Worst song on KROQ's 25 Most Requested Songs of All-Time (2006)

1. Sublime - Date Rape

well this is the easiest poll ever

*reads rest of list* nope, still easiest poll ever

There is definitely a clear favorite...

well, that didn't take long to decide.

xpost!

Don't ignore #25!

I mean, "Last Resort" is bad, but it's not "Date Rape" bad.

The moment that I realise that no matter how bad anything might be, RHCP are still worse.

WTF is "Date Rape" and how is it the most requested song in KROQ history? That reeks of "Stairway to Heaven gets played on the radio more than any other song" bullshit.

1. Sublime - Date Rape
14. Beastie Boys - Girls
25. Papa Roach - Last Resort

probably in about that order. that b-boys song is probably the worst thing they ever did.

I feel like I can't vote for Date Rape since I'm not at all familiar with it, even though it is undoubtedly horrible. Going with Self-Esteem instead.

and yes, there was a time when Stairway to Heaven got played on the radio an awful lot, but that hasn't been the case since the late 80s.

I am pretty sure between the ages of 5 and 12 I heard "Stairway to Heaven" on the radio 4 times a day

WTF is "Date Rape" and how is it the most requested song in KROQ history?

They must have had a big LA fanbase. The whole list has a noticeable Californian skew.

Always weird to me to find out "Date Rape" is actually popular in parts of the country, or liked by anybody at all. Really didn't hear it all that much then or now. It's fucking awful. Once at karaoke I was having some good eye-contact with this girl, she seemed cool, we were digging each other's dancing - - - and then she lost her shit for her friend doing "Date Rape" and it was all over.

ftr anyone unfamiliar with the oh-so-charming "Date Rape" can listen to it here:

http://youtu.be/CeMeDihwyrg

obv I'm not embedding that shit

Once at karaoke I was having some good eye-contact with this girl, she seemed cool, we were digging each other's dancing - - - and then she lost her shit for her friend doing "Date Rape" and it was all over.

this itself sounds like a Sublime (and sublime) song scenario tbh

the late Brad Nowell explained:

I've never raped anyone at least as far as I can remember. We were at a party a long time ago and we were all talking about how much date rape sucked. This guy was like, "Date rape isn't so bad; if it wasn't for date rape I'd never get laid." Everyone at the party was bummed out about it, but I was cracking up and I wrote a funny song about it.

Although there are some real turds here, Radiohead is far and way the worst turd.

I mean I honestly can't fathom anyone halfway familiar with "Date Rape" the song who sees it on this list and goes "eh, there's worse here"

NO THERE ISN'T

imagine a Radiohead cover of "Date Rape," with a heavily processed/vocodered Thom Yorke repeating the title.

Wow wtf @ that quote

I am not familiar with the song. But still, knowing how I feel about these issues, and having read the descriptions on this thread, I can say that it is entirely in keeping with the depths of my loathing for RHCP that I still find them worse.

I've never raped anyone at least as far as I can remember.
I've never raped anyone at least as far as I can remember.

You're gonna make me stop reading the thread; you're not gonna make me stop hating RHCP more.

"date rape" is obviously the worst but i'm throwing a perverse lol vote to "how soon is now?"

Feels like it'd be more in keeping with this poll if it had been t.A.T.u.'s cover

... waht

oh you mean "How Soon Is Now?" lolololol

2. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
3. Nine Inch Nails - Closer
4. Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right to Party
8. No Doubt - Just a Girl
11. Radiohead - Creep
13. Weezer - Buddy Holly
15. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
18. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
19. Green Day - Basket Case
22. Beck - Loser

this is a solid bunch of good tunes, i still remember what a great one-hit wonder band radiohead was w/'creep'

This list made me oddly homesick for southern California.

have never heard 'date rape' and don't really want to. that quote is one of the most wtf things i've read in a while.

ENJOY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeMeDihwyrg

Oh I missed DJP's non-embed post.

I mean, I hate to be the one who stands up for Sublime here because it's gotten me nowhere in the past, but the song is like, definitively anti-rape.

So is "Sex Type Thing"

lol, I haven't even thought about Sex Type Thing in about 20 years. I've got to go check that out.

I mean, I hate to be the one who stands up for Sublime here because it's gotten me nowhere in the past, but the song is like, definitively anti-rape.

It's also definitively terrible.

I admit it's pretty bad but c'mon, Radiohead.

That is like saying "I admit that stomping on the skulls of live kittens is a bad thing but at least it's not strolling through an empty park."

Once at karaoke I was having some good eye-contact with this girl, she seemed cool, we were digging each other's dancing - - - and then she lost her shit for her friend doing "Date Rape" and it was all over.

so many of these are karaoke staples ime

creep is so solid

solid like a bowel-movement.

the song is like, definitively anti-rape.

maybe the lyrics, but the tone of the song is pretty fucking unserious.

I mean, it's serious for ska-punk. Dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun, DUN. You can tell they mean business right there.

who doesn't a good gay panic punchline

doesn't +enjoy, that is

Let me tell you about a girl I know,
had a drink about a hour ago.
Sitting in a corner by herself, in a bar in downtown Hell.

She heard a noise and she looked through the door.
And saw a man she'd never seen before.
Light skin, light blue eyes, a double-chin and a plastic smile.
Well, her heart raced as he walked in the door
And took an empty seat next to her at the bar.
"My brand new car is parked right outside. How'd ya like to go for a ride?"
And she said."Wait a minute I have to think."
He said, "That's fine. May I please buy you a drink"
One drink turned into 3 or 4 and they left and got into his car
and they drove away someplace real far.

Now babe the time has come.
How'd ya like to have a little fun?
And she said."If we could only please be on our way, I will not run."

That's when things got out of control.
She didn't want to, he had his way.
She said, "Let's Go"
He said, "No Way!"
Come on babe it's your lucky day.
Shut your mouth, were gonna do it my way.
Come on baby don't be afraid,
if it wasn't for date rape I'd never get laid.

