Worst song on KROQ's 25 Most Requested Songs of All-Time (2006)

I assumed by now someone would have

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I'm probably voting for "Just a Girl" because their watery ska punk + her voice made late nineties radio unbearable.

is there a lex of American modern rock? Kinda thinking he'd love No Doubt and hate The Smiths.

"self-esteem," "gotta get away" and "come out and play" were modern rock top tens while "bad habit" didn't chart anywhere so i have to assume it was only popular on kroq and a couple like-minded morning zoos

and the tape decks of 12 year olds, obv

any Dramarama lovers here?

are there any Dramarama lovers on the board tonight? get them up against the wall

(sorry)

i can totally understand people squirming at the glibness of "date rape" - as I said, I dunno how I feel about it being the no. 1 KROQ call-in jam, esp when Sublime clearly weren't worried about indulging in homophobic pandering in the last verse.

But it's a matter-of-fact acknowledgement that date rape exists, is about power and opportunity (last verse underscores that), and is fucking bullshit, in a genre chock full of mouth-foaming misogyny and objectification (rest of list underscores that).

Not saying you have to play it at your wedding, not saying that watching a room of dudes hoot and holler over it isn't gross. Just pointing out why that girl at karaoke may not think it's the worst thing ever.

― da croupier, Thursday, July 10, 2014 10:29 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is fair up to a point, but it's sorta giving them too much of a free pass: congratulations, you wrote a song that in some way attaches negativity to something people should be writing other, better and more nuanced songs about. Neanderthal and mattresslessness OTM about its bogus ethical universe. Also the worst consequence of date rape is A DUDE WILL SEX YOU, it's just really high school junior level of dealing with the material. I 0000000000000000000000feel okay writing off the girl at karaoke, not because she relates to the song, but because she is stoked to hear Sublime at karaoke, as if this is some sort of unprecedented wonder.

Thinking about "Girls" and the request line - I mean, I know that people frequently request songs that are often played anyway, but it's maybe SORT of the case that this list does reflect the fact that, say, they were going to play Sabotage and Fight For Your Right anyway, and people calling in for Girls felt they were aiming for a relative 'deep cut.'

The expanded list looks a lot better than 1-25 IMO. I mean "Boyz N the Hood" is awful but kind of forgettably background despite the dumbass premise of the whole operation. I mean if you don't realize it's "we're doing a funky bro summer jam cover of a rap song!" it's just kind of a melodic beige, like a less-good "The Hooch." Feel like the top finishers here are all kind of sonically attention-seeky. Also "Chop Suey" rules and I similarly cannot shake my teenage impressedness at STUPID DUMB SHIT GOD DAMNED MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!. Would rather hear "Bad Habit" than any of their other hits probably.

I'm weirdly kind of won over by the defenses of Last Resort. I once tried to lobby for Broken Home on similar grounds, but the internet crashed and I lost the post. lol at ciderpress's reading in any case.

If Oingo wasn't on the list (and who knows, maybe i'll "get" them the longer i'm in LA, certainly get played enough on my new wave sirius station of choice), I'd probably vote for "Self-Esteem" which just never did anything for me (certainly had little sympathy to dudes who hate their horny girlfriends when i was a teenager). the rest i can basically dig.

I presume that Girls got most of its requests prior to the existence of Sabotage. Probably got so much play due to its novelty value (like so many of these songs).

I was on the Oingo Boingo train from the first time I saw the video for "Nothing Bad Ever Happens" and it took them doing an adult-contemporary album for them to make me reconsider.

self-esteem lyrics didn't really mean anything to me either but i still think its kind of great

Strike the above, I would rather hear "All I Want" or maybe even "Meaning of Life." see also WORST Single By Green Day or the Offspring

ixnay on the hombre was one of the first CDs i owned but i don't think i've listened to it in 10+ years

RIP Lou Dogg

Nowell was known to invite his friends and their dogs over to film parodies of popular music videos; the dogs would pose as a band or an artist, dressed in corresponding costumes.[citation needed]

http://s3.amazonaws.com/images.inticketing.com/tickets.slims-sf.com/images/lou_dog_trio.jpg

Didn't vote for "Date Rape", but if we polled the second part of the list I would've definitely chosen "Wrong Way". I hate that fukkin song.

Here's how I break this shit down...

