Awful songs you just can't get enough of
 

I have to admit, the music threads on this forum have been some of my favorites. I am hoping you guys wouldn't mind if I started another.

Today the Dear Wife and I were riding in the car, and a song I just can't get enough of came on, one of those "guilty pleasures." So I cranked it up and started singing, surely way off key. My wife said "If you're going to listen to this, at least roll up the windows!" And then she actually slid down in her seat!!

The song? "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family. I know it's awful, but I just have to listen to it every time it comes on. I'd like to think I have good taste in music, don't know where this one comes from.

Does anyone else have a particular song that's probably embarrassing, but you just don't care??

The Cowsills - Indian Lake

My Sharona.

In a similar vein, for me it's "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies.

Sad to say, I've always loved that song

Terry Jacks, Seasons In The Sun.

Tough to admit and I applaud the rest of you for your admissions. Ohio Express "Yummy Yummy". Please don't ban me from the group but I like that song.

hahahahaahah, no way that is a banable offense. A perfect selection to add to the list.

Indeed. As a junior high schooler it seemed so profound lol.

Two from 1972, ‘How Do You Do?’ by Mouth & McNeal and ‘Beautiful Sunday’ by Daniel Boone. I would include ‘Get Down’ by Gilbert O’Sullivan, ‘Sky High’ by Jigsaw, and ‘Magic’ by Pilot but I actually think those are good songs :D.

The Night Chicago Died, Paper Lace

I had another come to mind that I liked as a kid, but now wonder "what was I thinking". I looked it up, and strangely enough, it was a hit by Paper Lace in England, but then a hit in the U.S. by Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods. The song is Billy Don't Be A Hero. I actually owned the 45 record.

They played Take a Chance On Me by ABBA the other night on tv and I couldn't get that damn song out of my mind all night. Almost as bad as It's a Small World at Disney. Praying for a better night.

Too late. I'm already humming it. Damn!

nothing compares 2 u - sinead o’connor

Always gets me.

But, to this day, I have yet to listen to an Adele song start to finish (unless I’m in Stop & Shop and it’s pumped in…but that doesn’t count).

I always associate that song with an equally bad one, Beach Baby by First Class.

When I was a kid I traded my Archies album for Jimi Hendrix's "Are you experienced".

My parents said I was never the same after that.

My guilty pleasure song is by the 1910 Fruitgum company "1,2 3, Red Light". It's a horrible song but for some reason I still like it.

But I like Beach Baby. There, I said it! :p

Surely one of the worst songs ever. Right there with Thunder Island by Jay Ferguson. Sha la la la la la, my lady. Around that same time Steve Miller had several songs with absolutely embarrassingly bad lyrics, although some of the tunes were good.

Did you say bad lyrics?? Top this:

"Gliddy glub gloopy, nibby nabby noopy la, la, la, lo, lo
Sabba sibby sabba, nooby abba nabba, le, le, lo, lo
Tooby ooby walla, nooby abba naba
Early mornin' singin' song

Can you hear me singin' a song, lovin' a song, singin' a song
Lovin' a song, laughin' a song, singin' a song
Sing a song, song a sing, song, song, song, sing
Sing, sing, sing song

Song, song, song sing, sing, sing, sing song
Sing, sing, song, sing a song
Yeah, you can sing, sing, sing song, sing a song
Sing, sing, song, sing a song
Sing"

This is definitely an awful song that many like.

The tune was catchy.

These are just.. bad.

