Blender Magazine's "Worst Songs" list
Marc Wielage
annoyed by it, but since BLENDER won't post the list on their on website,
here it is:
1. We Built This City Starship ... 1985
2. Achy Breaky Heart Billy Ray Cyrus ... 1992
3. Everybody Have Fun Tonight Wang Chung ... 1986
4. Rollin' Limp Bizkit ... 2000
5. Ice Ice Baby Vanilla Ice ... 1990
6. The Heart of Rock & Roll Huey Lewis and the News ... 1984
7. Don't Worry, Be Happy Bobby McFerrin ... 1988
8. Party All the Time Eddie Murphy ... 1985
9. American Life Madonna ... 2003
10. Ebony and Ivory Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder ... 1982
11. Invisible Clay Aiken ... 2003
12. Kokomo The Beach Boys ... 1988
13. Illegal Alien Genesis ... 1983
14. From a Distance Bette Midler ... 1990
15. I'll Be There for You The Rembrandts ... 1995
16. What's Up? 4 Non Blondes ... 1993
17. Pumps and a Bump Hammer ... 1994
18. You're The Inspiration Chicago ... 1984
19. Broken Wings Mr. Mister ... 1985
20. Dancing on the Ceiling Lionel Richie ... 1986
21. Two Princes Spin Doctors ... 1992
22. Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) Toby Keith ...
2002
23. Sunglasses at Night Corey Hart ... 1984
24. Five for Fighting Superman ... 2000
25. I'll Be Missing You Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112 ... 1997
26. The End The Doors ... 1967
27. The Final Countdown Europe ... 1987
28. Your Body Is a Wonderland John Mayer ... 2001
29. Breakfast at Tiffany's Deep Blue Something ... 1995
30. Greatest Love of All Whitney Houston ... 1986
31. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Crash Test Dummies ... 1994
32. Will 2K Will Smith ... 1999
33. Barbie Girl Aqua ... 1997
34. Longer Dan Fogelberg ... 1979
35. Shiny Happy People R.E.M. ... 1991
36. Make Em Say Uhh! Master P featuring Silkk, Fiend, Mia-X and Mystikal ...
1998
37. Rico Suave Gerardo ... 1991
38. Cotton Eyed Joe Rednex ... 1995
39. She Bangs Ricky Martin ... 2000
40. I Wanna Sex You Up Color Me Badd ... 1991
41. We Didn't Start the Fire Billy Joel ... 1989
42. The Sounds of Silence Simon & Garfunkel ... 1965
43. Follow Me Uncle Kracker ... 2000
44. I'll Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) Meat Loaf ... 1993
45. Mesmerize Ja Rule featuring Ashanti ... 2002
46. Hangin' Tough New Kids on the Block ... 1989
47. The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You Bryan Adams ... 1996
48. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da The Beatles ... 1968
49. I'm Too Sexy Right Said Fred ... 1992
50. My Heart Will Go On Celine Dion ... 1998
Remember, this is BLENDER MAGAZINE's list, not mine. Don't shoot the
messenger.
What bugs me about the list is far too many of these songs are merely
annoying, cloying, or silly. I can think of 100 songs that are far worse.
And I think some, like "Sounds of Silence," "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da," and "The
End," were just put on the list by its authors just to cause controversy.
A few 1970s songs I think are far more worthy, presented in alphabetical
order:
"Afternoon Delight" - The Starland Vocal Band
"Ben" - Michael Jackson
"Billy, Don't Be a Hero" - Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
"Copacabana (At the Copa)" - Barry Manilow
"Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" - Wayne Newton
"Disco Duck (Part 1)" - Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots
"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" - Rupert Holmes
"Feelings" - Morris Albert
"For the Love of Him" - Bobbi Martin
"Get Dancin'" - Disco-Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes
"Get Down Tonight" - KC & The Sunshine Band
"Get Off" - Foxy
"Half-Breed" - Cher
"Hooked on a Feeling" - Blue Swede
"I Feel Love" - Donna Summer
"I Gotcha" - Joe Tex
"I Love" - Tom T. Hall
"Indiana Wants Me" - R. Dean Taylor
"In the Bush" - Musique
"I've Never Been to Me" - Charlene [technically a hit in 1982, but
originally released in 1977]
"Jive Turkey" - The Ohio Players
"Jungle Fever" - The Chakachas
"Keep it Comin' Love" - KC & The Sunshine Band
"Kung Fu Fighting" - Carl Douglas
"Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" - Little Jimmy Osmond
"Love to Love You Baby" - Donna Summer
"Me And You And A Dog Named Boo" - Lobo
"Muskrat Love" - The Captain & Tennille
"The Night Chicago Died" - Paper Lace
"Once You Understand" - Think
"Paper Roses" - Marie Osmond
"Playground in My Mind" - Clint Holmes
"Rocky" - Austin Roberts
"Run Joey Run" - David Geddes
"Seasons in the Sun" - Terry Jacks
"(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" - KC & The Sunshine Band
"Silly Love Songs" - Paul McCartney & Wings
"Sometimes When We Touch" - Dan Hill
"Sylvia's Mother" - Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
"Take the Money and Run" - The Steve Miller Band
"That's the Way (I Like It)" - KC & The Sunshine Band
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" -
Dawn featuring Tony Orlando
"Which Way You Goin' Billy?" - The Poppy Family
"You Light Up My Life" - Debby Boone
"(You're) Having My Baby" - Paul Anka with Odia Coates
"You Sexy Thing" - Hot Chocolate
Note I actually like a few of these songs. But I think many of the above
1970s songs are arguably far more obnoxious than the ones on BLENDER's list.
