What is the absolute worst song recorded in the 20th Century?

Who let the Dogs out.

Thread over.

"Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie" plus it never fucking ends.

The correct answer is "Double 'S'" by Whisperin' Bill Anderson

"(You're) Having My Baby."

"I've Never Been to Me."

THIS ONE!!!

"Lollipop, lollipop, ooh lolli lolli..." The song gives me physical pain. I won't link it the same way that I wouldn't put anthrax onto your desk. Sometimes, imagination must suffice.

"Wonderful Christmas Time" by Paul McCartney.

There's a scene in Animal House where some beatnik is singing I Gave My Love a Cherry and John Belushi smashes his guitar.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Excellent choice, R8. It’s abysmal.

Here’s my choice;

Jennifer Lopez’s entire catalog.

God Bless the USA. Both insipid and right wing.

Afternoon Delight.

Muskrat Love

Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin

You Light Up My Life

[quote]..........and played incessantly on American and British radio in the 1950s?

Uh, I've only ever heard this song in the movie Animal House, played by Stephen Bishop until the John Belushi character smashes his guitar. Never once heard it on the radio.

It has possibly reached Emeritus status and is retired from competition but, as well known somgs go…

Yes the cherry song is the worst

Step aside, bitches!

Groan

Im sorry I didn’t read in full OP. I’m sorry.

r23 / r1 It was released in 2000, but probably was technically recorded in 1999.

Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh

Your Love is Like a Booger on My Finger (And I Cannot Flick it Off), pt. 1

Baby Shark

Lollipop Lollipop, Oh Lolli Lollipop

Tennessee Ernie Williams Ford?

r29 Is that a song?

R30 OP wrote:

[quote] Caution!!!.....Musical ear worm alert..........Listen at your peril.... I dare you to listen to this horror of a rendition by Tennessee Ernie Williams Ford beyond 30 seconds or more

I think he’s mixing up Tennessee Ernie Ford and Tennessee Williams.

Short people got no reason to live 1978

THIS!

I Wanna Fuck You

'Honey' Bobby Goldsboro

Song about an accident-prone simpleton who dies when left alone for a few minutes.

The Streak—Ray Stevens

R24 It’s original release was in 1998 by this wack dude from Trinidad.

OP you need to set your boundaries. Do you want all of the 20th century or just those played on the radio in the 50s. Tell us what you want.

I have some nostalgic feelings attached to a number of these songs, even though I understand the hatred.

The song at the OP reminds of my grandpa, who used to sing it to us as a lullaby. And I like Tennessee Ernie Ford’s voice a lot.

I actually like I Gave My Love a Cherry. Not on a loop, or anything, but once in a while.

Rock Lobster otoh…

A Horse With No Name

she ran callin'

W I L D F I R E

Thread closed.

R38, I don’t think anyone has touched the 50’s or even 60’s. If we go way back, I might add Minnie the Moocher.

Tennessee Williams used to humorously complain people mistook him for Tennessee Ernie Ford

Minnie the Moocher is a great song.

Thanks, OP. Now I can’t get I Gave My Love a Cherry out of my head…

Muskrat Love.

Recorded three times!

R46, just teasing. I agree and a song from my mother’s era which she loved. The title was just an easy target.

The most vomitaceous thing ever, and I was there to see it.

r48 see r15

R50 see r17

It's not like there are 300 posts to scroll through here.

Mambo #5

My post contains additional information, r51, but thank you for your valuable work policing Datalounge to banish the scourge of two people posting the same response. Do you have a GoFundMe?

r53 Quite welcome!

Worst song 1-877 Kars 4 Kids. Commendable program but needs a new jingle-Played to death!

Sorry I don't click unidentified links.

"What's Up?" by 4-Non Blondes.

I just don't get why people love that piece of crap to the point that the music video has reached 1 billion views on Youtube?

r57 I HATED that song

I give you... Rebecca Black!

Oops, my mistake^^ I forgot we were restricted to the 20th century songs only.

r59 That song wasn't even really that bad, compared to other songs around the time (and now). WAP!

This abomination

Or, this creepy thing

[Quote]It's not like there are 300 posts to scroll through here.

Miss r51 HAS SPOKEN!

Thread closed here…

R65 Oh hello no. My prerogative is a New Jack swing classic. It’s a good pop/r&b song. What’s up by 4nonblondes is also a good song. Now what was truly horrible was that Britney cover of My prerogative.

r65 Hardly

R62 Now that truly is a horrible song. Was that 90s or 2004?

R66. Bobby Brown learned a new word and built an entire song around it.

Also, he’s a stupid, vile motherfucker.

It was in the mid-90s. I remember it from grad school - it was all over MTV and VH1.

r69 No one is arguing with that part

Some people seriously have no clue what "recorded in the 20th Century" means? Yikes.

