The WORST of the BEST

Previously on Hipp Nights:

Josh, the "Engineer Extraordinaire" here to give you another weekly roundup of the best show on Saturday nights, Hipp Nights, with Joe Hipperson. This past weekend was the long-awaited All-Music Show, and Joe, as always, invited his father in to school us all on the art of music. No one else in town (aside from Radio Rich) holds a candle to John Hipperson, and we all got a lot smarter for having him in. We talked the talk on Joe Perry trying to continue on WITHOUT Steven Tyler (while he’s in rehab), which segwayed into which bands could reform with a new singer – Joe, you’re crazy, but Queen with Adam Lambert is at best a mockery of their music. (editor’s note: if you haven’t heard by now, Joe is a HUGE Lambert fan, and owns his record. Give him hell for it)

We also talked album covers – which were the best of all time (Revolver) and when was the last great album cover produced (Nevermind). But the big discussion of the night came when we played “The Worst of the Best” where we discussed a band who could be considered one of the BEST of their generation, and pointed out their WORST song. We each gave our pick, and a brief explanation why, but as you know, talk is cheap, so I had everyone write out their justifications for their picks, and posted them below. (editor’s second note: in my first radio gig I was informed that you can edit any interview, but you can never edit the president – therefore I have left Joe’s dad John Hipperson’s defense intact, out of respect)




Dan Keller

"Rock The Casbah"

The Clash - Combat Rock


Where do I start? It is hard for me to speak ill of one of the most important bands in music history and also in my life, The Clash. This band was responsible for recording one of the top ten greatest albums of all time - London Calling (don't just take my word - Rolling Stone ranked it #8 all time), and helped kick down the door for punk rockers world-wide. Anyway, most you probably can't name one song off that album short of the title track. No, no you probably will spit out "Rock the Casbah" which was their biggest U.S. hit, due to it's pop/disco-ish sound. Now while the lyrics and message are a powerful political statement, which once again most of you probably missed, this song is so far away from the body and soul of The Clash, that when I talk to people they go, "Oh, I thought The Clash were a new wave/pop band, you know with that Rock the Casbah hit they had." I just wanna punch them in the face when I hear that. Anyway, I'm rambling, so while "Rock the Casbah" shows the diversity and ability to play different styles it is not the end-all be-all of The Clash. It just happened to be the most mainstream radio friendly Clash.




Josh Gilbert

"O-bla-di, O-bla-da"

The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)


First and foremost, I feel like I had to defend my pick more than the rest, because I actually chose the best band to rip into. Well, I thought this was a no brainer when I came up with the idea to do a “Worst of the Best” for the music show, and “O-bla-di, O-bla-da” in my opinion, is the poster child for such a topic. Now, listened to by itself, the song sounds like Paul playing the piano in his front room, with a jug band for accompaniment, and lyrics made up off the top of his head. More than likely that’s where the song originated, and is probably where it should’ve stayed; a one-off throwaway joke. However, it was put on the album, and taken within the context of the album, makes it even worse. Included on The Beatles (or The White Album), it is sandwiched in-between “Glass Onion,” an edgy song that playfully namedrops earlier Beatle tunes, and “Wild Honey Pie,” itself a weird interlude into a strong three-song block of “Bungalow Bill,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” a moody three-song medley by John that experiments with interloping time signatures and nonsensical wordplay. It’s a great block of songs, only broken up again by a Paul number, “Martha My Dear,” a stupid song about his dog that only serves to break up the heavy-hitters that came before it.

Best described by John as “Paul’s granny shit,” ‘O-bla-di’ was another example of Paul’s kookiness, much of what we’d later see on Abbey Road with “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” (itself sandwiched between such greats as “Something” and “Oh! Darling,” a song where we can clearly see what Paul is capable of), and his solo “Uncle Albert” period. With this song, Paul keeps intact his “Cute Beatle” image, and shows that he can write songs for your grandmother to enjoy. It is this reason that I consider Paul the lesser of the Lennon/McCartney collaboration, and a BBC poll agrees with me that this is the worst song of all time. While it may not be the worst song ever, given who wrote it, on what album it appears, and during such an apex of creativity, I think it easily earns that honor.




