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USA TODAY says: 'We Built This City' ranks as the worst record ever

"We Built This City is the single worst single ever constructed, according to Blender's ranking of reeking tunes...The magazine's list of "The 50 Worst Songs Ever," which hits newsstands Tuesday in New York and Los Angeles and April 27 nationwide, distills the lamest popular rock-era records into one sonic landfill..." 
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-04-18-worst-songs_x.htm (http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-04-18-worst-songs_x.htm) 

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Well, these ratbastards know a few stinkers, but apparently lean on extremely well-known songs ( "Sounds Of Silence" is that bad?) or songs of their own era (read: '80s and '90s).  What about class-sick stinkers like JAMES DARREN's "Goodbye Cruel World" (#3 1961)??  Or THE LEMON PIPERS' "Green Tambourine" (#1 1967)??  CYRKLE's "Red Rubber Ball" (#2 1966)??  RICHARD HARRIS' "MacArthur Park" (#2 1968) ?? 

Um, yeah.  Right off the top of my head, you could bump any two from that list (one of them being the Huey Lewis track) and replace them with Richard Harris's "MacArthur Park" (the "someone left the cake out in the rain" song -- seriously, what the hell?), and The Guess Who's "These Eyes" (otherwise known as "the reason I can't really respect Randy Bachman, no apologies").

Well, we don't agree about "These Eyes", but HUEY LEWIS' contribution could definitely be bumped, for the so-bad-it's-good (okay, it's no-good) "MacArthur Park".  And though I don't like it, there are without doubt worst records (that are not "novelty" records) than "We Built This City".  It's a sad entry for what was left of the AIRPLANE, sure, but JAMES DARREN's "Goodbye Cruel World" isn't the worst of all?   :teddyr:  :lookingup:  :tongueout:

I always thought that Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" from the Mannequin sequel was an even worse song.

Yay! Another worthless list! For one thing, including Paul Simon (even early Paul Simon) because of pretentiousness and not including Bob Dylan in the same sentence is ridiculous. I've never understood what makes Dylan so revered; his lyrics are pretty much very shallow dips in the philosophy pool. Simon's lyrics may not always be actually deep, but he is an outstanding sound poet; that is, he creates songs with lyrics that sound like they must mean something, whether or not they actually do. He often wrote lyrics simply for the sound of the words (if I recall my music trivia correctly) rather than for their meaning. The Huey Lewis tune is catchy, as are most of his songs. I'd even almost be willing to defend "Achy, Breaky Heart"--if it had been "Achin', Breakin' Heart," I could've dealt with it, but there's just something a little "eeeewww" about a grown man using teenage girl speak like "achy, breaky." As a result, I loathe the song. I'll also vote for "MacArthur Park," a truly pretentious trainwreck.

In short, lists like this, especially coming from a paragon of reporting excellence like USA Today [/sarcasm], are not worth the time it takes to read them. But I guess they're fun to argue over, and since I fell right into it, "Yay me!"

I wouldn't say it was the worst song, but it's pretty bad.  Grace Slick has a head you just want to punch so she'd shut up.

How quickly they forget Terry Jacks "Seasons in the Sun."  Mercifully so.

None of the songs on that list are particularly bad.

For my money, it's hard to think of a worse song than Avril Lavigne's "Sk8r B0i".

"Freebird" by Lynard Skynard gives it a good run for its money, though.

"Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee aaaaaaaaaaas a  birrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd nooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..................."

You guys are funny, I'm gonna gib you karma!!   :thumbup: :thumbup:  Yeh, TERRY JACKS "Seasons In The Sun" (a record I like, but hey, I also like CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS...that's why we're all here, correctamundo??!) 

Let's not forget "Shannon" (#6 1976) by HENRY GROSS. 
Or "Alone Again (Naturally)" by GILBERT O'SULLIVAN   He did two of my favorite 70s singles, including: ( :bouncegiggle: ) "Clair." :bouncegiggle:  :bouncegiggle:  :bouncegiggle: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27FP0GTlkWA 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_P-v1BVQn8

Any "worst of" list that does not include "Crank Dat" by Soulja Boy is not a true worst of.  Hell, any true worst of would have to include just about any song released between 2002 and now. 

And, Huey Lewis should not be on any worst of list.  Dude's amazing. 

THANK YOU.  I was beginning to think that I was the only one who couldn't see the "obvious genius" in Dylan.

Several of the songs on that list are particularly bad, "Freebird" is awesome, and you, sir, are drunk!!   :bouncegiggle:  :cheers:

I didn't really mind that Wang Chung song, and Heart of Rock 'n' Roll is a pretty good song.  Ebony and Ivory isn't particularly offensive either.  We Built This City - that's just so generic, so run of the mill, so sugary sweet and nauseating.  Such a total sell out money grab from a band that was once pretty good. 

Can't believe they left this one off the list: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VJ6RUmlbLE#

I'm glad they have Limp Bizkit's "Rollin".  I'd nominate most of their library along with Linkin Park's. 

The other day I was talking about the early 90s being a horrid time in music.  Stuff like Gerardo and Snow.  Then the grunge revolution came and made music intense again.  Then it got too instense and you wanted it fun again.   

