What do you do between classes?

If you’re anything like my roommates after three hours of intense Wharton, there’s nothing like watching funny TV. VH1 is a favorite, particularly with their Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever. The show meshed with this week’s entertainment news when Russ Heller set a new world record for listening to Jefferson Starship’s “We Built This City” more than 324 times in one day.

“We Built This City” (musicobsession.com)

The song recently topped Blender music magazine’s “50 Worst Songs Ever!” chart for the second consecutive year. Other songs included Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence,” The Beatle’s “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and Bobby McFerrin’s “don’t Worry Be Happy.’

What is ironic about Blender’s, VH1’s and CNN’s “worst song” lists is that their songs topped the Billboard Chart at some point. In fact, all of the artists featured on Blender’s “worst” rankings are household names. Many are also Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. It would make more sense if the publication had titled the list “The Worst Songs from the Best.” ABC News had the right idea when it described the magazine as rating the “50 Worst Hit Songs.”

The “worst” lists pose a paradox: they would loose their mass appeal if the songs were not so recognizable. Still, they have become a type of pop culture tradition. Just as watching SNL and mocking outdated fashion provides for a good laugh, there is an inherent comedic element to the Blender charts.

But what makes these songs horrible? Is the “The Sounds of Silence” too didactic in its poetic message? Is “My Heart Will Go On” too sappy and overplayed? And does the playful nature of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” negate its catchiness? Or are they all similar in that you love them the first five times you hear them, like them the tenth time and can’t stand them by the fiftieth?

Since this is an interactive column, I would love to hear what readers think makes such widely-known songs “the worst.” Please post your own thoughts!

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