Today in 1962, the BBC banned playing the newly released “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett on the grounds that it was offensive. To use today’s vernacular, really?
Eleven years later, the BBC banned the Rolling Stones’ “Star Star,” but if you play the clip you can hear why:
The Kinks had the number one song today in 1964:
The Supremes had the number one song today in 1966 …
… while the number one album was the Beatles’ “Revolver”:
The number nine song today in 1994 is a strange-sounding song about a strange incident in the somewhat professionally strange career of Dan Rather:
Birthdays start with Jose Feliciano …
… who was born one year before Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night:
Barriemore Barlow of Jethro Tull …
… was born one year before Joe Perry of Aerosmith …
… who was born the same day as drummer Don Powell of Slade:
Mr. Mister drummer Pat Mastelotto …
… was born one year before Johnny Fingers of the Boomtown Rats …
… who was born one year before Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama:
The rock group Jefferson Airplane titled its first greatest-hits compilation “The Worst of Jefferson Airplane.”
Rolling Stone magazine was not being ironic when it polled its readers to decide the 10 worst songs of the 1990s.
I’m not sure I agree with all of Rolling Stone’s list, but that shouldn’t be surprising; such lists are meant for debate, after all. To determine the “worst,” songs appropriate for the “Vinyl from Hell” segment that used to be on a Madison FM rock station, requires some criteria, which does not include mere overexposure (for instance, “Macarena,” the video of which I find amusing since it looks like two bankers are singing it).
Before we go on: Blog posts like this one require multimedia, so if you find a song you hate on this blog, I apologize. These are also songs that I almost never listen to because my sound system has a zero-tolerance policy — if I’m listening to the radio or a CD and I hear a song I don’t like, it’s, to quote Bad Company, gone gone gone.
My blonde wife won’t be happy to read that one of her favorite ’90s songs, 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up,” starts the list. (However, the techno version clearly should be on the list.)
To demonstrate that rock musicians are not like you and me, here is the lead Non-Blonde, Linda Clifford:
“I wasn’t really a big fan of my band,” she said. “I didn’t like the record at all. ‘Drifting’ was the only song I loved. I did love ‘What’s Up?’ but I hated the production. When I heard our record for the first time I cried. It didn’t sound like me. It made me belligerent and a real asshole. I wanted to say, ‘We’re a fucking, bad-ass cool band. We’re not that fluffy polished bullshit that you’re listening to.’ It was really difficult.”
My definition of “worst” includes such criteria as poor performance (William Hung’s “She Bangs” occupies its own level of musical hell), poor-quality production (Dave Edmunds’ “I Hear You Knocking,” which, apparently deliberately, sounds as if it was recorded on a pre-World War II wire recorder or was phoned in on land line from the middle of Africa), a substantial annoyance factor (for instance, the singer’s voice), general stupidity (two words: “Disco Duck“) and a concept that fits the category of “Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should” (for instance, most actors’ records, about which more momentarily).
Next on the Rolling Stone list is a song that MTV’s Kurt Loder described perfectly as “dopey but irresistible,” Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy,” which shouldn’t be on the list either because it’s actually cleverly written:
Dion has made an entire career of sappy ballads. Rock groups that make the strategic decision of recording their own sappy ballads in the interest of increasing record sales deserve inclusion on any worst list, including the entire post-Chicago career of Peter Cetera.
Other examples from this hall of shame include Kiss …
… and Alice Cooper …
… and Styx …
… and Starship …
… and Aerosmith …
… and Bryan Adams (who recorded a contemporary song for a movie set in the 13th century):
Being from the ’80s, I’m more likely to include songs like this on my list, and if you disagree, well, shaddupa you face:
I’ve written before that I’m a fan more of songs than of groups, which probably shows itself in my daily “Presty the DJ” posts. (Here’s a hint: If you notice that a song of a performer on a particular day isn’t there, either that’s because (1) the post is already hellishly long or (2) the blogger doesn’t like the song.) I confess to judging songs on how they sound — music and lyrics — rather than just lyrics. (Which is fortunate for Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, because the words of “Billy Don’t Be a Hero” depict an unrecognizable war.) I hate Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” not merely because of its blatantly anti-American lyrics, but because Springsteen’s singing on this song sounds like someone running a cheese grater across his teeth, accompanied by bizarre Chinese-sounding keyboards. (“Born in the USA” is not evidence of one of Springsteen’s strange musical obsessions, bells, heard prominently on “Born to Run.”)