I don't agree with Everybody have Fun Tonight being on that list.  While it's not the best song in the world, it's still pretty decent.  There are far worse songs that could be on the bottom 10, but once the list comes out I will have to look and see how much of it I agree with or not.

Right you are!  "Elvira" went to #5 in 1981 and was the biggest hit the OAK RIDGE BOYS have had.  Definitely worse than "City."

My mother had pretty much every Oak Ridge Boys album.  I got dragged to two, not one count em two,  Oak Ridge Boys concerts before the age of 10 and one of them was my first concert ever.  I'm still paying for therapy in case you're wondering.  The baratone guy scares me when I listen to them now. 

Haven't seen the full list, which presumably includes these class-sicks:
DEBBY BOONE "You Light Up My Life"
LAURA BRANIGAN "Gloria" 

What, no love for Don Johnson's Heartbeat? :teddyr:

Feelings by Morris Albert should be included on ANY "Worst OF" list. 

Even if it's a "Worst Tv SHows" list, it should be included.

Nothing wrong with "Rollin'" by the mighty Bizkit! Any song by the Vengaboys from the late Nineties could qualify e.g "We're Going To Ibiza!"

... and this is shocking?

I don't know what pinheads run that magazine, but they're trashing a few classic songs (Sounds of Silence, The End), and they got no where near the bottom of the pile with their worst picks.

Run for Your Life! It’s the 50 WORST SONGS EVER !
Some have crap-tastic melodies. Others are wretchedly performed. And quite a few don’t make any sense whatsoever. Blender removes its earplugs to present the 50 tunes we love to hate...
http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=786 (http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=786)  :lookingup:

These Blender ratbastards say: "The ’80s was the decade when rock superstars like Genesis discovered their social conscience."  WTF?  That didn't happen in the 60s?   Ka-riest, what happened to editorial policy?  I mean, their "worst song" is by STARSHIP a band synonymous with social conscience in the 1960s when they were called JEFFERSON AIRPLANE which is part of Blender's criticism of that record...    :lookingup:

Thinking about their list, I reiterate that it leans heavily on 80s and 90s (and into the 2000's) and these girls have not heard all the records... but, y'know, despite their cynical, mean-spirited b***hfest, they're right...!  Compared with the recorded output since the dawn of recording, their generation of music has certainly had a preponderance of crap. 

While I like some Jefferson Starship/Airplane I never really liked "We Built this City" That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I preferred their efforts a long the lines of White Rabbit, Jane and other.

As I said: 
CHEEZEWIZ, what's yer point? 

What's "Jane"?? 

There you go AllHollowHead
http://www.last.fm/music/Jefferson+Starship/_/Jane (http://www.last.fm/music/Jefferson+Starship/_/Jane)

At first glance, it seems like somebody had a list of fewer than a dozen bad songs and padded it out to 50 by picking songs at random. Reading the justification for each, it seems like some really bitter individual with a limited knowledge of music and even less life experience is picking apart songs out of some knee-jerk hatred for anything that was popular because it was catchy.

Oh yeh, that sounds familiar JEFFERSON STARSHIP "Jane..." Honestly, I barely remember that one.  What album is it from?  Forgettable to me, much more so than "City."   

Thank gawd someone mentioned Gilbert O' Sullivan -- His entire songbook of hits from the '70's should be on any list like that --
Dave Barry, the humor writer, did a "worst songs ever" book one time, if I remember correctly.  It was published in the early '80's, so 20-years old at least, but I may not listen to enough pop music these days, as I still think his list is much funnier and more accurate than the USA Today --
I saw Airplane as their last tour as "Airplane" in 1972 (Still with Kaukonen and Casidy).  They came back with a vengeance, though, on the second Starship albumn (Dragonfly) and were still a wonderfully hot live act well into 1979.  Their side projects from that period are great as well:  Find a copy of "Baron Von Tollbooth and The Chrome Nun", wherein they still sounded like the Airplane of yore.  I know I saw the Starship incarnation at least 6 times from '73 to '79, as they were always playing Virginia/had a huge fan base there.  While their live shows were still good at least until '79, I think "Red Octopus"(1975) marks the start of their decline as recording stars, as they defiinitely started getting away from the experimental & risk taking that marked their other records & started going for the pop.
I remember I bought Grace's "In Dreams" and some of their other solo work after that, and really couldn't listen to them.
peter johnson/denny crane

I'm the one who mentioned GILBERT O'SULLIVAN ( :bouncegiggle:) whose ridiculous records still are very fondly remembered by me! 
Most JEFFERSON aficionados don't count Blows Against The Empire as a true STARSHIP album, though much of the lineup was there, but there were also some GRATEFUL DEAD dudes and one or two others MIA before or after involved with that one... same with Baron Von Tollbooth and The Chrome Nun.
Right you are about Red Octopus as a point of departure in decline, which was (in any incarnation) the band's greatest commercial success, but it's a decline only in the sense that it has not faired so well critically as when it was new. 
Saw JEFFERSON STARSHIP also, but only once, probably around 1979; they were a very good live show. 

BELA and Peter, here's a wonderfully hokey GILBERT O'SULLIVAN '70s flashback, "Get Down" : 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdQbvza5eb0