He finished up and he started the car
He turned around and drove back to the bar.
He said."Now baby don't be sad, in my opinion you weren't half-bad."
She picked up a rock.,threw it at the car, hit him in the head, now he's got a big scar.
Come on party people won't you listen to me.
Date Rape Story.

The next day she went to her drawer, look up her local attorney at law,
went to the phone and filed the police report and then she took the guy's ass to court.
Well, the day he stood in front of the judge he screamed, "She lies that little slut!"
The judge knew that he was full of shit and he gave him 25 years
And now his heart is filled with tears.

One night in jail it was getting late.
He was butt-raped by a large inmate, and he screamed.
But the guards paid no attention to his cries.

That's when things got out of control.
The moral of the date rape story, it does not pay to be drunk and horny.
But that's the way it had to be.
They locked him up and threw away the key.
Well, I can't take pity on men of his kind,
even though he now takes it in the behind.

But that's the way it had to be.
They locked him up and threw away the key.
Well, I can't take pity on men of his kind,
even though he now takes it in the behind.
DATE RAPE!

She didn't want to [x4]
TAKE IT!

1. Sublime - Date Rape
well this is the easiest poll ever
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 12:29 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thought this, exactly, as soon as i opened the thread

so many of these are karaoke staples ime

― dude (Lamp), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 2:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agreed, and almost always it's people who are expecting to blow everybody away by choosing this SUPER ROCK song that they'd NEVER EXPECT! I'd be pretty down with "Dead Man's Party," how'd that sneak in here?

Even though the Sublime song sounds horrid, there's no way I'm going to miss an opportunity to vote for Under the Bridge, which may be my most hated song ever.

Having no intention of ever hearing this "Date Rape" tune, I'm going with "Blister in the Sun." I really really really hate the Violent Femmes.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Team Under The Bridge here, although Date Rape is fucking abominable, if not as abominable as Tony Kiedis' vocal affectations!

dramarama? i didn't realize that song was such a perennial favorite.
this poll is gross

when I last saw Fishbone they did "Date Rape" and played it like it was big laffs, it was a huge bummer

Come on party people won't you listen to me.
Date Rape Story.

this song has no competition in this poll.

i'll cop to liking both sublime songs (total bizarreness doesn't make me like catchy posi-vibes and anti-rape songs less) but "date rape" definitely makes for an uncomfortable cherry at the top of this deeply disturbed sundae.

voting oingo boingo for being the most LA thing I have yet to understand in the slightest. can't get like 30 seconds into anything by them.

i probably like 90% of these songs at least a little, but as a whole it makes me feel like advocating curfews

i was unaware of 40% of them, including #1

being old ftw i guess

This is easily Papa Roach. on a particularly cranky day of mine, I'd vote "What I Got" simply cuz every hipster huckster sings that shit at karaoke and it's always been overrated.

But "Last Resort" was next level nonsense. Armed with only a weak facsimile of an Iron Maiden riff, a vocalist only capable of aggravating nasal staccato, and a hyperbolic pathos that was chic in nu-metal in the early 00s, this song exploded and for the life of me I could never figure out why.

Folks an hate Disturbed all they want, but David Draiman has an extremely charismatic voice that sets them apart. Papa Roach had *nothing*.

However, do not let that let us lose sight of the fact that Brad Nowell's Sublime didn't merely cross the 'mega-douche' line, they drove a Bradley tank over it and pitched a tent on the other side.

Papa Roach had *nothing*.

naw man. for one thing the song is kind of the iconic song of its type from that era, the value of "everybody" would need some solving/qualification here but, like, everybody who was hearing this kinda thing back then remembers "Last Resort" and gets hearty lols from the memory now. Beyond that, I think I've said this before, but I was working in treatment centers for kids with heavy problems then, and "Last Resort" was genuinely meaningful and valuable music to pissed-off kicked-around foster home kids back then. It was a song that spoke to them, that showed them how music could powerfully articulate what they were feeling. Sure: you and I might lol at "Suffocation! No breathing!" but I knew young dudes who heard that and went "fuck yes, that is how I feel," who sang it at the top of their lungs alone in their rooms when they were too angry to speak for themselves.

The world is full of young dudes like that, so Papa Roach, though they suck, get love from me.

When I saw the name of the poll, I thought "oh, my choice is whatever Sublime song is the highest."

"Date Rape" is an abhorrent song, but "Wrong Way" - the story of a man horndogging an underage prostitute - is considerably worse.

Always weird to me to find out "Date Rape" is actually popular in parts of the country, or liked by anybody at all. Really didn't hear it all that much then or now. It's fucking awful. Once at karaoke I was having some good eye-contact with this girl, she seemed cool, we were digging each other's dancing - - - and then she lost her shit for her friend doing "Date Rape" and it was all over.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, July 2, 2014 1:43 PM (1 week ago)

In Rhode Island, Sublime are on the radio constantly, especially "Doin' Time" and especially during the summer. It's agonizing. The local modern rock station even has the tendency to trot out album cuts ("Caress Me Down" being particularly popular), and the Top 40 station can't get enough of "Santeria." One of the most popular live concert bands in the state is a Sublime cover band.

Supposedly, much of Sublime's Rhode Island popularity has to do with a concert they played in April 1995 at The Ocean Mist, a popular hangout for URI kids. That show, which is apparently a well known bootleg, is something of a Sex Pistols at Manchester Trade Hall moment for the numerous and execrable ska bands that litter Southern Rhode Island.

1. Sublime - Date Rape
well this is the easiest poll ever
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 12:29 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thought this, exactly, as soon as i opened the thread

― global tetrahedron, Wednesday, July 2, 2014

thought this, exactly, before i opened the thread

no seriously i was living in LA when KROQ went all-in on sublime and there was just no doubt in my mind as soon as i saw the thread title

just fyi the other most KROQ-y tracks on there would be dramarama and oingo boingo

I wasn't exposed to date rape as much as Under The Bridge, a song that is still weirdly ubiquitous. So I'll go for this one.

I miss Dammit.