Landon Shaw

"Mr. Roboto"

Styx - Kilroy Was Here


I am not afraid to admit that I love STYX. I find their music to be very theatrical with solid lyrics and stories and Dennis DeYoung is an incredible singer with such a great instrument. I was first introduced to STYX by my Dad who saw some of the members perform at a local bar in Chicago, before they were even STYX. I was hooked and loved them, still do. Then in 1982 the song "Mr. Roboto" was released. At the time, I thought it was fun and we all loved to do the robot dance to it at our school functions. As I got older, I soon realized that this song was awful. The lyrics, the synthesized music and robot voices, all spelled disaster. I truly was wondering what the hell they were on when they wrote this one. It is fair to say that this song is not only the worst song by STYX, it is one of the worst songs ever written and produced.

Joe Hipperson

"Discotheque"

U2 - Pop


First off, let me be honest with you, I would have to log this song on my Guilty Pleasures List. But NOT the version they re-issued on the greatest hits album, U2: The Best of 1990 - 2000. No, the version I'm talking about is the sweet and sticky original album cut found on the great experiment known as 1997's POP.

Come to think of it...should I have even picked a song that has multiple versions? I guess even U2 realized that the album version of Discotheque would not age well so they remixed the hell out of it for that "Best Of" album.

Okay, back to the subject at hand: Why do I think Discotheque is the Worst Song by one of the Best Bands? Because the song was intended to be a launchpad for a whole new sound. A new sound that U2 could take credit for and use as their template for future albums.

Guess what. DIDN'T WORK!

The next album after POP, 2000's ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND, proves it! From the pictures of the group to the sound made by The Edge on guitar--they tried so hard, after POP, to write music that sounded like U2 that they almost came across looking and sounding like a tribute band.

Discotheque is a bad U2 song. It's a bad song in general. Sure, U2 have released other dogs that don't cut the mustard--but Discotheque represents their total intention to not only change what made them a great band--but to kill off any memory of who & what the band used to be.

John D. Hipperson

"Kokomo"

The Beach Boys - Cocktail: Motion Picture Soundtrack


I chose this Beach Boys song because I felt it to be a poor effort from a remarkable band. The early Beach Boys had unique harmonies but also presented a slice of rock n roll. Through the years the Beach Boys gave as songs that stood the test of time & cemented them as one of America’s best bands.

The Beach Boys had four number one hits in their recording portfolio. "I Get Around," recorded in 1964, "Help Me Rhonda," recorded in 1965, "Good Vibrations," recorded in 1966 & "Kokomo," recorded in 1988. I have a hard time including Kokomo on the same list as the other songs mentioned. It may have been fueled to number 1 by the fact it was on the movie Cocktail. The song Kokomo was written by John Phillips (of the Mama’s & Papa’s) for the Beach Boys to sing on the soundtrack. The song was up for a Grammy but lost to "Don’t Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. (What a sad time for music).

In defining a worst song by a good band I looked at the following: If this was the only song the band did would it correctly give the listener a sense of how good the band is & would the band have made other songs if this was the debut effort. My opinion is that the other three number 1 songs referenced above Would be a good representation of the Beach Boys & would allow the band to continue with success.

"Kokomo", however, on its own would never live up to what we know as the Beach Boys, which was collaborated by other members of the show. I found this to be interesting feedback as the show includes members of various backgrounds & age groups.

In closing I would like feedback from our audience, please text or e-mail any thoughts you have on this or any other music subject you would liked discussed.

John D. Hipperson
Hipp Music
Without music life itself is impossible.


So there you have it. Man, that's some pretty awful music. Agreed? Let us know.

What's your entry for Worst of the Best?

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