Leaving home, out on the road
I've been down before
Riding along on this big old jet plane
I've been thinking about my home
But my love light seems so far away
And I feel like it's all been done
Somebody's trying to make me stay
You know I got to be moving on
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
'Cause it's here that I've got to stay
Goodbye to all my friends at home
Goodbye to people I've trusted
I've got to go out and make my way
I might get rich, you know, I might get busted
But my heart keeps calling me backwards
As I get on the 707
Riding high, I got tears in my eyes
You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
'Cause it's here that I've got to stay
Touching down in New England town
Feel the heat coming down
I've got to keep on keeping on
You know the big wheel keeps a-spinning around
And I'm going with some hesitation
You know that I can surely see
That I don't want to get caught up in any of that
Funky shit going down in the city
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
'Cause it's here that I've got to stay
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
'Cause it's here that I've got to stay
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away
Woah-oh, big ol' jet airliner
'Cause it's here that I've got to stay
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
Carry me to my home
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
'Cause it's there that I belong

I am cursed with this thing running on a loop inside my head:

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

Another classic, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia. That`s the nite they hung an innocent man............

I have a Goth input way before Goth was even a thing:

DOA - By Bloodrock (and yes, it pops into my head around Halloween every year.)

Laying here, looking out the ceiling, someone puts a sheet across my chest.
Something warm is flowing out my body, pain is flowing out with my blood......

I remember, we were flying low, and hit something in the air.....

You're welcome, I am here all week.

I am a fan of Zappa too, but all of his songs were good IMHO. First concert I ever went to was Zappa's Overnight Sensation Tour.

huzzah.

I like a lot of the songs listed so far so I really wouldn't call them awful songs, personally.

Mark's song, however, is another story but not a chance it'd get stuck in my head as, just like now, I gave it about 5 seconds before I clicked the X in the top right corner.

I was never really a fan of Zappa's until 2 friends dragged me to see him at a concert in Toronto many years ago.
I was completely blown away by how talented and tight Zappa and the band were.
One of the best concerts I ever seen, but that is where it ended, other than listening to Joe's Garage occasionally.

No longer an oldie, but a daily.

A few years ago they played that thing frequently on TV as a public service ad for getting kids to brush their teeth. The guy in the green outfit would step forward and deliver that message during their song.

So, not by choice, I was exposed to it over and over and it keeps coming back to me. I wish I had an X to click on my head to get rid of it.

Anything by Abba. High-end bubble gum.

You are a music hater if you don't like Joe's Garage.:D

I was the same with Alice Cooper. Never liked his mediocre at best music but man can that guy can put on a show. I still don't care for his music but would watch him in concert again anytime.

Waterloo by ABBA :)

No, Joe's garage is a great song. There are few others that I don't mind, but for the most part, it is not my type of music.

Alice Cooper was also a great concert and to this day I love most of his early stuff. Ballad of Dwight Fry, schools out, only women bleed, is it my body, cold Ethal. The list goes on and on.

LOL, I am a stick in the mud music listener. I listen to Frank Zappa, AC/DC, and The Beastie Boys and nothing else. The Frank Zappa cd has been in my pickups cd player for several months. Someday I will switch it out. When I mow I pull up youtube on my phone and it is so used to me the only options it gives me are the 3 bands listed above.

This song is one of those horrible songs that for some reason I couldn't help but sing along with during the commercials.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB_frUdiqYE

Thankfully those commercials aren't/weren't played up here as far as I know.
I believe if they were played on the T.V. or the radio I would change the station right quick. :D

I was lucky enough to grow up in a town with its own little radio station in the 70s. I was glued to the radio all hours of the day, both for music and sports talk radio. And particularly dial in contests, which I won about 150 times. (40 years later I still have the phone number memorized.) A few contributions.

Magic by Pilot

Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphey

I'm Not in Love by 10cc

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer

I'm kind of surprised that no one has mentioned any Monkee songs. I'm a believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Daydream Believer are a few that come to mind.

https://youtu.be/sUzs5dlLrm0

Luckily the commercial for hair coloring was only on for maybe two weeks. Unfortunately it was every third commercial. I find the woman who sings it very attractive so I didn't change the channel.:)

Some of those mentioned are not awful at all, IMO. I'm a Believer and Pleasant Valley Sunday? Really? Those were and are good tunes.