I love two of these ("Dead Man's Party" and "Blister In The Sun"), and hate only nine. Impossible not to vote for "Date Rape," though the Beasties' "Girls" has much to answer for as well. If "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" was on this list, I'd be forced to vote for that - it is truly one of my least favorite songs by anyone, ever - but taking its absence into account, "Date Rape" it is.

whoa. fishbone actually made a music video for their cover of date rape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xgmSfiy_tY&feature=kp

When did KROQ go on the air? Curious about the two Violent Femmes tracks which are so much older (1983) than anything else here

My most hated thing on here is Linkin Park, by a mile.

I would never in a million years listen to Sublime on purpose, but I actually have gone to bat for them before on ILM. Before I said "They definitely had that amazing ability to "give their songs a zip code," to paraphrase Tom Waits. Maybe you just don't like the zip code they conjured? Where Beck or his handlers try to cram it down your throat that Beck is the "product of L.A.'s smorgasboard of multi-cultural reference points" or whatever, Sublime genuinely seemed like that - for better or for worse. All the references to men selling oranges on freeway offramps; the casual and smart use of Mexican slang and Span(gl)ish, playing with class and race in unique ways. Search "Waiting for My Ruca." That's a great song."

I think I'm about 50% full of shit there (I actually think Beck *does* do that stuff well, and I can't think of examples why I would have praised their racial/class politics), but I think they have a really organic point of view that always felt pretty un-cynical.

I saw them play once at a house party, in 1993 I think. They played a bunch of Fugazi and Black Flag and Bad Brains songs as well as their own tunes.

Also I think my favorite song on here might be "Anything, Anything." That song is a total time machine to me.

"in the end" is a jam

i grew up in vegas where the local scene is i think still about 70 percent sublime cover bands, something about the geography (proximity to california) made them part of the air, i've been to innumerable parties where some asshole with an acoustic guitar covered "caress me down," and i still like about half of the self-titled album. idk. "date rape" and "wrong way" are the worst though

I remember moving out to California in the early 2000s and hearing Anything, Anything still on the radio all the time. It was like, "oh, here is the song from the Nightmare on Elm Street karate sequence. Wonder if they'd take requests for the theme song from RAD?"

one of my best friends in high school was super into papa roach so i've heard more of them than i was even curious about, and man, if there were a band that more desperately wanted to be faith no more without the remotest capability i haven't heard them. also imo "last resort" >>>>>> "scars," probably my least favorite song that isn't "butterfly" by crazy town

Come on party people won't you listen to me.
Date Rape Story.

Also, realizing that I'm not doing Sublime any favors here, the correct lyric is "come on party people won't you listen to me - date rape stylee."

kinda have a soft spot for "Last Resort"

i can totally understand people squirming at the glibness of "date rape" - as I said, I dunno how I feel about it being the no. 1 KROQ call-in jam, esp when Sublime clearly weren't worried about indulging in homophobic pandering in the last verse.

But it's a matter-of-fact acknowledgement that date rape exists, is about power and opportunity (last verse underscores that), and is fucking bullshit, in a genre chock full of mouth-foaming misogyny and objectification (rest of list underscores that).

Not saying you have to play it at your wedding, not saying that watching a room of dudes hoot and holler over it isn't gross. Just pointing out why that girl at karaoke may not think it's the worst thing ever.

I mean, yeah, Sublime were probably total douchebag homophobes. But I see the last verse more as more of a "what goes around comes around"/"Karma, maaan" thing than specifically out to target gay people.

of course it is homophobic but no more so than Seinfeld's "not that there's anything wrong with that"...

Thanks for going to bat against Papa Roach, Neanderthal. That's my vote. "Wrong Way" and "Caress Me Down" are just gross and both WAY worse than "Date Rape."

oh word. I don't even listen to that album. It was a profound disappointment for me as a Sublime fan and then like a three-year living nightmare as the singles rolled out and completely dominated modern rock airplay.

Also, realizing that I'm not doing Sublime any favors here, the correct lyric is "come on party people won't you listen to me - date rape stylee."

― how's life, Thursday, July 10, 2014 10:11 AM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

LOL

naw man. for one thing the song is kind of the iconic song of its type from that era, the value of "everybody" would need some solving/qualification here but, like, everybody who was hearing this kinda thing back then remembers "Last Resort" and gets hearty lols from the memory now. Beyond that, I think I've said this before, but I was working in treatment centers for kids with heavy problems then, and "Last Resort" was genuinely meaningful and valuable music to pissed-off kicked-around foster home kids back then. It was a song that spoke to them, that showed them how music could powerfully articulate what they were feeling. Sure: you and I might lol at "Suffocation! No breathing!" but I knew young dudes who heard that and went "fuck yes, that is how I feel," who sang it at the top of their lungs alone in their rooms when they were too angry to speak for themselves.

The world is full of young dudes like that, so Papa Roach, though they suck, get love from me.

― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 July 2014 21:33 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is a fair point, and perhaps my earlier post would have been made better had I said they had nothing *for me* specifically. But I don't want to diminish the value it held for some of those aforementioned kids.

Jacoby Shaddicks of Roach once showed up in #metal on DALnet around 2001 one night. he lasted five minutes, unable to withstand the barrage of "POSEUR!!!" insults.

while I agree with croupier's assessment upthread, the other problematic line in "Date Rape" is 'the moral of the date rape story is it does not pay to be drunk and horny'... which, besides greatly oversimplifying the root case of rape (I know, 3 minute song etc etc) is basically like saying 'hey man, don't get drunk when you're horny, you might accidentally rape someone and go to jail'. Rather than 'hey, the moral is that rape because it is abhorrent, violent, sociopathic behavior'.

*root CAUSE

also remove the "because it" from the last sentence ugh

I love how the protagonist goes to her drawer to look up her local attorney-at-law. Quaint reminder of bygone days.

Of all the Beastie Boys songs out there why on earth would people choose Girls?

Having never heard the Sublime or Papa Roach songs, I think Add It Up annoys me more than anything else here, and I generally like Violent Femmes.

Of all the Beastie Boys songs out there why on earth would people choose Girls?