"Seasons in the Sun" was the worst to me, by far. I almost break a finger
changing the station whenever that one comes on.
--MFW
Mr. M
> 5. Ice Ice Baby Vanilla Ice ... 1990
>
rock singer than a rapper.
Mister Charlie
"Marc Wielage" <m...@musictrax.com> wrote in message
news:0001HW.BCCC3DE4...@news-server.socal.rr.com...
agree:
http://www.dcmilitary.com/navy/tester/9_19/commentary/29003-1.html
May 13, 2004
Blender's 'worst songs' takes aim at the biggies
by Bill Swanson
Last week in this space I waxed hypertensive about Blender
magazine's highly publicized "50 worst [rock'n'roll] songs ever!" list
and especially Blender's top pick for the all-time worst song, which
those worthy people decided was Starship's 1985 hit, We Built This City,
not an especially good song but certainly (in our opinion, anyway) a
long, long, long way from the bottom of the rock'n'roll barrel.
I advanced the theory that Blender was simply making a time-tested
grab for media attention and increased circulation by deliberately going
after famous and well-known pop icons, just so the magazine - which
bills itself as "the ultimate music magazine" - could acquire some sort
of reputation for being gutsy or controversial or "edgy," or whatever.
These were supposed to be "the most wretched compositions ever
belched up onto unsuspecting music fans," the magazine says.
Another way of putting it is: "Hey, let's take some shots at the
big guys." It's a tactic Sophocles and the Freudians figured out quite a
long time ago with all that Oedipus-killing-the-king business. (Now that
I think of it, "Sophocles and the Freudians" sounds like a pretty good
name for a rock group from the 1960s.) And about half the Hollywood
Westerns ever made use the same idea as a plot line: cocky young
gunslinger rides into town hoping to make his reputation by going after
the older, wiser, veteran gunslinger (usually played by a Henry Fonda or
Glenn Ford type).
Want to hear who Blender went after as writers/performers of some
of the "worst" songs "ever"? Get this: Paul Simon, the Beach Boys, the
Doors, Billy Joel and Chicago. Oh, and an obscure British group whose
name escapes me ... the Bugs ... no, that's not it ... the Insects ...
no, that's wrong ... oh, yeah, I remember now. The Beatles. They had a
singer/songwriter named Paul something ... McCartney, yeah, that was it.
This poor guy McCartney, whoever he was, gets hit not once but TWICE,
poor blighter, for his part in not one but TWO of the allegedly worst
songs since the history of music began back in the dark dawn of
pre-history when Mel Brooks' 2,000-Year-Old Man composed the first
national anthem (whose only lyric you'll remember was: "Let 'em all go
to hell except Cave 76").
Blender ranks the Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da as the 48th worst
song ever. Its main offense seems to be that the Blender judges were
aware of the fact the song was recorded "during the White Album sessions
when the Beatles would happily have beaten one another to death if only
they had had some clubs on hand. As a result, this sounds less like
reggae than the desperately chirpy songs Cockneys used to sing to keep
their spirits up while the Luftwaffe rained death on them during the
Blitz."
In other words, Blender thinks that because the guys weren't
getting along at that point, they have no business disguising that fact
by putting out a cheery, upbeat song. And of course, we readers are
supposed to be impressed with Blender's "insider" knowledge of what the
Beatles were thinking during any given recording session, and if their
private moods and feuds don't match their public output, then they
should be criticized for it.
Hey, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da isn't my favorite Beatles song either, by
a long shot. But the 48th worst in all of history? Gimme a break.
McCartney's other sin comes in Blender's 10th worst song of all
time, Ebony and Ivory, which he sang with Stevie Wonder in 1982. I have
to confess, I don't like that song either (and in fact I don't care for
Stevie Wonder at all). But to consign it to the inner ring of Hades as
the 10th worst song? Blender refers to it as "racial-harmony dreck," and
notes that on Saturday Night Live Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo did a
devastatingly funny take-off on it. All true enough. But the 10th worst
song in history? Kenny Rogers' Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town gets a
free pass instead? It's worse than Paul Anka's (You're) Having My Baby?
No way. This is just a couple of punks taking potshots at Henry Fonda.
At Number 12 is the Beach Boys' Kokomo, which it calls "a gloopy
mess of faux-Caribbean musical stylings cowritten by Mike Love. It's all
anodyne harmonizing and forced rhymes ... that would have driven Brian
[Wilson] totally nuts had he not been totally nuts already." Here I have
to confess: I had to look up the word "anodyne" to figure out what
Blender is talking about. It means "serving to assuage pain" and "not
likely to offend or arouse tension." So I guess Blender is saying the
Beach Boys' harmonizing is calculated to be inoffensive. This is the
sound of Blender putting another notch in its gunbelt.
