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

Rod Stewart hates "Love Touch" - and I think he always has.

A lot of these "artists hate" examples tend toward songs the artist grew resentful toward because they were "forced" to play them, but I think Rod disliked "LT" even in 1986.

When I saw him 2X in 1988, he played the song neither time - pretty remarkable given it was a recent, big hit.

IIRC, he did a snippet in a mocking way, though that might've been at a later show, not 1988...

 

Bowie wasn't fond of "Rebel Rebel", "Young Americans" and "Changes"...

 

I don't know if Billy hates the song, but I do remember he said in an interview that he didn't enjoy performing it anymore because he's done it so much.

 

Really? Those are some of my favorites by him along with "Fame."

 

This one is a 2nd hand account. My career counselor from college and grad school, Carlos, and I have remained friends over years. He'd told me this story about when Los Lobos appeared at Artpark in Lewiston, NY, some years back.

Before the show, he'd spotted some of the members, Cesar Rojas and David Hidalgo. Having also grown up in LA and having a Latin connection, he went over to talk. Just as he was about to finish sharing the effect and influence they'd had, Cesar exclaimed, "not 'La Bamba!'" That wasn't what he was about to say, but made for an excellent story!

 

I've always viewed the claim of "hating" a top performing song as false immodesty on the part of the artist. I've never seen any of them actually try to give away the fame and money and career boost the song provided them.

It's a hipster/poser move, IMO.

 

I don't think I've ever heard the band say anything negative about it, and I have read a million interviews over the years with the guys, but the fact that it was never played again after the 70's definitely tells us that they weren't that fond of it.

Smart man, regarding Changes, which has always annoyed the crap out of me. I like Young Americans quite a bit, though. Rebel Rebel is one I can take or leave.

 

Both overdo the "ba ba ba" "la la la" 'wooh ooh"s. The sort of thing that gives them less credibility now, but sold them tons of records in the 80s. I like Don't You... but they were far better than that really. I don't begrudge Simple Minds success, but wish the 1979-82 era wasn't so overlooked. They were great then.

 

I think it was more like he got tired of My Way and all the psycho babble baggage surrounding it. He literally despised Strangers in the Night from the moment it was presented to him although he cut it and it went to No. 1.

 

Just played this at a wedding reception last night and the crowd packed the floor...

 

It was both. He used to complain about Strangers onstage (“yuck!”). He dropped My Way for a while when the single New York, New York hit. He felt like he had a big closer to replace it and could stop doing it. My Way was braggadocio, and his musical persona was the guy who lost the girl, saloon songs, torch songs. It never fit who he wanted be as a singer.

He also hated Hey, Jealous Lover. He usually hand picked his album tracks (with the exception of the late 60s pop albums on Reprise). His singles were sometimes picked by someone else, and he didn’t always love them. When they hit, and he felt he had to do them onstage, he could easily come to hate them.

 

Didn't Daltrey recently say he was sick of singing "Won't Get Fooled Again"? Shocking!

 

Not sure how a band would give away fame or a career boost, but you could argue that Radiohead tried. They consciously moved away from the sound & style of “Creep” and avoided playing it for long stretches of time. They also got exponentially more popular when they did that. So who knows.

 

Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl

And I think it’s We Didn’t Start the Fire that Billy Joel dislikes playing live.

 

I believe Steve Marriot hated Itchycoo Park....

 

Madonna doesn't like 'True Blue', it's rarely performed live and tends to be a notable absence on her compilations. Supposedly it's largely because it was inspired by Sean Penn.

It's a pretty slight track I guess but I've always had a soft spot for it and the dorky girl group throwback video.

 

Here's an old obscure one. There's was a jazz vocal singer in the 50s called Lita Roza, from Liverpool. She was good and convincing at doing the Peggy Lee style of singing, which was rare for a Brit.

She was persuaded to record a song she absolutely hated and only ever sang once, How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?!

The result was a huge selling record that she hated and was miles away from her style that she was forever associated with. At least she became the first Liverpool musician to get a number one hit. Her LPs from this era are valuable now.

 

Darlene Love hates "A Fine Fine Boy." She gave in when Bruce Springsteen requested she sing it during his Rock Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary show set..........but she almost never does it live herself.

Little Anthony claims he hates "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop"..............but continues to play it because it was the song that made the money to put his kids through college.

 

Madonna doesn't really have a complete Greatest Hits album. Even her most comprehensive one, "Celebration" excludes several hits.

Madonna doesn't seem to like "True Blue." I was surprised (and thrilled) when she performed it on the "Rebel Heart" in 2015. The last time she had done it live was on the "Who's That Girl" tour in 1987.

 

I looked at Wiki and that article implied he didn't like it even back in 1977!

I think later disdain partly came from overexposure. It was always pretty sappy for a guy who fashioned himself as a ROCKER, and the fact it turned into a wedding song staple probably bugged him.

I think he also associates it with an ex-wife - that'll make you hate a song!

 

It's easy for her to ignore since she had so many other hits off the same album - "Live to Tell", "Papa", "Isla", "Open".

The title song is probably the least popular of the hits, so it's not a song that "goes missed" for the most part...

 

Steve Winwood, as part of Traffic, hates "Hole in My Shoe". Yes, I know it’s a Dave Mason song, but the rest of the unit never shone to it.

 

Yeah. The Once Upon A Time album was a conscious attempt to make their music appeal to US radio and audiences. I like parts of it though. They've also released four good to great albums in the last 15 years that are more in line with their early work though with a modern production sheen.

 

Cheap Trick was not exactly thrilled with The Flame, even though it’s their only #1 single. It was written by someone else, and even made the adult contemporary charts.

Reportedly, the band disliked the song at first, Rick Nielsen disliked the song so much on first hearing that he yanked it from the tape player and ground the cassette beneath his boot heel.

 

Really - at least as of the late 80s/early 90s.

I'd heard that he disliked those songs, so when I had my phone chat with him in 1990, I asked him, and he confirmed it.

Probably plenty of other songs he disliked as well, but those were the ones we discussed.

I had commented that I thought he played "Rebel" too fast in 1990 - like he couldn't wait for it to be done - and he confirmed how much he disliked it. I actually tried to get him to drop it from the set since his disdain felt so apparent when he played it, but that was a hits tour and he knew the fans expected it, so it stayed.

He did like the 1990 arrangement of "Changes", even if he disliked the song itself!