10 ‘classic’ songs that are way worse than you remember
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and a barrage of other rock bands have now made songs that we would lovingly refer to as classics.
Here’s the issue: when a song becomes a classic, we often just accept it as a great piece of music and ask no further questions. While some great music is timeless, there are other songs which have a very specific expiry date, and whether that’s because of the kind of music an artist went on to make, how poorly a song ages, or external factors beyond the original creators’ control, the fact remains, there are some songs which just don’t land the same.
It’s often hard to realise that a classic has lost its edge, as the minute the intro to one starts playing, we greet it like an old friend. However, if you take the time to properly listen to a lot of tracks that we hail as the greatest, you’ll find that there are a lot of massive, commercially successful songs that simply aren’t as good as we remember.
So, it begs the question, what are they?
10 famous songs that are worse than you remember:
Starship – ‘We Built This City’
It really says something that when a parody band writes a joke version of the song ‘We Built This City’, where it centres around sausage rolls, and it’s still not as bad as the original. With this horrendously catchy number, Starship wound up making what is undoubtedly one of the most annoying songs in human existence, and yet people still celebrate it as a classic.
The track is made even worse when you learn about how many great musicians were involved in the making of it, such as Bernie Taupin, who originally wrote the lyrics, and then Martin Page put music to them. The outcome should have been a well-thought-out and beautiful song, but it was instead just a blatant grasp at a pop classic, which is now borderline unlistenable.
John Lennon – ‘Imagine’
When The Beatles broke up, John Lennon was excited about writing music which was a more honest reflection of himself, which meant penning both emotional and societally conscious music. His most famous song from this period was ‘Imagine’, which saw him dream up a world that wasn’t plagued by possessions, money and wider issues.
Even at the time when it was released, Lennon was criticised for being a hypocrite, given he was a millionaire singing about not needing money, and while those critiques still hold up, with hindsight, there are more issues with the song other than potential irony. If we’re being realistic, whether you agree with the sentiment of these lyrics or not, they’re just not very good. Considering Lennon was desperate to get out of The Beatles so he could write more brutally honest songs, this offering, which boils down to ‘can’t we all just get along’, doesn’t quite land.
The Rolling Stones – ‘As Tears Go By’
This was a pretty revolutionary moment for The Rolling Stones, as it was their first original track, and it went straight to number one. Even decades later, there are plenty of fans now who attest that this track is one of the band’s very best. Opinions are always going to vary, and I respect all (most) of them, but let’s be fair, when we weigh up what we love about The Rolling Stones, this song is hardly a representation of as much.
Don’t just take my word for it, for Keith Richards said the same thing, as while he was happy to finally get a song written with the band, he also felt that it wasn’t a true reflection of the kind of thing they wanted to be. “Suddenly, ‘Oh, we’re songwriters’, with the most totally anti-Stones sort of song you could think of at the time, while we’re trying to make a good version of (Muddy Waters’) ‘Still A Fool’,” he said, “When you start writing, it doesn’t matter where the first one comes from. You’ve got to start somewhere, right?”
David Bowie – ‘Let’s Dance’
If we look at what David Bowie put out in his career, this song, despite being one of his most commercially successful, is also one of his most dull. It’s very palatable, sure, which explains how it managed to do such good numbers, but it’s very hard to hear a track like this, compare it to some of his other work, and truly suggest it’s a classic.
According to Nile Rodgers, Bowie wanted the song to be much deeper than just a standard disco tune, noting, “When David wrote those lyrics, he was talking about the dance that people do in life; the conceptual dance of not being honest. He sings, ‘Put on your red shoes and dance the blues’. Like you’re pretending to be happy, but you’re sad.” You can give me these in-depth meanings all you like, but it’s still subpar.
Genesis – ‘Burning Rope’
Look, no one is denying that Phil Collins is an amazing drummer; the man was forward-thinking and pretty free in how much he would let loose when performing. That being said, there were some songs where his eyes were a little too big for his stomach, which essentially means that he took things too far on certain songs. You just don’t need that many solos or fills because it can feel overpowering, and a great example of that is on the track ‘Burning Rope’.
