Songs with an all time verse that the chorus doesn't come close to delivering upon

Don't Stop Believin' has an all time verse that the chorus doesn't come close to delivering upon

― niels, Thursday, September 21, 2017 12:54 AM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think about this post sometimes.

What are other examples of front-loaded songs with an underwhelming chorus?

Funky Town

Closing time
Hard to explain
Gaucho

Serve the Servants

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

God Save The Queen

gaucho is majorly notm

"do it again" is closer

Your Love by the Outfield

Drop Dead Legs

Love Is The Drug

The Boys Are Back In Town

Heat of the Moment

How does the DSB chorus not deliver?

Love Shack

Return of the Mack might be one of these, though maybe an example of a song so good it doesn't actually need a chorus

Your Love by the Outfield

The Prep MC would beg to differ

Love Is The Drug

Are you calling the chorus "oh oh, get that buzz" etc. or the wordless "oh oh oh" parts? Cos I agree with the latter.

How does the DSB chorus not deliver?

I get the feeling a lot of people here don't like choruses that repeat titles over and over.

Message in a Bottle? awesome riff, great verses, insane drumming, real catchy prechorus, then the actual chorus is just "Message in a bottle...whoa....message in a bottle"...also the slowest part of the song

actually a lot of the Police's choruses on their hit singles just sound like placeholders. Can't Stand Losing You, Don't Stand So Close To Me, Spirits in the Material World...they all sound like they were written in 15 minutes

Are you calling the chorus "oh oh, get that buzz" etc. or the wordless "oh oh oh" parts? Cos I agree with the latter.

actually a lot of the Police's choruses on their hit singles just sound like placeholders. Can't Stand Losing You, Don't Stand So Close To Me, Spirits in the Material World...they all sound like they were written in 15 minutes

― frogbs, Wednesday, January 29, 2025 1:26 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

no, they put a lot of thought into "de do do do, de da da da." and "so lonely."

i don't necessarily think that repetition is necessarily a bad thing. the chorus to "roxanne" is repetitive, but it's also an incredible chorus.

also, i would say the chorus of "message" includes the "i'll send an s.o.s. to the world" part

damn this is the thread everyone goes to to be wrong

return of the mac is a bizarre choice here, must be one of the catchiest choruses of the last few decades, all those little flourishes. you don't attempt and successfully execute a 'once again' mid-chorus in a shitty chorus.

let alone a "pump up the world"!

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic might be the ultimate shitty Police chorus following an awesome verse

he's nearly crammed a second chorus in there. that's the effect of the rehabilitation programme at her majesty's prison leicester.

xpost

i'm not complaining about the Return of the Mack chorus more in that i'm not sure if it really has one, it's very similar to the verse, maybe this is a lot more common than i think, it's just top of mind because I recently did a mashup with it

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic might be the ultimate shitty Police chorus following an awesome verse

hah, I was thinking of this as one of the examples where they actually do work in a good, distinct chorus

damn this is the thread everyone goes to to be wrong

just think it's a little, uh ... precarious to go on a message board and disparage the choruses of big hits and songs that have endured for decades. by definition, those choruses are quite effective, regardless of anyone's good/bad assessment.

Who Let the Dogs Out

what does 'endured for decades' mean in this context? if every song i can remember is good then why are we even here?

The Beatles suck, actually

they were good before Ringo joined

Someone convince me the chorus of the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City" lives up to the verse

It was a big hit that has endured for decades QED

Actually I like that the chorus is in two parts, with different chord changes, and it doesn't rhyme "city" and "gritty".

Baby You're a Rich Man

Drain You by Nirvana

It's not like it was an anticipation-baiting buildup but following

Don't you remember, you told me you loved me, baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again, baby

with

Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby

felt like homer simpson crayoned over the lyric sheets.
https://frinkiac.com/video/S14E02/k7dNYKljiPciQtf17ezpecC6Fh4=.gif

damn this is the thread everyone goes to to be wrong

Looks that way.

Technically the chorus comes first, and Weird Al kind of has no choice once he's committed to doing song-length parodies, but the remainder of "This song is just six words long" is just filler.

The Boxer is the only one I can immediately think of, especially knowing that the li-li-li chorus is literally a placeholder.

Summer in the City is perfect, come on now.

