The 1990s Most Hated Song Final : 4 Non Blondes "What's Up" vs Deep Blue Something - "Breakfast At Tiffany's"

I'd still vote for "What I Am"

Figuring out what I would pit against Sawn Mullins "Rockabye" for the late 90s.

Dont know that song. The songs I chose were hits in both USA/CANADA/UK.
But if anyone can think of a song (in above category) that could beat the winner of this one nominate away.

Len - Steal My Sunshine would be a worthy write-in.

Also also, the 4NB lead guitarist should be ashamed for getting that crappy sawtooth-wave sound out of a Les Paul.

― Here's the storify, of a lovely ladify (Phil D.), Monday, August 5, 2013 3:05 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

still really feelin this comment, what a terrible guitar tone

my guitar violently sobs...

Len - Steal My Sunshine is one of the songs everyone on ILM comes together to LOVE

weird. I very much dislike that song.

I like that one & BOTH poll options, kinda!

"Mr. Jones" for me thanks

smashmouth - all star.
sublime - what i got.

(i expect both will have their share of defenders though)

I discovered last week that I actually loathe "Breakfast at Tiffany's" but quite honestly nothing is as inept or hilarious as "What's Up?"

Figuring out what I would pit against Sawn Mullins "Rockabye" for the late 90s.

Blessid Union of Souls - Hey Leonardo
Edwin McCain - I'll Be

the intentional use of a bent/crushed mic in the Deep Blue Something video is so rage-inducing but if you told me "What Up" was actually Harry Shearer & Christopher Guest trying to lance 90s sensitive rock and never revealing their hands I'd believe you in a minute, every last second feels stage-managed to be awful. I just made it all the way to the end for the first time ever, nice "Patience" bite there on that closing acoustic "mmm-mmm" non-blonde #1, god it's wretched.

"breakfast at tiffany's" I still haven't gone all the way through (why are both these radio hits SO FUCKING LONG) but it's more confused about how, exactly, it wants to be awful. What Up just sets its sites on a very specific zone of brutality, hits the target within seconds and stays there like an angry tapeworm

I quite like Breakfast at Tiffany's though as aero notes it is surprisingly long - so if you are annoyed by the chorus then it just keeps piling on over and over again. 2:45 or so would have sufficed. 4NB is like an onion where you peel back every element and it gets increasingly shittier. The guitar sound, her singing, the slow tempo, the lame solos, her little humming thing in the middle, the repetitiveness, "And I trah-ee", the lyrical content, the fact it keeps going and going and going, the triumphant way she sings the ridiculous chorus...

AND EYE-EE SAY
HAY-YAY-YAY-YAYAY

Figuring out what I would pit against Sawn Mullins "Rockabye" for the late 90s.

Blessid Union of Souls - Hey Leonardo
Edwin McCain - I'll Be

― MarkoP, Wednesday, August 14, 2013 10:17 AM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in a song full of hilariously inept musical choices, the one I keep coming back to is "ooh/OOH"

I was at a bar a couple of years ago, and "What's Up?" came on the jukebox, and there was this grungy girl with dreadlocks a few seats down, and I thought to myself "I bet this song is her jam," and it turned out it was her jam & she drunkenly sang the entire thing really loud and off-key. it was quite moving actually. that's my "What's Up?" story.

how crut met Linda Perry

xps Eve 6 - "Closing Time"

and i said
what about
breakfast at tiffany's
she said i think
i remember the film and
i've got
robotic voice
and i sing three notes and
this song is the worst

"closing time" is by semisonic you philistine xp

breakfast at tiffany's makes me think that the person who wrote it must have so little zeal that this sad three note song-shaped piece of foam is what passes for a song about a human being
and that's sad

when there is nothing else, there is always zeal to be measured and breakfast at tiffany's has none of it.

*shudder*

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

oh my God

"closing time" is by semisonic you philistine xp

No way, they did "Jumper."

xp: oh look, it's the soundtrack of my college dining hall

okay I am back down the 4NB rabbit hole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noybHpL4qgM

if you told me "What Up" was actually Harry Shearer & Christopher Guest trying to lance 90s sensitive rock and never revealing their hands I'd believe you in a minute,

haha

This is still my least favourite single of the 90's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1lLnPNwbWI

What's Up is up there. My brother pointed out a few years ago the way she sings "Oh my God do I pray" in that really high voice really is unbearable.

I don't think I've ever actually been able to get through all five minutes of "What's Up," while "Breakfast at Tiffany's" can at least be ignored.

how is "Mr. Jones" not in this?

and "What I Am" is all sorts of terrible but it's from 1988.