Phil Collins admitted to this himself, as he said that the song felt dated, adding, “To me, this song is a period piece. It doesn’t make it in the 20th century. I know there are people who like this music, but I just couldn’t get up on stage and play or sing this kind of material anymore. I had a lot of tom-toms back then. The fill just keeps going down and down and down. I think I played this kind of thing back then because I didn’t like some of the material. I was trying to come up with ways to make it interesting.”
Beastie Boys – ‘Fight For Your Right’
People liked to party to The Beastie Boys, which often meant that they glossed over how good some of their lyrics were. The result was that the meaning of a lot of songs is lost on listeners, and ‘Fight For Your Right’ is a great example of such. The band wrote it as a piece of satire, set to take the piss out of frat culture, and yet, people have merely adopted it as a party song. When you know the track is supposed to be ironic, it just doesn’t land quite the same, as everyone seems to have missed the point.
“The only thing that upsets me is that we might have reinforced certain values of some people in our audience when our own values were actually totally different,” said Mike D, “There were tons of guys singing along to [Fight for Your Right] who were oblivious to the fact it was a total goof on them. Irony is often missed.”
Van Halen – ‘Jump’
The track, released in 1984, was a massive commercial success for Van Halen, and as the synth-heavy number resonated with the public, it was pretty evident that they had tapped into something new. It’s fine, but it represents a period where Van Halen followed what was trendy, ditching the unique guitar that they were famous for and opting for a more electronic feel.
While it was one of their most successful numbers, when we consider the greatest Van Halen songs out there, this one doesn’t even enter the pantheon. It could just be any ol’ synth rock song, and it’s lacking in the fundamental elements that make Van Halen one of the greatest rock bands in the world. While still considered a classic by many, the fact is that this is a track that doesn’t land as well as it used to.
Sex Pistols – ‘Anarchy in the UK’
“I thought [punk] was quite lively [when it first came out],” said Roger Waters when talking about the genre, adding that it never “had a particularly lasting significance… It wasn’t the first time it happened, either. I mean, people being incredibly rude and playing music incredibly badly and being incredibly obnoxious has always been a teenage sort of thing.”
The punk movement certainly was one that was pretty unignorable when it first came around, and there were some great songs that burst onto the scene as a result; however, ‘Anarchy in the UK’ isn’t one of them. Sex Pistols had a plethora of way better songs than this, which captured the anger of the genre but were also catchy and layered. ‘Anarchy in the UK’ feels one-dimensional when compared to these, and it’s not as good a classic as people seem to remember.
Oasis – ‘Wonderwall’
If you were ever in doubt as to whether or not Oasis is one of the best bands in the world, their most recent reunion tour should have put that debate to bed. Those lads stepped onto the stage and reminded the world just how stellar some of their songs are. But the track ‘Wonderwall’, despite being one of their most famous, seems to have been exposed as substandard in the wake of this resurgence. Maybe we’ve been overexposed to it? Maybe we can’t hear it without thinking of that annoying guy at house parties? Whatever it is, the song falls short of the mark these days.
Liam Gallagher has previously spoken about how much he can’t stand the song and admitted it’s become a burden on his setlists. In an interview with WENN in 2008, he admitted that he winced every single time he had to perform the track. “At least there’s no ‘Wonderwall’ on there. I can’t fucking stand that fucking song! Every time I have to sing it, I want to gag,” he said.
“Problem is, it was a big, big tune for us. You go to America, and they’re like: ‘Are you, Mr Wonderwall?’ You want to chin someone,” he added in a way that only he could.
USA for Africa – ‘We Are The World’
What this song did for charity is incredibly commendable, wherein the star-studded group of performers managed to raise around $80million for humanitarian causes with ‘We Are the World’, and as such, it probably deserves to be called a classic. However, if we’re judging it purely on the quality of the track alone, come on!
Is there anything worse than a load of millionaires taking hours out of their day to pat themselves on the back? Considering how much good the song did, the lyrics feel so condescending and self-congratulatory that it’s impossible to listen without wincing, and if people donated to not hear the song rather than listen to it, chances are, the supergroup would have raised even more.
