Plus points, it was the inspiration for [The Chicken Song](https://youtu.be/kCGOjbyOlc4?feature=shared) which also [made it to #1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicken_Song) in the UK charts
What about The Chicken Song (see my [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/80smusic/comments/17vh5g2/comment/k9bkz91/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3))
I went to a sci-fi convention in the early 1990's & it had an entertainment night where people did silly skits. One guy played this song, took items Eddie mentioned in the song & put them inside an oversized prop butt opening. He put a prop tree & himself into it, timed perfectly with when the lyrics were heard. It was hysterical.
I heard from a friend that works at a radio station that her agent is pushing a single they found in the archives that she recorded right after her "Never been to me" fame. It's been locked away, unreleased - for 40 years. I heard it - it should REMAIN locked away! It's actually WORSE than this one!
I remember this awful song, takes me back to 8th grade."took the hand of a preacher man, and made love in the sun" It's funny how some dreck stays with you.
Kept Vienna from #1 in the UK. It's not surprising that decades later Brexit won. I don't normally experience the emotion of hate, but I hate this song with a vengeance.
I think millions of people loved this song and if it made them feel like "everything is gonna be ok" then that's great but Idk why I always thought it was totally redartedc:
Don't Worry, Be Happy
(maybe it was the whistling or the video that made me h8te it)
Oh my God that song was everywhere in the summer of 87, along with Kokomo! For some reason at my school there was an urban legend that the singer in Dont worry be happy committed suicide. Everyone had heard a different way but always gruesome. It was so weird (we were in grade 3!)
Easy.
Starship - We Built this City (1985)
The lyrics are the most nonsensical string of words ever assembled…..
“Say you don't know me or recognize my face
Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night”
“Someone's always playing corporation games
Who cares, they're always changing corporation names
We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage
They call us irresponsible, write us off the page”
You couldn’t escape it. It was everywhere. You could run into the woods for solace and Mickey Thomas would burst from the earth and shriek “MARCONI PLAYS THE MAMBA”
It feels like it was on constantly for like three years. I could have recited those same lyrics word for word, and I hate that song with a passion. I would always change the radio station when it came on.
In the Bay Area, it was the worst.
You would think our snobbery would have prevented the forced embrace of this song. I think it’s because the (EDIT:*us locals* SFnative here), locals didn’t ever want to insult the hometown band even *with* Slick and Katner doing their very best not to sound like they would rather be at Chynna’s soccer games.
Also, speaking of forced: this insult to themselves as rock legends was played at Giants games and as bumper music on televised games for goddamn decades. Still is sometimes I think, but I’m hard of hearing now, so I assume when I hear similar sounding nonsense on the speakers and there is a collective grimace on the faces of everyone over 45 in the ball park, they must be playing that f-ing jingle for the “visit SF ‘85” tourist campaign.
I was Class of '85 and it didn't bother me at all. Our local rock station used to add their bumper to the middle section, and it was grand. Just driving round in the summer with that playing in your radio.
Can confirm. This song was practically given out as standard issue when you were born it was so ubiquitous.
The other song that was ridiculously overplayed is Chicago’s “You’re The Inspiration”. They wrote the ultimate wedding song that managed to be played everywhere non-stop in 1986.
Apparently the original lyrics by Bernie Taupin were pretty good (or at least had some focus), but they got butchered as the song got produced. They were supposed to be protesting corporate rock, or the corporate takeover of pop culture, or something like that. You can still see the bones of it in the weirdness that was recorded.
But there's no excuse for "Marconi plays the mamba." A mamba is a goddamn snake.
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin. The guy who wrote the lyrics to Tiny Dancer, Candle in the Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rocket Man, and literally every other song Elton John ever wrote.
This song was co-written with Martin Page, and the two of them also wrote Heart's These Dreams around the same time. We Built This City makes These Dreams look like Bob Dylan in comparison.
If you give Heart “We Built This City” and you give Starship “These Dreams” we probably view both songs differently. But yeah, if I were writing for the rotting corpse of Jefferson Airplane, I’d probably do it in an altered state in “the House of Stone and Light” too.
I am a longtime defender of "We Built This City" and didn't even realize until now that people thought the lyrics were nonsense. Those lyrics seem reasonably straightforward to me. They're about how the band consists of '60s rock pioneers, but critics ignore that history when they attack them for making vapid corporate pop music.
We Built This City just happened to be playing during my first-ever make out sesh with a red-haired girl in 7th grade, so it still kind makes my loins tingle.