Kind of assuming that this is the world's frattiest radio station we're talking about here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KROQ-FM

You have already voted in this poll and cannot vote again.

goddammit

Curious about the two Violent Femmes tracks which are so much older (1983) than anything else here

Those songs and a few other hangers on from that era were in regular rotation on my local alt station when I was in high school. In much the same way that newer songs from when I was in high school twenty years ago are still in regular rotation today. "Alternative" but by no means progressive.

ok guys you gotta see #26-50

26. No Doubt Spiderwebs

27. Sublime Smoke 2 Joints

28. Nirvana Come As You Are

29. The B-52's Rock Lobster

30. Weezer Undone (the Sweater Song)

31. Green Day Boulevard of Broken Dreams

32. Beastie Boys Brass Monkey

33. Soft Cell Sex Dwarf

34. Red Hot Chili Peppers Give it Away

35. King Missile Detachable Penis

36. Blink-182 All the Small Things

37. Dynamite Hack Boyz N the Hood

38. Korn Got the Life

39. Sublime Wrong Way

40. Pennywise Fuck Authority

41. Jane's Addiction Been Caught Stealing

42. New Order Blue Monday

43. Nine Inch Nails Hurt

44. Beastie Boys Intergalactic

45. The Smashing Pumpkins Today

46. Social Distortion Ball And Chain

47. The Killers Mr. Brightside

48. The Offspring Come Out and Play

49. Oingo Boingo Little Girls

50.System of a Down Chop Suey

I have such an urge to watch Repo Man right now

37. Dynamite Hack Boyz N the Hood

okay this would have been a contender for "Date Rape"'s crown

I'm definitely w DJP here, so easily Sublime
Papa Roach song had a decent chord change

like seriously all I did was read the words "Dynamite Hack" and then everything went blank with rage for a moment

kinda shocked how soundly New Order beat Orgy in the battle of the "Blue Monday"s - orgy's at #415!

Sex Dwarf?? Weird

kinda shocked how soundly New Order beat Orgy in the battle of the "Blue Monday"s - orgy's at #415!

it seems shocking until you remember that one of these bands is New Order and the other is Orgy

i know that. i also know we're talking about a KROQ request line, not a critics poll.

da croupier otm about "date rape" hitting a nerve in that cultural milieu, which just makes it sadder imo. like, you have one of the smarter bands in its class willing to address the subject in a song and the thesis isn't, rage-filled misogyny sucks let's imagine or do something different, it's be more careful about your rage-filled misogyny or else you'll get fucked in the ass / fall a notch or two in the grand constellation of patriarchy. i doubt sublime were / are explicitly homophobic or hateful, but getting butt-fucked in jail is depressingly standard, universally accepted shorthand for "losing your manhood." that concept doesn't turn on homophobia so much as it turns on its root, patriarchy. the girl in the song actually exists as a sympathetic character, which is probably why the girl at karaoke likes it, but instead of turning on any new insights about what "date rape" actually means for the victims or the poisonous culture that perpetrates and then condemns it, it just slots it in as one of the "thou shalt nots" in the newly equal-rights-y and litigious bro code. but then, what else to expect from sublime, who are basically the poet laureates of this particular flavor of SoCal patriarchal culture, enlightened, chill, into cool shit, acknowledging rape as a statutory offense, possibly leading to butt-rape in prison (how progressive!).

anyway the good Orgy song was "Stitches"

man sublime are one of the worst bands ever

was gonna say, would be a little odd for sublime to call out "abhorrent, violent, sociopathic behavior" on principle or offer fresh insight considering their other songs

def don't think anybody has to love the song, i just don't get the "obv this is the worst thing" when it's surrounded by umpteen heartfelt odes to blue balls and being a muthafuckin' reject psyyyycho

in this context "date rape" is a goddamn psa

Oh yea Dynamite Hack woulda walked this. Fuck them imo

true xp

So glad I was not aware of that track before just now...gross

there are times when "here is a glib take on a serious subject" works; IMO "Date Rape" is not one of those times

def don't think anybody has to love the song, i just don't get the "obv this is the worst thing" when it's surrounded by umpteen heartfelt odes to blue balls and being a muthafuckin' reject psyyyycho

― da croupier, Thursday, July 10, 2014

it's not just that it's the worst, although it is. it's that it's the worst AND the most requested and if you lived in LA in the mid 90s you heard it hourly and supposedly right-thinking people around you acted like it was not a glib take on a serious subject but important.

Two Joints also terrible

yeah i totally can't imagine this song as inescapable (think i first heard about it in an article about the spur posse in Rolling Stone, saw the video on 120 minutes a couple times and bought a 20th Century Masters disc of the band - wound up keeping like half the tracks) and can totally imagine how quickly social context can turn it into the worst thing ever

KROQ was on a holy mission to make Sublime the biggest thing ever. SoCal's answer to Seattle or something.

omg spur posse

Voted for the same shit as everyone. "Last Resort" is dumb but it's hard to deny that chorus.

i kind of assumed Sublime was like the Minutemen for meatheads or something

cut my life into pizzas

i kind of figured sublime was like jimmy buffett for people too young to own a boat

Sublime is like an infected toe fungus

only song in the top 25 i'd never even heard OF before seeing this thread is Offspring's "Bad Habit." Apparently it was the 4th radio single but i only remember the first 3.

gonna go check lyricwiki and find out if habit rhymes with "grab it"

sublime was the one of these i really wasn't ok with even back when i listened to all this stuff on the radio, regularly, by choice

it doesn't, habit only rhymes with habit.

the song's about killing bad drivers apparently

Drivers are rude
Such attitudes
But when I show my piece
Complaints cease, something's odd
I feel like I'm God
You stupid dumb-shit god-damn motherfucker!

such attitudes.

12-year-old me thought that was the most badass lyric ever. And it was among the five albums I owned in total.

lol, minutemen vs. sublime is so good twin vs. evil twin.

so like, a year or two after the "cop killer" brouhaha kroq was regularly playing a song about killing people on the freeway and i'm hearing about 20 years later

12-year-old me thought that was the most badass lyric ever. And it was among the five albums I owned in total.

same here. kinda think it's still undeniable idk

i knew that line via teen osmosis but never knew the song nor it's 'meaning' ha

its just one of those days

xxxpost wait til you hear about "pumped up kicks" in 2030

I have to vote for Last Resort as I don't think I've even listened to that sublime song. It's weird that it's not only their most requested song (what i got and santeria
I'd assume are their most popular tracks) but that it's the most requested song of all time.
Seems to me like someone from 4chan or a group of organized trolls decided it would be funny to request Date Rape every day.

