It's got to be James Brown's 'Get UP'.
A detestable song written be a vile human being and mostly enjoyed by the lowest of the lowest demographic - art students.
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For me it would be "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" by Ian Drury.
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Not heard that one. But the similarly titled one by Ian Dury and the Blockheads is really very good, though not their best IMO.
My nomination, at least among popular songs, is "I Will Survive".
Last edited by: Manatee on Thu 12 May 11 at 18:03
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""Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" by Ian Dury"
That would go on a list of my favourites!!
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The carphound with the dodgy rug did it his way at the top of his voice far too many times for anyone's good. Old bulging eyes. Frankie the shlong.
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Worst song ever?
A tie between every single rap record ever released!
The great Nat King Cole (who really could put a song over) would be horrified at seeing rap performers described as "artists".
Last edited by: Londoner on Thu 12 May 11 at 18:20
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Macarthur Park
I don't think I can take it
Cause it took so long to bake it
And i'll never have that recipe again.
Case proved
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joe dolce. shut uppa ya face
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Forever Autumn by Justin Hayward and John Lodge
The Living Years by Peter Gabriel - shameful, mawkish drivel.
Anything by Whitney Houston.
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I have quite a few but I think for me Barbie Girl has to top the list.
New Order had a habit of making some truly awful songs and I say that as a New Order fan.
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So many bad songs, so little space, all by Morrissey.
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>> So many bad songs, so little space, all by Morrissey.
>>
I dunno, "Everyday is like Sunday" always cheered me up when I was living in Cleveland many years ago.... Redcar perhaps ?
Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
"How I Dearly Wish I Was Not Here"
In the seaside town
...that they forgot to bomb
Come, Come, Come - nuclear bomb
Mind you, lemon tops were nice
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..."Everyday is like Sunday" always cheered me up when I was living in Cleveland many years ago...
A long prison sentence would cheer you up if you were living in Cleveland.
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>> The Living Years by Peter Gabriel - shameful, mawkish drivel.
>>
Peter Gabriel's version might have been , though I've not heard it.
Personally I quite like the original by Mike and the Mechanics. ;-)
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...Personally I quite like the original by Mike and the Mechanics. ;-)...
It was him, was it?
I dislike the record so much I can't even take in who recorded it.
Complete mental block/fuse blow.
Could have been a copper, me.
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>> Macarthur Park
>>
>> I don't think I can take it
>> Cause it took so long to bake it
>> And i'll never have that recipe again.
>> Case proved
I have to accept that the lyric strap is a bit cobblers, but certaily no worse than chairs and salad days from the one of the best songs ever, GOLD by SB.
Anyway every remembers the awful Richard Harris version but the Four Tops did it with some merit. Anything that Levii Stubs gets his vocal cords round tends to turn out ok.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzQKJrdfhcI
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But it is the sheer awfulness of the lyrics that dominates the record whoever sings it. Manages to be both pretentious and ludicrous at the same.
I agree I wouldn't loathe it as much if the Richard Harris version didn't exist. Anyway have now transferred my vote to "My Way" which is truly truly awful whoever sings it, although the Frank Sinatra version is truly loathsome.
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The great Nat King Cole (who really could put a song over) would be horrified at seeing rap performers described as "artists".
Would he ?
Take a look at this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcZnK_D9dHk
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A tie between "Jerusalem" and "God save our gracious Queen"
One drivel - one fawningly obsequious.
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Jerusalem is drivel?
Rather a fine poem by one of Englands greatest poets I think.
The national anthem is a bit dreary. The only such anthem in waltz time I believe
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SO who does have the best Anthem?
The USSR's one is quite grand, France is OK, "Germany above all" still needs a jackboot march, quite like rockets red glare star spangled banner, but the fav is the Canto degli Italiani, with its super "ah its all over, lets sit down" "opps its not, all stand up again" tricky middle break.
The worse is Advance Australia Fair.
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My vote goes to the Soviet Union
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Raafdzxns
How could things go so wrong when they they had such a wonderful tune.
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The best National Anthem undoubtedly is that of Spain; it is tuneful and I think, uniquely, without words,
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>> "Germany above all" still needs a
>> jackboot march,
The words were changed decades ago. It no longer contains the words "Deutschland uber alles".
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Don't we share the national Anthem's tune with Switzerland ?
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>> Don't we share the national Anthem's tune with Switzerland ?
No we dont.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY8vGMDYVyI
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I think Leichtenstein uses the God Save The Queen tune.
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>> I think Leichtenstein uses the God Save The Queen tune.
>>
Upon checking it is, I learned something today.
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Roger, why did you come back from Spain, is there *anything* about the UK you like?
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...Roger, why did you come back from Spain...
Running out of money.
Growing old is not much fun in a foreign country.
...is there *anything* about the UK you like?...
The health service.
The benefits system.
The trees.
Living in a country in which you are not a foreigner.
(These are the usual answers from returning Brits - if they are being honest).
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>> The health service.
>>
>> The benefits system.