Simon and Garfunkel take their bullet in the Number 42 spot, for
(of all things) The Sounds of Silence, which Blender says, "sounds like
a vicious parody of a pompous and pretentious mid-'60s folk singer ....
The overall experience is like being lectured on the meaning of life by
a jumped-up freshman." OK, glad they got that off their chest. Rack up
another notch.
Billy Joel's We Didn't Light the Fire comes in at Number 41 for
its "bombastic production," "widdy-woo guitars and meet-thy-maker
drums," among other flaws. A friend of mine who teaches 12th grade
civics and history uses the song in his classes, requiring students to
identify and explain all the references, which is a heckuva lot easier
to do than figure out some of the coding in Don Mclean's American Pie,
which seems to have escaped Blender's attention, though it appears on
many other "most reviled" lists.
Coming in at Number 26 is the Doors' The End, which Blender calls
"the most pretentious rock star's most pretentious song," and adds
things like "bombastic," "lugubrious," and "sounds like it was recorded
in a large metal shipping container and mixed by drunks .... Painful in
so many ways." While I'm actually inclined to agree with this one, my
colleague Jim Jenkins is appalled. But once again, I don't think it
ranks as the 26th worst, or anything close.
To be perfectly fair to Blender, they properly have nailed some
really bad stuff: Achy Breaky Heart is their Number 2 worst, for example
(though it violates the "no C&W" rule), and they list some New Kids on
the Block, Ja Rule, Color Me Bad, Crash Test Dummies, Puff Daddy, the
theme from Friends (I'll Be There For You by the Rembrandts), Vanilla
Ice, and Limp Bizkit, to name a few. (I readily confess I haven't
listened to some of these and am not competent to comment. But I'm
perfectly willing to take Blender's word for it that Ja Rule, Puff
Daddy, New Kids, Limp Bizkit, etc., are every bit as awful as I
suspect.)
Crunching some numbers makes this exercise really interesting. Of
the 50 songs in Blender's list, 30 of them come from the 1990s and first
years of this new millennium, and another 16 come from the 1980s.
That's 46 of the 50 worst songs. Only one single song comes from
the entire 1970s - Dan Fogelberg's Longer. Somebody explain to me how
the decade of Disco got a free ride. Could it be they've never even
HEARD of Disco?
There's only three songs from the entire decade of the 1960s:
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Sounds of Silence and The End. That's it - that's
the sum total of all the bad songs from the 1960s AND the 1950s - three
stinking songs! Unbelievable. No "flower power," no acid rock (other
than the Doors' one mention), no Teen Death Songs (The Sweater, Tell
Laura I love Her, Leader of the Pack, Teen Angel, Last Kiss, Patches,
Running Bear, Laurie (Strange Things Happen), Billy Don't Be a Hero), no
Barry Manilow, no Disco Duck, no Judy's Turn to Cry, no Tony Orlando
with or without Dawn, no Morris Albert wailing Feeeeeelings, no Village
People's anything, no Donnie and Marie Osmond anything, no lovely Lennon
Sisters, no Yummy Yummy Yummy I got Love in My Tummy, no Diana Ross Love
Child.
I can only think of three possible explanations.
1) The Blender people are so hopelessly Generation X and
Generation Y that when they use the word "Ever" (as in "Worst Songs ...
Ever"), they think that music in general and rock and roll in particular
were invented in the 1970s by, say, David Geffen, and that they've never
even HEARD any of these other songs, or anything at all from the 1950s
and 1960s except the Beatles, Doors and Simon and Garfunkel. In short,
"ever" means "since Pac-Man was invented." This is a very real
possibility.
2) That they actually LIKE Barry Manilow, Marie Osmond, Tony
Orlando, Bobbie Goldsboro, Disco, Frankie Avalon, and a vast array of
truly awful stuff. I have trouble believing this one; I suspect you do,
too.
3) That - heaven forbid - what all us Codgers and Old Fogeys have
been saying all along is true: that rock and roll REALLY HAS been going
downhill (aka to hell in a handbasket) over the last 20 years and that
the songs of the 1990s and later really ARE worse than the stuff we used
to (and still do) listen to.
Hmm. Maybe these young whippersnappers aren't so dumb after all.
(Don't forget: e-mail me your nominees for worst rock'n'roll song
[and we'll allow some worst C&W stuff, too] to bswa...@dcmilitary.com,
and if we get enough we'll print your suggestions.)
Marc Wielage
[a long message snipped]
Yeah, I completely agree with 99% of Bill Swanson's rebuttal to the BLENDER
article. They went after a lot of major artists and people who weren't hip
enough to appeal the under-30 crowd. Easy targets like Billy Joel, The
Beatles, and The Beach Boys, who were commercially successful but
occasionally had some clunkers. One can make a good argument that The
Beatles' worst song might be better than most groups' best song.
--MFW
Marc Wielage
>> "Ben" - Michael Jackson
>> "You Sexy Thing" - Hot Chocolate
>
> These stand out for me as "What's so bad about them?" choices
>--------------------------------snip----------------------------------<
Hey, I think either is more unlistenable than half the stuff on the BLENDER
list. I'd run screaming from the room if either of them came up on the
radio.