Also how is "Ironic" not in this? Or have we all goten tired of making the obvious jokes about that song?

someone else can run one of those bracketpoll things then if they want to but with the exception of 'Ironic' none of those songs mentioned were big hits (or even hits in some cases i think mr jones was top 30)

Now I have even deeper respect for the Dutch.

Shawn Mullins - "Lullaby"

Peak positions[edit source | editbeta]
Chart (1998–99) Peak
Position
Australia (ARIA) 5
Canada (RPM) 2
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) 5
Netherlands (Mega Top 100) 83
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 10
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 7
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 9
UK Singles Chart 9

This is like a reverse Sophie's Choice. Can't I send BOTH kids to the gas chamber?

it got to #9? I swear ive never heard it

if we had an open thread titled "name the worst most bad and hated song that ever charted: GO!" the answer would still be What's Up.

― resulting post (rogermexico.), Monday, August 5, 2013

AND EYE-EE SAY
HAY-YAY-YAY-YAYAY

― OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLY (DJP), We

there's also:

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

that's kinda a different beast. never was as unavoidably huge at the two up top, hasn't lingered thankfully, and became a hit thru the megastardom of said act whereas the two up top became huge hits and have remained so thru the merits of the songs themselves (in addition obv to god's wrath for humanity's wickedness).

Lots of 90s songs did not place on hot 100 chart that were still constantly played on mtv & radio. Only the songs with cassingles charted. Every song listed in this thread was more or less inescapable at some point.

Well when thinking of bigger international hits of the late 90s, I thought of "The Sweetest Thing" by U2, but I don't think that's nearly as despised as the other songs mentioned.

it fucking well should be! The song that stopped me being a fan! Vile song.

almost worse than any of these songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH476CxJxfg

however, not the '90s

Worst Song Poll : Daniel Powter - Bad Day vs James Blunt - You're Beautiful

severe deja vu made me delete my original post and do an archive search

I can tolerate 'Breakfast At Tiffany's'. While not being the greatest song in the history of mankind, it doesn't offend me; rather, it just blends there into the background for me. 'What's Up', on the other hand, makes me want to destroy any stereo it happens to be playing out of, so that.

unexpected tittays in that powter v. blunt thread.

oops, I have images off and didn't know

that said bfast at tiffany's is terrible.

as i recall, i think at the time i kind of liked it.

ok, that's a lie, i thought it SUCKED.

lol this isn't even close.... I mean, WUAAHHHHT'S UUUUPPPP with not being able to decide which song is the worst, eh?!

^^^fp'd u

I hope its cause I screwed up and said "up" instead of "going on"

totally

REVOLUTION

Imagining am alternate reality worse than our own in which the Budweiser "Whhhhaaaasssup" commercials instead revolved around snippets of the 4 non blondes song.

BaT is worse solely because I still hear the fucker on supermarket radio every few months, whereas I can't remember the last time anyone thought it would be a good idea to play more than 3 seconds of "What's Up"

(I was going to post this last week and then I thought that maybe I'd just imagined this state of affairs but no, went to a pet shop on Saturday and there it was. I understand that anyone letting Linda "honking" Perry have her current lucrative career as a songwriting guru after her earlier platitudinal vowel-mangling might seem to go against my logic here but I prefer to think of it as a cruel but darkly amusing joke played by the universe)

also this question is kinda taking sides: bro-dudes who think they're deep and soulful vs annoying girls who think they're quirky revolutionaries, so, y'know, just voting for the category I was definitely never in as worst

i heard "what's up" on the radio last week, apparently summoned like a demon by the original thread. it was still the worst.

I voted for the Cranberries as being worse than BaT, and 'What's Up' as worse than 'What I Am' but I'm not actually sure about this round. I think the LOL factor definitely comes into play - there's nothing even funny about BaT.

The faux-depth of "What's Up" trumps the up-front shallowness of "BaT".

It's true--it's an "unplugged" pop song of its era. What hath the Indigo Girls wraught.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msq6s_t42OA

I barely tolerate it when someone does "What's Up" a karaoke. If someone ever decided to sing "Breakfast at Tiffany's", I'd tackle them off the stage.

I wonder if there are any songs that could beat these 2 in a worst song ilx poll?

http://ring.cdandlp.com/colaumau/photo_grande/2931205214.jpg

zombie's so much worse than the other 3 songs, especially when consumed in music video form

still think maybe one of nickelbacks songs could beat any of these songs

theres gotta be like 30 songs currently in rotation on mainstream rock & top 40 radio that are worse than these

"What's Up" is one of those songs that makes me instinctively blurt out improvised "improved" lyrics whenever I hear it. Even better than "Amanda" for that purpose. "Tiffany's" doesn't have even that redeeming virtue, so it gets my vote for worst song.