Drivers are rude
Such attitudes
But when I show my piece
Complaints cease, something's odd
I feel like I'm God
You stupid dumb-shit god-damn motherfucker!

― da croupier, Thursday, July 10, 2014 11:38 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

such attitudes.

― goole, Thursday, July 10, 2014 11:39 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

12-year-old me thought that was the most badass lyric ever. And it was among the five albums I owned in total.

― skip, Thursday, July 10, 2014 11:39 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I believe I got in trouble for playing this song on the stereo during high school art class.

ha i know and love "pumped up kicks", though yeah, i'm kind of amazed it achieved the degree of play and lack of controversy it did

to be fair to the hoi polloi i don't think i grasped the lyrical content of kicks until the song was already in the top 10

Drivers are rude
Such attitudes
But when I show my piece
Complaints cease, something's odd
I feel like I'm God
You stupid dumb-shit god-damn motherfucker!

this is like an Eagles verse stripped of social niceties

Seems to me like someone from 4chan or a group of organized trolls decided it would be funny to request Date Rape every day.

― Moka, Thursday, 10 July 2014

4chan didn't even exist then.

xp 'helena beat' was like the exact same song structurally with a bigger hook so i'm surprised it wasn't that one that was bigger if the lyrics dont have anything to do with it

so wait no one's gonna pick The Smiths?

"how soon is now" for worst? gtfo

that smiths song is kind of a jam isn't it

unless i'm thinking of the wrong one

I assumed by now someone would have

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I'm probably voting for "Just a Girl" because their watery ska punk + her voice made late nineties radio unbearable.

is there a lex of American modern rock? Kinda thinking he'd love No Doubt and hate The Smiths.

"self-esteem," "gotta get away" and "come out and play" were modern rock top tens while "bad habit" didn't chart anywhere so i have to assume it was only popular on kroq and a couple like-minded morning zoos

and the tape decks of 12 year olds, obv

any Dramarama lovers here?

are there any Dramarama lovers on the board tonight? get them up against the wall

(sorry)

i can totally understand people squirming at the glibness of "date rape" - as I said, I dunno how I feel about it being the no. 1 KROQ call-in jam, esp when Sublime clearly weren't worried about indulging in homophobic pandering in the last verse.

But it's a matter-of-fact acknowledgement that date rape exists, is about power and opportunity (last verse underscores that), and is fucking bullshit, in a genre chock full of mouth-foaming misogyny and objectification (rest of list underscores that).

Not saying you have to play it at your wedding, not saying that watching a room of dudes hoot and holler over it isn't gross. Just pointing out why that girl at karaoke may not think it's the worst thing ever.

― da croupier, Thursday, July 10, 2014 10:29 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is fair up to a point, but it's sorta giving them too much of a free pass: congratulations, you wrote a song that in some way attaches negativity to something people should be writing other, better and more nuanced songs about. Neanderthal and mattresslessness OTM about its bogus ethical universe. Also the worst consequence of date rape is A DUDE WILL SEX YOU, it's just really high school junior level of dealing with the material. I 0000000000000000000000feel okay writing off the girl at karaoke, not because she relates to the song, but because she is stoked to hear Sublime at karaoke, as if this is some sort of unprecedented wonder.

Thinking about "Girls" and the request line - I mean, I know that people frequently request songs that are often played anyway, but it's maybe SORT of the case that this list does reflect the fact that, say, they were going to play Sabotage and Fight For Your Right anyway, and people calling in for Girls felt they were aiming for a relative 'deep cut.'

The expanded list looks a lot better than 1-25 IMO. I mean "Boyz N the Hood" is awful but kind of forgettably background despite the dumbass premise of the whole operation. I mean if you don't realize it's "we're doing a funky bro summer jam cover of a rap song!" it's just kind of a melodic beige, like a less-good "The Hooch." Feel like the top finishers here are all kind of sonically attention-seeky. Also "Chop Suey" rules and I similarly cannot shake my teenage impressedness at STUPID DUMB SHIT GOD DAMNED MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!. Would rather hear "Bad Habit" than any of their other hits probably.

I'm weirdly kind of won over by the defenses of Last Resort. I once tried to lobby for Broken Home on similar grounds, but the internet crashed and I lost the post. lol at ciderpress's reading in any case.

If Oingo wasn't on the list (and who knows, maybe i'll "get" them the longer i'm in LA, certainly get played enough on my new wave sirius station of choice), I'd probably vote for "Self-Esteem" which just never did anything for me (certainly had little sympathy to dudes who hate their horny girlfriends when i was a teenager). the rest i can basically dig.

I presume that Girls got most of its requests prior to the existence of Sabotage. Probably got so much play due to its novelty value (like so many of these songs).

I was on the Oingo Boingo train from the first time I saw the video for "Nothing Bad Ever Happens" and it took them doing an adult-contemporary album for them to make me reconsider.

self-esteem lyrics didn't really mean anything to me either but i still think its kind of great

Strike the above, I would rather hear "All I Want" or maybe even "Meaning of Life." see also WORST Single By Green Day or the Offspring

ixnay on the hombre was one of the first CDs i owned but i don't think i've listened to it in 10+ years

RIP Lou Dogg

Nowell was known to invite his friends and their dogs over to film parodies of popular music videos; the dogs would pose as a band or an artist, dressed in corresponding costumes.[citation needed]

http://s3.amazonaws.com/images.inticketing.com/tickets.slims-sf.com/images/lou_dog_trio.jpg

Didn't vote for "Date Rape", but if we polled the second part of the list I would've definitely chosen "Wrong Way". I hate that fukkin song.

Here's how I break this shit down...

