Breaking Down The Most Infamous And Grating Pop Tracks Of All Time
Every now and then, a song will come along that blows everyone away and makes people remember it forever. And most of the time, that song is remembered fondly for what it accomplished or simply for how good it made people feel at the time. From classics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to newer sensations like "Old Town Road," some tracks get big enough to define a year.
However, not every song that works this magic makes that year look good in retrospect. Some songs evoke the opposite of nostalgia, where people freeze when they recognize its chords and thank their lucky stars that they no longer have to hear it five times per hour. For a lot of people, these are those songs.
Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
Although there are some who fondly remember the cheesy lines of Vanilla Ice's 1990 smash hit, it's hard not to suspect that much of "Ice Ice Baby's" remaining appeal comes from the killer bassline sampled from Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure."
Otherwise, listeners are forced to face the facts. Vanilla Ice was never a credible rapper; his nasal swagger came off as bratty and smug rather than genuinely cool, and both the lyrics (that he needed help writing) and delivery were rudimentary at best.
The Black Eyed Peas - "My Humps"
Although it wouldn't exactly be fair to describe Fergie or The Black Eyed Peas at large as untalented artists, there were many songs throughout their time together that clearly didn't put that talent on display. And since reviled cuts like "Imma Be," "The Time (Dirty Bit)," and "Boom Boom Pow" all have repetition, lack of substance, and annoying vocal and production effects in common, it's hard to pick a nadir among their worst songs.
However, it's still probably fair to say that none of their later career annoyances ever managed to rival 2005's "My Humps" in sheer irritation. Not only do Fergie's euphemisms make her physical assets sound like worrying medical conditions, but the grating, high-pitched talk-singing takes her to the limits of her vocal range, and the incessant repetition of the title does not help.
Jake Paul - "It's Everyday Bro"
Back in 2017, Jake Paul and the original members of his Team 10 content house had parlayed their YouTube success into a bid for widespread prominence with their viral hit, "It's Everyday Bro." Deeply inauthentic as a rap song and laden with bizarre statements like Paul bragging about his "Disney Channel flow" and Nick Crompton proclaiming "England is my city," "It's Everyday Bro" was widely mocked upon release.
However, it was also subject to such a frenzied viral marketing push and propped up by enough of Paul's devoted fans that the song actually charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Even more disturbingly, it isn't even the highest-charting Jake Paul song to do so. 2017 was a dark year.
Barry Manilow - "I Write The Songs"
Justin Bieber and Nickelback have been so widely mocked throughout their careers that it's considered cliché to bother trying anymore, but Barry Manilow had that unfortunate legacy before either of them. As a result, once-hated songs like "Copacabana" and "Mandy" have essentially been rescued by time and are more likely to be seen for their genuine merits nowadays.
However, the same can not be said for "I Write The Songs." Although the Houston Press reported Manilow was always nervous about the song sounding like an ego trip and was open about the fact that he didn't write it, the schmaltzy ballad's true meaning isn't any more impressive. The music itself "writes the songs," which doesn't make much sense and turns out to be an underwhelming conclusion to build this tedious slow-burn around.
Imagine Dragons - "Thunder"
Although they're one of the most popular bands in the world, that hasn't stopped Imagine Dragons from attracting a significant hatedom. For these detractors, lead singer Dan Reynolds's impassioned vocals cover up a lack of substance and ambition in the group's songwriting, which is typically accused of being geared towards advertisements rather than actual listeners.
Nowhere were those criticisms louder than with the release of "Thunder," a minimalist void of a song where a high-pitched voice irritatingly chirping "thunder" is the only memorable part. Even Reynolds sounds like he's phoning it in on this song, which allows the biggest criticisms about Imagine Dragons as an overall band to be laid bare.