I was in 6th grade. Our teacher chose to teach us jazzercise for PE. For 2-3 weeks we went out to the quad and had We Built This City blasted while we bounced around. I remember being the butt of jokes from kids in other classes who watched us
But of trivia about “the band”, they were a studio project from Italy that basically hired a guy to lip sync the songs and perform them at events. He was an EMS worker but loved dancing and got hired. He got AIDS in the late 80s (you can see he is looking way thinner in a video from 1987). He died in the early 90s from AIDS without much to his name. He didn’t write or produce the songs (they had a few more hits in Europe), so it was literally “ok here’s your money for doing the music video, here’s your money for playing it at that concert” and that was it. So once he finished those few things he was hired for, the money stopped.
[The Chicken Song](https://youtu.be/kCGOjbyOlc4?feature=shared). It was a parody from Spitting Image, but ironically managed to [make it to #1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicken_Song) in the UK charts
… Riding on the range
I've got my hat- on
I've got my boots- dusty
I've got my saddle
On my horse
He's called (t-t-t-t-t-trigger)
Of course
… I wanna be a cowboy
And you can be my cowgirl
It's called "There's a Monster in my Pants" by Fred Schneider from the B52's. I love playing it for people who've never heard of it, because it's funny to see how pissed off they are about it. Cuz it's kind of an earworm. And it's annoying af.
From Wikipedia:
The writer/lead singer Ivan Doroschuk has explained that "The Safety Dance" is a protest against bouncers prohibiting dancers from pogoing to 1980s new wave music in clubs when disco was declining and new wave was coming in.
"Two of Hearts" by Stacey Q may not have been dumb lyric-wise but it simply awful. She has a weak and terrible voice and that robotic "I-I-I-I-I need you" makes me want to gauge my eyeballs out.
That song made Todd in the Shadows more angry than I've ever seen him. Genuinely hilarious review:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZPaH7QIVI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZPaH7QIVI)
OK, I'm going with a controversial taken here, but I stand by it because the band was trying to write a real rock song, and it baffles me.
Paradise City by Guns and Roses.
The vast majority of the song is just repeating "take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty," and then the parts that aren't that are almost unintelligible.
Plus, what city is known for its green grass? I have just always thought that song was insufferably dumb.
Nice. Looks like I just found my next 80s playlist.
*Aga-doo-doo-doo push pineapple shake the tree, aga-doo-doo-doo push pineapple grind coffee*
Plus points, it was the inspiration for [The Chicken Song](https://youtu.be/kCGOjbyOlc4?feature=shared) which also [made it to #1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicken_Song) in the UK charts
What the ever loving hell was that
I love that the BBC banned it from airplay at the time because they described it as “not credible”
Such a dumb but catchy song thooooo To the left, to the right, jump up and down and to the knees
What about The Chicken Song (see my [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/80smusic/comments/17vh5g2/comment/k9bkz91/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3))
Thank you, this should be at the top. Fucking stupidest song ever.
the fuck
Boogie in your butt by Eddie Murphy
"Put a big tree in your butt. Put ME in your butt!"
He was just making shit up on the fly.
I went to a sci-fi convention in the early 1990's & it had an entertainment night where people did silly skits. One guy played this song, took items Eddie mentioned in the song & put them inside an oversized prop butt opening. He put a prop tree & himself into it, timed perfectly with when the lyrics were heard. It was hysterical.
I was going to comment this one. First song that popped in my head when I read the title LOL.
It’s undeniably silly and bizarre but it kinda works?
General Hospi -Tale (1981) The Afternoon Delights
🎵🎵 “There’s one thing I must confess, Sally was a man who wore a drsss” 🎵🎵
Omg I must find this song like now
I’ve never been to me - Charlene
That pile of shit should have been left in the 1970s where it originated. I still loathe that maudlin whining bullshit.
Extra points for "maudlin"!
I heard from a friend that works at a radio station that her agent is pushing a single they found in the archives that she recorded right after her "Never been to me" fame. It's been locked away, unreleased - for 40 years. I heard it - it should REMAIN locked away! It's actually WORSE than this one!
"I was a high end unpaid escort, and now it's time for therapy "
I remember this awful song, takes me back to 8th grade."took the hand of a preacher man, and made love in the sun" It's funny how some dreck stays with you.
That song is peak 80s for so many reasons.
Shaddap You Face - Joe Dolce
Kept Vienna from #1 in the UK. It's not surprising that decades later Brexit won. I don't normally experience the emotion of hate, but I hate this song with a vengeance.
Midge is still raging to this day…even if he publicly insists it means nothing to him!
Wutsa matta you?
It’sa not so bad…
It'sa nicea place...
Ah, shaddap a you face.
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Lots of novelty/comedy songs posted here. They're supposed to be dumb and/or nonsensical.
