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

The label made the right decision. "Cherry Pie" made for a very memorable video, and it was where Jani meant his future wife--Bobbie Brown, although they later divorced.

 

I don't think he disliked the song per se, though, and there was also the fear that the song would offend a portion of the fan base. Once the song broke on college radio, he was more than happy to restore it Skylarking as originally planned.

 

I agree with you. That album would have never become so successful without it.

 

He also loathed 'Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)' off of Black Sea: "Right, I'm standing up here and now, and saying this song embarrasses the **** out of me. Of all the tunes that I've written, that made it to tape, this makes me cringe the worse. It's not the music, that's solid enough. All the instruments in the track mesh nicely enough, but the lyrical sentiment, oh dear. It was supposed to be ironic, you know, nerdy comic fan imagines two dimensional hero can help him with his unsuccessful chat up technique. It did not work. It just came out limply crap. Virgin insisted it be included in this set [Coat of Many Cupboards], otherwise I'd gladly erase it from our history. We all make mistakes.”

 

I remember reading somewhere that George Michael disliked Bad Boys.

Sting does not like Every Breath You Take.

 

"Hate" is way too strong a word (as it almost always is), but Louis Armstrong apparently didn't think much of "Hello, Dolly," at least at first. Here's an amusing storing from the recent obituary of Mickey Kapp, the song's producer:

Among [Mickey Kapp's] other claims to fame there was producing Louis Armstrong’s version of “Hello, Dolly!,” the title song from the Jerry Herman-Michael Stewart musical, although when Armstrong recorded the song in 1963 the show had not yet opened on Broadway. According to a 2014 article in The Queens Gazette, the song was an afterthought to Armstrong, who was more excited about another song he recorded that day, “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” from another Broadway show, “Bye Bye Birdie.”

Mr. Kapp, though, saw a gem. He added a banjo introduction and some strings and, once the Broadway show opened, released the record. It became a hit — a surprise to Armstrong, who was touring at the time.

“After hearing people shout for ‘Hello, Dolly!’ at a live show,” The Gazette said, “Armstrong finally turned to bassist Arvell Shaw and asked, ‘What the hell is ‘Hello, Dolly!’?’ The band had to get a copy of their own recording of the tune to learn it again.”

In May 1964 Armstrong’s record dislodged the Beatles from the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which they had held for 14 weeks.

 

This is not really an example of what the thread asks for but it is related. I remember seeing an interview with Matthew Sweet and he talked about being told by another writer that the songs you work on for a long time will never be your most popular but the ones that came quick will be. Sweet essentially said he felt that way about his song "Girlfriend" (a radio hit in my market) which he wrote in a matter of minutes. He wasn't as attached to it because he invested so little time in it. I believe John Entwistle claims he wrote "Boris The Spider" in a matter of minutes and saw it as something he just threw together.

 

My least favorite The Who song.

 

Pat Benatar hates “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” - she goes out of the way to talk about it in her memoir.

Dionne Warwick hates “Heartbreaker” but knew it was a massive hit so she recorded it. In her words, she “cried all the way to the bank.”

 

Really? An ex-GF from long ago actually knew him a little bit, and she said he told her that it was one of his favorites, and a true story, and that he played it at every show.

Linda Ronstadt has sort of disowned a lot of her big hits, which just kills me. I love practically everything she ever recorded.

 

my guess is maybe rod is just more scratching his head that it was such a huge hit and iconic song than actually disliking the song

 

From what I remember Rod wasn't sure "Maggie May" could be a hit as it had a lot of words and he was worried it lacked a strong melody. I don't know if that means he hated the song.

 

Elton not found of Crocodile Rock. Stopped performing it for a while and then brought it back as a ballad after hearing Sting do it that way. He now plays it during his farewell tour.

 

me too. I remember him making comments about just shocked it was an iconic hit and it didn't make sense. I never heard him say he disliked the song

 

Ok - that's insane! I mean Bowie is entitled to hate them no doubt but these three??? An amazing trio of songs shaping that early/middle 70s period for him.

I change my mind. He's wrong in his thought. Just kidding.

 

Nope - "TVC15"!

 

There might be more info on the Internet if you dig. I didn't ask why he hated the songs - I thought it was enough to confirm his dislike of them!

 

My mistake! Rebel Rebel was his 2nd song

 

The Bangles were never too fond of Walk Like An Egyptian and they seem to have mixed feelings about Manic Monday and Eternal Flame.

 

And in the Christian market, Rich Mullins is primarily remembered for "Awesome God," a song he actually cared little for, and, on at least one occasion, refused to perform because the crowd expressed their distaste for his other material.

 

Which is a shame since he's had material much better than that song including Sing Your Praise To The Lord.

 

One time I saw him in concert he was playing Just The Way You Are, and explaining about how the relationship ended with the woman it was about. And he mentioned that while the song might be very special for some of the listeners, you do it a few hundred times and it becomes very rote for the artist. He confessed that he'd daydream while performing the song - thinking about what he'd have for dinner when he got back to the hotel room:

Don't go changing...

(Should I have steak when I get back to the hotel?)

To try and please me

(I should really cut down on the red meat)

You never let me down before

(Should eat more fish)

Don't imagine you're too familiar

(A nice piece of salmon sounds good.)

And I don't see you anymore

And he pointed out that the song was about a relationship that had happened, that had ended, and he hadn't seen this person in years.

He said he was playing at one time, and his drummer Liberty DeVito knew his tendency to zone out while playing that song, sang during the chorus "She got the house, she got the car."

 

Yep: I've heard the first Mrs. Joel stick picks up royalties on that one. Given that she and her brother fiscally raped Mr. Joel, I can imagine that his feelings about that song may be 'mixed', to say the least.....

 

Farewell tour 1 out of 10? Such a cliche of dishonest marketing.

 

What cretin spends a concert shouting out for the one hit everybody knows they're going to play? And everybody knows you play the giant hit at the end of the show!

Anyone with a brain larger than a Le Sueur brand Sweet'n'Early Pea (to borrow Kinky Friedman's immortal put down) knows that, (for instance) the English Beat are going to close the show with Mirror In The Bathroom and you shouting for it all through the show is just annoying everybody else.