Eiffel 65 - "Blue (Da Ba Dee)"
A subject of intense nostalgia for those born in the early to mid-90s, Eurodance trio Eiffel 65's infectious "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" delighted children about as much as it annoyed adults during its brief time in the spotlight. Although the song is arguably about depression, its mostly meaningless and repetitive chorus makes it difficult to do anything but take it literally.
Everything in this person's life is as blue as the aliens in the laughably dated music video. And all the group appears to have to say about it is, "Da ba dee da ba die." Indeed, the song's looping frivolity is so devoid of meaning that the often-misheard lyric "If I was green, I would die" both makes more metaphorical sense and serves as a more interesting sentiment than what the group actually wrote.
Europe - "The Final Countdown"
Depending on who is asked, Swedish rock band Europe's famous opus "The Final Countdown" is either a slice of '80s cheese that's endearing enough to make its shortcomings forgivable or an annoyance that would have stayed in that decade if not for its maddeningly catchy opening riff.
Indeed, that anthemic, synthesizer-heavy riff still proves recognizable even to those who hadn't been born when it first came out. Yet while "The Final Countdown" has likely aged the best out of Europe's hits, that hasn't stopped a large contingent of music fans from being sick of it for about 40 years.
Crazy Frog - "Axel F"
During the mid-2000s, the rise of musical ringtones was responsible for a rash of flash-in-the-pan rappers and other novelty ephemera that only worked as mildly amusing ways to make people answer their phones. But none of the musical phenomena in this trend wore out their welcomes as quickly as Crazy Frog.
Although "Axel F" is perhaps the most well-known example of Crazy Frog's annoying formula, there's not much that differentiates it from the other songs associated with the character. A techno producer recreates a well-known and catchy tune (the Beverly Hills Cop theme in this case), and the "Crazy Frog" spouts high-pitched gibberish over it. That's it, Crazy Frog's entire discography in a nutshell.
Starland Vocal Band - "Afternoon Delight"
Although the way the lyrics obscure the true intimacy of "Afternoon Delight's" subject matter and its laid-back catchiness has inspired semi-ironic covers in comedies like Anchorman and Arrested Development, just as many people hate this song as they remember it fondly.
For these detractors, the overwhelming '70s cheese of Starland Vocal Band's biggest hit serves as the pinnacle of easy-listening lameness. As a result of this association and the dated production techniques underscoring the song, the group's harmonies become irritating instead of impressive.
Justin Bieber - "Baby"
Although Bieber's more recent smooth R&B misfire "Yummy" has earned its share of detractors, the numbers behind the Canadian pop star's intensely polarizing breakout single "Baby" don't lie. According to The Indianapolis Star, "Baby's" music video held a world record as the most disliked video on YouTube until the release of the platform's 2018 Rewind.
Over the eight years before this change occurred, the song had amassed 9.9 million dislikes. Whether it was due to the pitch of his voice, his overexposure, his seemingly misapplied hip-hop affectations, or just unfortunate backlash against pop culture beloved by young girls, so many people could not stand Justin Bieber for a very long time.
Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl"
After No Doubt broke up, lead singer Gwen Stefani embarked on a solo career that saw her make unusual pop music while in the company of a group of dancers she called the Harajuku Girls. The biggest of her hits during this period was a schoolyard-like call-and-response track called "Hollaback Girl."
Although it has some fans, the repetitive nature of the song's most memorable moments and the fact that it never actually explained what a Hollaback Girl is got under the skin of many listeners upon its release. And that was especially true as the song became intensely overplayed.
Wham - "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
Although George Michael's legacy as an artist has carried through after the Wham! pop star's passing that doesn't make everything they did so fondly remembered. Granted, it's hardly impossible to find people as happy to dance to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" as they would have been during the '80s, but it's also not hard to find people who never want to hear it again.
As catchy as that chorus is, it has to do a lot of heavy lifting in the wake of the song's inane lyrics, dated production, and the goofy opening "jitterbug" calls. Everybody can be a little influenced by nostalgia, but it's a man driver for any popularity this song retains.