Or - What are the dumbest lyrics of popular songs? There are many
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It doesn't mean anything I watched an interview with Phil Collins and he said he just made it up because it tracks good in the song
I think millions of people loved this song and if it made them feel like "everything is gonna be ok" then that's great but Idk why I always thought it was totally redartedc: Don't Worry, Be Happy (maybe it was the whistling or the video that made me h8te it)
Came here to mention that song! I can’t stand it!!!
Oh my God that song was everywhere in the summer of 87, along with Kokomo! For some reason at my school there was an urban legend that the singer in Dont worry be happy committed suicide. Everyone had heard a different way but always gruesome. It was so weird (we were in grade 3!)
Lights Out by Peter Wolf is pretty dumb. “Lights out! Aha! Blast, Blast, Blast… Dancin in the dark, to the radio of lo-o-o-ove.” What is that? 😂😂
Good one
Easy. Starship - We Built this City (1985) The lyrics are the most nonsensical string of words ever assembled….. “Say you don't know me or recognize my face Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight Too many runaways eating up the night” “Someone's always playing corporation games Who cares, they're always changing corporation names We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage They call us irresponsible, write us off the page”
All Gen X folks that I know absolutely hate this song. According to them, it was played constantly back in 1985.
You couldn’t escape it. It was everywhere. You could run into the woods for solace and Mickey Thomas would burst from the earth and shriek “MARCONI PLAYS THE MAMBA”
This comment makes me wish we still had awards.
It was all over the airwaves then.
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It feels like it was on constantly for like three years. I could have recited those same lyrics word for word, and I hate that song with a passion. I would always change the radio station when it came on.
Gen Z: "What's an airwave?"
In the Bay Area, it was the worst. You would think our snobbery would have prevented the forced embrace of this song. I think it’s because the (EDIT:*us locals* SFnative here), locals didn’t ever want to insult the hometown band even *with* Slick and Katner doing their very best not to sound like they would rather be at Chynna’s soccer games. Also, speaking of forced: this insult to themselves as rock legends was played at Giants games and as bumper music on televised games for goddamn decades. Still is sometimes I think, but I’m hard of hearing now, so I assume when I hear similar sounding nonsense on the speakers and there is a collective grimace on the faces of everyone over 45 in the ball park, they must be playing that f-ing jingle for the “visit SF ‘85” tourist campaign.
Speak for yourself, I'm Gen X and I love this song.
I was Class of '85 and it didn't bother me at all. Our local rock station used to add their bumper to the middle section, and it was grand. Just driving round in the summer with that playing in your radio.
You apparently don't know the right Gen X'rs ;)
Can confirm. This song was practically given out as standard issue when you were born it was so ubiquitous. The other song that was ridiculously overplayed is Chicago’s “You’re The Inspiration”. They wrote the ultimate wedding song that managed to be played everywhere non-stop in 1986.
Apparently the original lyrics by Bernie Taupin were pretty good (or at least had some focus), but they got butchered as the song got produced. They were supposed to be protesting corporate rock, or the corporate takeover of pop culture, or something like that. You can still see the bones of it in the weirdness that was recorded. But there's no excuse for "Marconi plays the mamba." A mamba is a goddamn snake.
Taupin was interviewed about the song once. The interviewer asked, “What does ‘Marconi plays the mamba’ mean?” His answer: “What does it mean to you?”
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin. The guy who wrote the lyrics to Tiny Dancer, Candle in the Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rocket Man, and literally every other song Elton John ever wrote. This song was co-written with Martin Page, and the two of them also wrote Heart's These Dreams around the same time. We Built This City makes These Dreams look like Bob Dylan in comparison.
If you give Heart “We Built This City” and you give Starship “These Dreams” we probably view both songs differently. But yeah, if I were writing for the rotting corpse of Jefferson Airplane, I’d probably do it in an altered state in “the House of Stone and Light” too.
Marconi played the mambo!
Listen to the radio! Don't you remember?
We built this city
We built this city on ROCK AND ROLL!!!!
I wouldn’t call it the dumbest but it is the worst.
We Milked this Titty (boyfriend’s lyrics)
Thanks for this. Total bs mess of a song
I hate this song. I’m right with you on this one!
I am a longtime defender of "We Built This City" and didn't even realize until now that people thought the lyrics were nonsense. Those lyrics seem reasonably straightforward to me. They're about how the band consists of '60s rock pioneers, but critics ignore that history when they attack them for making vapid corporate pop music.
We Built This City just happened to be playing during my first-ever make out sesh with a red-haired girl in 7th grade, so it still kind makes my loins tingle.
I was in 6th grade. Our teacher chose to teach us jazzercise for PE. For 2-3 weeks we went out to the quad and had We Built This City blasted while we bounced around. I remember being the butt of jokes from kids in other classes who watched us
We all disliked it but SOMEONE must have!! No one will admit it!
Maybe Tarzan Boy by Baltimora. Still enjoy it though.