Since I’m a fan more of songs than of groups, in the same way I don’t like every song of every act (such as the dreck, starting with “If You Leave Me Now,” of Chicago, my favorite rock group), I don’t hate every song of every act, except for Air Supply, one of whose singers, to paraphrase Aerosmith, sounds like a lady. Guns N Roses comes close, however, because singer Axl Rose is the singing equivalent of the broadcasting term known as “puking.” And why the local radio station’s morning host chooses to play “Sweet Child O Mine” at 6:40 a.m. every Monday remains a mystery, other than its function of motivating me to get out of bed so I don’t have to hear it. (Their Friday counterpart is the Scissor Sisters’ “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing,” which is merely an earworm co-written by Elton John, who plays the piano on the song.)
Michael Bolton deserves numerous inclusions on the hated-it list for not just the sappy nature of most of his work (with one exception), but also his voice, which sounds like he’s trying to tear his retinas. (Or yours.) Barry Manilow lacks Bolton’s hemorrhoid-shredding voice but (withthreeexceptions) has the same diabetes-inducing discography. Opposite Manilow is Frankie Valli, who has done somegreatmusic, but whose voice has occasionally been the musicalequivalent of a godawful annoying TV commercial. (Some might say if it’s annoying but you remember it, the commercial has done its job, but not if you refuse to buy the product being sold because of the commercial.)
You may have concluded by now that I am not a fan of, to use Paul McCartney’s phrase, silly love songs, whether upbeat or downbeat. (Replace “silly” with “stupid” in the lyrics, and that song makes perfect sense.) Dan Hill and I share the same birthday; that does not change my opinion of the vomit-inducing “Sometimes When We Touch,” which I will not dignify by linking to it.
Songs can be annoyances as well because they are non sequiturs. I don’t know about you, but when I think of hanging tough, I do not think of New Kids on the Block. Why the Beach Boys would sing of an Indiana town in a movie about a bartender on a tropical island … well, a lot of the ’80s don’t make sense. (Another example is Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain,” a musical self-ripoff of their superior “D’Yer Maker,” on their final album, “In Through the Out Door,” which includes the suicide-inducing “All of My Love.”) And can anyone say what this song is about? (Not to mention: What music genre is this? Techno-country?)
Country music is stereotyped as a variation on the theme of my-dog-died my-wife-left-me my-truck-blew-up my-roof-caved-in let’s-go-get-drunk. So why singers and songwriters decided on their own to create the teen tragedy genre of pop songs (also known as “death rock” or a “splatter platter”) is beyond my comprehension.
The most famous of this genre is probably “Teen Angel,” in which boyfriend stalls car on railroad tracks and pulls girlfriend to safety, only to watch in horror as girlfriend goes back to car and gets smucked by a train. (She was going after his class ring.) Or perhaps it’s “Tell Laura I Love Her,” in which a love-smitten young lad enters a car race intending to win enough money to buy a wedding ring for Laura. Laura’s boyfriend doesn’t get smucked by a train, he gets smucked by another (or perhaps his own) race car, and his racing career and wedding plans go up in flames.
Or perhaps it’s “Last Kiss,” another fatal car drive song first sung by J. Frank Wilson and banshee-sounding backup singers, and then covered by Pearl Jam (which makes one think Eddie Vedder lost a bet):
Many bad songs are covers, songs that were re-performed whether or not they should have been. If the song isn’t very good (for instance, Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way”), you are usually guaranteed the remake will be even worse, particularly if it mangles a rock classic along the way:
Even if the song is a classic, it can be ruined by a bad performance:
Curiously (or maybe not), the aforementioned songs-performed-by-actors category mostly seem to include covers. (For whatever reason(s), singers seem to be able to act better than actors can sing.) John Lennon and George Harrison surely are rolling in their graves every time someone plays this:
And if the world wasn’t interested in hearing Captain Kirk sing, then why did Mr. Spock (who sounds like a cross between B.J. Thomas and Bruce Springsteen) feel the need to sing too?
