We Built This City [On Rock an' Roll]

There should be a 33-1/3 book about this. Not the album, just the single. From inception to writing to recording to video shoot to legacy. It would be amazing.

I agree - there is something vast about it. I remember where I was the first time I heard it - at a youth AIDS awareness meeting SE Portland

a guy whose face I remember super-clearly was casually lipsyncing the bridge while the speaker told us about condoms

Another example (think: Mr Mister, Heart) of a song sold as a band performance when no one except the singers showed up to sing over an engineer's programming.

I can't think of any time in the last half century when this wasn't a common practice for pop records

oh sure (hey we're the Monkees!) -- this is the eighties edition, during which Emulators replace session men.

One of many reasons why the '80s sucked, musically and otherwise

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/starship-lead-guitarist-mark-abrahamian-dies-of-heart-attack-after-concert-in-nebraska/2012/09/03/0843a824-f62c-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html

Abrahamian joined Starship 11 years ago. Starship’s history goes back to the 1960s with Jefferson Airplane and in 1980s Jefferson Starship.

"The stage was now set for the Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft."

Jefferson Starship just played a gig here two nights ago. I just learned Starship and Jefferson Starship are now two completely different bands.

It's easier if you just categorize it all under Jefferson Wheelchair and leave it at that

The less you think about it, the easier it is

jefferson airplane ended up the anti-fleetwood mac somehow, like FM floating on a cloud of awesome despite constant changes for decades after their founding and JA watering down into starship.

Marconi plays the mamba

The greatest article ever:

http://www.gq.com/story/oral-history-we-built-this-city-worst-song-of-all-time

Martha Davis (vocalist, the Motels): As best I remember—and we're talking about the '80s, so I don't remember much—[Elton John lyricist] Bernie Taupin sent me the lyrics to “We Built This City” so I could write music to it. I called Bernie and said, “My artistic muse won't let me finish the song.” Regrets? Oh, hell no.

Will read, but this remains my favourite piece of writing on the song:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080221011559/http://www.epinions.com/content_4818706564

wtf is with all of these unfunny fake gq oral histories

Stay gold, Jefferson Wheelchair

― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, January 22, 2012 8:38 PM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Chaquico: I do the song with my band—sometimes as a full-on power trio, like if Cream or Jimi Hendrix were to do it, but we also do a reggae version of it, when we're in the mood. Imagine Bob Marley singing “We Built This City.”

wait that was fake? Pretty good read -- I'm sure a ton of bands and artists start to hate their big hits, either at the time, or after performing them a 1000 times.

yeah it could've fooled me

I dunno, quite a fair few of those look like actual quotes to me.

Far from the very worst song ever, let alonea tune with Taiping writing the words. I hear unintended compositional irony: The song validates synclaviers as worthwhile foundation stones in this city of rock 'n' roll.

er Taupin

it's a tacky song, not a terrible song. the lyrics always confused me.

I think as a song it's absolutely fucking wank.

Genuinely perplexed as to why this gets to the top of US lists for worst songs ever - surely it's just a fairly typical 80s mainstream rock hit, nothing more, nothing less. Maybe everyone was expecting another 'White Rabbit' or something.

as a good songwriter once wrote, but in that it's not charmless.

xpost

wasn't actually aware of this song's worse standing until this article -- it's certainly a really dated 80s production, and the sentiment is also really dated. Even unaware of this song, I can't imagine anyone uttering this phrase or writing this song today. On top of that, it's a fantastic example of what 60s and 70s people look and sound like 80s-ized. Does that make it bad? Of course not. (but I think it's pretty bad myself, and did in the 80s too)

ZZ Top managed to pull a similar feat in the 80s, but somehow retained their basic identity.

wtf is with all of these unfunny fake gq oral histories

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, August 31, 2016 8:03 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the smooth one was fake but this is real. i think? there are definitely real quotes in there.

Had no idea Taupin wrote this, suddenly all those odd nonsequitors make sense

pretty good song, absolutely epic pre-chorus

Yeah, I love this song. Always have. Looking forward to people moving on to another song they all agree is the worst ever.

It's considered bad because many critics remained (remain?) beholden to ideas of purity. I mean, the production doesn't sound anymore gimmicky than "Owner of a Lonely Heart."

"Sara" is far, far worse -- a candidate for worst '80s ballad.

Oh fucking hell...

This song always felt like pointless garbage, and time doesn't change that.

"I'll never find another girl like you", fuck you Mickey, you probably found one on the way back to the dressing room

does rock 'n roll negatively impact property values

"It complains about techno pop, but it's a techno-pop song. It exemplifies the problem it's protesting" -- there it is. Techno pop isn't a problem. Hippie farts essaying techno pop isn't a problem.

It reminds me of The Rod Stewart Problem, received wisdom for decades: somewhere in the mid '70s Stewart cared about gold albums and models, not art, maaan. Anyone who like me wasn't born at the time could hear the dude was always chasing tail and gold from Gasoline Alley onwards; the difference was he made slightly more consistent albums.

The ITT version referred to in the piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTvpikMIs3Q

like Dominique, I don't think it's a good song (I like the bridge though!) but 1985-1986 gave it competition in the worst sweepstakes.

ffs "We are the World" for one

Always remember that Grace and Paul reformed Jefferson Airplane again so they could make this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0gnnVcOLNc

Makes We Built This City sound like a masterpiece.

It always figured that Jefferson Airplane would celebrate Howard Hughes. Uh.

I'm...stunned by "Planes," particularly of the closeups of Grace Slick's teeth.

Put me down for "I don't necessarily like it, but I don't hate it" as well. I had thought its tenure as the Worst Song Ever had pretty much run its course by now, anyway. Didn't one of the recent EMP conferences declare (the infinitely worse) "Dear Mr. Jesus" the new "champion?"

omg that planes song holy shit

Other songs on that reunion album: "Panda" and "Common Market Madrigal"

was gonna say

"Sara" is far, far worse -- a candidate for worst '80s ballad.

ZZ Top's "Rough Boy" gets my vote. For both its innate badness and its legacy-befouling qualities.

so this is fake, right? besides the quotes with citations.

yeah it could've fooled me

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, August 31, 2016 1:58 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah but the smooth article DID fool you :P

It reminds me of The Rod Stewart Problem

this is something else:
(Bryan Adams feat. The Rod Stewart Problem and Sting)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofA3URC1wyk