James Blunt - "You're Beautiful"
Although James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" struck enough people as the height of unrequited romance to propel the singer into stardom, it was considered far more irritating than emotionally powerful to many listeners upon release.
Whether this had to do with his squawking vocals, the overwrought drama of the song, or the slight creepiness of its lyrics, people have regarded the song as a reason to mock Blunt for years. And according to Indy100, Blunt has maintained a charming social media presence by leaning into his spotty reputation as a musician.
Rick Dees And His Cast Of Idiots - "Disco Duck"
Although he's built a larger reputation as an internationally syndicated radio DJ, Rick Dees did have a short-lived music career that was powered by a fluke novelty hit called "Disco Duck." It was a danceable disco song, but what set it apart from similar fare in 1976 was the wacky Donald Duck impression at the heart of it.
However, it wasn't terribly enjoyable as a song, and the central joke wasn't funny enough to carry it once the novelty wore off. So, once people got tired of hearing someone's raspy duck laugh and realized the song doesn't really do anything funny with its premise, "Disco Duck" became an annoyance until it mercifully left the airwaves.
6ix9ine - "Gooba"
Although trollish rap troublemaker 6ix9ine's antics throughout his career have proven as alienating for hardcore hip-hop fans as they have for the general public, it's worth noting that his music isn't any less obnoxious than his behavior. And while many of his hits cover up the rapper's lack of anything interesting or clever to say with constant screaming and obscenities, "Gooba" strikes a particularly sore spot.
The nonsensical title doesn't help anyone take the song seriously, and in terms of its overall sound, it could accurately be described as "more of the same." But while Tekashi 6ix9ine's lazily provocative yowling was just as grating, his jeering about getting away with his crimes by turning on his associates managed to make him even less likable than before.
Baja Men - "Who Let The Dogs Out"
Although "Who Let The Dogs Out" seemed inescapable at the dawn of the new millennium, that didn't mean everyone was happy to hear it. Although kids were largely excited to ask the titular question loudly in time with the music, others would be perfectly happy never to hear that phrase outside of a kennel again.
And while the repetition and the obnoxious shouting were major factors in this song's backlash (especially for its young fans' parents), the overall child-friendly sheen cast over the Baha Men's most famous work left adult radio listeners uninterested in anything else they had to offer. For them, a more pertinent question would be, "Who let this song out?"
Hanson - "MmmBop"
Although the Hanson brothers continued with their eponymous band long after they found fame as children, "MmmBop" remains the first and often only reference to their work that most people are aware of. And a significant portion of those people wish they didn't even know that much.
Whether these listeners didn't take the band seriously because of their age or just regarded their big hit as an overly poppy frivolity based around an annoying non-word, there was so much in 1997 that they'd rather be listening to.
LFO - "Summer Girls"
Sonically, there isn't much that would get people too bent out of shape about boy band LFO's late '90s hit, "Summer Girls." It's a mellow and breezy track with hushed vocals that sounds perfect for a carefree summer day. However, it's understandably hard for most people to get past the shockingly lazy and often pointless lyrics.
Featuring such poetic gems as "Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets" and "Michael J. Fox was Alex P. Keaton," "Summer Girls" struggles to stay on topic for more than a line and comes across like a half-hearted advertisement for Abercrombie and Fitch when it does. Its lyrics inspire some fond memories, but those memories mostly involve making fun of them.
The Poppy Family - "Where Evil Grows"
In concept, "Where Evil Grows" by husband and wife duo The Poppy Family is an interesting exploration of a toxic relationship approached through questions of how evil grows in people's minds. However, very little about its execution lives up to the group's lofty ambitions.
Not only is the song oddly middle-of-the-road in its sonic execution of what sounds like a dark and complex premise, but its lyrics don't actually reach the profundity they aim for either. "Evil grows in the dark," and it "lives in people's minds?" What a revelation!
