Really popular songs you consider are seriously overrated.

[paulguitar]

Which songs that have been a big success are you completely underwhelmed by, and why? I will start with a couple.

1. 'Simply The Best' -Tina Turner. Written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman:

Why? Well, it's very, very boring, and the lyrics are terrible. Embarrassingly simplistic, and the song seems to have been designed to be yelled badly at weddings or on the terraces at sports events. I've been asked to perform it a few times and have a sort of primal dread inside at the idea of doing so. We (professional musicians) obviously have to do songs we aren't particularly into, but this would be going too far.


2. Ed Sheeran (all of them), but I need to select one, so 'Thinking out Loud'.


I need to learn at least one song by this bloke. I frequently get requests to do something of his and I can't really carry on making up excuses for not doing one. So, every now and then, I make a large cup of tea, sit down in front of youtube and make the effort to listen to a few with a view to working one up to perform. Every time, the same thing happens. I can't even get through listening to one all of the way through, never mind learning it. The latest one was 'Thinking out Loud'...

What's the issue? Well, I find it musically rather dull and derivative (although he just won his court case) but I think most of the problem is the lyrics. They're just painful - like a nine-year-old wrote them. I think if I performed this the audience would be able to tell I was slowly dying inside.


So, music lovers of PH, which big, successful songs do you think are ste?

[Drooles]

Totally agree with Simply the Best…

Another one for me is Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle. Decent melody but all the ‘ooos’ really irritate me!

[Drooles]

And anything by Ed Sheeran! Awful. Sorry not to begin a great debate.

[xu5]

I am not particularly up to to speed with a lot of current guitar based music, so my opinion probably doesn't hold much value but I would definitely agree with Ed Sheeran. So anodyne, I honestly struggle to see the merit.

[gazza285]

My band does Purple Haze, I find it as dull as dishwater.

[andySC]

Born in the USA - Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. Bloody awful.

Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues.
Bloody awful.

Thriller (album) - Jacko. Mostly bloody awful.

[Sporky]

All of them. Anything I've heard a bazillion times is irksome.

[Scabutz]

andySC said:

Born in the USA - Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. Bloody awful.

Id extend that to any Springsteen song. Elevator music and yet he his held in high esteem by many people as a great artist. Rubbish

[Colonel Cupcake]

Do they ever play "The best" on Greatest Hits Radio? I listen fairly regularly but I can't say I have ever heard it.

[generationx]

andySC said:

Born in the USA - Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. Bloody awful.

Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues.
Bloody awful.

Definitely both of these.

[pequod]

Stairway to Heaven is a marmite toon, and no mistake!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF3oxziUI4&ab...

However, I would suggest Boom Bang-a-Bang takes some digesting???

[S100HP]

So many, but my initial entries are:

Simply Red - anything they do but particularly Fairgrounds. Was so over played when I was a kid.

Lighthouse Family - Lifted - what a bloody awful nondescript song

U2 - almost anything by them. Massively overrated band.

[DodgyGeezer]

Scabutz said:

andySC said:

Born in the USA - Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. Bloody awful.

Id extend that to any Springsteen song. Elevator music and yet he his held in high esteem by many people as a great artist. Rubbish

I'd say (nearly) anything the Springsteen has sung - however some of the songs he's written aren't too bad.


As for the thread... Simply Red, anything

[rjfp1962]

Adele....! All of it!

[Riley Blue]

Hey Jude, Let It Be and several others from the same source; I find them totally unappealing.

[popegregory]

andySC said:

Born in the USA - Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. Bloody awful.

In what universe is it “bloody awful”?! How else do you musically convey the anger of a traumatised Vietnam vet who has returned to the country that saner him there only to find it has also turned its back on him? Simple, effective, iconic hook, great lyrics.

[Super Sonic]

Sporky said:

All of them. Anything I've heard a bazillion times is irksome.

This is why I listen to radio three!. Well, that and being old!

[Roofless Toothless]

gazza285 said:

My band does Purple Haze, I find it as dull as dishwater.

You’re not playing it loud enough!

[Riley Blue]

Roofless Toothless said:

gazza285 said:

My band does Purple Haze, I find it as dull as dishwater.

You’re not playing it loud enough!

It was anything but dull when I heard Jimi play it in April '67.

[Zetec-S]

Scabutz said:

Id extend that to any Springsteen song. Elevator music and yet he his held in high esteem by many people as a great artist. Rubbish

popegregory said:

andySC said:

Born in the USA - Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. Bloody awful.

In what universe is it “bloody awful”?! How else do you musically convey the anger of a traumatised Vietnam vet who has returned to the country that saner him there only to find it has also turned its back on him? Simple, effective, iconic hook, great lyrics.

Yep, you can dislike it but you can't deny it captures a certain essence of "blue collar" America. Certainly not elevator music (and I'm not sure you quite understand what that is...)