Artists Who Hate/Dislike One Of His/Her Biggest Hit Songs

I don't argue the "rock-worthiness" of Joel's output - I do argue that he thought of himself as a rocker!

 

I've never known him to shun it. Maybe in later years, but in the 25-odd shows I saw from the mid-70s to around 2005, he played it at virtually every show ... and seemed to enjoy it!

 

Billy Joel also dislikes "Modern Woman," rightly so if you ask me.

will.i.am tired of "I Got It from My Mama," due to its message.

 

I didn't know about Steve hating it, but I remember reading one of his bandmates saying he hated it when Steve sang in the posh voice he used in the verses.

 

Steve Kilbey of The Church is seemingly not all that fond of his band's one "big" hit "Under The Milky Way".

 

What's irritating are those who, by blind luck, find themselves with extreme success - and then whine about it, thinking everything they do deserves acclaim. You know - one hit wonders, actors who want to direct, lead singers who go solo, non-John Fogerty members of CCR...

 

Blur dislike their third single "Bang", which was written solely to try to get a hit. They didn't really succeed with that either.

Spencer Davis Group used to rubbish "Somebody Help Me", calling it a copy of their first hit, "Keep on Running".

 

Because it really was written to sound like their first hit. Common practice in the 60s.

 

I really like that single and their first album too. I remember seeing them years ago in Edinburgh when they did their singles in chronological order and they played that one through gritted teeth!

 

Both great but I prefer Somebody Help Me.

I bought Bang by Blur on 12" and liked it back in the day. Some good guitar on it, but it's a bit naff. The next single, Popscene, sadly another relative flop, was when Blur started to improve massively. A great record that I still love. They were my favourite band then.

 

Not "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop!" I can understand growing to hate a lot of the tracks mentioned thus far, but not that one.

 

The first time I saw Rickie Lee Jones in concert, I barely recognized any song she performed until she was deep into them. She had changed the sound so much of every track that even though I owned all of her albums and knew most of them fairly well, I didn't immediately recognize what she was playing.

After the show, a friend asked if she had played her lone big hit, Chuck E's In Love. When I said she hadn't, he said that either the artist should perform their big hit or give refunds to the audience. I told him I loved the show and didn't care that she didn't perform the song.

I think someone who appreciates an artist's work will accept what's offered instead of expecting the artist to perform as a paid monkey....only, of course, if the artist is truly putting work into making a great show. Someone who's just putting in a half-assed effort deserves to be called on the carpet.

 

It's partly a myth. Your statement is true for the most part, but there are not too many shows where he didn't actually play it when you look into it.
He didn't play it at Nirvana's last two shows though...

That's good, because I'm embarrassed for them whenever I hear it. I think it's a terrible, obnoxious song!

Wow...really? Does he like anything from his 80s output better?

I don't know what you're talking about!



It's the exact same recipe as "Pictures of Matchstick Men".

REM never liked "Shiny Happy People". They never performed it, and it's not on their compilation of their Warner Years.

Steven Tyler hates "Angel".

 

I wonder how much of the bandmembers' animosity toward the song came from reactions to it. Though it was a top 10 hit, it got mocked a lot.

My gut is that they claim to hate it due to those reactions. They liked it enough to release it as a single and make a video for it. They also played it on "SNL" - not really the efforts of a band who hated the song from Day One.

My gut also says that the never played it on tour because they went so long between tours.

I'd bet that if they'd toured in 1991/92, they'd have played it...

 

Boy George of Culture Club doesn't like Karma Chameleon very much but he does admit it's a good way to save a show that's going bad.

 

I don't know, maybe. I have a book on every REM song up to "Hi Fi" (that I purchased for...........20 cents. My heart went boom when I read the price tag) with lots of quotes from the band, I'll look into it. I think Peter Buck especially claims he doesn't like it. That said, he has said everything and its opposite regarding some REM albums, a bit like Robert Smith changing his mind a lot on (the fantastic album, IMO) "The Top".

Whatever it is, it's a shame because I don't think "Shiny Happy People" is a stupid song. I like it as much as anything on "Out of Time", I don't skip it. It's very infectious, has a surprising intro/bridge (the waltz bit). Stipe and Kate Pierson's vocals work really well together. What's the problem, it's POSITIVE?

 

I think it just seems sappy and superficial, like a parody of a hippie song.

Which I always thought might've been the case, that REM wanted to take the mickey out of that kind of song.

Maybe REM really did dislike it in 1991. It makes little sense that they'd have released it as a single, done a video for it and played it on "SNL" if they hated it from the start, but it's possible - perhaps the suits at WB loved it and forced them to do it?

But would those same suits have forced them to record it and put it on the album? I have to imagine REM circa 1991 had reasonable creative control - seems unlikely they'd have been compelled to put the song on the album, release it as a single, do a video and promote it on TV against their will!

 

It's strange indeed. I guess we'll never know. As for it sounding like a parody of a hippie song, I don't mind it, and there's probably the advantage I have of not hearing the words as I would if English was my first language. I understand English very well but it's still a different music to my ears. It's a bit hard to explain. Some corny french lyrics are VERY corny to me, because they jump at me right away, there's no distance. There's one with the English language. And the musicality of this language is beautiful - I can just listen to the sound of these words and enjoy them.

There's something about Stipe's vocals, his quivering vibrato, his tone, that make the song edgier, especially with Kate Pierson's who are also unique. Maybe I'd hate "Shiny Happy People" if it was sung by plain/ordinary vocalists.

 

Kate Pierson's vocals are what make Shiny Happy People decent...but this is coming from someone who has a hard time listening to REM because of Stipe's vocals.

 

I can understand that. I don't think there's a middle ground with some vocalists!

 

He loathed his part in it. He said, he had a circus calliope sound in his head and began noodling that on guitar and would use that as a warm up. Axl heard this one night and was inspired to write lyrics.

 

Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout doesn't exactly *hate* "The King of Rock and Roll," but he's highly amused by the fact that a song about a one-hit wonder forced to sing the same dumb song for the rest of his life is easily the song he's most known for.

 

Interesting. It's one of the few Guns songs I like.

 

He also thought it was a ballad and at the time he did not want to do a ballad.

 

Something similar to this happened with Gustav Holst and The Planets, where he became disillusioned towards it because he felt it overshadowed all his other music and he also didn't like the sudden fame it brought him. However, he hated incomplete performances of the suite as well as performances that would rearrange the order of the movements, particularly ones that would finish with Jupiter.