Don't hate:

2. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
3. Nine Inch Nails - Closer
4. Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right to Party
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
8. No Doubt - Just a Girl
9. Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
11. Radiohead - Creep
12. Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
13. Weezer - Buddy Holly
14. Beastie Boys - Girls
15. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
18. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
20. Violent Femmes - Add It Up
22. Beck - Loser
26. No Doubt Spiderwebs
28. Nirvana Come As You Are
29. The B-52's Rock Lobster
32. Beastie Boys Brass Monkey
34. Red Hot Chili Peppers Give it Away
38. Korn Got the Life
41. Jane's Addiction Been Caught Stealing
42. New Order Blue Monday
43. Nine Inch Nails Hurt
44. Beastie Boys Intergalactic
50. System of a Down Chop Suey
45. The Smashing Pumpkins Today

Don't know:

1. Sublime - Date Rape
6. Dramarama - Anything, Anything
10. Green Day - Brain Stew
17. Linkin Park - In the End
24. Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
25. Papa Roach - Last Resort
19. Green Day - Basket Case
21. The Offspring - Bad Habit
23. Blink-182 - Dammit
27. Sublime Smoke 2 Joints
31. Green Day Boulevard of Broken Dreams
33. Soft Cell Sex Dwarf
37. Dynamite Hack Boyz N the Hood
40. Pennywise Fuck Authority
46. Social Distortion Ball And Chain
48. The Offspring Come Out and Play
49. Oingo Boingo Little Girls

Apathy verging on hatred:

16. Sublime - What I Got
30. Weezer Undone (the Sweater Song)
35. King Missile Detachable Penis
36. Blink-182 All the Small Things
47. The Killers Mr. Brightside

Blinding, white hot hate:

7. The Offspring - Self-Esteem
39. Sublime Wrong Way

Even though the Sublime song sounds horrid, there's no way I'm going to miss an opportunity to vote for Under the Bridge, which may be my most hated song ever.

― lauded at conferences of deluded psychopaths (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, July 2, 2014 3:31 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTMOTMOTM

under the bridge seems fairly harmless to me

"Basket Case" is the "do you have the time / to listen to me whine" song - would be surprised if you hadn't heard it, but, uh, stranger things happen. It's worth hearing I'd say. You're not missing much with the rest. I'd maybe check out "Last Resort" just to see what the hate is about. "In The End" and "Date Rape" are not even worth doing this for.

For some reason, I can still sorta stand Under the Bridge, but probably not after repeated listens.

That said, I'm still traumatized by this one time during freshman year of college when I invited a girl back to my dorm for some bong rips and she insisted we listen to Under the Bridge on repeat over and over again. That was way harsh.

basket case is the best song on the list probably

I normally can't stand RHCP, but I sort of like Under the Bridge, the melody is fairly strong.

It's hard to imagine not knowing Ball & Chain either. That's one of the most ubiquitous alternative songs of all time.

basket case is the best song on the list probably

that, closer, or buddy holly for me

oh, 1994

last resort is too ridiculous to hate imo, it's the moment when the genre finally achieved blissful self-parody after half a decade of attempts

basket case is the best song on the list probably

― ciderpress, Thursday, July 10, 2014 1:30 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so I looked up the video for Basket Case and I definitely remember it now, not Green Day's worst I suppose.

Also looked up Ball & Chain and I could definitely see that being one that would have made me change the channel immediately if it came on MTV.

Closer would probably be my favorite of the top 25, there's some good stuff in the second 25 too

basket case sounds like sped-up badfinger

I only know about eight of these songs, but I couldn't pass up the chance of voting for 'Under the Bridge' either.

basket case sounds like sped-up badfinger

― mattresslessness, Thursday, July 10, 2014 3:42 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a good idea!

I love "Under the Bridge" :)

the californication-era singles are the ones that drive me crazy since i've heard them way more

33. Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf

this has to be an LA thing.

And San Diego. I think that might have been the only Soft Cell song I heard until college.

"Under the Bridge" is a great song

Overplay has dulled a nice melody and good evocation of L.A.

yeah, those "Californication" songs hung around forever, apparently it is their best-selling album...?! MOR stinkers all, except "Scar Tissue" which at least was pretty to listen to. Predictably, it's the one I've heard the least in the last fifteen years.

"under the bridge" is about as old today as "fire and rain" was when "under the bridge" came out.

re californication singles, i like "otherside" a lot except for the really grating bridge

'scar tissue' bugs me the most because it has no melody but sort of pretends like it does

'otherside' is the one that i wouldn't rage at if it came on, since it kind of fell off the map after its initial run as a single

always had a huge soft spot for "under the bridge". looking at the lyrics now, it's not as treacly as i remembered. always loved the awayyyyyayyayyyyayayy refrain. but yeah, played to death. xp "fire and rain" is a good analogy, an earlier case of "you got me, asshole."

i enjoy 'by the way' and 'can't stop' the most of all the MOR-era rhcp singles, they briefly stepped it up a little bit for that record

I also don't have much of a problem with Under the Bridge, especially once it gets going. At first I think "not this again..." but it's a nice, well-constructed track.

never heard 'date rape' before. listening to it now. think i'm gonna cry.

Looking up some of the songs I don't recognize, I'm amazed at how many of them are completely lacking a melodic hook (Dramarama, Social Distortion) or even a chorus ("Brain Stew"). I guess they resonated with people solely on the basis of production & lyrical 'attitude'? (Cf. that recent paper on timbre as distinguishing mark for indie/alternative music)

the fuck is this geir shit

do you know what a melodic hook is? Regardless of how you feel about the songs, both "Anything, Anything" and "Ball and Chain" have clear melodic hooks

No you're right, I was being overly harsh. What I meant is that the hooks are boring as shit & the dudes can't sing :)

"I'll give you anything, ANYTHING" [plays four-chord progression for three minutes without variation]

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol dude you'll have that hook in your head literally for the rest of your life, maybe reserve comment on a song's hooks until a little longer than "I just heard this song just now"

even as a self-loathing former rhcp fan i don't really get the under the bridge hate.

Justice served in this poll, that song is anti-rape on paper, but actually treats date rape as a sleazy and "hilarious" joke.

too close.

