Worst song from your favorite band/artist...

[CrimsonSunrise]

Space Dye Vest and Anally I mean Anna Lee are up there

SDV kicks ass!!  When I read the thread title the first thing that popped into my mind was Anna Lee.

From my other top bands...

Pain of Salvation - Like someone mentioned... most of both Road Salts
Led Zeppelin - Hot Dog, probably half of CODA
Rainbow - Do You Close Your Eyes

Whoever said Infinite Dreams should be drawn and quartered!!!   

[ronnibran]

Neal Morse - Leviathan

[bosk1]

yes!

[ozzy554]

Space Dye Vest and Anally I mean Anna Lee are up there

Rainbow - Do You Close Your Eyes

Rising is one of my favorite albums ever......except that track. I don't think it's terrible but without a doubt the weakest link on that album.

[pg1067]

How much cocaine were people doing in the late 70s?

From the Wikipedia article about Black Sabbath's Vol. 4 (and sourced to Tony Iommi's autobiography):  "In June 1972, Black Sabbath began work on their fourth album at the Record Plant studios in Los Angeles. . . .  [P] The recording was plagued with problems, many due to substance abuse.  In the studio, the band regularly had speaker boxes full of cocaine delivered."

The album liner notes say "We wish to thank the great COKE-Cola Company of Los Angeles" (the caps are from the original), and on "Snowblind" Ozzy whispers "cocaine", I think it's after the first chorus.  Pretty subtle, huh?

I think he let the cat out of the bag on Speak of the Devil.

Rainbow - Do You Close Your Eyes

Yes.  That song is absolutely awful.  Not sure what Ronnie and Richie were thinking.

Whoever said Infinite Dreams should be drawn and quartered!!!   

No you!     It's been a while, so I'll give it a listen on my way home tonight.

[millahh]

Rush - How it Is (to me, it's worse than the crummy stuff off RtB/T4E), and just drags down VT as a whole
Dream Theater - Never Enough (the lyrics, my god, man)
Tool - Rosetta Stoned (I don't dislike it, but it really suffers by comparison to most the rest of their material)
Ghost - Idolatrine
The Beatles - Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Led Zeppelin - The Crunge
King Crimson - ProzaKc Blues

[pg1067]

Whoever said Infinite Dreams should be drawn and quartered!!!   

No you!     It's been a while, so I'll give it a listen on my way home tonight.

As promised, I listened to Infinite Dreams yesterday.  The intro always makes me think of Maiden as a cheesy Vegas lounge act.  The rest of the song demonstrated that Steve Harris had run out of ways to creatively use the I-vi-vii chord progression.  My opinion has not changed.

The Beatles - Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Can't believe we've gotten this far into the thread and no one has mentioned Revolution 9.

[The Walrus]

I thought Yellow Submarine was the butt of many a joke by Beatles fans.

[pg1067]

The Beatles definitely had their share of silly/bad songs (although some of their sillier songs were really good).

[Max Kuehnau]

Rush:  Emotion Detector, Mystic Rhythms, High Water, Scars, Hand over Fist

Dream Theater:  The Mirror, The Great Debate, Disappear

Iron Maiden:  Infinite Dreams, The Clairvoyant

You Heathen!

You most certainly are!   

I like most of AYAI musically speaking though. (and btw: Rick Wakeman hates what I picked as well. Go figure. And me being a heathen is accurate, I'm not religious at all.)

[Max Kuehnau]

Yes: And You And I (these lyrics, oh dear me, no), all of Tales From Topographic Oceans

You Heathen!

 

And You and I is my favorite Yes song!

It was played during my wedding reception (and our first dance song was the cassette single version of "Quartet, iv. I'm Alive" by ABWH).

I'm sure both these did the trick rather well.

[Mladen]

Rush - How it Is (to me, it's worse than the crummy stuff off RtB/T4E), and just drags down VT as a whole
Dream Theater - Never Enough (the lyrics, my god, man)
Tool - Rosetta Stoned (I don't dislike it, but it really suffers by comparison to most the rest of their material)
Ghost - Idolatrine
The Beatles - Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Led Zeppelin - The Crunge
King Crimson - ProzaKc Blues

Man, so many great songs in this one. 

[DTA]

Coheed & Cambria - Atlas, Old Flames, Lucky Stars

Atlas just doesn’t seem to go anywhere and the main riff is pretty uninteresting overall. I hate the chorus of Old Flames with a passion. Too cheesy for me and Coheed can usually get away with cheesy very well. Lucky Stars is just too boring as an ender for such a great album.

