This past weekend, my best friend seemed shocked at my pinched face and cry of “Ugh!” when a popular song by one of my very favorite artists came on the radio. I don’t remember this subject being addressed on IMWAN before and thought it would make for an interesting thread. So… what are the songs you hate by the artists you love? It’s easy to go through albums and pick out obscure garbage, so let's keep it to either singles that charted or well-known album tracks. Here are a few of mine:
“Don’t Bring Me Down” – ELO
“We’ll Be Together” – Sting
“Fire Lake” and “Feel Like a Number” – Bob Seger
“Wherever I Lay My Hat” – Paul Young
“Morning Train (9 to 5)” – Sheena Easton
“Draw of the Cards” – Kim Carnes

and the absolute worst of all – the one that inspired this thread:
“All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You” – Heart

“I am the flower
You are the seed
We walked in the garden
We planted a tree”

Please pass the barf bags and don’t let Mutt Lange near a pen – or a Wilson sister – again. Ann earned back several points with me in the liner notes of “The Road Home,” when she revealed the band doesn’t like this song, either.

old time rock and roll by bob seger ( all i see is tom cruise in is underwear, it has forever ruined the song for me.

tomboy - on CSN's "live it up" by far the worst stills song ever, and there were/are so many other to choose from. i'll never get how this got on there.

renny

Sticking with hits, I'd have to say...

"Good Times Roll" by The Cars, which sounded like nothing else on their debut but got a lot of airplay on rock stations because it was the most traditional sounding track. Also the most boring, to my ears.

"Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I'll apologize in advance to Renny, but this is another track that has been overplayed on certain radio stations over the years, especially the "relaxing easy favorites" stations my wife listens to. Would it kill them to play "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" or "Marrakesh Express" once in a while?

"Like A Virgin" by Madonna. I have less and less interest in what she does these days, but I think Madonna had an absolutely great string of singles in the 80's. This was not one of them.

"Stand" by R.E.M.

Back in the 80's, there was always one song on each new R.E.M. album that I strongly disliked, even though they were probably one of my top bands at the time and I cherished each new release. Inevitably, whenever I saw them in concert, they included those very songs I couldn't stand, instead of some of my faves! I gotta say that their one tune that made me cringe the most was "Stand". As others have noted in a previous Bruce thread, every show needs a "bathroom break" song, and that song was my opportunity.

Conversely, whenever I used to listen to my cassette-dubbed copy of The Jam's brilliant "Snap!" album in my car, I had to suffer through the songs that I despised at the time (like "Dreams of Children" and "Start"), due to the fast-forward button on my tape deck not working. Now, almost twenty-five years later, I enjoy listening to, and even singing along with, many of those songs that I used to hate.

Perhaps it's due to a more mature outlook, or the comfort-in-familiarity factor, but I seem to be much more tolerant these days of songs that I formerly did not like. Except, of course, for Supertramp's "Goodbye Stranger". I still HATE that song, and immediately change the station whenever it comes on the radio!



I'd like to second that choice, also!

Mr. Moonlight - Beatles

Too many later Style Council tracks from when Weller was more concerned with doing note-perfect impressions of American soul and funk artists than about bringing his own individual spin to the recordings.

I absolutely abhor "Abracadabra" by The Steve Miller Band!

The flip side to this is: I hate almost every hit REO Speedwagon has had, but I really like "Golden Country"

Beatles-"She's Leaving Home"
Rolling Stones"Ruby Tuesday"
Dylan-"Lenny Bruce"
McCartney-Charles mentioned "Ebony and Ivory", which would also be on my list, as well as "Goodnight Tonight"

"My Ding- a- Ling" may be the worst record that any major artist has ever made.

We didn't start the Fire, by Billy Joel.

All Don Henley solo work.

Bruce Springsteen--"Old Dan Tucker" (the most unintentionally hilarious cover song since, um...Bruce Springstone did "Meet The Flintstones"--oh wait, that last one was SUPPOSED to be a joke)

The Who/Pete Townshend--"In The Ether". Possibly the best song (lyrically) on "Endless Wire" (which isn't saying much) but Pete's Tom Waits impression is beyond embarassing. For years I would have called it a tie between "Squeeze Box" and "Eminence Front" as the two most annoying "classics" in the Who catalog, but then came "Endless Wire"...

The Beatles--"Michelle"--which of course won a Grammy for song of the year. Has a song I actually liked EVER won a Grammy?

I have to agree with "Lenny Bruce" by Dylan--more cringe-inducing than any of the covers on "Self-Portrait" or "Dylan" because Dylan actually wrote those stupid lyrics.

There are other songs I've warmed to over the years. I'm now oddly nostaligic for some of the 70's album filler by the Rolling Stones--"Hey Negrita" and "Fingerprint File", etc. Maybe I'm no longer as dedicated to the eradication and abolition of disco as I was back when I was a 1980's era D.R.E.A.D.-card carrying Detroit Rocker.

