The Worst of the Worst of the Worst: "Rude" vs. "All About That Bass"

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This is hard. First time I heard/saw the video to Rude I had difficulty wrapping my head around the fact it wasn't from 1996.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, January 20, 2015 5:54 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The video kind of makes them look like a "real band" (apology in advance for rockism), like the guy manages to almost not seem like he was farm-raised from birth to be a pop star.

walid foster dulles (man alive), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 16:22 (nine years ago) link

I get almost an inverse vibe from Trainor, it's like she tries very hard to project this "knowing" vibe like she's "been around the block a few times" but it's not convincing at all.

walid foster dulles (man alive), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 16:23 (nine years ago) link

I've loved Rude unconditionally since I first heard it on satellite radio, but listening to the song with the video actively devalues it. It's so dopey and the lead singer is the aesthetic equivalent of a sandwich left in the rain.

AATB however is just godawful, and I dont even need to see the video to get bad vibes from it. It takes a reasonably catchy melody and childish teehee wordplay and stretches whats basically a 2 minute song to 5 or 6 torturous minu--*scrolls up to check actual length of the song*--WHAT, IT'S SHORTER THAN RUDE?!

That says it all right there, Bass is repetitive to the point of torture and I hate it

MrExplorer, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 22:10 (nine years ago) link

"Bass" is honestly nothing compared to the horror of "Dear Future Husband"

bae sremmurd (monotony), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 22:18 (nine years ago) link

...Trainor, it's like she tries very hard to project this "knowing" vibe like she's "been around the block a few times" but it's not convincing at all.

otm, one of many things i like abt it

no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 22:30 (nine years ago) link

"Overdrive" is particularly hilarious

MrExplorer, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 00:13 (nine years ago) link

Also loving the possible future username "MeghanTrainorVietnam"

MrExplorer, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 00:15 (nine years ago) link

Wow that "Rude" solo. It's like C3P0 with a nearly dead battery channeling Andy Summers. But then the song goes into that vaguely pretty Richard Marx-ish prechorus. It's a pretty sucky song all told but has some nice moments.

I don't get what is so bad about "All About the Bass"? Sounds like pretty standard, generic bubblegum pop to me.

theboyqueen, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 00:25 (nine years ago) link

butts r great

butt...not this one

Hammer Smashed Bagels, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 00:29 (nine years ago) link

Both songs are awful. Meghan Trainor comes across in interviews as being incredibly grateful for and amazed by her success. Dude from Magic! acts like his one-hit wonder status is his birthright. Also it's easier to imagine Jar-Jar Binks singing "Rude".

In summation, fuck these songs.

Let me help you out Charlie XCX fan (DJP), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:20 (nine years ago) link

i can, and often have, imagined jar-jar binks singing all about that bass

qualx, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:23 (nine years ago) link

djp why are you reading/watching interviews with these ppl

mookieproof, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:31 (nine years ago) link

With Magic!, the interview was how I found out the song existed; it was passed around as a "look at this tool and his terrible music" lol and then suddenly every radio station was playing "Rude" and that joke wasn't funny anymore(TM)

With Meghan Trainor, she showed up on The Today Show and I was surprised by how nonplussed and excited she was. Then she sang "Your Lips Are Moving" and I thought "this isn't that good but at least it sounds like it's making an attempt to not be terrible"

Let me help you out Charlie XCX fan (DJP), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:35 (nine years ago) link

omg that gif

Let me help you out Charlie XCX fan (DJP), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:35 (nine years ago) link

it was truly the highlight of the whatever music awards that was

da croupier, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:36 (nine years ago) link

also that they were still playing their one hit rather than one of the two yet-to-chart follow-ups was encouraging

da croupier, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:37 (nine years ago) link

though meghan seems primed become the millenials' helen reddy or something

da croupier, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:38 (nine years ago) link

My reaction to AATB is "ugh, of course this is a huge hit." My reaction to "Rude" is "what the fuck is this, how is this a hit?"

JoeStork, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:39 (nine years ago) link

on Y-100's morning show last week the deejay goes, "Alright! That was Meghan Trainor with 'All About That Bass'!" His colleague goes, "Uh, no, that was 'Lips Are Movin'." He goes, "Shut up." Uncomfortable silence, followed by hysterical laughter.

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:40 (nine years ago) link

Magic! is this years Fun.

walid foster dulles (man alive), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:40 (nine years ago) link

let's not forget that twenty years ago "baby i love your way" by big mountain was a hit, twenty years before that "i shot the sheriff"

da croupier, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:41 (nine years ago) link

clapton's "i shot the sherrif" i mean

da croupier, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:41 (nine years ago) link

not sure which band should be more offended xp

qualx, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:42 (nine years ago) link

america has a soft spot for doofy white reggae, i mean we just gave sting a kennedy center honor

da croupier, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:42 (nine years ago) link

all fun needs is an exclamation point

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:43 (nine years ago) link

oh c'mon fun's had multiple hits including a duet with a superstar, they're several tiers above a one-off novelty band and at least at the level of a wang chung.

da croupier, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:45 (nine years ago) link

If anyone's on the fence, please don't overlook Rude's guitar solo, almost certainly the worst guitar solo to ever hit pop radio.

http://youtu.be/PIh2xe4jnpk?t=2m27s

― american tail/american pie (how's life), Tuesday, January 20, 2015 3:51 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this sounds like one of those "shreds" videos!!

een, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:56 (nine years ago) link

The "Rude" guitar solo makes the one in "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" sound positively muscular.