>>
>> The trees.
Oh dear, all being sold off by the Coalition to pay labours costs
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"Reader's wives", says the Indy, eh?
+1 here for that!
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...Oh dear, all being sold off by the Coalition to pay labours costs...
I think we're keeping the trees - there was a U-turn on that one.
www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/forests/8330702/Government-abandons-forest-sell-off.html
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You are in a misanthropic humour today Roger.
Drivel or not, Jerusalem is terrific for singing and keeps the WI going.
Granted the NA is a bit of a dirge, but better than most.
EDIT - and you can dance to it, apparently.
Last edited by: Manatee on Thu 12 May 11 at 20:54
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"Saturday Night" by Whigfield. Gives me an almost uncontrollable urge to damage whatever audio device is playing it beyond repair.
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And that song "trouble" which was out at about the same time.
I am sure Zero's comment on Morrissey was just to try and get a reaction, but it won't work from me :).
I will stick with my Smiths discos thank you very much!
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Zero dead right about Morrissey, can I add anything by U2 - they are all the same anyway - "probably the most over-rated rock band in the world"
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Add in Coldplay's oeuvre as far as I'm concerned. Repetitive, monotonous, tedious, repetitive, tedious, monotonous and repetitive tripe.
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>> Zero dead right about Morrissey, can I add anything by U2 - they are all
>> the same anyway - "probably the most over-rated rock band in the world"
>>
I don't mind their music, but their lead singer has to be the world's most self-important carphound.
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"White Bird", Incredible String Band. Followed up by Roger Whittaker - The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
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I'd like to change my nomination.
I've just remembered "Imagine" by John Lennon. The most naive, childish, embarrassing, hypocritical dirge ever inflicted on my ears. I make a point of turning the radio off whenever it comes on.
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Struggling here to decide between anything by Supertramp, anything by Queen and anything by ELO.
All overblown, self indulgent dirge. I guess it's probably Queen though. That induces me to reach the retune button a microsecond or so before the other 2.
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So who does have the best anthem?
South Africa, by a post-apartheid mile. Makes the back of my neck prickle just to think about it.
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>> South Africa, by a post-apartheid mile. Makes the back of my neck prickle just to
>> think about it.
>>
The Nkosi Sikele Afrika bit is Ok, but the twelve-inc disco mix where they tack on the Afrikaans and English stuff at the end annoys me no end.
Anything to appease the white man...
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'I've just remembered "Imagine" by John Lennon. "
I would have gone along with that but I've just remembered "I Did it My Way" What an egotistical anthem to selfishness that is.
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>> by Roger Whittaker - The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
Not heard RW do that one but I can't imagine it working too well. Mrs B would nominate Durham Town or the Last Farewell both of which are on my 'ecelectic' playlist.
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It was originally written, in very different form, by a Solomon Linda and his Evening Birds, in 1939, and called Mbube. Poor Solomon was paid $2 for the rights, since exploited by many. Ian might be interested? I have a recording of the original (Solomon Linda) on a CD of glorious original versions of hits "You heard it here first" on Ace.
Last edited by: NortonES2 on Fri 13 May 11 at 21:06
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>> And that song "trouble" which was out at about the same time
By Shampoo, IIRC. I should be on Popmaster.
My eldest is driven apoplectic by the intro to that "We no speak Americano" tune, so I have set it as my phone's ringtone :)
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Sacrilege!
How could they do this to Nat, of all people?
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One that would definately make the top ten is "Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zepplin. A terrible parody of the brilliant Rolf Harris original.
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One that would definately make the top ten is "Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zepplin
Robin,
Are you deliberately picking my favourites, (and spelling the band name wrongly!!)?Admittedly, much of Stairway to Heaven is a bit boring, but the guitar solo is brilliant!!
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Bryan Adams - Everything I do
Agree with Imagine and anything by Venom.
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I would lump Coldplay, U2, The Smiths and Simply Red into the same category. They have probably written some decent songs, but I just can't get past my utter loathing of each of their lead singers, whenever I hear their music.
Martin, Bono, Morrissey and Hucknall are among the most loathsome examples of champagne socialism and hypocrisy in today's society.
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"The King of Rock'n'Roll" by Prefab Sprout.
The worst song in the history of music, no competition whatsoever.
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There's No-one Quite Like Grandma, by the St Winifred's School Choir.
A bunch of tuneless little weasels plugged, if I recall correctly, by the retch-inducing Hughie Green.
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>> "The King of Rock'n'Roll" by Prefab Sprout.
>>
>> The worst song in the history of music, no competition whatsoever.
Awww you wet blanket, the video is fab
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T6e3GJCjow
Hot Dog, Jumping frog!
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The trouble with the thread title is that it is ambiguous or too vague. Some people are naming songs that are musically flat-footed or irritating while others (like me and ClkSec I think who both hate 'I did it my way') are objecting to the sentiment without necessarily scorning the actual music or, in the case of I did it my way, the vainglorious, if tuneful, bawling.
