The Worst of the Worst of the Worst: "Rude" vs. "All About That Bass"

i can, and often have, imagined jar-jar binks singing all about that bass

djp why are you reading/watching interviews with these ppl

http://media.tumblr.com/26a332889991dc40713bbedc664cb60f/tumblr_inline_nfk7f9GqtK1qzqvun.gif

With Magic!, the interview was how I found out the song existed; it was passed around as a "look at this tool and his terrible music" lol and then suddenly every radio station was playing "Rude" and that joke wasn't funny anymore(TM)

With Meghan Trainor, she showed up on The Today Show and I was surprised by how nonplussed and excited she was. Then she sang "Your Lips Are Moving" and I thought "this isn't that good but at least it sounds like it's making an attempt to not be terrible"

omg that gif

it was truly the highlight of the whatever music awards that was

also that they were still playing their one hit rather than one of the two yet-to-chart follow-ups was encouraging

though meghan seems primed become the millenials' helen reddy or something

My reaction to AATB is "ugh, of course this is a huge hit." My reaction to "Rude" is "what the fuck is this, how is this a hit?"

on Y-100's morning show last week the deejay goes, "Alright! That was Meghan Trainor with 'All About That Bass'!" His colleague goes, "Uh, no, that was 'Lips Are Movin'." He goes, "Shut up." Uncomfortable silence, followed by hysterical laughter.

Magic! is this years Fun.

let's not forget that twenty years ago "baby i love your way" by big mountain was a hit, twenty years before that "i shot the sheriff"

clapton's "i shot the sherrif" i mean

not sure which band should be more offended xp

america has a soft spot for doofy white reggae, i mean we just gave sting a kennedy center honor

all fun needs is an exclamation point

oh c'mon fun's had multiple hits including a duet with a superstar, they're several tiers above a one-off novelty band and at least at the level of a wang chung.

If anyone's on the fence, please don't overlook Rude's guitar solo, almost certainly the worst guitar solo to ever hit pop radio.

http://youtu.be/PIh2xe4jnpk?t=2m27s

― american tail/american pie (how's life), Tuesday, January 20, 2015 3:51 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this sounds like one of those "shreds" videos!!

The "Rude" guitar solo makes the one in "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" sound positively muscular.

tbh i would listen to entire album of rude songs if it meant never having to hear trainor's baby squirrel betty boop joke voice again

no you wouldn't

tbf i'm pretty sure rude is the only song they ever recorded

whoops mixed up the band name and song name no one cares

my reaction to "rude" (first heard on the jukebox as some cancon thing) was "this is gonna get blurred lines-ed to death but it's ultimately kind of innocuously pleasant." my reaction to "all about that bass" was a mixture of "the kids still like hairspray, don't they" and "this sounds like a C-list radio disney track that will be half-heartedly promoted even by radio disney."

voted aatb but I really don't hate either of them as much as I feel I am supposed to (that one comes closer though)

"the kids still like hairspray, don't they"

ha this is OTM

my version of this reaction was "I guess people really miss Duffy?"

i repeat: "rude" is actually good, and was one of the more interesting songs on american radio in the past year (low bar, granted)

i repeat: lemonade was a popular drink and it still is

Rude has all of the ingredients of something I should hate, and yet I can't hate it. It's really not that bad.

I thought "Bass" was kinda cute on first blush, but it didn't hold up well. I got very tired of it. I never liked "Rude" at all. For me addlepated girl-group pastiche trumps frat-bro cod reggae.

Rude's lyrics win this for me. The whole childlike whining through the chorus about this girl, then ending with "I wanna marry you anyway" = induce teeth grating

I have a different take on this:

"Rude" is more pseudo-ska fodder for Sublime-worshipping dude bros who are generally horrible people, or at best have poor priorities, make bad decisions and need to grow up. This song gives them something else to listen to while taking a bong hit.

"All About That Bass" opened up more discourse into topics such as self esteem from body image, fat shaming and our cultures very complicated and damn near hypocritical opposing forces of being one of the fattest nations ever while having a media that promotes unrealistic body shapes as the norm and billions are spent dealing with weight. Despite sounding like a throwaway pop song, in the age of social media and slacktivism, it had legs beyond that.

The choice is pretty clear to me.