Ace- "How Long"
On paper, there's really nothing wrong with Ace's sole top ten hit from 1975, "How Long." It starts with a nice bassline, it works into a pleasant and warm groove, and lead singer Paul Carrac's vocals fit the instrumental well.
With that in mind, the problem people have with it likely has more to do with a wider backlash against early to mid-'70s soft rock at large, which was part of what made that period among the most reviled in pop music history. If it sounded like it could be played in an elevator, it hit big at the time, but it is likely to be rejected in retrospect.
Tones And I - "Dance Monkey"
A song from 2019 that became popular due to the dual forces of its catchiness and TikTok dance trends, "Dance Monkey" attracted a significant backlash almost instantly. Not only was it pervasive enough that people got sick of hearing it, but the song's cutesy, pitchy delivery made it a common irritant from the very beginning.
Whether they were genuine or affected, Toni Watson's vocals grated on people all the more when the song's visibility increased. And while it's not hard to appreciate how an artist can feel like a performing monkey, it's not a message people are keen to explore when they don't like how it's presented.
Tom Jones - "What's New Pussycat?"
Although Tom Jones is a respected and internationally beloved singer, and this is one of his biggest hits, it can be surprisingly easy to underestimate how grating "What's New Pussycat?" can be. Part of that has to do with how consistent its excited energy is through its sung and spoken parts, which are accented by its booming brass accompaniment.
While the greatest songs can usually be heard on repeat without much issue, the aggravating aspects of "What's New Pussycat?" become all too apparent on repeated listens. This is something John Mulaney recalled discovering to hilarious effect when he played it 21 times in a row on a Chicago diner's jukebox.
Ylvis - "The Fox"
In fairness to brothers Vegard and Bård Ylvisåker — who make up Ylvis — the viral popularity of their 2013 song "The Fox" was as surprising to them as anyone else. According to Billboard, it was meant to promote the premiere of their sketch comedy show on Norwegian television but somehow escaped those confines and became a global sensation.
But while many listeners were forced to admit they weren't sure what sound a fox makes, that didn't make the flurry of high-pitched nonsense syllables that got people curious about the song any more welcome to their ears. After they heard the song enough times, they didn't care what the fox says. They just wanted it to shut up.
The Strangeloves - "I Want Candy"
To be fair to The Strangeloves, comparing one's lover to candy and expressing that with a simple chorus that pairs its signature riff with the phrase "I want candy" was probably a fairly novel idea in 1965.
However, several versions of this proto-bubblegum would appear in the decades that followed, and each of them became brattier and more irritating than the last. As fascinating as it is to watch successive generations get sick of the same song, it's probably about time to retire it.
Nickelback - "Photograph"
It's since been elevated to meme status due to the contrast between the wistful sentimentality of the music video and the lyrics and Chad Kroeger's abrasive, craggy yowling. However, any amusement that "Photograph" generated when it came out was outweighed by the miserable experience non-Nickelback fans had listening to that contrast for four minutes at a time.
It's also worth remembering that when this song came out, Nickelback was generally an overplayed band that wrote similarly unpleasant music both before and after this smash hit. So those who didn't already love them weren't exactly welcoming to Kroeger screaming "Look at this photograph" at them the first time, let alone during the 100 times that followed while listening to the radio in 2005.
Jefferson Starship - "We Built This City"
By the time they released "We Built This City," Jefferson Starship's musical style was about as far removed from the provocative, mysterious, and charismatic rock band they had begun during the 1960s. And while their name change from Jefferson Airplane indicated they were looking to the future, it wasn't a future people would want for long.
Even with this overall change in mind, "We Built This City" came off as intensely overproduced, artificial, and embarrassingly goofy for rock fans. Naturally, this wasn't helped by the fact that MTV and various radio stations wouldn't stop playing it at the time.
Los Del Rio - "Macarena"
There's no denying that the "Macarena" dance craze spread like wildfire during the '90s, and that explosion in popularity was both a boon and a hindrance to Los Del Rio's unlikely hit. After all, it's hard to imagine that so many people would consider it as annoying as they now do if they didn't keep hearing it for years on end.
