty pompom
Now you’re working at the movie selling popular corn
I could have been a mess but I never went wrong
‘Cause I’m putting down my story in a popular song
I said I’m putting down my story in a popular song

[Chorus:]
My problem, I never was a model,
I never was a scholar,
But you were always popular,
You were singing all the songs I don’t know
Now you’re in the front row
‘Cause my song is popular

Popular, I know about popular
It’s not about who you are or your fancy car
You’re only ever who you were
Popular, I know about popular
And all that you have to do is be true to you
That’s all you ever need to know

So catch up ’cause you got an awful long way to go
So catch up ’cause you got an awful long way to go

Always on the lookout for someone to hate,
Picking on me like a dinner plate
You hid during classes, and in between ’em
Dunked me in the toilets, now it’s you that cleans them
You tried to make me feel bad with the things you do
It ain’t so funny when the joke’s on you
Ooh, the joke’s on you
Got everyone laughing, got everyone clapping, asking,
“How come you look so cool?”
‘Cause that’s the only thing that I’ve learned at school, boy (uh huh)
I said that that’s the only thing that I’ve learned at school

[Chorus:]
My problem, I never was a model,
I never was a scholar,
But you were always popular,
You were singing all the songs I don’t know
Now you’re in the front row
‘Cause my song is popular

Popular, I know about popular
It’s not about who you are or your fancy car
You’re only ever who you were
Popular, I know about popular
And all that you have to do is be true to you
That’s all you ever need to know
(that’s all you ever need to know)

So catch up ’cause you got an awful long way to go
So catch up ’cause you got an awful long way to go

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2015/09/02/songs-you-may-have-missed-545/

mika-1

Recommended Albums #72

oh-land

Oh Land: Wishbone (2013)

Danish ballet dancer-turned singer Nanna Øland Fabricius (Anglicized as Oh Land) turned in her strongest album with her third effort, 2013’s Wishbone.

A schizophrenic blend of Scandinavian electropop, this frothy funfair of a record reaches in many directions but ultimately lands squarely in smart pop territory consistently enough to make for a satisfying listen.

oh-land-2Fans of artists such as Goldfrapp and Robyn may have ears better acclimated to the chilly electronic sound collage that frames the tunes–it’s not the most organic-sounding music.

And in fact the busy, idiosyncratic electronic sound palate here has cost Wishbone more favorable reviews from some critics who seem to see it as distractive, overdone, more sheen than substance.

Yeah, I remember rock critics panning the first Boston album in similar terms. And that one found a bit of an audience if memory serves. The point being, if any artistic work delivers the hooks, well, guilty pleasures are no less pleasurable.

oh-land-3

And there’s no denying that the dizzying lyrical spit of “Renaissance Girls” and the perfect pop/funk of “Pyromaniac” are a blast to listen to.

And for change of pace, “Love You Better” will hit you in the feels with an almost too reflective acoustic guitar ballad:

I will love you better
Better when I’m blind
I will love you better when I’m blind
‘Cause you’ll always be a beauty
Living in my mind
I will love you better when I’m blind

If radio didn’t embrace songs like these (and it didn’t) it was more a statement about the state of radio than the quality of this music.

Listen to: “Renaissance Girls”

Listen to: “Pyromaniac”

Listen to: “Love You Better”

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2016/11/27/songs-you-may-have-missed-602/

The mystery of the phantom Billboard hit, “Ready ‘N’ Steady,” is finally solved

billboard

(via AV Club) by Mike Vanderbilt

Everyone loves a great mystery, except for the kids who used to peek in the back of their Encyclopedia Brown books. The unsolved mystery of the 1979 Billboard single “Ready ’N’ Steady” may never have garnered the interest of a trench coat-clad Robert Stack (or whatever Nicolas Cage’s name is in those National Treasure movies). Still, its existence—or rather lack thereof—confounded record collectors for over 36 years, but today, consider that mystery solved.

In 1979, “Ready ’N’ Steady” by D.A. was No. 102 with a bullet for four weeks on the Billboard charts. However, it seemed nobody had actually heard this phantom song…

Read more: http://www.avclub.com/article/mystery-ready-n-steady-phantom-billboard-hit-final-239905

KISS Now Sell *Official* Air Guitar Strings, Seriously

kiss

(via metal injection)

KISS are no strangers to merchandise that pushes the line of good taste, from overpriced masks to wine, to caskets and urns to disturbing looking condoms, KISS proves there is no product too crappy to have their logo on it.

But this next product is so insane, and pointless that it’s almost come back around to being sorta genius. KISS is selling air guitar strings now…

Read more: http://www.metalinjection.net/metal-merch/kiss-now-sell-official-air-guitar-strings-seriously

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