True, they're not horrible -- more annoying than truly awful. But it's a
subjective list. Feel free to post your own; the subject of horrible songs
is one that many have passionately debated over the years. Do a google
search on some of the screaming matches about "Worst Songs" that came up here
and on the 60s group in the past six or seven years, and you'll see.
--MFW
Ludovic Delamare
> I hesitate to upload this, because a) the list is lame, and b) some will be
> annoyed by it, but since BLENDER won't post the list on their on website,
> here it is:
>
> 1. We Built This City Starship ... 1985
>
played on VH1Classic.
I must admit it's really awful. The fact that these people were so
great in the sixties
makes it only worse.
>
> What bugs me about the list is far too many of these songs are merely
> annoying, cloying, or silly. I can think of 100 songs that are far worse.
> And I think some, like "Sounds of Silence," "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da," and "The
> End," were just put on the list by its authors just to cause controversy.
>
every generation.
Some of these songs are quite ironic and it seems they didn't take that
into account.
And i'm surprised that Elvis is not on this list.
--
Cordialement
remove NOSPAM from my address to email me. Thanks
Kent
> I hesitate to upload this, because a) the list is lame, and b) some will
be
> annoyed by it, but since BLENDER won't post the list on their on website,
> here it is:
Does it say how they arrived at the list? An in-house committee, I presume?
I'm not familiar with BLENDER magazine; what is it?
And I agree that "We Built This City" wouldn't even enter my head for "Worst
song ever", considering what else is out there...
Kent
Kent
> For me, "My Ding-a-Ling" stands alone. ;)
TMI, Mike--we don't need to know about your ding-a-ling so early on a Sunday
morning :)
Kent
GBlueOwl
<ludovic.rl.d...@free.fr> writes:
>Marc Wielage a utilisé son clavier pour écrire :
>> I hesitate to upload this, because a) the list is lame, and b) some will be
>
>> annoyed by it, but since BLENDER won't post the list on their on website,
>> here it is:
Odd, when I saw a story on this list on CNN a couple of weeks ago, I had no
problem downloading it from Blender's website.
>>
>> 1. We Built This City Starship ... 1985
>>
>Ouch. I didn't know this song until recently when a video of it was
>played on VH1Classic.
>I must admit it's really awful. The fact that these people were so
>great in the sixties
>makes it only worse.
Well, in fact these really *weren't* the people who were so great in the 60's.
At this point I think Grace Slick was the only member with any connection to
the original Jefferson Airplane (or rather, the "classic" Airplane lineup, as
she wasn't on of the "original" members of the group herself), and from what I
understand at that point even she wasn't really contributing all that much
cratively.
In that CNN story on this list that I mentioned, they showed a clip from the
video to this song, and I have to say that video does manage to almost make the
song seem worse than it actually is, if that's possible. (The part CNN showed
was with a group of people all reverantly staring up at the statue of Lincon in
the Lincoln Memorial, and the statue suddenly leaping up and, I don't know,
yelling or something, as the crowd continues to stare reverantly).
.
>Some of these songs are quite ironic and it seems they didn't take that
>into account.
The accompanying description of each song in the original magazine article
seems to bear this out in many cases. For intstance, the blurb on "Don't Worry
Be Happy" belittles the "advice" the song gives to someone being hounded by
their landlord for the rent, apparently missing the ironic subtext of the whole
song that McFerrin himself pointed out on several occasions. Also, I think the
success of "I'm Too Sexy" is *entirely*, 100% due to people buying and playing
the song ironically, it is easily the most intentionally idiotic song ever
written.
>And i'm surprised that Elvis is not on this list.
I don't think the compilers of this list have ever heard of Elvis.
Brian
Marc Wielage
> Odd, when I saw a story on this list on CNN a couple of weeks ago, I had no
> problem downloading it from Blender's website.
>--------------------------------snip----------------------------------<
I went over to BLENDER's website just a couple of weeks ago, and they only
showed about five or six of the songs -- not the full list.
But I just checked now, and the full text for the article is now up here:
http://www.blender.com/articles/article_786.html
At least they expand on their reasons for selecting these songs. In a lot of
cases, their reasons are pretty lame. I agree that their are a handful of
Elvis songs that are as bad or worse than anything there.
--MFW
Marc Wielage
> Does it say how they arrived at the list? An in-house committee, I presume?
> I'm not familiar with BLENDER magazine; what is it?
>--------------------------------snip----------------------------------<
It's a trendy American rock-review/interview magazine, trying very hard to be
to the 2000's what ROLLING STONE was to the 1970s.
You can read about it here:
and the article itself is here:
http://www.blender.com/articles/article_786.html
One of the main problems I have with the article is that they ignore
virtually all of the music of the 1950s and 1960s, let alone the 1970s. It's
as if all they know is the stuff done in the last 20 years, which is a shame.
There's a ton of songs that are far worse, if you look back all the way to
the dawn of Rock & Roll.
Plus, a lot of BLENDER's picks can be summed up in the following:
1) songs that are a little bit posturing or pretentious
2) quickly-done, throwaway songs done with very shallow lyrics
3) weird novelty songs ("I'm Too Sexy," "Barbie," etc.) that to me, barely
qualify as real music in the first place. Songs like that are *supposed* to
be wacky, and aren't supposed to be taken seriously.