Don't hate:

2. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
3. Nine Inch Nails - Closer
4. Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right to Party
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
8. No Doubt - Just a Girl
9. Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
11. Radiohead - Creep
12. Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
13. Weezer - Buddy Holly
14. Beastie Boys - Girls
15. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
18. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
20. Violent Femmes - Add It Up
22. Beck - Loser
26. No Doubt Spiderwebs
28. Nirvana Come As You Are
29. The B-52's Rock Lobster
32. Beastie Boys Brass Monkey
34. Red Hot Chili Peppers Give it Away
38. Korn Got the Life
41. Jane's Addiction Been Caught Stealing
42. New Order Blue Monday
43. Nine Inch Nails Hurt
44. Beastie Boys Intergalactic
50. System of a Down Chop Suey
45. The Smashing Pumpkins Today

Don't know:

1. Sublime - Date Rape
6. Dramarama - Anything, Anything
10. Green Day - Brain Stew
17. Linkin Park - In the End
24. Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
25. Papa Roach - Last Resort
19. Green Day - Basket Case
21. The Offspring - Bad Habit
23. Blink-182 - Dammit
27. Sublime Smoke 2 Joints
31. Green Day Boulevard of Broken Dreams
33. Soft Cell Sex Dwarf
37. Dynamite Hack Boyz N the Hood
40. Pennywise Fuck Authority
46. Social Distortion Ball And Chain
48. The Offspring Come Out and Play
49. Oingo Boingo Little Girls

Apathy verging on hatred:

16. Sublime - What I Got
30. Weezer Undone (the Sweater Song)
35. King Missile Detachable Penis
36. Blink-182 All the Small Things
47. The Killers Mr. Brightside

Blinding, white hot hate:

7. The Offspring - Self-Esteem
39. Sublime Wrong Way

Even though the Sublime song sounds horrid, there's no way I'm going to miss an opportunity to vote for Under the Bridge, which may be my most hated song ever.

― lauded at conferences of deluded psychopaths (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 3:31 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTMOTMOTM

under the bridge seems fairly harmless to me

"Basket Case" is the "do you have the time / to listen to me whine" song - would be surprised if you hadn't heard it, but, uh, stranger things happen. It's worth hearing I'd say. You're not missing much with the rest. I'd maybe check out "Last Resort" just to see what the hate is about. "In The End" and "Date Rape" are not even worth doing this for.

For some reason, I can still sorta stand Under the Bridge, but probably not after repeated listens.

That said, I'm still traumatized by this one time during freshman year of college when I invited a girl back to my dorm for some bong rips and she insisted we listen to Under the Bridge on repeat over and over again. That was way harsh.

basket case is the best song on the list probably

I normally can't stand RHCP, but I sort of like Under the Bridge, the melody is fairly strong.

It's hard to imagine not knowing Ball & Chain either. That's one of the most ubiquitous alternative songs of all time.

basket case is the best song on the list probably

that, closer, or buddy holly for me

oh, 1994

last resort is too ridiculous to hate imo, it's the moment when the genre finally achieved blissful self-parody after half a decade of attempts

basket case is the best song on the list probably

― ciderpress, Thursday, July 10, 2014 1:30 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so I looked up the video for Basket Case and I definitely remember it now, not Green Day's worst I suppose.

Also looked up Ball & Chain and I could definitely see that being one that would have made me change the channel immediately if it came on MTV.

Closer would probably be my favorite of the top 25, there's some good stuff in the second 25 too

basket case sounds like sped-up badfinger

I only know about eight of these songs, but I couldn't pass up the chance of voting for 'Under the Bridge' either.

basket case sounds like sped-up badfinger

― mattresslessness, Thursday, July 10, 2014 3:42 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a good idea!

I love "Under the Bridge" :)

the californication-era singles are the ones that drive me crazy since i've heard them way more

33. Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf

this has to be an LA thing.

And San Diego. I think that might have been the only Soft Cell song I heard until college.

"Under the Bridge" is a great song

Overplay has dulled a nice melody and good evocation of L.A.

yeah, those "Californication" songs hung around forever, apparently it is their best-selling album...?! MOR stinkers all, except "Scar Tissue" which at least was pretty to listen to. Predictably, it's the one I've heard the least in the last fifteen years.

"under the bridge" is about as old today as "fire and rain" was when "under the bridge" came out.

re californication singles, i like "otherside" a lot except for the really grating bridge

'scar tissue' bugs me the most because it has no melody but sort of pretends like it does

'otherside' is the one that i wouldn't rage at if it came on, since it kind of fell off the map after its initial run as a single

always had a huge soft spot for "under the bridge". looking at the lyrics now, it's not as treacly as i remembered. always loved the awayyyyyayyayyyyayayy refrain. but yeah, played to death. xp "fire and rain" is a good analogy, an earlier case of "you got me, asshole."

i enjoy 'by the way' and 'can't stop' the most of all the MOR-era rhcp singles, they briefly stepped it up a little bit for that record

I also don't have much of a problem with Under the Bridge, especially once it gets going. At first I think "not this again..." but it's a nice, well-constructed track.

never heard 'date rape' before. listening to it now. think i'm gonna cry.

Looking up some of the songs I don't recognize, I'm amazed at how many of them are completely lacking a melodic hook (Dramarama, Social Distortion) or even a chorus ("Brain Stew"). I guess they resonated with people solely on the basis of production & lyrical 'attitude'? (Cf. that recent paper on timbre as distinguishing mark for indie/alternative music)

the fuck is this geir shit