On the other hand, this was the best version of Morris Alpert’s intolerable “Feelings”:
Actor David Soul, the latter of “Starsky & Hutch,” lacked the paint-peeling voice of the captain and first officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise. His one chart-reaching recording was merely another drop in a sea of sap:
The ’80s have, unfortunately, several examples of the actor-as-singer oeuvre:
Europhiles and those who look down at the U.S. claim that the Old World has much more sophistication, class and taste than the New World. I reply to that assertion with the observation that David Hasselhoff has released 17 albums and 16 singles. None charted in the U.S.
Speaking of actors singing, I’m not sure where to put “MacArthur Park,” which was written by one of the great American pop song writers, Jimmy Webb. Actor Richard Harris’ version of “MacArthur Park” proves that, had Harris been required to sing for his supper, he would have starved to death:
What rescues this odd song (which was inspired by Webb’s relationship with a cousin of Linda Ronstadt) is its arrangement, particularly the orchestral break (from 4:52 to 6:20), for which the song won a Grammy in 1969. (The Grammy surely was not for Harris’ singing.) The orchestral break led to this SCTV sketch:
Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs gives Harris’ version the honor (if that’s what you want to call it) of being Barry’s worst song of all time. (I would have chosen, from Barry’s list, Paul Anka’s “You’re Having My Baby” or Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey” myself.) To prove that the bad reviews are the result of the performance, “MacArthur Park” has been covered more than 50 times, including Donna Summer’s number-one disco version …
… and Maynard Ferguson’s horn version …
… and Weird Al Yankovic’s own interpretation:
Obviously the definition of “worst song” is a matter of personal taste. Here’s a rule of thumb: A song should make your worst-music list if the song makes you want to (1) shoot any music device on which it’s playing, (2) shoot the performer(s), or (3) shoot yourself so you never have to hear it again.
Today in 1926, Radio Corporation of America created the National Broadcasting Co.
The number one single in Britain today in 1965:
Today in 1971, five years to the day after John Lennon met Yoko Ono, Lennon released his “Imagine” album:
The number one album today in 1976 was the second time Fleetwood Mac released an album named “Fleetwood Mac”:
The winner of the best video award at today’s 1992 MTV Video Music Awards (made memorable because Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic threw his guitar up in the air, and his guitar knocked him unconscious on the way back down):
Birthdays begin with Otis Redding …
… born one year before Luther Simmons of the Main Ingredient:
Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly …
… was born one year before Bruce Palmer of Buffalo Springfield:
Today in 1956, Harry Belafonte’s “Calypso” went to number one for the next 31 weeks:
Today in 1965, Daily Variety included this ad:
Madness! Running parts for four Insane Boys age 17-21.
The ad drew 437 would-be Insane Boys, including Stephen Stills (who ended up working with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young instead), Paul Williams (who wrote a lot of songs and acted a bit, including as Little Enos Burdette), Danny Hutton (who went on to form Three Dog Night) and Charles Manson (and you know what he ended up doing). The four winners were Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith:
The number one single …
… and album today in 1973:
Today in 1977, Jimmy McCullough took wing, leaving Wings for the Small Faces band:
Birthdays begin with actor Peter Sellers, who also recorded two records:
Patsy Cline:
Kelly Groucutt of Electric Light Orchestra …
… was born the same day as Ron “Pigpen” McKernen of the Grateful Dead:
Dean Daughtry played keyboards for the Atlanta Rhythm Section:
David Steele was a Fine Young Cannibal:
As for the other momentous event of Sept. 8, beam back here in one hour. To not do so will be … illogical.