I admire the Nirvana voter, whoever you be

15. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized 0

^^good job ILM

they knew what they consequences would be

also wtf at the comments on Ball and Chain upthread, that song is immortal

what the hell, under the bridge is like the 2nd best song on here.

Maybe it's a west coast thing

I get "Under the Bridge" fatigue but when that shit was fresh it was welcome as hell

Such nice hendrixy guitar. The lyrics are pretty lousy apart from the first verse.

that ride-out riff from Frusciante is all-time

kiedis's wretched singing throughout, how can anyone bear it, I ask you.

normally I hate the sound of Kiedis' throaty singing voice and prefer when he does more of his funk staccato or doesn't draw attention to it, but he's very listenable on this track IMO.

RHCP instrumentals would probably be half-decent to good tbh but that man is possibly my least favourite vocalist ever & I'm not sure why

he has a grating voice and he's terrible live for starters

there was an mp3 of RHCP covering the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back" live and I don't want to say Kiedis' dreadful vocals contributed to MJ's early demise but I'm going to say it anyway

I'm gonna stop arguing after this cuz I guess I have a weird conception of a "hook"; but to me, it's something that stands out from its surrounding musical setting--a melodic line, a vocal refrain, a dynamic swell, an unexpected & satisfying chord change, the entrance of new instruments or voices... the Dramarama song might qualify for the last of these, that trebley guitar that enters for a few bars at a time, except the guitar is playing the most boring imaginable straight-time up-and-down bullshit. I've already forgotten everything about the song except that it feels "tense" & I hate it

yeah the Dramarama song is total dogshit, easily the worst song from the '80s in the alt rock radio canon

but i too have been badgered by aero for daring to suggest that an enduringly popular song has a lousy hook so you have my sympathy

... okay I just listened again to refresh memory (sorry i'm also a little drunk) & I wouldn't have been nearly as harsh on the song if it didn't feel like one long verse spent waiting for a chorus that never arrives. So really my reaction is less "I hate it!" and more "... is that all there is?"

It reminds me of some Afghan Whigs song that I actually dig, is about the best thing I can say for it

No afghan whigs song is that catchy

yeah always found it more tiresome than hateable and have always taken KROQ's decades-long refusal to retire it from playlists as an endearing local quirk.

"ball and chain" is a total singalong song, very catchy if nothing else

the whole self-titled Social D album is an awesome hit parade

too close.

OTM

can only assume that 40 ILXors have not heard "date rape" by sublime

The Dramarama song (which I love) goes with Sex Dwarf and the Oingo Boingo tunes as KROQ staples that were played literally almost every single day on Richard Blade's Flashback Lunch for (at least?) all of the '90s - as well as things like "88 Lines About 44 Women" and "Nobody Walks in L.A."

37 ilxors do not know how to skank and or pick it up.

This is pretty surprising:

23. Blink-182 - Dammit 0

the whole self-titled Social D album is an awesome hit parade

― some dude, Thursday, July 10, 2014 6:58 PM (Yesterday)

It really is!

That's another SoCal thing, right?

Social D was pretty big in the Twin Cities too IIRC

yeah that social D album is pretty damn good, 'ball and chain' is just a really great tune imo.

also 'under the bridge' isn't that bad i guess, kiedis as usual is the worst thing about the band though (excepting that brief period w/navarro)

Yeah, they got tons of airplay in Baltimore. Huge influence on 90's punk and rockabilly. Don't really like them these days but I listened to them a ton when I was a kid.

i voted for 'girls' because i figured it needed a hate vote, i knew 'date rape' was gonna take the poll.

Huh, apparently Social Distortion was bigger than I realized.

What was the song that the kid in Veronica Mars plagiarized for his poetry assignment?

hazard a guess that social d is equally norcal as socal xp

Social D is an abomination wtf at the defenders in this thread

just the worst of cliched greaser punk schticks some kind of ur-text for that scene

no doubt is one of the only bands from this time and place i would probably not change the dial on, depending on who was in the car i guess.

xp we're familiar with your strange moral calculus for bands

Social D singer is a hero for learning how to sing through his nose after he lost the use of his mouth.

cliched schticks with good tunes and solid hooks -- that album came out when i was in high school, right around the time i got my drivers license, it was a great car tape

otm

I was just listening to the s/t last week for the first time in ages. I like it more now than I did in 1990.

Not that anyone really cares how I voted, but my loathing for Under the Bridge is now in its 3rd decade so ...

TAKE ME TO DA PLEHS I LUHHV

just the worst of cliched greaser punk schticks some kind of ur-text for that scene

― Οὖτις, Friday, July 11, 2014 2:55 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. When I saw Neil Young & Crazy Horse (early 1991), SD were one of the openers. Nothing noteworthy about their set at all, really bland, by-the-numbers, etc. Some kids in front of me were freaking the fuck out over them, singing loudly along with every song, just generally going nuts. After their set, the kids left -- they didn't stay for Neil.

See I saw SD headline at some semi-divey club that had all ages shows and I slam-danced with a bunch of guys and it was rad.

^ in early 1991

i have such good taste in music overall i can allow myself a little social d, it's like having an extra doughnut because i ate 2 salads for lunch this week

I admit that my disdain for them is colored by the fans of theirs I knew in their heyday, which were some of the most aesthetically conservative, blinkered, macho shitheads imaginable

"Ball and Chain" and the "Ring of Fire" cover are the only SD songs i've heard to my knowledge

sonically they're like a slower, dumber version of the Ramones with all the interesting stuff stripped out and replaced by the most conservative straight while male hagiography imaginable

IMAGINABLE

steady diet of social d songs on any rock-identifying radio station in vegas, so i've probably definitely heard the major singles off of each record innumerable times. brief moment in 2004 when "reach for the sky" got played every hour it seemed.

relistening to "story of my life" right now and despite my own oversaturation it's pretty great idk

the most conservative straight while male hagiography imaginable

i think you suffer from a failure of imagination

someone recommend me a Social Distortion song that is less terrible than "Ball & Chain". tia

You could try Cold Feelings.