Gary Numan's cover of "1999." Granted I'm not a huge fan of anything Gary's done since about 1984, but his rendition of Prince's party anthem is painfully embarrassing.

Also a little embarrassing: "Big Love" by Fleetwood Mac. I won't go so far as to say I hate it, but the whole "uh...AHH" thing sounds more and more ridiculous to me the older I get.

"Cautious Lip" by Blondie.

I'm not too keen on "Heartbreaker" by Dionne Warwick. In my defence I should mention that Dionne doesn't like it either.

Jackson Browne - Linda Paloma - stops The Pretender cd from being a perfect album.
Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music

Tough category for me. I like everything. I even like stuff I don't like.

I do skip the coda to "Gomper" when I play the Stones' Satanic Majesties, so that'll be my answer.

Boy, howdy.

Ever since I tracked down a copy of the original Dr. Feelgood & The Interns version, I understand why the Beatles covered it -- and the original arrangement is very, very close to the Beatles' own -- but man, the Beatles' version sucks the ass of the gods.

1.)Genesis-Who Dunnit?

Easily one of the worst songs in musical history. I love the Abacab album and with this song they were trying for a Devo-styled New Wave tune and it failed miserably. Miserably!

2.)Jethro Tull-Automotive Engineering

What the hell were they thinking? Actually, pick any song except Lap Of Luxury and Under Wraps from the "Under Wraps" album. I thought listening to the recent remaster I might feel differently about this album, but, no. It sucks whale penis. It is truly a disgrace. The keyboard and drum programming was dated by the time it came out in 1984 and Ian is not in fine voice.

3.)Kiss-Let's Put The X In Sex

Really, the title says it all.

4.) Aerosmith-Dude Looks Like A Lady

I stopped enjoying Aerosmith in 1987. I did not buy "Permanent Vacation" or anything afterwards. It was nice to see them huge again, but not with this heartless, corporate garbage. When I first saw the video on MTV I truly wept.

5.)Emerson, Lake & Plamer-Taste Of My Love

Ugh. A song about groupies giving blow jobs? What a piece of crap. I actually do like a good deal of the "Love Beach" album, but this song is even worse than the album cover!

6.)Triumph-Rock You Down

Great band, great to see them back together. But Gil Moore often sang the brain-dead rockers, and this idiotic piece of trash from the "Surveillance" album is the most offensive. A 2-year old could've written such brilliant lyrics as:
"Mmmm yeah, let's talk about it
It's party time
At the house of blue light
Every Saturday night

You know I've seen
A lot of ladies strut
Through this place
But when I first laid eyes on you
I thought I'd...
You look so good...so hot
I just can't resist"
And then the brilliant chorus of "I just wanna rock you, wanna rock you, I just wanna rock you girl, down down down"
I just can't fathom writing crap like this and having any pride. I just listened to the remaster of this album last week, and it's a really good (albeit over-produced) effort, but this song makes me cringe after all these years.

7.)Ozzy Osbourne-Thank God For The Bomb

Awful. Ozzy hates "The Ultimate Sin" album and this would be a damn good reason why. Sad.

8.)ZZ Top-Velcro Fly

Yikes. Talk about lame and stupid. Another one of the 80's tech dance crud numbers from "Afterburner". A few good songs on that record-this ain't one of them. Hideous.

9.)Uriah Heep-Party Time

Legendary band, and one who has made as much crap as genius. This song from 1985's "Equator" album is so bad Spinal Tap wouldn't touch it.
A lyrical couplet:
"Well, it's party time, I'm all zipped up
It's hot tonight, and I'm ready for love
Jack me up, I'm on the loose tonight...

Party time, gonna be a party
Party, yes this is party time"

Yeah! Party time dude! Shame, shame, shame on them for this public humiliation.

I need to stop now, I'm on too much of a roll!

Ozzy's cover of "Mississippi Queen"

"Kokomo" by The Beach Boys by a whisker.

Chicago - "25 or 6 to 4"

Paul Simon - "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (the only saving grace is Steve Gadd's drumming on the track)

Aaron Neville - "Tell It Like It Is"

"The War Song" by Culture Club. That is a stupid song!

"Mr. Moonlight" by the Beatles. Not one of their great covers, but I still love them anyway.

"Twist and Shout" and "I Call Your Name" by the Mamas and the Poppas were terrible covers.

Gee...where to begin...

I Just Called to Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder
Nod Your Head, Press, and From a Lover to a Friend - Paul McCartney
Make You Feel My Love - Bob Dylan
Beechwood 4-5678 - The Carpenters
All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
Staring at the Sun - U2
Harlem Shuffle - Mick Jagger

The Crunge - Zeppelin