You hate the artist – but you love the song?
OK. “Hate” is a bit harsh.
I think we have all run into artists that we don’t like. But they produce one or two all-time bangers that temporarily make you think you’re taking crazy pills.
I’ll kick off the conversation with my in-no-way complete, list.
My criteria for “hate” is that I have listened to several (in some cases, many) songs by the artist in question so I feel like my dislike is reasonably well grounded. Some of these folks fall into the “great musicians; hate the singing” group, and some….
I just (generally) don’t understand.
Let’s do this…
– MORE THAN ONE SONG IS GOOD… BUT, GENERALLY – I JUST CAN’T:
- “Crazy Train” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home” – Ozzy Osbourne
- “Brian Wilson” and “When You Dream” – Barenaked Ladies
- “Run To You” and “Summer Of 69” – Bryan Adams
- “Jump”, “Panama” and “Hot For Teacher” – Van Halen
- “Dream On” and “Come Together” – Aerosmith (“Sweet Emotion” is 33% awesome)
- “Sweet Child O Mine” and “Welcome To The Jungle” – Guns N’ Roses
- “This Love” and “Harder To Breathe” – Maroon 5
- “It’s Been Awhile” and “So Far Away” – Staind (I’m not proud)
– THE ONE AND DONES:
- “Tainted Love” – Soft Cell (OMFG, I HATE every other song of theirs with the burning heat of 1,000 suns)
- “I Want It That Way” – Backstreet Boys
- “Saturday Night” – Bay City Rollers
- “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” The Black Eyed Peas
- “Feel The Pain” – Dinosaur Jr.
- “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” – Fall Out Boy
- “Hey Jealousy” – Gin Blossoms
(I don’t “hate hate” these guys, but everything else I’ve heard from them is so anemic)
- “Since U Been Gone” – Kelly Clarkson
(I don’t hate Kelly as a performer, but none of her other songs are even in the same galaxy as SUBG)
- “Wannabe” – Spice Girls
- “Are You Gonna Go My Way” – Lenny Kravitz
- “Push” – Matchbox 20
- “Wrecking Ball”- Miley Cyrus
- “Apologize” – OneRepublic
(I guess this is technically Timbaland, who is awesome, but…)
- “Tear You Apart” – She Wants Revenge
- “12:51”- The Strokes
- “Badfish” – Sublime
- “Reservations” – Wilco (I know, I know…)
- “Tesla Girls” OMD
(No, I do not like “If You Leave”)
How about you?
The good folks here MUST have some examples!
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“Peaceful Easy Feeling” is probably the only Eagles song I would choose to hear voluntarily. I felt differently as a kid. I am not super familiar with Paul Anka’s catalog, but I really love “Times of Your Life” from the Kodak commercial. Everything else I’ve heard by him? Nope.
You mentioned “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers. It gives me an opportunity to mention an album by them that I love, Ricochet. It came out in
1981, long after their success as a teeny bopper band and sounds nothing like their old sound. Different lead singer, different songwriting, with shades of Toto, Queen and a whole stew of different sounds. If you haven’t heard it, you may find at least one more song by them to like.
I will check out the BCR stuff.
I was on the fence about including The Eagles here, as I generally find them super annoying, but you can’t really deny the greatness of “Hotel California”, and “Life In The Fast Lane” and “Take It To The Limit” are both total bangers.
I don’t hate Bob Seger but most of his stuff leaves me cold. However, “Get Out Of Denver” is a banger.
Re: Miley Cyrus, did she have a song called “Cannonball” in addition to “Wrecking Ball,” or is that a typo?
I wondered the same. @blu_cheez?
Perhaps rather than Miley Cyrus, it’s The Breeders that are the issue.
Personally, when it comes Miley; Flowers and Nothing Breaks Like A Heart are class. The rest; yeah, whatever.
I’ll say this about her: she has a talent for pivoting across genres.
No – I messed that up – @mt58 – can you fix that for me?
Fix what? Looks perfect to me 😂
I like Katmandu by Seger, but only the studio version, where he goes low on the verses, taking him out of his usual range that makes a lot of his songs sound the same. I also like Shakedown, his only #1, against all logic. I may be the only one to profess that here.
Hate is a strong word. There’s bands like Limp Bizkit that I can’t stand and have no redeeming songs.
Then there’s acts that my feelings towards them can be defined as apathetic.
Rising briefly above the apathy;
Whitney Houston – My Love Is Your Love
Brandy & Monica (two for the price of one) – The Boy Is Mine
The Osmonds – Crazy Horses
Muse – Supermassive Black Hole and Knights Of Cydonia. I have a career long aversion to Muse apart from the Black Holes And Revelations album those two singles came from. That’s a version of the same issue; acts you can’t stand who made one great album.
There are bound to be more that come to me over the course of the next week. This whole subject is going to be my version of an earworm.
The Osmonds’ “Crazy Horses” is an absolute gem amongst the rubbish. Good call.
Yeah – totally forgot about that one – song is a beautiful fever dream.
I like this category! I think that these examples are pretty good. I’m sitting here trying to think of examples for me, and all of a sudden I’m having a mental block.
I can’t stand much Guns n Roses, but I do have a soft spot for “Welcome to the Jungle”
I love “The Times of Your Life”. I probably like Anka better than you, rollerboogie, but most of his stuff including his early rock n roll stuff I am not a fan of.
There aren’t many Bob Jovi songs that I like, but for some reason I like “Bad Medicine”. No idea why.
I’m sure there are many more.
I was thinking you might weigh in on Anka.
I only like one Bon Jovi hit as well, but it’s Runaway, especially when he goes high at the end. I wasn’t aware that there’s a Bob Jovi out there somewhere. I’m thinking he’s from the south, perhaps Arkansas.
I generally dislike country music, and, therefore, most of Travis Tritt’s music leaves me cold. There is one song that I like, “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive.” I didn’t know the title when I first heard it, probably at Home Depot. The first two lines sounded like it was going to be a typical country whine, so I was really surprised by the next two lines being so cheerful. I still have a soft spot for that song for being a pleasant diversion from the norm.
Justice for “Sex Dwarf!”
Seriously, that’s a deliciously sleazy banger from Soft Cell.
Some other strong disagrees from me:
Miley Cyrus. A little druggy, but this is my fave:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L0GYy8yIAg
Great article, blu_cheez! Mine in this category is mercifully few, but I can think of a few off the top of my head:
Barry Manilow – Way too slow, soppy and soggy for me on all his ballads, but “Copacabana” is definitely well done both as a dance tune and a story song. (And to a lesser extent, I won’t change the channel if “It’s a Miracle” comes on either.)
Herman’s Hermits – The most inexplicably popular group in the United States during the British Invasion, they came off as wimpy and forgettable to me for the most part except for “(I’m Into) Something Good” and “There’s a Kind of Hush.” Still wouldn’t rank either of them as the best of the 1960s though.
Donovan – The Bob Dylan wannabe never impressed me except with “Mellow Yellow,” which like my 2 Herman’s Hermits picks is far from a classic but is enjoyable enough.
I like “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” by Donovan, after hearing it in the Simpsons’ medical marijuana episode, and that’s about it by him.
There’s a Kind of Hush is kind of perfect.
I can say with almost 100% certainty that I have not thought about the Donavan song in 55 years. And now that I have, the first thing that popped into my head?
“I wonder whatever happened to that girl?
https://youtu.be/7s2_mA_N6iI?si=6rgX1dENPd8lsQBn
I like the Donovan stuff that is more proto-Belle & Sebastian twee pop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE34WXXAMvc