At its heart, it's a bouncy, energetic, and endlessly catchy song sung in Spanish by two veterans at their craft. However, anything can get tiring after hundreds (if not thousands) of lifetime listens and dances, and "Macarena" is no exception. Perhaps people just got tired of doing the dance.
Styx - "Mr. Roboto"
Although Styx was never a band with the greatest critical reputation, they outdid themselves in sheer annoyance with the release of "Mr. Roboto" in 1983. As the lead single for the concept album Kilroy Was Here, this song suggested it was part of a wider sci-fi epic that never really materialized as intended.
That disappointment aside, it was also an easy song to get tired of all on its own due to Dennis DeYoung's grating vocal passages and shallow "too much technology" messaging. Although it entered "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto" into the cultural lexicon, the fact that it accomplished this by repeating the phrase over and over again didn't help either.
Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons - "Sherry"
For some, describing the music of Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons as "annoying" is tantamount to sacrilege. After all, Frankie Valli is an immensely talented vocalist who can hit notes that so many men wouldn't even dare to attempt, and his band's repertoire is among some of the most beloved doo-wop classics in history.
However, knowing these things about Valli's legacy does not make his vocal performances as a young man any easier to listen to for more people than these fans may realize. No matter how impressive his ear-splitting falsettos were, that's not going to stop aggrieved listeners from comparing them to nails on a chalkboard.
Willow Smith - "Whip My Hair"
Although Willow Smith has since reinvented herself as a pop-punk musician to respectable results, the sad reality is that her debut into the wide world of music fared much poorer in terms of public perception. In 2010, she released an energetic blend of dance-pop and hip-hop called "Whip My Hair," which went viral for how immediately and constantly irritating it was.
Part of the reason for the ire was that Smith's whipping of her hair was characterized as an unconvincing act of rebellion that only attracted the widespread knowledge it did through nepotism. But even if the intentions were different and Smith weren't Will Smith's daughter, hearing her shriek, "I whip my hair back and forth" over and over would still be inherently irritating.
Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On"
Although Celine Dion remains a respected and beloved singer who has enjoyed an enviable career, the legacy of her biggest hit remains a polarizing and complicated one. Although it would take a particularly biased detractor to deny her clear vocal talent, the perfect storm that brought about the success of "My Heart Will Go On" made it inescapable.
Since it was tied to one of the most successful movies in history, the demand for the song was such that non-fans could expect to hear it multiple times a day for years at a time. And since the song is a slow build that runs close to five minutes long, it felt to those who didn't like it like being trapped in purgatory each time it came on.
Billy Ray Cyrus - "Achy Breaky Heart"
Although Billy Ray Cyrus is more widely considered to have a solid, respectable legacy in recent years, that perception took decades of goodwill — and some help from his daughter Miley — to build. In the late '90s and the early 2000s, he was much more scornfully remembered as the "Achy Breaky Heart" guy.
Part of the backlash likely came from an allergy to country music, which was perhaps more widespread among non-fans at the time. Naturally, overplay was also a major factor for why this song became so reviled. But some argue that Cyrus's performance oversold the song's folksy charm, while others just find the phrase "achy breaky" inherently ridiculous.
Rebecca Black - "Friday"
In retrospect, Rebecca Black's "Friday" was a vastly over-hated song. Moreover, the backlash Slate reported got toxic enough that hundreds (if not thousands) of people wished death on a 13-year-old girl for singing what's frankly a pretty innocent and inconsequential song.
That's especially true in light of the fact that Black didn't even write the song everyone hated so much. However, none of this is to say that "Friday" is actually good. The audio processing on Black's voice sounded as inept as the production, and the lyrics — which feature gems like "Tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterward" — were insultingly basic.
