Soundtrack, Part 7

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Throughout this series, I’ve focused on memories triggered by music that is cemented into my brain as sublime.

But it wasn’t all good.

There was plenty of music that ranged from awkward to awful. And the more I write about it, the more of it comes back to me..

This was the second or third song I ever saw on MTV:

I gave ’em extra points for sneaking Christian imagery onto MTV (at a time when it wasn’t quite as uncommon as today) – and removed a few for it being…it.

But I never could find a reason to give this then-MTV staple any points at all…

…and am somewhat distressed to say I hear the one on the radio waaaaay more than I should.

It wasn’t all bad, per se. Some of it was just background music. This one was on the charts around this time in 1985:

Have you ever wondered what it looked like to watch two music legends deflate before your eyes, early October of 1985 brought that as well;

Of course, all of the above build up – or, rather, sink down – to the level of this song, which was peaking on the charts around this time…

…and remains , by acclamation, the worst song in pop music history.

Not all nostaliga as good.

I’ll get back on track tomorrow.

11 thoughts on “Soundtrack, Part 7”

  1. Whatta curious post. Concluded with the claim of knowing the worst song in pop music history. Worse than “Who Let the Dogs Out?” or “I am Woman” or “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” or “Friday” or “Tiptoe through the Tulips?” or… there’s plenty of contenders for that title.

  2. I, unfortunately and stupidly, used the canine word is a list of competitors for the worst song in pop music history, but let me ask an abbreviated version. “Tiptoe through the Tulips?” is *not* the worst song?

  3. “Tiptoe through the Tulips?” is *not* the worst song?

    Tiny Tim was a novelty act, so his (ahem) body of work isn’t generally reviled. Starship’s roots are in Jefferson Airplane, a major act in rock history known for its songwriting, musical chops and its central role in the 60s zeitgeist. In that context, “We Built This City” is simultaneously a bad song and a crime against humanity. I think some of the reaction to it seems overblown all these years later, but as a song it still blows.

  4. I was going by my own distaste for the song, but I went to look up more info about it and I learned a whole lot. The song is from 29 and had been done in all sorts of other contexts apart from the egregious Mr Tim. Since it made it to #17 on the charts (and #1 for some time in 1929), I guess I still think of it as a real song. But OK, as an alternative worst, let me propose “I am Woman” (there’s more… :-).

    That’s a pretty good context by which you judge Jefferson . I accept it, but if I recall correctly the second version of the group that made that song was quite different. According to Wikipedia, In June 1984, Paul Kantner, the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane, left Jefferson Starship. The name of the band became simply Starship. It’s a bad song but it’s not the same group. I think you’ll have to dislike “We Built This City” only for its awfulness without tying it to 60s San Francisco.

  5. In June 1984, Paul Kantner, the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane, left Jefferson Starship

    True, but misleading in that Grace Slick was still part of Starship. She was not an original member (she replaced Signe Toly Anderson), but she was obviously a driving force in the group. Kantner was quite proprietary concerning the term Jefferson, but it wasn’t really a new band.

  7. I still don’t think it’s the worst song tho’.

    A fair position. I can think of a few songs I hate much more, but that’s another discussion.

  8. “We Built This City” is simultaneously a bad song and a crime against humanity.

    Agreed. As for ” the worst song in pop music history.”, I’d have to put Africa in serious contention — I’ve always loathed that song. Even though I like the songs of that era overmuch, what passed as “popular” often stunk. But in contrast to the 70s, the stinkers were far fewer.

    If I’m allowed to talk in statistics, if the mean of the 80s was a 5, then the standard deviation was about 1, while the mean of the 70s was a 3, but the standard deviation was also about 3. When the 70s music was good it was often exceptional (Boston, Born to Run, Wish You Were Here, etc), but it had so many stinkers that overall it sucked. 80s music tended to be much more formulaic (yeah, even punk was pretty formulaic), and while on average it was better, I don’t think it hit as many absolute classics.

    And, Mitch, I have to say that as far as crimes against humanity, forcing me to see that Cutting Crew video counts. I’ve never seen that before. I liked the song as speaking to personal experiences at the time (see one of my previous comments on my own personal flaming romantic burnouts in this series), but after seeing that vid, I don’t know that I can hear the song again without thinking of the video with horror.

  9. Btw, apropos Grace Slick, did you know she’s from ’39? She closer in age to my mom than me; and I’m a middle boomer. I once did a survey of the “first generation” of rock musicians; there were a surprising number from the silent generation.

  10. I still don’t think it’s the worst song tho’.

    As with all things on this blog, it’s my opinion.

    And, thus, binding precedent

    🙂

  11. ^ That’s very true. Totally acceptable. I didn’t argue my point very hard. I just didn’t want you to undervalue the awfulness that is Helen Reddy. Or any of those *-Aid songs. 😉

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