^They both sucked.

It's the perfect bad song. The lyrics are half assed, the production annoying, and the song itself is pretty subpar. And then there's the Wah-wah-waterfall thingie :(

Or: 100% of the material between "Meet the Beatles", and "Rubber Soul".

With Blur, it has to be "Bang," a piece of Baggy Wanna Be slop that was proof that Blur had to move into something that was more fitting for their talents, or "MOR," the song which was really Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging" sped up, for me.

I'm still debating on an Oasis single - "Do You Know What I Mean" is maybe my choice. to me, it could have been edited quite a bit, and the song is quite a lumbering stomp that loses it's value very quick.

Besides "Wonderwall" ("Song 2" was not a single in The US, but was played a hell of a lot like one enough to make it into the Top 10 in Alternative play and Top 60 on Mainstream Airplay charts alone), Blur's "There's No Other Way" (#83) and "Girls and Boys" (#52), and Elastica's US #53 "Connection," I don't remember much Britpop in the Top 100 in the States. Ironically enough, considering this post, "MOR" actually was the US single from Blur - #114 US.

^^I quite like There's No Other Way

I love There's No Other Way, the song that got me into them first album on. I was only stating that so few Britpop records made it to the Top 100 in the US and offering that very, very short list.

Part One:

Abba - Head Over Heels: Cheesy lightweight skip track on the mainly otherwise interesting The Visitors. So fluff that it broke their string of mega-hits. The harmonies were there, the playing was as sharp as usual, but something was seriously missing. They could not fake their smiles anymore.

Adam and the Ants - Ant Rap: Points for trying, but this UK hit was not among the best ideas in the long run. Very clunky execution, and the video was Camp Overkill. Still, for being 1981, I can forgive them a little.


The Cult - Edie (Ciao, Baby): Overdone tribute to a Warhol face. The lyrics with obvious references topped it all (nice string section, though). A very small UK hit.

i'm not sure whether they were "hits" but i totally hate Dylan's "Blowin'' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Part Two...

Eric Burdon and The (New) Animals - Montery: Another one of those cheesy tribute singles. We get it, Eric, you have joined the Hip League and would like to share your love for it. Actually for all of the New Animals era skip tracks, there were some great moments within (Best known, "When I Was Young" and "Sky Pilot"), but here was a song that really defined the stereotype of 1967 even more than "San Franciscan Nights."

Bangles - Eternal Flame: Sounding more like Jem and the Holograms than The Bangles by then (1988), this was a worse jump into the Mainstream Spew than Starship's 1985 debacles. At least Starship always pointed that way since the Jefferson Starship albums of The Late 70's to hit that low (I still like the 1960's albums when they were the Jefferson Airplane), the Bangles started off as a likable 80's pop band that went into the sell-out a little too quick. From a promising debut EP and even covering Alex Chilton on their breakthrough album to turning other people's songs into power ballad hits in the space of a few years...the pain was too much. Still like the IRS era, though.

Cheap Trick - The Flame: Speaking about painful Mainstream hits in '88, here's another one. Granted, they were treading in the Middle of the Charts and wanted to keep their career moving by then, but Cheap Trick were, and thankfully still are, one of the most unique Rock bands America ever produced, so maybe you can understand my vote for this. From a guitar bit that resembled Spirit's "Nature's Way" to the over-bloat production with Robin Zander's voice being the only reminder that you're listening to a Cheap Trick record, this was Late 80's personified.

Beach Boys - Kokomo: 1988 Again. Can some crackpot conspiracy theorist whip up something about that year's major US hitmaking machine to explain what went on then? Thankfully, I was also listening to Endless Summer and Pet Sounds for a reminder of what once was.

Beatles - Hello Goodbye: Sorry, but in what was a endless run of great hits ("Yellow Submarine" included...inspired fun), comes a song that sounded like it was written as it was recorded with one of the most cheesy melodies ever put to a Beatles recording in my opinion. "You say stop..." I think I did by then, and turned over to the other, and more superior, B-Side "I Am the Walrus."

Chuck Berry - My Ding a Ling: After years of fine records, his biggest hit was...this. After writing what was a string of songs that could be called the Story of Teenage America, his #1 was a song that sounded like it was written by a low-IQ Teenager

"Times..." was in The UK (#9, 1965).