The Spice Girls - "Wannabe"
The Spice Girls were a massive pop sensation in the '90s, and the start of their meteoric rise came from their breakout hit, "Wannabe." However, the song's popularity and memetic status in other pop culture at the time didn't exactly happen unopposed. And that opposition was largely based on the same aspect of the song that helped popularize it.
A chorus in which the singers won't stop promising to tell the listener (and presumably each other) what they want, what they really really want. And when they finally reveal that the answer is the nonsensical "zigazig ah," it's hard for those who were already getting irritated not to feel like their time's being wasted.
Rednex - "Cotton Eye Joe"
While Eurodance acts like Rednex gained a lot of popularity for their frenetic energy during the bright and optimistic late '90s, some acts were a little more welcome than others. While this act was able to attract enough curiosity in its blend of electronic dance music and bluegrass to score a hit, they didn't stick around in America for much longer.
For one thing, the country-fried stylings of Rednex were entirely inauthentic since they were from Sweden instead of the American South. But for another, the incessant energy, the subtle background hooting, and the mush-mouthed repetition of the chorus made it easy to quickly tire of "Cotton Eye Joe" and of Rednex in general.
Robin Thicke Ft. Pharell and T.I. - "Blurred Lines"
Although the instrumental aspects of "Blurred Lines" were the subject of a controversial copyright lawsuit that Entertainment Weekly reported saw Marvin Gaye's estate awarded $5 million, any similarity to "Got To Give It Up" was not what rubbed listeners the wrong way.
Instead, lyrics like "I know you want it" and others implying that Thicke is using various substances to make women more amenable to his advances struck people as spreading some worrying messages about consent. The video featuring topless models prancing around didn't help this perception.
Justin Timberlake - "Can't Stop The Feeling"
Although the single "Filthy" and other songs connected with Justin Timberlake's ill-fated Man Of The Woods project are arguably more annoying than "Can't Stop The Feeling," those didn't retain enough radio play to make an impact on listeners for long.
Meanwhile, it's still entirely possible to walk into retail stores and hear this soundtrack hit from 2016's Trolls on its P.A. system. For many music fans (and especially that store's employees), this song is about as generic as it gets. And the more they hear it, the more its blandness gets on their nerves.
Sisqo - "The Thong Song"
Easily the biggest hit by Dru Hill member Sisqo, "The Thong Song" also has the unfortunate distinction of being widely mocked and reputedly annoying. Although this hasn't stopped the song from having some surprising longevity after its 1999 release (especially in gentlemen's clubs), there's a lot to dislike, even for those with no issue with the subject matter.
Sisqo's repetition of "thong" is commonly cited as an annoying feature here, but the chorus is generally repetitive and lyrically lacking.
Aqua - "Barbie Girl"
Some songs can aggravate listeners at first but be remembered a little more fondly in retrospect when people who turned their noses up at them as kids have a little time to miss it. And in the context of 2023's celebration of all things Barbie, the intentionally frivolous and shallow characters presented in "Barbie Girl" become a little easier to appreciate.
That said, it would be rewriting history to act like this song wasn't widely hated in the 1990s. Some found Lene Nystrøm's perky affectations grating, while others thought René Dif's characterization of Ken was creepy and off-putting. Famously, Mattel found the song's racy elements so damaging to their brand that they sued Aqua's record company. According to Business Insider, the suit was dismissed, and Judge Alex Kozinski wrote, "The parties are advised to chill" in his decision.
Pinkfong - "Baby Shark"
Although it entered the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2019 thanks to an incredibly viral video on South Korean brand Pinkfong's YouTube channel, the song "Baby Shark" has informally existed for at least a decade or two before that. Its appeal is based on the different hand motions kids make while they sing "Baby shark do do do do do" and other variations of the shark family repeatedly.
But while it was easy to get annoyed when someone incessantly sang this before, that annoyance doubled when it became a legitimate pop hit. The noise and grating repetition of "baby shark do do do do" became enough of a cultural phenomenon that even those without young children struggled to escape it.