[Crow]

Lucky Stars is one of the best songs on the album lol
Meanwhile Old Flames is the best song on the album and probably at least top 20 Coheed, what the heck 

[Architeuthis]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

O gosh yes! 
"New World Man" is another bad one, but I like the rest of signals.
I actually like Dog Years.

[Stadler]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

O gosh yes! 
"New World Man" is another bad one, but I like the rest of signals.
I actually like Dog Years.

Again, no argument, just conversation, but Signals is one of my favorite Rush albums, and New World Man is a top song on it.   It's one of the songs by Rush that really opened me up to the band (Signals was probably my "gateway" CD to the band). 

[Setlist Scotty]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

I beg to differ. While none of those tracks are great, they are not as bad as some of the others already listed. Face Up just misses the mark. YBYL is a good song, but that cheesy repetitious chorus is annoying. And Neurotica actually is a great song....except for that awful chorus (neurotica....exotica......oooooooooooo) - give it a much better chorus and that song would be killer, IMO. Can't say that for Virtuality (not just the lyrics are garbage), I Think I'm Going Bald (a weird re-write of In the Mood), Dog Years, red lenses or Stupidconductor.

[Setlist Scotty]

Rush:  Emotion Detector, Mystic Rhythms, High Water, Scars, Hand over Fist

Dream Theater:  The Mirror, The Great Debate, Disappear

Iron Maiden:  Infinite Dreams, The Clairvoyant

You Heathen!

You most certainly are!   

I like most of AYAI musically speaking though. (and btw: Rick Wakeman hates what I picked as well. Go figure. And me being a heathen is accurate, I'm not religious at all.)

Max, you do realize that my comment was directed back at pg1067 for some of the songs he said are the worst, right? And for that, pg1067 is a heathen!   

[Architeuthis]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

O gosh yes! 
"New World Man" is another bad one, but I like the rest of signals.
I actually like Dog Years.

Again, no argument, just conversation, but Signals is one of my favorite Rush albums, and New World Man is a top song on it.   It's one of the songs by Rush that really opened me up to the band (Signals was probably my "gateway" CD to the band).

That's awesome!  I love the rest of Signals but NWM just doesn't connect with me for some reason, maybe because is sounds too much like The Police and the chorus is a bit weak.  The bass-lines are cool though.
My gateway albums to Rush were Exit Stage Left and Presto, and yes I do like Superconductor!

[Max Kuehnau]

Rush:  Emotion Detector, Mystic Rhythms, High Water, Scars, Hand over Fist

Dream Theater:  The Mirror, The Great Debate, Disappear

Iron Maiden:  Infinite Dreams, The Clairvoyant

You Heathen!

You most certainly are!   

I like most of AYAI musically speaking though. (and btw: Rick Wakeman hates what I picked as well. Go figure. And me being a heathen is accurate, I'm not religious at all.)

Max, you do realize that my comment was directed back at pg1067 for some of the songs he said are the worst, right? And for that, pg1067 is a heathen!   

ah right ok, didn't catch that right away, and yes, he apparently would be a heathen for that then

[Shalev Amir]

Blaze Bayley - The King of Metal, or The Black Country and I don't even hate the album

[Stadler]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

O gosh yes! 
"New World Man" is another bad one, but I like the rest of signals.
I actually like Dog Years.

Again, no argument, just conversation, but Signals is one of my favorite Rush albums, and New World Man is a top song on it.   It's one of the songs by Rush that really opened me up to the band (Signals was probably my "gateway" CD to the band).

That's awesome!  I love the rest of Signals but NWM just doesn't connect with me for some reason, maybe because is sounds too much like The Police and the chorus is a bit weak.  The bass-lines are cool though.
My gateway albums to Rush were Exit Stage Left and Presto, and yes I do like Superconductor!

What do you think about "Grace Under Pressure"?  I hate that record; it's bottom three in my book, and my criticisms are similar to yours on NWM.  It sounds too much like the Police, the choruses (in general) are weak, and I despise Neal's drum sound on that record.   (Though I LOVE Presto and LOVE Superconductor).

[KevShmev]

  And Neurotica actually is a great song....except for that awful chorus (neurotica....exotica......oooooooooooo) - give it a much better chorus and that song would be killer, IMO. 

Agreed.  I remember the instrumental track being used on the Rio documentary and it sounded really cool; really good vibe.  Just needed a better chorus.  I still like it.

[pg1067]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

O gosh yes! 
"New World Man" is another bad one, but I like the rest of signals.
I actually like Dog Years.

