THE WORST SINGLES OF THE 90s

It's a good list. Only three I actually like (Beasties/Fatboy, Arrested Development (with big reservations about the lyrics!) and Dre), and absolutely loads of unspeakably bad records. Lots of good suggestions since too, except from the odd anti-pop mentalists (Spice Girls, Take That, Will Smith!) who are generally most annoyed by really good pop music, strangely.

Uh, HELLO? Paula Cole, people! Where has "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" gone? Or Dawson's Creek theme song "I Don't Want To Wait."

Ha! Okay, you called it. :-)

(I also own an Alisha's Attic single)

It was Slash, actually.

Well the original was such a fun song with all those crazy steel drums and such, and since Cook was fresh off "The Rockafella Skank" you'd think a remix would be ace - but it just sounds kind of sloppy and rehashes that "Sound of Milwaukee" wah-wah-whirr noise. The video, however, is one of the greatest things in history.

"You could sustain/but are you comfortable with the pain?" Ewwwww.

Yes!!DB owns this thread now..rightupinyourfaceanddisyou...

Never before has a person been so correct. How I forgot to mention this the first time is astounding.

"Wannabe" should most definitely be on this list, seeing as it's one of the most painful songs ever written.

why is it painful dan?

I *liked* Wannabe at the time (along with Gangsta's Paradise it was one of my first popist conversions). Now I listen to it again it is truly, truly horrible. Just annoying. But still, I think there were followup songs that were infinitely worse ('Mama' owns this thread, although redeemed slightly for being the split A-side to the fantastic Who Do You Think You Are.)

And that's the problem - people are always willing to shoot down the high-profile singles, but usually the follow-ups are even worse. Everyone slates 2Unlimited's No Limit, but no-one mentions Faces. I bet virtually every artist on the above list has released worse singles to the ones up there.

And where the fuck are Simply Red, anyway? Bloody Americans wouldn't know shit music if it stared them in the face.

It is the sonic equivalent of Baz Luhrman's "Moulin Rouge"; a level of combined garishness and volume that leaves one saying: a) WTF?, b) who didn't take their Ritalin today?, and c) how can I avoid having to hear this as much as possible?

surely Blessid Union Of Souls' "I Believe" is THE WORST THING EVAH?

Yes, but that would miss the point of the list, which is that these songs are still popular and bring happiness to many. If less people are wrong, then Tom and Jess are less right. Do you see??

Tragically, Nine Days' "Absolutely" is from 2000.

I've just remembered that the Oasis song I wanted in but couldnt remember the title of is "All Around The World", thankyou Denise.

And my point remains: The songs are on this list because they're popular, as well as you don't like them. A lot of these are The Big Hit for the band, and unnaturally extended their lifespan, causing them to release songs which aren't as good (or else those songs would be the big hit, which contradicts the premise of the supposition, thus proving it by science!).

Speaking of which, I understand that hopes are still high for science to discover a new power source based around the fact that the CD listing for All Around The World only says six minutes, but the track lasts for two to three days.

However, mark's idea of pro and con pieces on, say, a selection of these, might be worth reading...

Andrew your argument still seems circular: the actual process goes - they are popular = we get to hear them = we get to choose whether we like them or not. Or - having hated "What's Up" by 4 non blondes none of the people concerned are likely to have rushed out to buy the album in order to check if there was anything worse on it.

Also, I agree with Tom's modification of Oasis's songs. Can we also replace "Zombie" ----> "Salvation"??? (eg. bad ---> unbelievably awful)

I don't know if Tom has to be understood to be disowning his original top 100: people change, no-one who writes is the same person second time around, and all that. But I think it's fair for him to say he doesn't want to be identified by that piece, if it is no longer representative of his views, which linking from FT / NYPLM would suggest.

Wait, wait...this might be tricky since the top 100 (at least the last 14) hasn't been nailed down yet.

Blimey! tvcream has been updated some time in the last 2 years!

http://tv.cream.org/arktrib.htm

The Clock Tower v The Terrapin Hut is wonderful -- doubtless you'll all find it v twee and indulgent nostalgia, nevertheless i found that particular TnT quite affecting.

also:
that Friends theme song
was AM Radio by Everclear from 99 or 2000?
something from Midnite Vultures
Anthem for the Year 2000, Silverchair
Fly Away, Lenny Kravitz
She Talks to Angels/Jealous Again/Hard to Handle, the Black Crowes