Saw Social D at roskilde a few years back, at the second biggest stage. Such a weird booking, was ok, but nothing more, really. I did remember them doing some kind of cover, yeah, that was Ring of Fire.

just listened to "Cold Feelings", now playing "Story of My Life": okay, these are a little better... but still, it feels like some grungey extinct knuckle-dragging precursor to the melodic 90s pop-punk I actually enjoy, right down to the nasal singing. IDK, give me the Offspring any day of the week, Pretty Flyday excepted

Yeah, don't worry about it unless you plan on rolling up a cigarette pack in your shirt sleeve any time soon.

don't get me wrong, I can see the appeal of simple punk-y songs with plainspoken/relateable lyrics; I think I was just born a few years too late to ever regard Social D as anything but pastiche (which I'm guessing was not the intention, & probably isn't how the fans on this thread view the band)

What was the song that the kid in Veronica Mars plagiarized for his poetry assignment?

Oh, it was "When the Angels Sing".

I view Social D as pastiche, but I still like them, unlike some of their descendents like Offspring, etc.

re: social d: why would they convert a pool hall to a 7-11, seems like an odd choice of location for 7-11 corp

because it would presumably be quite large? Unless they knocked down the pool hall and built a smaller structure for the store and the rest was parking?

i think 7-11s are a lot smaller than pool halls though and the dimensions are all off, most pool halls seem more narrow and deep and 7-11s are more square shaped. idk, seems like a lot of work.

yeah, exactly, the only thing i could think of is that the pool hall didn't have off street parking, and they just bulldozed the lot and then built the 7-11 from the ground up rather than using the existing pool hall building. Or maybe the pool hall did have a parking lot and it was one of those 7-11's that also has a gas station

i think in that case the lyric might be 'the pool hall i loved as a kid/was bulldozed for a 7-11' instead of is NOW a 7-11, which suggests a gut rehab. though the former lyric is a bit clunky.

I think the lyric works fine in terms of how people speak about places and things. Presumably he had been gone for a while and didn't see the actual construction process.

maybe the pool hall had been built in an old 7-11 to begin w/

"I Was Wrong"...not a bad SD track, though well past their prime.

SD always seemed too cool for me, like I just wasn't greased up enough.. nonsmoker, no tats. Surprised at the mention of how "bad" the fans are, not only is that argument lame but every punkabilly SD fan I've meet has been very sweet and kind

I just said the fans I was around at the time colored my impression of the music, just being honest there. I can happily discourse on why their music is shitty, full of clunky hamfisted sentiments, songs constructed out of mind-numbingly simple chunks of barre chords (but not quite mind-numbing ENOUGH if you know what I mean), the affected gritty whine of the vocals, the total lack of anything surprising or unusual.

their sound is like some horrible punk version of George Thorogood

fuckin Orange County blech

heh, yeah, i feel you in the sense that i never ever 'got' that style of music AT ALL except for maybe murder city devils

is there an ejection button for this thread cos these SD posts are srsly hulking me out

I guess I still have lingering good will towards Social Distawshun because of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_State_of_Mind_(film)

(I do recognise that they ended up turning into something very different.)

there are a lot of ejection buttons for this thread. almost all of them will do the trick, really.

Well I'm lonely and I'm tired
And I can't take any more pain

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Mike_Ness_RdelS_1.jpg

http://famousdude.com/images/mike-ness-02.jpg

http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/music/2000/galleries/mike-ness-photos/mike-02-13461/500x595/69275_lg.jpg

http://www.guitarworld.com/files/imagecache/featured-node/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/MikeN_GW2011.jpg

Mike Ness would like to arch his eyebrow at you

When I saw TSOL open for Flag I was all "damn Ron Emery looks like he should be in Social Distortion" then I looked it up later and I guess he was/is

Shakes, I don't think anyone is arguing that Social D isn't corny, but they have some jams.

LA Prison Bound is a good album if you like the s/t, transitional album into that style

cheating at solitaire is supposed to be pretty good, idk how much it departs from the SD template

I worked on a movie crew with a guy - I think he was a grip - who had a misspelled Social Distortion tattoo (I think it was 'Social Disortion') and he was already probably the toughest and scariest looking guy I've ever seen in my life but the tattoo just made him extra badass. And he was really nice probably because he knew everyone knew he was a total badass.

i think 7-11s are a lot smaller than pool halls though and the dimensions are all off, most pool halls seem more narrow and deep and 7-11s are more square shaped. idk, seems like a lot of work.

in other news, the farms of ohio weren't literally replaced one-for-one with shopping malls, it's more that landscapes that used to be dominated by farms now contain shopping malls, as well as other car-oriented retail and standalone offices

This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies

Lol this 7-11 thing it's song lyrics weirdos

I fell into a
Burning ring of fire
Then they called an ambulance
To take me to the emergency room
Because I had third degrees burns

The thing is, at the point that they'd paved Paradise, it already WAS a parking lot, no further action required, except I guess to paint some lines.

unless she in fact meant "parking ramp" or "parkade"

in which case why would they need to pave it first, wouldn't they need to dig a foundation or something?

honestly the paving-&-putting-up-a-parking-lot thing has bothered me for YEARS

I feel like that song has been bait over the years for Xtian bands who want to cover or play secular music but can't find a song wholesome enough that it won't piss off their fanbase.

At a Hawaiian restaurant and Date Rape just came on lol.

Never get lei'd

Interesting account of Bean’s final morning show: https://variety.com/2019/music/news/kevin-bean-poorman-kroq-1203397135/

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/kroq-kevin-ryder-tearful-farewell-speech-radio-audio-1203538522/

Looking up some of the songs I don't recognize, I'm amazed at how many of them are completely lacking a melodic hook (Dramarama, Social Distortion) or even a chorus ("Brain Stew"). I guess they resonated with people solely on the basis of production & lyrical 'attitude'? (Cf. that recent paper on timbre as distinguishing mark for indie/alternative music)

― bernard snowy, Thursday, July 10, 2014 10:38 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

the fuck is this geir shit

― da croupier, Thursday, July 10, 2014 10:45 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink