Worst Songs in Pop Music
World’s Worst Pop Music
Bad music and all of the worst songs are subjective, we admit. Often, the songs on this are loved by many but hated even more by others.
This section is devoted entirely to the worst songs of all time. Well, maybe not the all-time worst written songs or worst performances of all time. Perhaps “Really irritating songs that used to be popular songs” would be a better title. On the other hand, there are people reading the list below and saying to themselves ‘these are the greatest hits of all time!”
These are songs that, admit it or not, we all knew and mostly liked when they first came out. These are songs that make us cringe when we hear them now in front of loved ones.
What were we thinking?
How does one define a “bad song”?
Sometimes they are just too ‘catchy’ or we have heard them far too many times for a single lifetime. You may love a particular ditty and the person next to you may give you a look of horror, disdain, and even a little pity when they realize that you are enjoying that sound coming out of the speakers.
We’re not talking about music genres here. Parents/Adults have been whining about what the “kids” were listening to since the 1920’s. That nasty Charleston stuff that evolved into that Sinful Swinging, that enabled Elvis to gyrate, leading to Tina Turner showing some leg, Jim Morrison performing nude, Ozzie biting live bats, the Sex Pistols urinating on stage, James Brown singing about his “Sex Machine”, and Eminem flipping the world “the bird” at the 2000 Grammys.
Don’t tell us “today’s music is terrible”. You sound like your mom talking about those long-haired, unkempt bad boys in “The Beatles”, or her mom harping about Elvis. Or those teachers who banned swing dancing at the school dances during World War II. Music marches in.
People like Pat Boone tried to make R & B/rock-n-roll acceptable to the masses, yet, for all his pop music success, his greatest achievement was the fathering of his daughter, Debbie Boone, who went on to record one of the most successful bad songs of all time, “You Light Up My Life”, lasting 10 weeks at Billboard’s number one, and over 20 weeks in the Top 40 in 1977. She won the Grammy for the best new artist as well. She never charted again, which is just fine for those of us who heard it, on average, a hundred thousand times that
Summer of ’77.
(BTW – the 70s was the list filled the fastest, followed by the 2000s with the 90s close behind.)
(BTW2 – The further back we go, the more complaints we seem to get about the “worst” selections. Time is very kind to bad songs, apparently.)
The 2000s – Worst Songs
The Nineties’ – Worst Songs
The Eighties’ – Worst Songs
The Seventies’ – Worst Songs
| 1. MacArthur Park – Richard Harris | 2. I Dig Rock and Roll Music – Peter, Paul and Mary | 3. Yummy Yummy Yummy – Ohio Express | 4. Palisades Park – Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon | 5. The Tra La La Song – The Banana Splits | 6. Ringo – Lorne Greene | 7. I’m Henry VII I Am – Herman’s Hermits | 8. 98.6 – Keith | 9. Honey – Bobby Goldsboro | 10. Tiptoe Through The Tulips – Tiny Tim | 11. Winchester Cathedral – New Vaudeville Band | 12. Surfin Bird – The Trashman | 13. Jingle Jangle – The Archies | 14. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini – Bryan Hyland | 15. Cherish – The Association | 16. Inna-Gadda-Da-Vita – Iron Butterfly | 17. Somethin’ Stupid – Frank and Nancy Sinatra | 18. Tell Laura I Love Her – Ray Peterson | 19. Take a Letter Maria – R.B. Greaves | 20. Do The Freddie – Freddie and the Dreamers | 21. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon – Neil Diamond | 22. Please Mr. Custer – Larry Verne | 23. In The Year 2525 – (Exordium and Terminus) – Zager and Evans | 24. Feeling Groovy – Simon and Garfunkle | 25. The Name Game – Shirley Ellis | 26. Revolution 9 – The Beatles | 27. Do The Clam – Elvis Presley | 28. Judy In Disguise (With Glasses) – John Fred and His Playboy Band | 29. Young Girl – Gary Puckett | 30. Dizzy – Tommy Roe | 31. San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) – Scott McKenzie | 32. Dominique – The Singing Nun | 33. Do Wah Diddy Diddy – Manfred Mann | 34. Lady Willpower – Gary Puckett | 35. Teen Angel – Mark Dinning | 36. Ringo – Lorne Green | 37. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby Stills and Nash | 38. Wives and Lovers – Jack Jones | 39. Don’t Pass Me By – The Beatles | 40. The Happening – The Supremes | The 50s’ – Worst Songs1. The Chipmonk Song – David Seville 2. The Happy Organ – Dave “Baby” Cortez 3. Doggie In The Window – Patti Page 4. Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom) – Perry Como 5. Venus – Frankie Avalon 6. Beep Beep – The Playmates 7. I Wish I Were In Love Again – Frank Sinatra 8. Dance With Me, Henry – Georgia Gibbs 9. Lonely Boy – Paul Anka 10. Teen-Age Crush – Tommy Sands 11. Young Love – Tab Hunter 12. Banana Boat Song – Steve Lawrence 13. Rock and Roll Waltz – Kay Starr 14. Aba Daba Honeymoon – Debbie Reynolds & Carleton Carpenter 15. Teen-Age Crush – Tommy Sands 16. Charlie Brown – The Coasters 17. The Battle of New Orleans – Johnny Horton 18. Kookie Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) – Connie Stevens with Edd Byrnes 19. Why – Frankie Avalon 20. Tutti Frutti – Pat Boone 21. Western Movies – The Olympics 22. Sugartime – The McGuire Sisters 23. Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat – Paul Evans 24. Come On-A My House – Rosemary Clooney 25. Butterfly – Andy Williams
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