one shit wonder - amazing acts that somehow created one of the biggest duds in history

I'd push the Carpenters' discog out a few more singles too, actually.

I'm sure people here will say that U2 have plenty of bad songs, but "Get On Your Boots" feels particularly egregious.

omg Wiggle That Wotsit is DIRE......holy fuck. great add to this thread.

Brown Sugar

"Rainy Day Women"? Doesn't exactly loom large in the massive body of work but kinda stands out leading off an album like Blonde on Blonde...

tied for biggest hit in America

I feel like there have to be some hip hop artists this applies to, like....i know not all rappers were album-artists so there's often a lot of filler, but even rappers with huge stature make some wtf choices (i.e. Nas's "Fetus", though I don't count him as despite being one of my favorites, he has a fuck ton of songs I hate).

Jay-Z also doesn't qualify as he has multiple shits up in him

"Change Clothes" my pick for worst Jay-Z top ten.

ctrl-f kokomo

good mention map, but i'd say they're like the beatles: multiple crimes were committed.

And I don't know whether this is a factor, but the Beach Boys hadn't been "amazing" for at least 15 years beforehand.

Dire Straits, “Money for Nothing”

Definitely an extreme minority opinion: I was a rabid R.E.M. fan who hated "Losing My Religion" (and then "Orange Krush"). I did love a few singles after that, though.

I hate LMR and most of its parent album, but “Orange Crush” is brilliant (and came before LMR).

I want to say this but obviously not exactly a singles band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlJPqRs0ZLM

fp'd

still dying at that Hollies song upthread.

it goes to prove pop hooks in one brand of popular music don't necessarily map well to others, even though there were definitely lots of non-disco acts successfully navigating disco waters in the 70s (some, like the Bee Gees, deciding to stay there for good).

Leonard Cohen – 'Jazz Police'

big ballad turds in the 90s alt rock punchbowl:
Soul Asylum "Runaway Train"
REM "Everybody Hurts"
Guided by Voices "Hold on Hope"

Performing a song titled "Wiggle That Wotsit" is already a crime against humanity no matter how good the song might be.

The first Lou Reed song I ever heard (on MTV, no less) was "I Love You, Suzanne"... not the worst song in the world, I guess, but also not exactly representative of his appeal (as I would later come to know it).

I feel like there's at least one example out there of an artist releasing a first single that had such a bad reception that they ended up not putting it on an album.

The Avalanches - Frankie Sinatra

Ebony & Ivory - Stevie and Paul McCartney. Think this is the only single they released together but a stinker that should count against both artists

Jazz Police rules!!!

They improvise inside of my head

The Stranglers (feat. George Melly) - "Old Codger". Vying with "Tits" as the most unlistenable piece of shite in their entire catalogue.

The first Lou Reed song I ever heard (on MTV, no less) was "I Love You, Suzanne"... not the worst song in the world, I guess, but also not exactly representative of his appeal (as I would later come to know it).

― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp),

He's always written these throwaway pop songs, often more quietly subversive than the overtly transgressive ones.

The drums are too loud in the mix!

Symptom of the times: an engineer who didn't know how to record the big drum sound. New Sensation is my favorite of his solo albums. I'd know what Lou Reed was capable of as a writer from this album.

Seger had at least as many duds as he had classics. For every "Night Moves," there is a "Like a Rock." Ugh.

immortalized by a car commercial

but see I can still listen to 'Like a Rock' and go 'ok corny but aight', "Old Time Rock 'n Roll" is like the musical equivalent of those Youtube comments saying "now this was REAL music"

Seger has many good hits. It was his birthday last weekend.

i love most of his 70s material, need to acquire more of his albums though

Old time r&r always gets performed by tom cruise in underpants too

Don't even get me started on "Turn the Page."

All of these songs with "rock" in the title are reminding me to nominate Paul Simon for "I Am a Rock."

I see someone has already mentioned "Everybody Hurts," which ruined REM for me for decades.

let me take you to hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CozoPjQ_sH0

Directed by Peter Bonerz

I see someone has already mentioned "Everybody Hurts," which ruined REM for me for decades.

― Lily Dale, Wednesday, May 10, 2023 8:43 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglin

I agreed for 20 years until I admired the restraint of the mix and how food the strings sound

yeah relistening to it recently after many years i'm kind of amazed by it tbh

it strikes me as weird and audacious now

Pet Shop Boys - Winner. Still don't know what they were going for there.

Dullsville.

The strings, they sound food

They taste like pizza.

we should do a "don't kill yourself plz" pop song poll

a lot of my fav pop songs would fit in that poll.

like "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"

Underworld - Bruce Lee

Wake Up Boo, much as I do like it, is a good example of a hit song that eclipsed a great, multifaceted band

I also know people who maybe missed the original Britpop era who associate Blur with downbeat pity-fests like Tender, Coffee + TV and No Distance Left To Run. Damon's extracurricular work corroborates that view quite a bit - his default post- Britpop mode is to sound a bit tired and despondent. But in the 90s I remember them being upbraided in the press for being all cheery and chirpy

Bruce Lee is fucking amazing

It’s an instant skip for me, the rest of Beaucoup Fish is so propulsive and then slap bang in the middle, Skym then this lumpen slow plod for 4 minutes. Never understood why it got a single release compared to say, Moaner or Cups.

I can never skip anything on Beaucoup Fish

Moaner got a limited single release at the time of Batman & Robin but was already two years old by 1999. Although I somehow can imagine a radio edit of Cups despite it being 12m long.