Again, no argument, just conversation, but Signals is one of my favorite Rush albums, and New World Man is a top song on it.   It's one of the songs by Rush that really opened me up to the band (Signals was probably my "gateway" CD to the band).

Signals was the first Rush album I bought, and NWM was the "hit" single.  I was initially a little turned off by the keyboards, but I fairly quickly learned that keyboards didn't mean automatic suckage.  Over the years, NWM has lost some luster for me, but that's only because I think 6 of the other 7 songs on the album are way better (The Weapon being the exception).  It's a decent little song, but it's merely good, not great.

What do you think about "Grace Under Pressure"?  I hate that record; it's bottom three in my book, and my criticisms are similar to yours on NWM.  It sounds too much like the Police, the choruses (in general) are weak, and I despise Neal's drum sound on that record.   (Though I LOVE Presto and LOVE Superconductor).

The only reason Superconductor isn't the worst song on Presto is because Hand over Fist and Scars exist.

[Architeuthis]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

O gosh yes! 
"New World Man" is another bad one, but I like the rest of signals.
I actually like Dog Years.

Again, no argument, just conversation, but Signals is one of my favorite Rush albums, and New World Man is a top song on it.   It's one of the songs by Rush that really opened me up to the band (Signals was probably my "gateway" CD to the band).

That's awesome!  I love the rest of Signals but NWM just doesn't connect with me for some reason, maybe because is sounds too much like The Police and the chorus is a bit weak.  The bass-lines are cool though.
My gateway albums to Rush were Exit Stage Left and Presto, and yes I do like Superconductor!

What do you think about "Grace Under Pressure"?  I hate that record; it's bottom three in my book, and my criticisms are similar to yours on NWM.  It sounds too much like the Police, the choruses (in general) are weak, and I despise Neal's drum sound on that record.   (Though I LOVE Presto and LOVE Superconductor).

I've grown to like it over the years. Between the Wheels is a stand alone track, especially after seeing it played live on the R30 tour and dvd..
Afterimage is really a deep cut, and has a lot of depth in the lyrics.

[DragonAttack]

The Beatles-Revolution #9

Queen-at first it was 'Another One Bites The Dust', but due to its popularity, they had to follow that up with......'Body Language' <aargh>

[Stadler]

And for Rush, I would put Neurotica, Face Up, and You Bet Your Life WAAAAAAYYYY below anything anyone has mentioned so far.

O gosh yes! 
"New World Man" is another bad one, but I like the rest of signals.
I actually like Dog Years.

Again, no argument, just conversation, but Signals is one of my favorite Rush albums, and New World Man is a top song on it.   It's one of the songs by Rush that really opened me up to the band (Signals was probably my "gateway" CD to the band).

Signals was the first Rush album I bought, and NWM was the "hit" single.  I was initially a little turned off by the keyboards, but I fairly quickly learned that keyboards didn't mean automatic suckage.  Over the years, NWM has lost some luster for me, but that's only because I think 6 of the other 7 songs on the album are way better (The Weapon being the exception).  It's a decent little song, but it's merely good, not great.

I love Geddy's singing on that song, though.

What do you think about "Grace Under Pressure"?  I hate that record; it's bottom three in my book, and my criticisms are similar to yours on NWM.  It sounds too much like the Police, the choruses (in general) are weak, and I despise Neal's drum sound on that record.   (Though I LOVE Presto and LOVE Superconductor).

The only reason Superconductor isn't the worst song on Presto is because Hand over Fist and Scars exist.

But isn't that kind of like saying "wow, she's not the hottest cheerleader on the squad!" or "wow, that's the slowest NASCAR car".         (I think very highly of Presto, if you can't tell.)

[pg1067]

reason Superconductor isn't the worst song on Presto is because Hand over Fist and Scars exist.

But isn't that kind of like saying "wow, she's not the hottest cheerleader on the squad!" or "wow, that's the slowest NASCAR car".         (I think very highly of Presto, if you can't tell.)

No...

Saying Witch Hunt is the "worst" song on Moving Pictures is like saying that ____ is the ugliest of the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders.

Scars is NOT AT ALL to my taste, but I can see why some folks like it.  Hand over Fist is embarrassingly bad (back in the day, we used the adjective "gay" to describe it).  Superconductor might be ok with a better chorus.  If those three songs were removed from the album, then it would probably be on par with Signals.  Available Light is probably a top 5 post-Signals Rush song.

[Stadler]

reason Superconductor isn't the worst song on Presto is because Hand over Fist and Scars exist.

