Songs I Love to Hate

Over the last few months, I’ve seen variations of the “Name That Tune” game on various blogs, including my own.

Today, I thought I’d do something different. We all have songs we love to hate, songs that make us nearly rip the dial off the radio in our haste to change the station.

“Raindrops Keep Falling on Head” by BJ Thomas and “Sunshine on My Shoulders” by John Denver were two songs I especially hated as a kid because they were sappy and gooey. Most of what John Denver did was pretty sappy, but this one had to be the worst.

When I first began college in the fall of 1976, radio stations were constantly playing Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. I normally like Elton John’s music, but for some reason, this song just rubbed me the wrong way, and I’d change the station every time it came on. Oddly enough, I kind of like this song now, but that’s probably because it reminds me of a particularly happy time in my life.

Of course, there were songs I hated then that I hate just as much now. A prime example would be Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You”, in which she makes a sound like a wounded animal with its leg caught in a trap in the middle of the song. That noise goes through my head like a nail.

Another song I’ve always despised is Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville”, mainly because of the inane lyrics.

“Stepped on a pop tart, blew out my flip flop”

How more moronic can you get?

“Shout” by the Isley Brothers (I think) makes me want to tear my hair out. For one thing, it’s too long and boring. When I hear it, I change the lyrics in my head to:

“You make me want to BARF, throw my guts up and BARF, kick the bucket and BARF….”

In the 90s, when I was still on the police force, “Achy, Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus was quite popular, which I instantly hated. For one thing, it was country, which I don’t like for the most part. And it was sappy. And the combination of country and sappy only made it ten times worse.

More recently, I’ve been listening to the radio more as I make my pizza deliveries. One song (why is it that the godawful songs get the most airtime?) that comes on a lot is REO Speedwagon’s “Take It On the Run”. The beginning lyrics make me want to tear the radio out of the dashboard and throw it out the window:

“I heard it from a friend whooooo
Heard it from a friend whooooo
Heard it from another you been messin’ around”

My sap runneth over.

Let’s hear some of the songs you love to hate.