"This song is just six words long" annoys me for another reason, it's seven words, the song it's parodying has seven words in the chorus, I think he should not have done it

The Boxer's chorus is perfect

Heat of the Moment

― unboxing helena (Matt #2), Wednesday, January 29, 2025 12:48 PM (seven hours ago) bookmark flag link

Right album, wrong song. The correct answer is "One Step Closer."

Dido - Thank You

Dua Lipa - New Rules

is it even a chorus?

I think Ariana Grande has a bunch of these tbh…

Also

Alicia Keys - Try sleeping with a broken heart

Lyrics aside, the verses sound like Prince and the chorus sounds like subpar Prince.

I'll second Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Always felt the verses deserved more than just shouting the song title in the chorus

don't necessarily think that repetition is necessarily a bad thing. the chorus to "roxanne" is repetitive, but it's also an incredible chorus.

Police were masters of the repetitive chorus. Personally I dug it, but live when every song incorporated Bob Marley’s “eee-aaa-oooh” thing it was insufferable.

Led Zeppelin - All My Love

Agree w/ Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

Hard disagree w/ "Return of the Mack" and "Who Let the Dogs Out"

Yeah the verses are seductive and mysterious and then POM POM POM POM the circus arrives (I don’t even hate the chorus and enjoy the big fat bassline but still…) !

About “Lucy in the sky” !

ELO - Livin' Thing

the choruses to "Lucy in the Sky" and "Baby You're a Rich Man" are pretty similar

I was thinking that too. But somehow the baby you're a rich man chorus fits with the verses a bit better to my ears, and I think it's the better song as well

Don't Talk To Me About Love by Altered Images

Funky Town was the first example i thought of too. the verses are glistening and the chorus is a major stumble.

Crazy talk.

For me personally I immediately have to think of ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and Queen - Radio Ga Ga. I don't really like either band to begin with, but with these songs, I like the build-up, the verses and bridges a lot; but I'm not a fan of the choruses at all.

Always felt like this about Walking In My Shoes by Depeche Mode. Specifically the chords it goes to after the first line of the chorus feel like a meandering let down after a great verse / prechorus setup.

Later day Oasis is rich in 'nice verse melodies, nothing choruses', and I guess that counts as highly generous round here

Wizzard's See My Baby Jive doesn't quite lift in the chorus like I want it to, if anything it takes a step down. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is basically Roy giving it a second go and succeeding wonderfully.

I've always been on the fence about the Carpenters' "Superstar". The chorus is kind of great but only because it's so bad, if you know what I mean.

Yet another 'minor key verse / major key chorus' candidate, no doubt normal people feel the opposite about these sort of songs.

For me personally I immediately have to think of ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and Queen - Radio Ga Ga. I don't really like either band to begin with, but with these songs, I like the build-up, the verses and bridges a lot; but I'm not a fan of the choruses at all.

― Valentijn, Thursday, 30 January 2025 11:49 (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I agree. Similar thinking for Funkytown. I love the vocodered verse lines and the call-and-response with the little synth vamp, but then the chorus comes in and it's a bit lumpen

But the chorus has the guitar riff.

I think it annoys me because it's working up some sort of strange Kraftwerk-in-Minneapolis heat and then it switches to territory a bit more familiar. Usually I'm endeared by choruses that feel like they've wandered in from another song.

I am otm re: gaucho not because its chorus is bad but because its verse is too good

I think it annoys me because it's working up some sort of strange Kraftwerk-in-Minneapolis heat and then it switches to territory a bit more familiar. Usually I'm endeared by choruses that feel like they've wandered in from another song.

― you can see me from westbury white horse,

otm -- one of the decade's most grating choruses

"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" is one of my mine. That might be a minority view.

I wasn’t being serious with Who Let the Dogs Out, for a song so massively overplayed idk if people actually remember what the verses sound like!

wait are you all saying funkytown has a grating chorus. where am i

Wasn't "Since U Been Gone" written based on this idea? i.e. Max Martin heard "Maps" and thought: that verse really builds up a lot of tension, but then kinda squanders it. What if it went big instead?

To be honest tho the verses of Who Lets the Dogs Out are the best bit! HEYIPPIEIYO

(Actually the best bit is the outro when the Spanish guitar comes in)

wait are you all saying funkytown has a grating chorus. where am i

I am glad there is already a lot of Police discussion in this thread, I def think of them as the patron saints of this phenomenon

I am otm re: gaucho not because its chorus is bad but because its verse is too good

― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Thursday, January 30, 2025 8:16 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

No you are quite off the money, as Gaucho has one of the all-time great choruses.