Oh, and for whoever mentioned "My Ding-a-Ling," that one's definitely lame,
and it's sad and ironic that it's Chuck Berry's biggest hit. But I still
think there are worse songs out there, though.
--MFW
Mr. M
I'm glad they mentioned "Sunglasses At Night"
RMRose
find that some Beatles' songs could only be tolerated because they're the
Beatles and done by anyone else would be judged as inferior.
Many on the White Album fit into this category, for example...
"Marc Wielage" <m...@musictrax.com> wrote in message
news:0001HW.BCCC6DEB...@news-server.socal.rr.com...
Bob Roman
> I guess you couyld make that argument. To be dispassionate for a second, I
> find that some Beatles' songs could only be tolerated because they're the
> Beatles and done by anyone else would be judged as inferior.
> Many on the White Album fit into this category, for example...
I sometimes feel the opposite. Some of the White Album songs get criticized
for not sounding like typical Beatles songs, but from anyone else would get
more effusive praise.
Bob Roman
Ludovic Delamare
> In article <mesnews.82a57d45....@free.fr>, Ludovic Delamare
> <ludovic.rl.d...@free.fr> writes:
>
>
>>>
>>> 1. We Built This City Starship ... 1985
>>>
>> Ouch. I didn't know this song until recently when a video of it was
>> played on VH1Classic.
>> I must admit it's really awful. The fact that these people were so
>> great in the sixties
>> makes it only worse.
>
> Well, in fact these really *weren't* the people who were so great in the
> 60's. At this point I think Grace Slick was the only member with any
> connection to the original Jefferson Airplane (or rather, the "classic"
> Airplane lineup, as she wasn't on of the "original" members of the group
> herself), and from what I understand at that point even she wasn't really
> contributing all that much cratively.
>
You're right. This is Starship and not Jefferson Starship. So Paul
Kantner is not on this song.
But David Freiberg was in Quicksilver.
--
Ceci est une signature automatique de MesNews.
Site : http://mesnews.no-ip.com
Marc Wielage
> To be dispassionate for a second, I
> find that some Beatles' songs could only be tolerated because they're the
> Beatles and done by anyone else would be judged as inferior.
> Many on the White Album fit into this category, for example...
>--------------------------------snip----------------------------------<
Ah, you see, that's one of the reasons I actually *liked* the WHITE ALBUM --
because they sounded so different from what they had done before.
I don't agree the stuff is inferior by any definition; to me, in a lot of
ways the WHITE ALBUM was one of the best they did. You can make a good
argument that this album really presented solo projects by each Beatle, with
the others playing back-up for them, and they didn't really mesh well as a
group. But the individual songs still hold up well to me. I actually prefer
it to ABBEY ROAD, but I know I'm in the minority there.
--MFW
Jimbo700
I should have read this Usenet group first and I would have saved the 2
hours I spent watching the program.
I agree that this list of tunes is just hype for Blender magazine.
"We Built This City" has no business being on this list, let alone being the
number one song.
Brett A. Pasternack
>
> "We Built This City" has no business being on this list, let alone being the
> number one song.
You do realize it's a list of *BAD* songs, don't you?
It shouldn't be number one, but it's pretty atrocious!
Brett A. Pasternack
>
> I hesitate to upload this, because a) the list is lame, and b) some will be
> annoyed by it, but since BLENDER won't post the list on their on website,
> here it is:
The first thing I have to note is that, at least on the TV special, the
list was billed as the "Most Awesomely Bad" songs. That's kind of open
to interpretation. In fact, there are several songs on the list that
make me think of "Awesomely Bad", in the sense that they're fun "guilty
pleasures" even though they're crap. Like "Achy Breaky Heart", "Ice Ice
Baby", and "Barbie Girl"--I wouldn't defend any of them as "good", but
as long as they aren't overplayed (which they all were, for a while, but
no more) I can enjoy them.
Second comment is that they obviously picked this list for VH1's
benefit, which means being very, very heavy on stuff from the video era.
"I've Never Been To Me" (which is deserving if we interpret "Awesomely
Bad" to mean "truly awful" rather than what I suggested above) never had
a chance. Certainly they weren't going to put on "The Blind Man In The
Bleachers" or something.
The only thing on their list that I'd call really out-and-out awful is
the one at #1, and maybe the Bryan Adams although he's done worse.
There's plenty on the list that I actively like--"Two Princes", "We
Didn't Start The Fire", "Follow Man", "Shiny Happy People", and the two
60s entries, for example. (Oh, wait, there's three, I forgot "The End".
Well, I don't have a problem with "The End" and I certainly wouldn't put
it on such a list.)
Looking at the era they were concentrating on, the two truly ghastly
records that they left out were "Ironic" by Alanis and Journey's big
comeback hit "When You Love A Woman". Worse than anything on the list,
including Starship.
CitizenDan
often generated these days: Put together by people in their 20s who
have no idea of what American culture was like before 1980; certain to
make a point of slaying a few sacred cows because of the attention it
invariably gets; and aggressively teased prior to publication -- even
one of our half-assed local TV news broadcasts mentioned it (weather
cretin: "How can they say that? I've got that song on 8-track!" Nyuk,
nyuk, nyuk.....).