I can think of two other big hits that are highly objectionable: Julie, Don't take your Love to Town (or the I-got-my-gonads-shot-off-in-Vietnam-and-I'm-not-best-pleased song) which combines the thuggishness and mawkishness of C&W lyrics to a high degree, and the hypocritical randy salesman song '24 Hours from Tulsa'. Can't abide either of them although the music isn't grotesque.
So, chipmunk bubblegum or Yanks at their most sickening? We should have been told BBD.
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It all counts, along with "i peed my life away and now my wife n kids wont talk to me" Harry Chapin. 24 hours from Tulsa should really have been called "I will be 48 hours late home"
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 13 May 11 at 15:51
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>> Julie, Don't take your Love to Town
it's Ruby - Julie's a good girl
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You are right AC.
I hate my particular choice by association. It was overplayed at the student union and every time it came on a certain girl, an empty-headed, annoying little bint who never wore socks or shoes would jump up and begin maniacally bopping around and generally making a fool of herself.
I hate it because I hate James Brown, wife-beater and all-round twot-faced bar steward.
I hate it because it's over-used by simple-minded, unoriginal ad-men time and time again.
The title of the thread should be: Songs that make you want to punch somebody.
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I agree with you BBD all of James Browns works are complete garbage, complete Scheiße, however
he did this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd1-HM234DE which, to use the oft over quoted word, is iconic music.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 13 May 11 at 16:44
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Yeah, that is a top tune.
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>> iconic music.
What, 'Server Error. Please try again in 30 seconds'?
That seems a bit austere even by your standards Zero. No audio either.
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you have broken youtube, nice one.
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It's mended itself now.
Yeah, good delivery by the much-execrated JB but the band is played down rather, and there are violins. A smoocher. I go more for upbeat and carp-kicking.
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youTube Willow "whip my hair". Case of beers to anyone who can watch throuigh it without throwing objects through the screen.
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I like the song on the pick list to the right, "burn your bra's" by Guy Rope and the Tent Pegs.
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I don't especially mind rap music - it's difficult to do well and those who can are certainly worthy of the name artists - but I saw some of a movie on one of the channels the other night about a fat bloke in a series of caftans and chalk-stripe whistles who was a rapper. I missed him getting killed unfortunately while getting another drink, but he certainly seemed to deserve it although he was supposed to be such an excellent chap. What a load of cobblers, and all allegedly about real people too. Garbaggio, sweeties (except for the music which was all right but a bit sort of monochrome in those quantities).
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk4qJ3bzt5U
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwBS6QGsH_4
for really good rapping.
I can do without all the "smak yo beech up" stuff thanks
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 13 May 11 at 18:12
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There's a lot of rap I can't stomach but there's been some fantastic stuff too.
For me, Public Enemy have never been bettered and this is quality old school rap from 1987 (it even has a motoring theme, the 98 Oldsmobile)
tinyurl.com/cjg36k
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>> There's a lot of rap I can't stomach >>
Agree. Probably the worst genre overall.
Radiohead have gone way off. The Bends was superb. Everything after OK Computer is a load of carp.
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Colorado Rocky Mountain High, I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky...
Probably inspired my love of country.
Crap pilot though.
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>> Colorado Rocky Mountain High, I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky...
>>
>> Probably inspired my love of country.
>>
>> Crap pilot though.
>>
Country Music = the special olympics of music.
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>> For me, Public Enemy have never been bettered and this is quality old school rap
>> from 1987 (it even has a motoring theme, the 98 Oldsmobile)
>>
>> tinyurl.com/cjg36k
>>
Is there a version with subtitles? I don't speak the US urban uber-cool patois.
I strongly suspect that these rappers have something to say about life, and in a different age would have turned to poetry or drama to express it - and been successful.
However, the rap culture deprives itself of a wider audience by being to "bling", too arrogant, too aggressive, too exclusive in their use of language, and, too much of the "smak yo beech up" stuff (as Zero phrased it)
Maybe that's exactly what they want. Who knows?
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>> rappers have something to say about life, and in a different age would have turned to poetry or drama to express it - and been successful.
It is poetry Londoner. And some of the rappers are grossly successful.
However there is a great variation in quality, as with all poetry. Some is near enough sublime, but most is narrow and often distasteful and repetitive too.
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"It is poetry Londoner."
I can remember Ian Dury being banned from radio one with his Spasticus Autisticus tune. Now he's the darling of radio 2.
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>> Ian Dury
very considerable poet
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Agreed AC. For me rap has always had a silent c in the spelling...
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>> Spasticus Autisticus
I'd forgotten that one. It's wonderful.
Darling of Radio 2 eh? Dem meanstream hidiot get the point in the end though innit?
Does this mean that Ian Dury is so 90s darling and we will have to pretend to love the fat bloke in the chalk-stripe whistle? I hope not. Plaistow Patricia still isn't often heard on Listen with Mother (Oh dear. Listen with Mo'fo, Mo'fo'...)... er... there is hope.
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