worst currently charting single that samples or interpolates Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"

Even setting aside the fact that I disagree with that, the difference is that with the Steam parts, the DeBarge song becomes roundabout the worst thing ever, whereas they're not hugely detrimental to the other two.

i dunno...it's really the cherry on top of all the stuff that's wrong w/ the Jay song, but it's a big cherry.

what is going on with the drums/percussion in "na na hey hey kiss him goodbye"? there's a breakdown and i still can't figure it out. it sounds like a person playing snare, toms, and cymbals, but then upfront instead of a kick there's a very insistent something on the 16th beats. i used to think it was two drummers but i don't think that's right. also the placement of the drum fills feels random.

To me it sounds like the right channel is the regular kit, and then on the left channel there's an overdub of someone playing either an upturned bass drum or a detuned floor tom with both hands, with a blanket on it. It could also be something weird like playing on a floor with mallets, or tapping on a microphone.

thanks. don't the fills seem weird too? it almost sounds like they had a drum track first and then laid everything else on top of it, like they just told a drummer "hey play this beat for five minutes and we'll write a song over it later." i wonder if it was written in the studio.

yep:

With DeCarlo as lead vocalist, they recorded the song in one recording session. Instead of using a full band, Leka played keyboards and had engineer Warren Dewey splice together a drum track from one of DeCarlo's four singles and a conga drum solo by Ange DiGeronimo recorded in Mr. Leka's Bridgeport, Connecticut studio for an entirely different session.

that explains why it sounds weird. should've gone to wikipedia first.

Oh cool! If that's accurate, it's the weirdest sounding conga I've ever heard though. Maybe it was a rhythm part and they just put a low pass filter on it.

yeah it doesn't sound like a conga to me either. it definitely sounds edited together though.

i always thought this song was created by abiogenesis in a minor league baseball stadium