The people at Blender either have or chose to exercise no scope at all
when it comes to rock history, otherwise they wouldn't have neglected
such true atrocities as "Dominique," "Teen Angel," the collected works
of Pat Boone/Connie Francis/Herman's Hermits/Blood, Sweat & Tears
(take your pick), or any of the atrocious fake rock (Fabian, Frankie
Avalon, ad nauseum) that littered the radio post-Elvis and
pre-Beatles. It's the same mentality that VH1 uses when their
documentaries about the '70s feature nothing but oh-so-witty
commentary from people who were but infants during the decade in
question.
Trudi Marrapodi
d...@computeruser.com (CitizenDan) wrote:
> The Blender thing is typical of these "definitive" lists that are so
> often generated these days: Put together by people in their 20s who
> have no idea of what American culture was like before 1980; certain to
> make a point of slaying a few sacred cows because of the attention it
> invariably gets; and aggressively teased prior to publication -- even
> one of our half-assed local TV news broadcasts mentioned it (weather
> cretin: "How can they say that? I've got that song on 8-track!" Nyuk,
> nyuk, nyuk.....).
Sadly, I believe you are right. It's partly so they can drip with hip
irony, and partly so they can just make fun of what they see as "old
folks' music."
> The people at Blender either have or chose to exercise no scope at all
> when it comes to rock history, otherwise they wouldn't have neglected
> such true atrocities as "Dominique," "Teen Angel," the collected works
> of Pat Boone/Connie Francis/Herman's Hermits/Blood, Sweat & Tears
> (take your pick), or any of the atrocious fake rock (Fabian, Frankie
> Avalon, ad nauseum) that littered the radio post-Elvis and
> pre-Beatles.
And let's not forget "Honey" or "Run Joey Run."
> It's the same mentality that VH1 uses when their
> documentaries about the '70s feature nothing but oh-so-witty
> commentary from people who were but infants during the decade in
> question.
Yes indeed...those shows have their laughs, but come on...one of them said
Kool-Aid was invented in the '70s, and you'd have to not only be ignorant
but downright insane to think Kool-Aid has only been around since the
'70s.
--
Trudi
"We think everything was justified because we were instructed to do
this and to do that."--Pfc. Lynndie England, 5/11/04
"If someone told you to go play in the middle of Route 20, would you just do it?"--My mother to her daughters, approx. 1959 onward
DianeE
"Trudi Marrapodi" <tru...@clarityconnect.competent> wrote in message
news:trudee-2005...@cci-209150248159.clarityconnect.net...
> In article <138c1dc8.04051...@posting.google.com>,
> d...@computeruser.com (CitizenDan) wrote:
>
> > It's the same mentality that VH1 uses when their
> > documentaries about the '70s feature nothing but oh-so-witty
> > commentary from people who were but infants during the decade in
> > question.
>
> Yes indeed...those shows have their laughs, but come on...one of them said
> Kool-Aid was invented in the '70s, and you'd have to not only be ignorant
> but downright insane to think Kool-Aid has only been around since the
> '70s.
Ha. They probably think it was invented by Rev. Jim Jones.
DianeE
Bob Roman
> Yes indeed...those shows have their laughs, but come on...one of them said
> Kool-Aid was invented in the '70s, and you'd have to not only be ignorant
> but downright insane to think Kool-Aid has only been around since the
> '70s.
Not to defend VH1 (who have been scraping the bottom of the nostalgia barrel
for easy kitsch for some time) but I think what they were pointing out was
actually that the Kool-Aid commercials with the goofy mascot started in the
'70s. It's a matter of interpretation, I suppose, because they did not
clarify that Kool-Aid itself was older, but all of their "humorous
commentary" was about the big mascot.
Bob Roman
Trudi Marrapodi
<robert...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Actually, I seem to remember that during one of their little quizzes when
they ask you "which year did these three things happen in," they mentioned
Kool-Aid as having hit the market in the year they were quizzing about.
Which I think was 1973 or something. Now *that*'s just plain wrong.
Bob Roman
> Actually, I seem to remember that during one of their little quizzes when
> they ask you "which year did these three things happen in," they mentioned
> Kool-Aid as having hit the market in the year they were quizzing about.
> Which I think was 1973 or something. Now *that*'s just plain wrong.
If they said that, then you are right and I am wrong.
Bob Roman
Mr. M
Kool aid goes back to at least the mid 60s. I remember an early
commercial that sounded like an Indian chant- "Kool Aid Kool aid,
tastes great, ....................makes two quarts of Kool Aid
quick!"
Remember "Funny Face"- that was competition for KA- they both came in
powdered packets. Goofy Grape, Freckle Faced Strawberry, and of
course, Injun' Orange.
MN
DianeE
"Mr. M" <M...@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:get1b01pveo098lqd...@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 23 May 2004 12:14:15 -0400, "Bob Roman"
> <robert...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >"Trudi Marrapodi" <tru...@clarityconnect.competent> wrote...
> >> Actually, I seem to remember that during one of their little quizzes
when
> >> they ask you "which year did these three things happen in," they
mentioned
> >> Kool-Aid as having hit the market in the year they were quizzing about.
> >> Which I think was 1973 or something. Now *that*'s just plain wrong.
> >
> >If they said that, then you are right and I am wrong.
> >
> >Bob Roman
> >
> Kool aid goes back to at least the mid 60s. I remember an early
> commercial that sounded like an Indian chant- "Kool Aid Kool aid,
> tastes great, ....................makes two quarts of Kool Aid
> quick!"
Kool-Aid goes back to the 50s. I can remember hearing it advertised on the
radio before we even had a TV. I asked my mother if we could get some, and
she said--this is true, she really said this:
"Nobody drinks that stuff except the colored kids, 'cause they're too poor
to afford soda."
DianeE
Kent
> Remember "Funny Face"- that was competition for KA- they both came in
> powdered packets. Goofy Grape, Freckle Faced Strawberry, and of
> course, Injun' Orange.
Actually, it was Jolly Olly Orange--and don't forget Lefty Lemon, Choo-Choo
Cherry, Rootin-Tootin Raspberry. I have a T-shirt with most of these
characters on it; no "Injun Orange", though there might have been an "Injun"
SOMETHING.
Kent
DianeE
"Dave Allen" <twod...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:twodorian-38243...@individual.net...
> In article <sm7sc.10454$4%3....@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>,
> "DianeE" <Tired...@SorryFolks.com> wrote:
>
> > "Mr. M" <M...@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > > commercial that sounded like an Indian chant- "Kool Aid Kool aid,
> > > tastes great, ....................makes two quarts of Kool Aid
> > > quick!"
> > --------------
> > Kool-Aid goes back to the 50s.
>
---------
I think Alley Oop drank it.
DianeE
Trudi Marrapodi
<twod...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> In article <sm7sc.10454$4%3....@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>,
> "DianeE" <Tired...@SorryFolks.com> wrote:
>
> > "Mr. M" <M...@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > > Kool aid goes back to at least the mid 60s. I remember an early
> > > commercial that sounded like an Indian chant- "Kool Aid Kool aid,
> > > tastes great, ....................makes two quarts of Kool Aid
> > > quick!"
> > --------------
> > Kool-Aid goes back to the 50s.
>
> Kool-Aid goes back to the 20s.
>
> --
> Dave
At least. I have a book that includes an ad from the '30s or '40s with
Sonja Henie (the skating champion who made a string of movies back then)
endorsing Kool-Aid.
Trudi Marrapodi
<kmp...@IGNORETHISnc.rr.com> wrote:
Actually, Jolly Olly Orange WAS Injun Orange to start out with. He was
changed to Jolly Olly Orange for what some would call reasons of political
correctness. Which existed even that long ago.
I admit, I am too young to remember Injun Orange. By the time I was old
enough to have a memory, he'd already been changed to Jolly Olly Orange.
Mr. M
wrote:
Yup, injun orange- here's a picture of the package- it was available
in 64-65, then it switched to jolly olly orange.
Bob Roman
> Sonja Henie (the skating champion who made a string of movies back then)
> endorsing Kool-Aid.
The Kraft food website gave me the "fun fact" that Kool Aid was first sold
in 1927.
1927 was also the year of the recording sessions in Bristol, Tennessee that
helped make rural American mountain music a viable commercial entity --
ultimately degenerating, 65 years later, into the huge hit country-pop
line-dance tune "Achy Breaky Heart," which was #2 on the Blender "worst
songs" list.
How's that for getting back on topic?
Bob Roman
Mr. M
(Trudi Marrapodi) wrote:
>In article <0S8sc.56439$V_.24...@twister.southeast.rr.com>, "Kent"
><kmp...@IGNORETHISnc.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> "Mr. M" <M...@Yahoo.com> wrote
>>
>> > Remember "Funny Face"- that was competition for KA- they both came in
>> > powdered packets. Goofy Grape, Freckle Faced Strawberry, and of
>> > course, Injun' Orange.
>>
>> Actually, it was Jolly Olly Orange--and don't forget Lefty Lemon, Choo-Choo
>> Cherry, Rootin-Tootin Raspberry. I have a T-shirt with most of these
>> characters on it; no "Injun Orange", though there might have been an "Injun"
>> SOMETHING.
>
>Actually, Jolly Olly Orange WAS Injun Orange to start out with. He was
>changed to Jolly Olly Orange for what some would call reasons of political
>correctness. Which existed even that long ago.
>
>I admit, I am too young to remember Injun Orange. By the time I was old
>enough to have a memory, he'd already been changed to Jolly Olly Orange.
I found a picture of Injun Orange and posted it to this group.
MN
Mark Dintenfass
<M...@Yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I found a picture of Injun Orange and posted it to this group.
A lot of news servers will filter out binaries posted to non-binary
groups. You'd be betgter off posting it in a the 70s binary group and
posting a notice of it here.
--
--md
_________
Remove xx's from address to reply
eric h
Bob Roman <robert...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>1927 was also the year of the recording sessions in Bristol, Tennessee that
>helped make rural American mountain music a viable commercial entity --
>ultimately degenerating, 65 years later, into the huge hit country-pop
>line-dance tune "Achy Breaky Heart," which was #2 on the Blender "worst
>songs" list.