And also…

Convoy, by C W McCall.

r73 / r74 You think that's the "absolute worst song recorded?" You don't get out much. It's wretched, but so many songs are so much worse.

Michael, Row the Boat Ashore

Ann-Margret sang I Gave My Love A Cherry in Pocket Full Of Miracles. Yes, It's the worst.

The soft racist of r69. He was a substance abuse addict. He isn’t dumb and he certainly didn’t introduce hardcore drugs to Whitney Houston as she was the one who introduced him to cocaine.

Party all the time is one of those so bad it’s good. It’s. A horrible song with an infectious melody and it’s bad because you know Eddie Murphy can’t sing without autotune. Now a song like who let the dogs out is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I can’t understand how anyone could ever stand it.

I'm going to go with "come together" by the Beatles. I despise that song. Not only did they play it to death, then everyone else put out a version of it. Hate hate hate.

My partner knew the guy who wrote "Who Let The Dogs Out?"

R80 Nah B. It is top 100 greatest songs of all time. Meh, it’s all subjective though.

R72 technically the OP said the song needed to be played heavily on British and American radio during the 1950s, so there’s that too.

r82 Nah, B - it's all subjective, that song sucks.

Omg R3, that is literally the worst song I have ever heard.

WTF did he think he was, Barry White?

Can’t believe this wasn’t posted yet.

I missed the fifties part, sorry. Then my vote is "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas"

This must be WAAAY up there. I see your hippopotamus and raise you this

It's a toss up between Tennesse Ernie Ford singing I Gave My Love A Cherry, and Tennessee Ernie Ford Williams singing 16 Tons

Hit me Baby one more time and that fat whore who sang it.

The Beach Boys are my favorite group, but there is one song they recorded that I cannot stand.

Achy Breaky Heart.

We Are the World

MMMBop

Kumbaya

I love Kumbaya, even though it’s considered corny. It comes from the Gullah culture and it’s asking God to “Come By Here” when someone is in need.

One contender may be “The Cha Cha Slide” as it first inflicted itself on civilization in 1998. However it appears its mainstream radio and DJ version was recorded in 2000.

There are few words to describe my loathing and contempt for this “song.” It is execrable and devoid of any redeeming value. It is a horrid pastiche of vapid, turn-of-the-Millenium cultural trash made for wedding receptions, dreary suburban “nightclubs” and daddy/daughter dances. All copies should be confiscated by the Ministry of Culture and destroyed in a raging chemical fire. It is beyond vile. Reprehensible in all its forms, if I dare say so.

"Cha Cha Slide" is one of John Mulaney's finest SNL moments. From...before.

Don't watch, r97.

[quote] It is execrable and devoid of any redeeming value. It is a horrid pastiche of vapid, turn-of-the-Millenium cultural trash made for wedding receptions, dreary suburban “nightclubs” and daddy/daughter dances.

The Macarena.

I Wanna Sex You Up by Color me Badd

R96 Yes, I know all that.

R57, it appeals to miserable fraus.

Barbie Girl.

No Charge - JJ Barrie

I broke my girlfriend's cherry, it bled real good, I broke my girlfriend's cheery, unn...der..her hood

God help me I always liked You Light Up My Life. I guess it was written by a miserable person, Joe Brooks (not to be confused with singer-songwriter Joe Brooks, who's English and a nice person).

God Awful....Who is this broad?

Dolores Gray sings Comden & Green/Andre Previn (a good song):

Seasons in the Sun

Count me among the people that absolutely can't stand "What's Up" = caterwauling by some ugly chicks. I'm always shocked when people say they like that song. It makes me want to stab my eardrums out.

Years ago, someone gave me Dolores Gray's "Warm Brandy" (pictured at R108) on CD, figuring it was something a Broadway fan like me would enjoy. I listened to it exactly once, Maybe Dolores was trying to scale back her Broadway belt for a more intimate sound more appropriate for a recording, but she seems to be falling asleep on a chaise lounge on every track. I pictured someone nearby constantly waking her up to get her to finish each song.

I loved singing the lyric "My dog wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time" to my now-deceased pup.

"The Cherry Song" originated as a ballad, and then a lullaby, in 16th century Europe.

A thread devoted to similarly evolved/updated songs would be interesting.

Okay, OT:

This occasionally horrifying song is a camp classic - I DO LOVE IT! - but I wonder how the lyrics for the chorus appear on the sheet music.

[italic]Aaaaaaaagghhhhhhhh ! !

Genuinely horrific

They don't even have nice asses (at r116)...they're kind of skinny and flat. Those gold lame shorts are doing them no favors.

R80 I love "Come together" until the refrain. The intro is genius. It has a similar vibe as the intro to the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter". Instantly recognizable and a document of the time.

This one...

Anything from Ethel Merman’s disco album 🤢

Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, singing whatever that song was. (Monte Rock III)

The Horse with No Name.

I love that song r123. You must be born >1971.