Hammer where did you say that originally? i need to know if i can trust your future posts

NYCNative i think the poll is about musical content, not sociological extrapolations re: probable audience

sublime worshipping dude bros are all in their 70s now and every single #1 hit for the past 5 years has spawned mountains of thinkpieces, fuck a "discourse" lol

NYCNative i think the poll is about musical content, not sociological extrapolations re: probable audience

My criteria for what I like and dislike about music is my own and I don't believe you or anyone can tell me otherwise.

qualx seems unaware that there's a whole new generation of dude bros out there with their tribal tatoos. I had the misfortune of sitting in a pizza place attached to a bar filled with them just a week ago - lots of vapid conversation heard over a jukebox playing Drowning Pool, Bob Marley and yes, Sublime.

Can we talk about how unworthy Rude is of its AMAZING Zedd remix? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Q4-wcPDBQ

qualx seems unaware that there's a whole new generation of dude bros out there with their tribal tatoos. I had the misfortune of sitting in a pizza place attached to a bar filled with them just a week ago - lots of vapid conversation heard over a jukebox playing Drowning Pool, Bob Marley and yes, Sublime.

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, January 21, 2015 7:08 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

people who listen to drowning pool, bob marley and yes, sublime, do not really factor into the success of six-week #1 hits

a song is not going to stay at #1 for six weeks because of any demographic smaller than "young people"

Sorry, but those people exist and are a demographic. I don't like them either but I am cognizant of the fact that just because I don't like a group of people doesn't mean they don't exist. I also feel they exist in far greater numbers than you suspect.

And just because I said the song appeals to them doesn't mean it appeals ONLY to them. Sheesh.

this was not a thread i was expecting to get sheeshed in

why you gotta be so rude

the thing is, i would love it if a GOOD song touched on any of those issues re: body image etc etc, it's just tjay aabtt does this in the hackiest and least thought out way possible, like someone posted the title to their facebook, waited two hours, and gathered the lyrics from comments and imageshares posted only by their immediate family. it's not insightful, it doesn't mobilize and it doesn't even have the excuse of being clever or inventive. they got to 'bass/treble' and stopped.

why you gotta be so rude

see in addition to being not very bad at all the song has incredible conversational utility

'rude' is at least funny for how surprised and let down the dude is at the failure of his halfassed, badly planned attempt to win over the jackass dad, 'awww Maaaaaaaaaaan! This bites!' ...particularly in the video where he apparently is trying this on an impulse at eleven am on a saturday, having had the idea at the spur of the moment on the way to the mall... what went wrong???!

the thing is, i would love it if a GOOD song touched on any of those issues re: body image etc etc, it's just tjay aabtt does this in the hackiest and least thought out way possible, like someone posted the title to their facebook, waited two hours, and gathered the lyrics from comments and imageshares posted only by their immediate family. it's not insightful, it doesn't mobilize and it doesn't even have the excuse of being clever or inventive. they got to 'bass/treble' and stopped.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, January 21, 2015 5:43 AM (1 hour ago)

otm, but you forgot the part where it completely fucking rules anyway

It certainly rules a "worst of the worst of the worst" poll, that's true.

victory!

Rude's lyrics win this for me. The whole childlike whining through the chorus about this girl, then ending with "I wanna marry you anyway" = induce teeth grating

― dutch_justice, Wednesday, January 21, 2015 12:58 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's not whining about the girl, he's whining about her rude dad, maaan.

i've never been more sympathetic towards the antagonist in a song than I am with the dad in "Rude."

I have a different take on this:

"Rude" is more pseudo-ska fodder for Sublime-worshipping dude bros who are generally horrible people, or at best have poor priorities, make bad decisions and need to grow up. This song gives them something else to listen to while taking a bong hit.

"All About That Bass" opened up more discourse into topics such as self esteem from body image, fat shaming and our cultures very complicated and damn near hypocritical opposing forces of being one of the fattest nations ever while having a media that promotes unrealistic body shapes as the norm and billions are spent dealing with weight. Despite sounding like a throwaway pop song, in the age of social media and slacktivism, it had legs beyond that.

The choice is pretty clear to me.

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, January 21, 2015 1:47 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Honestly if this is going to be the criteria for evaluating pop songs going forward, it's going to be a very boring future.

'rude' is at least funny for how surprised and let down the dude is at the failure of his halfassed, badly planned attempt to win over the jackass dad, 'awww Maaaaaaaaaaan! This bites!' ...particularly in the video where he apparently is trying this on an impulse at eleven am on a saturday, having had the idea at the spur of the moment on the way to the mall... what went wrong???!

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, January 21, 2015 8:47 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IMO this is exactly the charm of the song.