That shit right there is precedented. (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:59 (nine years ago) link

tbh i would listen to entire album of rude songs if it meant never having to hear trainor's baby squirrel betty boop joke voice again

qualx, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 02:16 (nine years ago) link

no you wouldn't

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 02:18 (nine years ago) link

tbf i'm pretty sure rude is the only song they ever recorded

whoops mixed up the band name and song name no one cares

qualx, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 02:21 (nine years ago) link

my reaction to "rude" (first heard on the jukebox as some cancon thing) was "this is gonna get blurred lines-ed to death but it's ultimately kind of innocuously pleasant." my reaction to "all about that bass" was a mixture of "the kids still like hairspray, don't they" and "this sounds like a C-list radio disney track that will be half-heartedly promoted even by radio disney."

voted aatb but I really don't hate either of them as much as I feel I am supposed to (that one comes closer though)

katherine, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 02:23 (nine years ago) link

"the kids still like hairspray, don't they"

ha this is OTM

my version of this reaction was "I guess people really miss Duffy?"

Let me help you out Charlie XCX fan (DJP), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 02:34 (nine years ago) link

i repeat: "rude" is actually good, and was one of the more interesting songs on american radio in the past year (low bar, granted)

soyrev, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 02:52 (nine years ago) link

i repeat: lemonade was a popular drink and it still is

Hammer Smashed Bagels, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 02:54 (nine years ago) link

Rude has all of the ingredients of something I should hate, and yet I can't hate it. It's really not that bad.

walid foster dulles (man alive), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 03:57 (nine years ago) link

I thought "Bass" was kinda cute on first blush, but it didn't hold up well. I got very tired of it. I never liked "Rude" at all. For me addlepated girl-group pastiche trumps frat-bro cod reggae.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 05:45 (nine years ago) link

Rude's lyrics win this for me. The whole childlike whining through the chorus about this girl, then ending with "I wanna marry you anyway" = induce teeth grating

dutch_justice, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 05:58 (nine years ago) link

I have a different take on this:

"Rude" is more pseudo-ska fodder for Sublime-worshipping dude bros who are generally horrible people, or at best have poor priorities, make bad decisions and need to grow up. This song gives them something else to listen to while taking a bong hit.

"All About That Bass" opened up more discourse into topics such as self esteem from body image, fat shaming and our cultures very complicated and damn near hypocritical opposing forces of being one of the fattest nations ever while having a media that promotes unrealistic body shapes as the norm and billions are spent dealing with weight. Despite sounding like a throwaway pop song, in the age of social media and slacktivism, it had legs beyond that.

The choice is pretty clear to me.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 06:47 (nine years ago) link

Hammer where did you say that originally? i need to know if i can trust your future posts

NYCNative i think the poll is about musical content, not sociological extrapolations re: probable audience

soyrev, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 06:56 (nine years ago) link

sublime worshipping dude bros are all in their 70s now and every single #1 hit for the past 5 years has spawned mountains of thinkpieces, fuck a "discourse" lol

qualx, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 06:57 (nine years ago) link

NYCNative i think the poll is about musical content, not sociological extrapolations re: probable audience

My criteria for what I like and dislike about music is my own and I don't believe you or anyone can tell me otherwise.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 07:06 (nine years ago) link

qualx seems unaware that there's a whole new generation of dude bros out there with their tribal tatoos. I had the misfortune of sitting in a pizza place attached to a bar filled with them just a week ago - lots of vapid conversation heard over a jukebox playing Drowning Pool, Bob Marley and yes, Sublime.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 07:08 (nine years ago) link

Can we talk about how unworthy Rude is of its AMAZING Zedd remix? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Q4-wcPDBQ

Richaod, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 07:11 (nine years ago) link

qualx seems unaware that there's a whole new generation of dude bros out there with their tribal tatoos. I had the misfortune of sitting in a pizza place attached to a bar filled with them just a week ago - lots of vapid conversation heard over a jukebox playing Drowning Pool, Bob Marley and yes, Sublime.

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, January 21, 2015 7:08 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

people who listen to drowning pool, bob marley and yes, sublime, do not really factor into the success of six-week #1 hits

a song is not going to stay at #1 for six weeks because of any demographic smaller than "young people"

qualx, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 07:46 (nine years ago) link

Sorry, but those people exist and are a demographic. I don't like them either but I am cognizant of the fact that just because I don't like a group of people doesn't mean they don't exist. I also feel they exist in far greater numbers than you suspect.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 08:00 (nine years ago) link

And just because I said the song appeals to them doesn't mean it appeals ONLY to them. Sheesh.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 21 January 2015 08:01 (nine years ago) link

this was not a thread i was expecting to get sheeshed in

qualx, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 09:44 (nine years ago) link

Someone mentioned she was among ILM's most-hated artists, and I've seen evidence of that as these old threads have bubbled up...

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:27 (five years ago) link

I think the guys in magic were just dummies who faceplanted into a number one whereas trainor is actually releasing this garbage with malicious intent.

how's life, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:32 (five years ago) link

i haven't heard a song of hers since the awful "Lips are Moving" so I might be shielded from all this

fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:34 (five years ago) link

Rude has been much easier to avoid for me. So All about that bass.

Van Horn Street, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:37 (five years ago) link

xp "Lips are Moving" is a fine song... though my friend hates it, too. What is it that puts you guys off so much?

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:37 (five years ago) link

I don't like her voice, not really into soca music, don't dig the melody.

but, I'm not exactly a heavy pop listener either.

fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:39 (five years ago) link


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