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Hit songs badmouthed by their singers
- Thread starter Kurt Toy
- Start date
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cd637299
Guest
Maybe Casey Kasem related both these stories, maybe not....
The band Steam absolutely hated "Na Na Hey Hey...." and I think it was meant to be filler....but look what happened....
Kent Lavoie hated a certain song so bad that when he recorded it, he used a pseudonym. The song: "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo." The pseudonym: Lobo....now he's stuck with Lobo!
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The band Steam absolutely hated "Na Na Hey Hey...." and I think it was meant to be filler....but look what happened....
Kent Lavoie hated a certain song so bad that when he recorded it, he used a pseudonym. The song: "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo." The pseudonym: Lobo....now he's stuck with Lobo!
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cd637299
Guest
Oh, and Nick Lowe couldn't stand "Cruel to Be Kind." He said it was "pap," maybe not his normal style.
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Jeannie C. Riley hated "Harper Valley PTA" to the point that she refused to sing it in concert, much to the disappointment of her fans.
The name "Steam" was also a pseudonym. The guy's real name was Gary DeCarlo, and he recorded under the stage name of Garrett Scott.cd637299 said:
Linda Ronstadt for many many years pretty much badmouthed anything that she did from her rock and roll days. Similar I believe to Donna Summer, ever since she had found religion dont expect her to sing Love To Love You Baby.
Amii Stewart not only hated her biggest hit "Knock on Wood" but I seem to remember hearing her say that she hated everything about disco too.
When I did oldies radio for a time I have heard the story that Gilbert O'Sullivan didn't like "Get Down" and that Paul Nicholas really detested "Heaven on the 7th floor".
Clint Holmes "Playground in my Mind"..from what I understand at first he really liked the song but over the years more and more people were calling the tune "one of the worst of all time"..so Clint Holmes ended up joining that bandwagon.
Amii Stewart not only hated her biggest hit "Knock on Wood" but I seem to remember hearing her say that she hated everything about disco too.
When I did oldies radio for a time I have heard the story that Gilbert O'Sullivan didn't like "Get Down" and that Paul Nicholas really detested "Heaven on the 7th floor".
Clint Holmes "Playground in my Mind"..from what I understand at first he really liked the song but over the years more and more people were calling the tune "one of the worst of all time"..so Clint Holmes ended up joining that bandwagon.
Sammy Davis, Jr. hated "The Candy Man" until after it became a big hit. Then he warmed up to it a bit. Money will do that to you sometimes.
I heard Tony Orlando did not like any of his songs or music. He has/or had a serious problem with depression. Maybe if he listened to his songs it would cheer him up!
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cd637299
Guest
One T.O. & Dawn top 10 you NEVER hear anymore is "Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight)". I guess it's one of those "sappy I-never-wanna-hear-that-song-again-as-long-as-I-live" ex-hits, in the vein of "Honey" or "Playground in My Mind".
I don't even think our local Top 40 stations played it when it came out here!
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I don't even think our local Top 40 stations played it when it came out here!
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And "Sweet Gypsy Rose."cd637299 said:
There have been numerous examples of so-called "rock" groups recording a ballad, usually a sticky sweet love song written by the lead singer, and dedicated to his wife or girlfriend, and the other members of the group absolutely HATE that song (until it becomes their biggest hit, of course! :Kurt Toy said:
). Such a song will usually shoot straight to #1, while everything else that they put out there struggles to make the top 20. firepoint525 said:There have been numerous examples of so-called "rock" groups recording a ballad, usually a sticky sweet love song written by the lead singer, and dedicated to his wife or girlfriend, and the other members of the group absolutely HATE that song (until it becomes their biggest hit, of course! :Kurt Toy said:
What's worse is when that sappy ballad becomes the band's only hit. And for most rock musicians, becoming one-hit wonders because of a sappy ballad does not make them start to love the song.
There have been numerous examples of so-called "rock" groups recording a ballad, usually a sticky sweet love song written by the lead singer, and dedicated to his wife or girlfriend, and the other members of the group absolutely HATE that song (until it becomes their biggest hit, of course! :). Such a song will usually shoot straight to #1, while everything else that they put out there struggles to make the top 20.
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With the exception of the last sentence above, what you say applies to Styx. They had a number of Top 20 hits, but "Babe" is their biggest seller. Dennis DeYoung wrote it for his wife and claimed that it was meant to be a private song for them until he played it for the rest of the band and they wanted to release it. It's sappy and sickly sweet and made Styx a ton of money. After they broke up in the early 80's Tommy Shaw, who has some decent rock cred, went solo and at one show had his band start the keyboard riff of "Babe" fully expecting it to be mocked by the crowd (which it was). He joined in their mockery and obviously didn't play the song. He later apologized for his snarkiness, but the rift between DeYoung and the surviving members of Styx lingers on. It has a lot more to do with control issues than with "Babe", but DeYoung is not part of Styx anymore, nor is "Babe" on their set list.
). Such a song will usually shoot straight to #1, while everything else that they put out there struggles to make the top 20. [/quote]
With the exception of the last sentence above, what you say applies to Styx. They had a number of Top 20 hits, but "Babe" is their biggest seller. Dennis DeYoung wrote it for his wife and claimed that it was meant to be a private song for them until he played it for the rest of the band and they wanted to release it. It's sappy and sickly sweet and made Styx a ton of money. After they broke up in the early 80's Tommy Shaw, who has some decent rock cred, went solo and at one show had his band start the keyboard riff of "Babe" fully expecting it to be mocked by the crowd (which it was). He joined in their mockery and obviously didn't play the song. He later apologized for his snarkiness, but the rift between DeYoung and the surviving members of Styx lingers on. It has a lot more to do with control issues than with "Babe", but DeYoung is not part of Styx anymore, nor is "Babe" on their set list.
What is their opinion of "Mr. Roboto" nowadays? It became (I think) their second biggest hit, after "Babe," of course (hit #3 in 1983), but now I get the feeling that its popularity has not endured, and that most fans now think of it as more of a "novelty" song. It certainly doesn't get the airplay like it once did. I'm sure that they probably still play it in concert, but what is their reaction toward the song now?buster2 said:
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