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

oh man a zombie karaoke wld be hilarious tho

Seen it done many times, seen it done well exactly once, by a straitlaced-looking teenaged girl at an upscale, too-brightly-lit courtyard appetizer bar in Bangalore.

TOO LOW

I hate when things are over

fella just did a nighttime jog past our window, headphones on, singing. All I heard was "well that's/one thing we've got" in that unmistakeable DBS vocal stylee.

We had this discussion recently in another thread, I think it fits better here:

also the "Breakfast At Tiffany's" song, as mentioned upthread, is all-but-indefensible; however I like to think that there exists a possible world in which Deep Blue Something are redeemed by self-awareness & insincerity (... a la Steely Dan??)

― Rae Yellamo -- Throw Summ0))) (bernard snowy), 19. helmikuuta 2015 5:52 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

(nota bene : I have heard zero other DBS songs, so sue me if I talk shit too long)

― Rae Yellamo -- Throw Summ0))) (bernard snowy), 19. helmikuuta 2015 5:53 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it's pretty obvious that the utter banality of the chorus of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is intentional, and the narrator is full of shit? The verse lyrics have a very different tone from the chorus, they have a much more traditional and sentimental "breakup song" quality:

You say that we've got nothing in common
No common ground to start from
And we're falling apart
You'll say the world has come between us
Our lives have come between us
But I know you just don't care

CHORUS:
And I said what about "Breakfast at Tiffany's?
She said, "I think I remember the film,
And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it."
And I said, "Well, that's the one thing we've got."

I see you - the only one who knew me
And now your eyes see through me
I guess I was wrong
So what now? It's plain to see we're over,
And I hate when things are over -
When so much is left undone

CHORUS:
And I said what about "Breakfast at Tiffany's?
She said, "I think I remember the film,
And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it."
And I said, "Well, that's the one thing we've got."

You say that we've got nothing in common
No common ground to start from
And we're falling apart
You'll say the world has come between us
Our lives have come between us
But I know you just don't care

CHORUS:
And I said what about "Breakfast at Tiffany's?
She said, "I think I remember the film,
And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it."
And I said, "Well, that's the one thing we've got."

So basically it's about a couple breaking up because the other person feels their incompatible with each other, and the narrator is grasping at straws, trying to find anything to prove his partner wrong. And the futility of this effort is undermined by how banal and temptative the dialogue in the chorus is: As I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it. So these are quotes from their actual dialogue, and when you compare it to the much more dramatic statements made by the narrator in the verses, you can see how he's fooling himself. I think it's key that the line But I know you just don't care is there just before the chorus: in the verses, the narrator is trying to say that his partner's claim that they are incompatible and that's why theyre breaking up is not really true, that in reality s/he just doesn't care... But immediately after this statement we learn that his defense that they do have something in common consists of pointing out that they both maybe kinda liked "Breakfast at Tiffany's". So it's obvious the narrator is just fooling himself, his grandiose delusions in the verses being deflated by the realism of the chorus.

― Tuomas, 19. helmikuuta 2015 10:32 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hating either of these songs is fucking mental

Breakfast at Tiffany’s the film bad not good tho

That said why are both of these songs over 4 minutes long

In case you were craving a contempo COVID-themed cover of “What’s Up”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgUrM-vYg5w

Hope Not Hate

Willa.am.ai

That said why are both of these songs over 4 minutes long

Because all songs in the 90s were over 4 minutes long.

Sheesh how did anyone put up with that

Time was made. Also DJ's frequently talked over the extended intros and/or outros of songs on the radio, the period's equivalent to Spotify.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/common/4/47/Violent_Crime_in_the_United_States.png

one of the Deep Blue Something guys went on to be in a good shoegaze-y band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI1_7CNeCHc

850 million plays for what's up on youtube?? God damn. is that insane or is 1billion views not what it was a cpl years ago

^^^ screaming at the Spotify nums: "What's going on?!"

“what’s up” is pretty great, “breakfast at Tiffany’s” is very foul

she's got a nice voice but she's not singing the song right

and i said
what about
breakfast at tiffany's
she said
are you nuts
that's a jewelry store
yes, I recall, I think
this really isn't working
and I said
what is this
are you seeing someone else
and she said
maybe i am
what's it to you
and I said
how could you
I was about to buy you a ring
and she said
nothing but
pushed me into traffic

I like that version.

Fuck rehabilitating "What's Up?"!

i say hey
who's shucking corn?

I always thought the guitar in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" sounded like Disco Inferno (the band, not the song).

it sounded like the death of innocence

at least what's up is responsible for the great he-man parody video

with breakfast at tiffany's it's impossible to make a funny parody because it's such a nothing song.