The only thing worse than this song is this video and the fact that I don’t know what bleechers are!

[quote]R119: I love "Come together" until the refrain. The intro is genius.

I was surprised to discover that Lennon was repeating "Shoot me... Shoot me..." I'd never recognized those as words.

R124 I was born in the '50s and I don't love the song.

Sorry. "Murphey," of course^

Although he's never apologized to US for this shit.

OP that’s the worst ever. “I gave my love a baby with no cry-IN”

The Blind Man in the Bleachers.

Thread closed.

R128 AKA as Julia Roberts’s Theme… 😈😈✔️

Eve of Destruction.....As Bad As I Gave My Love A Cherry

Bless The Beasts And The Children

Don’t Worry Be Happy

The Christmas Shoes

Bolero (recorded, not written in the 20th Century)

The Ballad of the Green Berets - Worst song to ever reach #1 on the Billboard charts, no contest. Even Disco Duck is brilliant compared to this shit.

R138 I was going to mention that.

"Summer, the First Time" another Bobby Goldsboro tune

Ravel’s Bolero premiered in 1928.

Anything by Lisha.

It would have to be something in the last ten years of the century. There was so much crap then

Probably something numetal

my dog just hopped up while i was listening to Yamo Be There.

He fell asleep immediately.

Wretched

This shit was beneath Dora Bryan’s talents.

I'd Really Love to See You Tonight

I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. Despise it.

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Bobby Darin's Artificial Flowers.

Uplifting: a tune about an orphaned child, exploited by hatmakers and found frozen to death.

"Jesus Dropped The Charges"

[italic]I was guilty of all the charges, doomed and disgraced, but Jesus with his special love saved me by his grace[/italic]

[quote]Bobby Darin's Artificial Flowers. Uplifting: a tune about an orphaned child, exploited by hatmakers and found frozen to death.

It's from a musical called "Tenderloin" and is meant to satirize the kind of schmaltzy songs that were popular in the era in which the show is set. Why it got airplay as a popular song is a mystery.

It has been written here too often and has become so trite, but nevertheless: R153 is why I love DL.

R150 It's a freakin' novelty song. And no, it's is not bad song.

They Might Be Giants quirky cover version made it much more respectable.

R148 It's playing in the supermarket all the time. Actually I never minded this song.

R156: it's the summum of 1970s easy listening. Very retail-friendly.

Jenny From the Block (JLo)

R157 I like the lyric, "There's a warm wind blowing the stars around"

Never mind, JLo's song was 2002.

"Livin' la Vida Loca" (1999)

I’m embarrassed to admit I know of it but the worst song of all time truly is-‘’Muskrat Love ‘’ by The Captain and Tennille. Always thought Dragon was sexy/cute but I guess he turned out to be an asshole-now a dead asshole. Long live Toni Tennille-“love will keep us together’’.

I was 14 when Muskrat Love came out and took the lyrics metaphorically. I loved the melody though. Toni had a great voice.

I dare any of you to find something worse

‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ is a 1984 celebrity Band Aid song to benefit victims of the famine in Ethiopia. Not only is it a lousy song, only a minority of Ethiopians are Christian, the rest don’t celebrate the birth of Christ. Or Christmas.

Slightly different topic but I kind of like the subversiveness of Summer, The First Time by Bobby Goldsboro. A 17yo getting laid by a 31yo? Sung by a guy generally considered schmaltzy? I’m here for it.

I remember when I was a very little girl

Our house caught on fire

I'll never forget the look on my father's face

As he gathered me up in his arms

And raced through the burning building onto the pavement

And I stood there shivering in my pajamas

And watched the whole world go up in flames

And when it was all over I said to myself

"Is that all there is to a fire?"

Lavender Blue Silly Silly Sil

OP, I remember learning that song in school as a kid. It is indeed putrid, plus it makes no sense -- for example, a ring "has no end" even when it's not "rolling."

Big Daddy makes it sound even worse!!! Still, "I Gave My Love A Cherry," beats them all as positively the worse fucking song recorded last century, and that's coming from me, the singer

Since I Gave My Last be a Charry is a traditional song, it hardly seems to fit this category.

Ringo by Lorne Greene

The entire Ethel Merman disco album!

Mary Martin, you are a lousy bulldyke cunt who only had two emotions -- smirk and giggle. Helen Lawson was right about you, cunt!

Helen was good at cunnilingus…

How dare you in insult our Big Daddy R169. You are a no neck monster

Oh, no, shit! The worse fucking, annoying cloying "folk" singing group and this piece of shit they sang

Ewwwww

Yeah, second your choice, R177. Aaaaaawwwwwwwfffffffuuuuuulllllll

Mylène Farmer - L'Âme-Stram-Gram is so elaborate that it's comical. It's got its own beauty, though.

Kokomo by the Beach Boys is just execrable

I haven't read the entire thread, has this one come up yet? So horrific.