Some I find hideously bad, in no particular order:

1: Heaven on the 7th Floor
2: Chevy Van
3. Me and you and a dog named Boo
4: Watching Scotty Grow
5: Having my Baby
6: You light up my life
7: Angie Baby

Then of course there's Louie Louie, which at least is a good drinking song.

I agree with you about the Monkees songs. I personally like them a lot but some people consider it "Bubble Gum" music so they think it's awful.

I also think "The Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr. would fit nicely on your list of terrible songs.

Man, like nearly every song on here is one I really liked in Jr High.

Plus, and apologies if they've already been mentioned
Convoy
Tie a yellow ribbon

Maybe others?

A Christmas nomination. A station here plays it every year as the worst Christmas song ever, although it has a lot of competition. An Old Fashioned Christmas...Daddy's Home by Linda Bennet

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrE...fKPqO1InuRtes-

A few more I thought of as I read everyone's choices include "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher and anything by Bobby Goldsboro.

We didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel. Probably one of his only songs I cannot stand, yet will always hear in my head.

These will clear the room but I like to hear them every once in a while, ‘Run Joey Run’ by David Geddes, ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighy Real)’ by Sylvester, ‘Romeo’s Tune’ by Steve Forbert, ‘Chase Me’ by Con Funk Shun, ‘Let’s All Chant’ by The Michael Zager Band, ‘I’m Not Lisa’ by Jessi Colter.

I used to despite Abba. They grew on me. The two guys who wrote their stuff are pop geniuses IMO. Check out the video of Voulez Vous, in a disco with the lights going crazy. Hypnotic.

"I want you to want me" by Cheap Trick

Honestly I am not familiar with many of the newer songs on this thread, but would contribute the following:

Muskrat Love - Captain & Tennille

Wooly Bully - Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

These Boots are Made for Walking - Nancy Sinatra

Sugar Sugar - The Archies

Nobody But Me - The Human Beinz

No redeeming qualities at all: Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield.

Lady in Red -- Chris de Burgh.

A song I like but it's also kind of "Bubblegum" music. From the summer of '74, "Life is a rock (but the radio rolled me)" by Reunion.

https://youtu.be/16kh-AP4OCU

Another nomination for a bad song, "They're coming to take me away ha-haaa" by Napoleon XIV.

https://youtu.be/3Fn36l_z3WY

Going pretty far back, what was the title of the tune that went, "hello Madda hello Fadda here I am at Camp Granada"

Well, then I don't blame you. :)
These days, mostly, I listen to Hair Nation, Classic Rewind and Classic vinyl, but I do switch around occasionally to other stations when I can't find anything good on those ones. What I've found with Sirius, and it happens quite often is, when they play good songs, all the stations above are playing them at the same time, and the same goes when they aren't. :(

"Camp Granada"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzErh_s62Wk

How about the 3 most morose, depressing pop songs of all time?

Alone Again Naturally (Gilbert O'Sullivan)

Vincent (Don McLean)

and probably the most depressing of all

All By Myself (Eric Carmen)

How about a nice little song about cannibalism? Timothy by the Buoys:

https://youtu.be/AXn0uIF60iU

That is the title. Hello Muddah Hello Faddah by Allan Sherman

I have that and many others in my iPad now. The Best of Allan Sherman.

Boooooyeah!

Billy Don't Be a Hero.

The use of "Jessie's Girl" in "Boogie Nights", is one of the great movie scenes of all time.

Alone Again is on a great soundtrack (Life on Mars) but damn if that isnt the biggest downer of a song.

Even though my wife would probably call out about 20% of the songs I like, even I admit to:

Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann’s Earth Band version, and
Burning Bridges- Mike Curb Congregation (and the theme from Kelly’s Heroes).

That is the best version. Springsteens version, I cannot even listen to, he sounds drunk.

That one is now spinning around in my head... thanks. :(

Indiana Wants Me. Although I liked it as an 11 year-old.

