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

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

do you know what a melodic hook is? Regardless of how you feel about the songs, both "Anything, Anything" and "Ball and Chain" have clear melodic hooks

No you're right, I was being overly harsh. What I meant is that the hooks are boring as shit & the dudes can't sing :)

"I'll give you anything, ANYTHING" [plays four-chord progression for three minutes without variation]

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol dude you'll have that hook in your head literally for the rest of your life, maybe reserve comment on a song's hooks until a little longer than "I just heard this song just now"

even as a self-loathing former rhcp fan i don't really get the under the bridge hate.

Justice served in this poll, that song is anti-rape on paper, but actually treats date rape as a sleazy and "hilarious" joke.

too close.

I admire the Nirvana voter, whoever you be

15. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized 0

^^good job ILM

they knew what they consequences would be

also wtf at the comments on Ball and Chain upthread, that song is immortal

what the hell, under the bridge is like the 2nd best song on here.

Maybe it's a west coast thing

I get "Under the Bridge" fatigue but when that shit was fresh it was welcome as hell

Such nice hendrixy guitar. The lyrics are pretty lousy apart from the first verse.

that ride-out riff from Frusciante is all-time

kiedis's wretched singing throughout, how can anyone bear it, I ask you.