"We Built This City" voted as the worst single ever

News.Com.AU | April 21, 2004 | Patrick O'Neil

[Khurkris]

"Is it hep or is it hip?"

It once was hep..with beatniks and berets and finger snappin' watching Zelda do her cool jazz dance. Then it evolved into hip with Rainbow Sky Flower wearing her tie-dye and love beads as she does her acid dance to the Grateful Dead.

Life goes on.

[m87339]

I played for a living for years, play several instruments, and play jazz nowadays

Uh huh. Friday nights at the Holiday Inn. Again, I know your type. Jazz players in particular tend to be arrogant musical elitists who love to toss out esoteric references and pretend they are the most knowledgable in the room. I played multiple instruments for many years but always laughed behind my hand at the bull sessions where this kind of crap was earnestly discussed by my self-important fellow players.

You have to put DOFP in the mellieu of its time. What you found to be "portentous" (sic) [btw: case in point, you seem to have chosen "portentious" which means "foreboding" because it sounded more "learned" than "pretentious," which is the word I assume you meant. But I digress...] was clearly experimentation, as were the full orchestrations which expanded on the foundation work done by so many others of the time, including the MB.

Most jazz musicians I know would rather put knitting needles in their eyes than admit there was any musical quality in any album that sold more than 1,000 copies.

Perhaps the drugs you took for all those decades (or are you the only jazz musician who didn't?) have addled your memory and reasoning ability?

[MoralSense]

No Holiday Inns, sorry. Electric Circus and Fillmore East good enough for you? And "portentous" -- i.e., brimming with portent; it's a put-down, guy -- is exactly what I meant, and mean. My album collection includes dozens of million sellers: ZZ Top, Van Halen, Boston, Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Petty, on and on. What's your problem, just because I don't like The Electric Light Orchestra? Or whoever that band is that we were talking about.

[Lady Composer]

RE: "louie, Louie" and the 3 chords - good point!

[TheBigB]

"Louie, Louie" is popular because of its dirty, filty, obscene, disgusting lyrics. Or so I read. :^)

[Aggie Mama]

Anything by Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians. :::Shudder:::

[Aggie Mama]

Anything by Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians. :::Shudder:::

[Aggie Mama]

Anything by Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians. :::Shudder:::

[Aggie Mama]

Wow. Sorry about the duplicates.

[Bobby Chang]

Whatever it is, Oval Office for the no-talent in question.

[Wampus SC]

"Mouth and McNeal's "How Do You Do" is my girlfriend's and my song! For better or worse, it does kinda sum up our relationship. Perhaps I should be very afraid."

Nah, no big deal. Favorite songs are favorite songs.

[Wampus SC]

"LOUIE LOUIE represents a feeling, a groove, a state of being that can't always be completely verbalized."

In a hidden chamber underneath the Great Pyramid is an ancient parchment, transcribed by The High Priestess of Atlantis from dictation by the Platypus Men of Orion. It contains the only copy of the real words to Louie Louie. We'll never be sure what they are until it's excavated.

It's such a closely guarded secret that Cleopatra took the snake option rather than divulge its contents to Caesar.

[Denver Ditdat]

Genesis is one of the four most pretentious rock bands of all time. (If you're curious, the other three are Pink Floyd, Yes, and Emerson Lake & Palmer.)

Don't forget Rush.

[Keltik]

bump

[the OlLine Rebel]

I think you mean the guys w/the steel guitars doing "Sleepwalk".

Or is it the "anarchists" from the '20s? (More likely, commies....)

[Xenalyte]

Hoo boy, did you ever step in it. I'll never mention again how amazingly pretentious and lame I find Rush, and how I can't tell one Rush song from another. I apparently am a cretin without the proper intellectual tools to appreciate the greatness that is Rush.

Although I will stipulate to being fond of "Take Off".

[Denver Ditdat]

Hoo boy, did you ever step in it. I'll never mention again how amazingly pretentious and lame I find Rush, and how I can't tell one Rush song from another. I apparently am a cretin without the proper intellectual tools to appreciate the greatness that is Rush.

Ditto. Issue me a membership card for the cretin's club on this one, and I'll take solace in knowing I'm in good company. That rasping sound you hear when "Tom Sawyer" or "Subdivisions" starts warbling from a pair of speakers isn't a problem with the CD player streaming the tune. It's me grinding the enamel from my teeth.

Although I will stipulate to being fond of "Take Off".

Me, too. I think maybe it's because they were simply having fun there, and not taking yet another shot at The Great Statement.

[RightOnline]

"Rock And Roll Hootchie Koo" (by Rick Derringer) has got to be up there near the top."

You simply can not be serious. I'm a heavy rocker......and rock guitarist.......of many, many years (guitar since '68). Ever hear the version of this song by Johnny Winter...live? Killer stuff. Rick Derringer actually wrote it (often referred to as "the third Winter brother"), and when he finally recorded the song, he tore it up. Not even close. Try again, and here's your consolation prize.......

[RightWingAtheist]

I actually found the phrase "Louie Louie!" in a James Joyce novel - Ulysses, I think. The difference is, it's not quite as difficult to decipher what Joyce wrote.

[Mr. Mojo]

Yeah, I've been in blues-rock bands since '75 .....and that song grates on me. Big f'n deal.