Odd you mention that song-- I just listened to it last night for the first time in years. Between that and DOA by Bloodrock about a year or so later, it's no wonder so many of my generation was/is twisted (or so I have been told by those older and wiser who came before me).

I like that last one.

But... if we're going to add novelty songs this list will get way longer in a hurry.

<trigger warning for Springsteen fans>


He always does.

I'd have added a couple of his, but I think it was bad songs that we like...

Plus, he's supposedly partly responsible for Bon Jovi ....

And my friends made me go to the movie no nukes because "the boss" was in it.

I can't hear All By Myself without thinking of Bob and Tom back in the day, whenever they'd even be close to a topic of self-servicing, they'd play that line. Immature, but so am I!

Anyone else man enough (or nerd enough) to admit they like Orinoco Flow by Enya?

Maybe a little known fun fact. The group Lynyrd Skynyrd got the basis for their name from that Allie Sherman song.

That's not the story I heard. This is what the band said:

The basketball coach at their high school, Forby Leonard Skinner, had more of an impact than he could have imagined. Skinner was a gym coach who at some point in the 1960s disciplined two members for letting their hair grow long. The young musicians eventually dropped out of school, but remembered all the hassles. In 1970, the band, which at the time called themselves “One Percent,” had a gig at a local club where they called out to the crowd, "Hey, we're Leonard Skinner and we're gonna play for y'all tonight". Since most of the crowd had run into Coach Skinner at one point or another the name was an instant hit and stuck. To make themselves more original, the spelling was later changed to “Lynyrd Skynyrd.”

I submit two hideous releases from 1976: Charlene's "I've Never Been to Me" and the equally putrid "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary MacGregor (written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame).

I heard and watched the same vid, Dave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quWzKAoT50E

I know people love Free Bird, but I always though it was awful and a rip off sort of of Stairway.

I've seen that video also, but there's currently a documentary about the band on Netflix, and they do mention the high school teacher, Leonard Skinner. But in the documentary it also shows Bob Burns, the band's drummer, going into further detail about how the reference and name supposedly came from him and originally started from the Allie Sherman song 'Hello Muddah, Hello Fadddah'. They actually play a little soundbite from the song in the documentary and, lo and behold, the lyrics actually mention the name Leonard Skinner as one of the other campers at Camp Granada, who gets ptomaine poisoning. It was apparently a sheer coincidence that they also ended up with a high school teacher named Leonard Skinner, but Burns seems to clearly indicate the initial, earlier influence came from the song. You can check out the song's lyrics, and the documentary, to see I'm not making this up.

Yes, but see what I said in post #73, and check out the documentary on Netflix if you can. I would tend to believe the documentary is factual since it includes interviews and stories from actual band members.

Insane coincidence, that's amazing. I recall my favorite lyric from that song

You remember Jeffrey Hardy
They're about to organize a searching party
LOL

Have always heard the allegations, but actually like 'Freebird'.

Now if you want to talk ripoff, lets look at Bowie's 'Under Pressure' and Vanilla Ice's 'Ice, Ice, Baby'. I read somewhere that they got away with that by adding an extra note or beat to the baseline, or something like that.

And if you want to talk about bad songs you can't get out of your head, anyone remember the Banana Splits theme song!?!?!?

You're right, it is an absolutely insane coincidence. And if you have access to Netflix, I highly recommend checking the documentary out where Burns talks about where the name came from, it's hilarious.

(Good lord, are we old, or what?)

Hahaha, you bet I remember the banana split theme song, I watched it religiously in my impetus youth…

:D

"Yes I Like Pina Coladas, Getting caught in the Rain".......

Interesting. I have never heard that before until now. I hope to check out the Documentary sometime.
Thanks :)

Speaking of songs you can't get out of your head, how about songs with the same title. :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrffDM3hHk8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c18441Eh_WE

Got to admit, this thread brought back memories and made me look into some of these songs yesterday that I had never heard of before.