But isn't that kind of like saying "wow, she's not the hottest cheerleader on the squad!" or "wow, that's the slowest NASCAR car".         (I think very highly of Presto, if you can't tell.)

No...

Saying Witch Hunt is the "worst" song on Moving Pictures is like saying that ____ is the ugliest of the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders.

Scars is NOT AT ALL to my taste, but I can see why some folks like it.  Hand over Fist is embarrassingly bad (back in the day, we used the adjective "gay" to describe it).  Superconductor might be ok with a better chorus.  If those three songs were removed from the album, then it would probably be on par with Signals.  Available Light is probably a top 5 post-Signals Rush song.

Now you're talkin'! 

[Architeuthis]

I love all of Presto!  There's nothing "gay" about Hand over Fist ( not that there's anything wrong with that).  The bridge section is awesome "take a look outside yourself in some exotic land, great a passing stranger, feel the strength in his hand feel the world expand".  That's actually a pretty clever song, and Alex's guitar work is great.
Scars is also an amazing song. The subtleties of the guitar really make it a standout track, and how the bass line carries it. "I hear the lions hunting in the Serengeti nights" gives me chills...
didn't mean to turn this into a Rush thread.   

[pg1067]

I love all of Presto!  There's nothing "gay" about Hand over Fist ( not that there's anything wrong with that).  The bridge section is awesome "take a look outside yourself in some exotic land, great a passing stranger, feel the strength in his hand feel the world expand".  That's actually a pretty clever song, and Alex's guitar work is great.

Hand over Fist always struck me as a song that one of those manufactured Disney teen vocal groups with a dance that revolved around "hand over fist, paper around the stone...."  Like I said before, embarrassingly bad.

[Stadler]

I love all of Presto!  There's nothing "gay" about Hand over Fist ( not that there's anything wrong with that).  The bridge section is awesome "take a look outside yourself in some exotic land, great a passing stranger, feel the strength in his hand feel the world expand".  That's actually a pretty clever song, and Alex's guitar work is great.

Hand over Fist always struck me as a song that one of those manufactured Disney teen vocal groups with a dance that revolved around "hand over fist, paper around the stone...."  Like I said before, embarrassingly bad.

For all the praise of Neil as a lyricist, not all of them are winners, and I see a lot of his more highly regarded lyrics and think "WTF?".  Not this one; I think this is one of his best lyrics, and works on several levels.

The "competitive nature" of rock-paper-scissors, and how the metaphor of a clenched fist is powerful in that context, but even that can be beat by "paper" (also a metaphor, for intellectualism and idealism).  The fragility and transience of relationships ("We grow further apart").  How those relationships can be improved (and conflict avoided) by the opening of the fist into a hand, and laying hand over hand, another way of saying "holding hands", can overcome (not to mention the added metaphor of "open", as in open mind, open heart, and the aforementioned open hands). 

[Cool Chris]

"I hear the lions hunting in the Serengeti nights" gives me chills...

There is another rock song with Serengeti in the lyrics?!?

[King Postwhore]

"I hear the lions hunting in the Serengeti nights" gives me chills...

There is another rock song with Serengeti in the lyrics?!?

 

[pg1067]

I love all of Presto!  There's nothing "gay" about Hand over Fist ( not that there's anything wrong with that).  The bridge section is awesome "take a look outside yourself in some exotic land, great a passing stranger, feel the strength in his hand feel the world expand".  That's actually a pretty clever song, and Alex's guitar work is great.

Hand over Fist always struck me as a song that one of those manufactured Disney teen vocal groups with a dance that revolved around "hand over fist, paper around the stone...."  Like I said before, embarrassingly bad.

For all the praise of Neil as a lyricist, not all of them are winners, and I see a lot of his more highly regarded lyrics and think "WTF?".  Not this one; I think this is one of his best lyrics, and works on several levels.

The "competitive nature" of rock-paper-scissors, and how the metaphor of a clenched fist is powerful in that context, but even that can be beat by "paper" (also a metaphor, for intellectualism and idealism).  The fragility and transience of relationships ("We grow further apart").  How those relationships can be improved (and conflict avoided) by the opening of the fist into a hand, and laying hand over hand, another way of saying "holding hands", can overcome (not to mention the added metaphor of "open", as in open mind, open heart, and the aforementioned open hands).

Even if I agreed with you (and I'm not saying one way or the other), it would be an example of my rule of thumb that really bad lyrics can ruin a musically good song, but even the best lyrics can't save a musically bad/uninteresting/unappealing song (and, in this case, at least part of the lyrics are significantly less than "the best").