Today in 1963, ABC-TV’s “American Bandstand” moved from every weekday afternoon in Philadelphia to Saturdays in California:
The number one album today in 1968 was the Doors’ “Waiting for the Sun,” their only number one album:
Today in 2007, on the 11th anniversary of the Las Vegas shooting of rap stars Marion “Suge” Knight and Tupac Shakur (who died six days later), a study revealed that rock stars were twice as likely to die early as non-rock stars. Researchers said premature rock star deaths were so prevalent (for proof, read on) that the industry should be labeled a “high-risk” profession.
Birthdays begin with Al Caiola, who recorded two famous TV theme songs:
Buddy Holly:
Alfa Anderson of Chic:
Gloria Gaynor:
Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders:
Jermaine Stewart, who claimed …
Two death anniversaries, first from The Who, who famously sang that they hoped to die before they get old. Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, died today in 1978 at 31, before he got old:
Today in 2003, Warren Zevon died. Zevon was known most for “Werewolves of London,” but he was also was the piano player and band leader for the Everly Brothers, recorded a song for the movie “Midnight Cowboy,” and had Jackson Browne, The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt play on his albums.
The number one single in the U.K. todayyyyyyy in 19677777777 …
Today in 1968, the Beatles recorded Eric Clapton’s guitar part for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” making him the first non-Beatle on a Beatle record:
The number one song in the U.S. today in 1975:
The number one album in the U.S. today in 1975 was Jefferson Starship’s “Red Octopus,” the most commercially successful album to date for Jefferson Starship, Airplane or Thing Thrown into the Sky:
The number one song in the U.S. today in 1980:
Today in 1982, Paul McCartney released “Tug of War”:
The number one song in the U.S. today in 1986:
Birthdays start with Roger Waters of Pink Floyd:
Sylvester:
Claydes Smith of Kool and the Gang:
Banner Thomas played bass for Molly Hatchet:
Pal Waaktaar of A-Ha, the only Norwegian group to record a number-one song in the U.S. and Great Britain:
Dave Bargeron played trombone, tuba, horns and bass for Blood Sweat & Tears:
Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries:
One death anniversary of note: Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival today in 1990:
Today in 1962, the Beatles recorded “Love Me Do,” taking 17 takes to do it right:
Three years later, the Beatles had the number one single …
… which referred to something The Who could have used, because on the same day the Who’s van was vandalized and $10,000 in musical equipment was stolen from them while they were buying … a guard dog:
Today in 1968, the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” was banned in Chicago and other U.S. cities because the powers that be thought listeners were taking the song too literally:
The number one single in the U.S. today in 1971:
The number one single in the U.S. today in 1976:
The number one single today in 1982 on this side …
… and the other side of the Atlantic:
Birthdays begin with Merald “Bubba” Knight of Gladys Knight and the Pips:
Gene Parsons of The Byrds:
Gary Duncan and Greg Elmore of Quicksilver Messenger Service were born on the same day:
Martin Chambers played drums for the Pretenders:
Ty Longley, guitarist for Great White, who died with 99 fans in the 2003 nightclub fire in Warwick, R.I.:
The number one song in the U.S. today in 1955 was written 102 years earlier:
The number one song in the U.S. today in 1966:
Today in 1970, Arthur Brown demonstrated what The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was like by getting arrested at the Palermo Pop ’70 Festival in Italy for stripping naked and setting fire to his helmet during …
Today in 1982, the three-day-long Us Festival in San Bernardino, Calif., began, bankrolled by Apple Computer founder Steve Wozniak:
The number one song in the U.S. today in 1983:
Birthdays today start with Al Jardine of the Beach Boys:
On the same day, the Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival was held on Bull Island in the Wabash River between Illinois and Indiana. The festival attracted four times the projected number of fans, three fans drowned in the Wabash River, and the remaining crowd ended the festival by burning down the stage:
Birthdays begin with Hugo Montenegro, who had a couple instrumental hits in the 1960s:
One-hit wonder Bobby Purify:
Joe Simon …
… was born the same day as Rosalind Ashford of Martha and the Vandellas:
Billy Preston:
Mik Kaminski played violin for the Electric Light Orchestra:
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 