>How's that for getting back on topic?
Not bad. But as bad country songs go, ABH is merely annoying. Bad?
Maybe, but not nearly so bad as real retch-inducers like "Watching Scotty
Grow" or "God Bless the USA." I'm sure I could think of others.
--
---
"Wake Up, Everybody."--McFadden/Whitehead/Carstarphen
RIP John Whitehead 1948-2004
Trudi Marrapodi
eh...@deuce.xmission.com (eric h) wrote:
> In article <10b3tu1...@news.supernews.com>,
> Bob Roman <robert...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >1927 was also the year of the recording sessions in Bristol, Tennessee that
> >helped make rural American mountain music a viable commercial entity --
> >ultimately degenerating, 65 years later, into the huge hit country-pop
> >line-dance tune "Achy Breaky Heart," which was #2 on the Blender "worst
> >songs" list.
> >How's that for getting back on topic?
>
> Not bad. But as bad country songs go, ABH is merely annoying. Bad?
> Maybe, but not nearly so bad as real retch-inducers like "Watching Scotty
> Grow" or "God Bless the USA." I'm sure I could think of others.
You know it's just not a real "worst songs" list if it makes no mention of
"Honey," "Run Joey Run" or "I've Never Been to Me."
--
Trudi
"There must be *somebody* I can complain to about you."
Jeff Lodoen
news:trudee-2605...@cci-209150248051.clarityconnect.net:
I'm 30 and I have never been exposed directly to those songs.
"Honey" I heard Peg Bundy sing on Married With Children. I
think I saw it on a Dave Barry list, too.
The other two I saw clips of on VH1 years ago.
This list is aimed at me, for sure. Certainly not
an all-time worst.
Trudi Marrapodi
<jmlo...@thegrid.net> wrote:
> tru...@clarityconnect.competent (Trudi Marrapodi) wrote in
> news:trudee-2605...@cci-209150248051.clarityconnect.net:
>
> > In article <c911uq$lm4$1...@terabinaries.xmission.com>,
> > eh...@deuce.xmission.com (eric h) wrote:
> >
> >> In article <10b3tu1...@news.supernews.com>,
> >> Bob Roman <robert...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> >1927 was also the year of the recording sessions in Bristol,
> >> >Tennessee that helped make rural American mountain music a viable
> >> >commercial entity -- ultimately degenerating, 65 years later, into
> >> >the huge hit country-pop line-dance tune "Achy Breaky Heart," which
> >> >was #2 on the Blender "worst songs" list.
> >> >How's that for getting back on topic?
> >>
> >> Not bad. But as bad country songs go, ABH is merely annoying. Bad?
> >> Maybe, but not nearly so bad as real retch-inducers like "Watching
> >> Scotty Grow" or "God Bless the USA." I'm sure I could think of
> >> others.
> >
> > You know it's just not a real "worst songs" list if it makes no
> > mention of "Honey," "Run Joey Run" or "I've Never Been to Me."
>
> I'm 30 and I have never been exposed directly to those songs.
"Exposed" would be the term. Kind of like being "exposed" to anthrax.
> "Honey" I heard Peg Bundy sing on Married With Children. I
> think I saw it on a Dave Barry list, too.
Oh, then at least you didn't entirely miss out.
> The other two I saw clips of on VH1 years ago.
Clips? As in TV performances? I don't think they ever had videos.
> This list is aimed at me, for sure. Certainly not
> an all-time worst.
So you agree then!
Jeff Lodoen
>> I'm 30 and I have never been exposed directly to those songs.
>
> "Exposed" would be the term. Kind of like being "exposed" to anthrax.
>
>> "Honey" I heard Peg Bundy sing on Married With Children. I
>> think I saw it on a Dave Barry list, too.
>
> Oh, then at least you didn't entirely miss out.
>
>> The other two I saw clips of on VH1 years ago.
>
> Clips? As in TV performances? I don't think they ever had videos.
Yeah, TV lip-synchs. "Run Joey Run" sounded even stupider
in this context for obvious reasons.
>> This list is aimed at me, for sure. Certainly not
>> an all-time worst.
>
> So you agree then!
Yeah, they should've left off the word "Ever". The magazine
looks to be aimed at people younger than me. You should feel
good that it went back to...
(reads list) THE HELL! re: Obladi, Oblada "The Beatles proved
conclusively that there were two things they could not do: play
reggae and feign enjoyment.“ Huh?
My mistake... this list is a bit stupid. No history. Here's
a thought..
Obladi, Oblada "Life Goes On"
The End "Apocolypse Now"
Sound Of Silence "The Graduate"
I think "overplayed" songs would be more descriptive...
GCarras
Duncan and David Cassidy were born in a year of bad songs (so the music pundits
will say),1950, the year of these Great American Songbook (yeah right!)
classics:
THE THING
HOOP DE DOO
BIBBIDTY BOBBITY BOO
TENNESEE PLOWBOY
CHATTANOPOGA SHOE SHINE BOY
ZING ZING ZOOM ZOOM
I love these but these are reviled by many critics..much like the songs the
four mentioned above would do even though I think Charlene, Karen Carpenter,
and the trwo Davids get a bum rap..