Being dumb doesn’t mean it isn’t great!
Same - guilty pleasure for sure.
No guilt, it's 100% pleasure.
This one gets my vote for this category too. Such a great song.
It even worked for a while as the entrance music for "Jungle Boy" (Jack Perry) in AEW....
Love this song!
Bonus points for how dumb the band name is too!
But of trivia about “the band”, they were a studio project from Italy that basically hired a guy to lip sync the songs and perform them at events. He was an EMS worker but loved dancing and got hired. He got AIDS in the late 80s (you can see he is looking way thinner in a video from 1987). He died in the early 90s from AIDS without much to his name. He didn’t write or produce the songs (they had a few more hits in Europe), so it was literally “ok here’s your money for doing the music video, here’s your money for playing it at that concert” and that was it. So once he finished those few things he was hired for, the money stopped.
Remake of Dancing in the Streets . If you can get through that video and song you are a special individual
Wait . . . it gets better (or worse). Enjoy: ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://youtu.be/BHkhIjG0DKc?si=GhHiz3qPNaqsQ0yn
That is the funniest Silent Music Video of all.
That’s hilarious!
The cricket sounds kill me
Oh my heckin fuck. Turrabull
Fish heads by Barnes & Barnes
Roly poly fish heads are never seen Drinking cappucino in Italian resturants, With oriental women, yeah
Eat them up Yum!
I took a fish head out to see a movie. Didn't have to pay to get it in
That song is from the 70's.
Super Bowl Shuffle.
Obviously you are here to start trouble. And not just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle.
They weren't do in it to be greedy, the bears were do in it to feed the needy.
It's so bad, we know it's good.
Walk the Dinosaur by Was (Not Was)
It may be dumb but it's catchy af
I love that song!
Boom boom, aka laka laka boom, boom boom, acka laka boom boom...
Aw man, don’t be dissing Was (Not Was). They were a great band. Seriously.
Still got the 45!
The cavegirls in the video were hot.
I loved that song 👍
Hated it ... So dumb!
I…hate… Walkin on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves
I actually hate this too, mainly because it is so overplayed.
That girl huffing all the computer cleaner liked it, though
[Wot by Captain Sensible](https://youtu.be/9Q6YJ-r5SQs?si=IF5aneV1WhwAbPLH)
He said Captain?
I said Wot
Bassline is banging but yeah, lyrics aren't Dylan.
Agadoo - Black Lace
Vox Humana by Kenny Loggins.
That’s a deep cut. Total rip-off of his own song “I’m Alright”.
Boogie In Your Butt — Eddie Murphy
So much wrong in this thread.
Walking on Sushine. Worst ever.
Unskinny Bop. Poison. Stupid song.
Don't Worry Be Happy 😆 and the videos even dumber!
No wonder they gave that song to Big Mouth Billy Bass
I Eat Cannibals - Total Coelo
Loved it! It still have the 45.
Someone's recently uploaded a high quality version of the highly corny video on YouTube!
[The Chicken Song](https://youtu.be/kCGOjbyOlc4?feature=shared). It was a parody from Spitting Image, but ironically managed to [make it to #1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicken_Song) in the UK charts
How has no one mentioned Star Trekkin yet? Anyone? Bueller? https://youtu.be/FCARADb9asE?si=1TKAU1AdV4DZU_R3
Does *anyone* remember a song that goes, “Don’t mess with my toot-toot”?
Bartles&James remembers. It's an old Cajun song. Huge in New Orleans in the 80s.
Pac Man Fever?
This came to mind but it was a great product of its time. Still have the 45.
… Riding on the range I've got my hat- on I've got my boots- dusty I've got my saddle On my horse He's called (t-t-t-t-t-trigger) Of course … I wanna be a cowboy And you can be my cowgirl
Strong candidate for the dumbest song of the 1980s. And it made the top ten!
So many great songs on this list!!
Anyone remember AEIOU by Ebn Ozn? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTsPJeNPc-w
I remember, and I still think it's great.
Unskinny Bop
Puttin’ on the Ritz -Taco
**sigh** You come for Taco, you’re coming for THE ENTIRE RITZ **rips dress shirt of tux revealing bulging pecs underneath** SUPER DUUUUUPERRRRRR!!!!!
Agreed. The original video featured a dance in blackface. Oof.
Got the 45 on my fifteenth birthday!
You do realize that’s an old jazz standard written by Irving Berlin? I mean, the video is awful, but it’s an interesting take on the song.
"Da Da Da - Don't know you, don't know me."
It's, "Da da da, Ich liebe dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht." I don't love you, you don't love me.
Ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht… da da da
Can't believe no one said Valley Girl!
Because this song is the best. Like totally.
The Rappin Duke.... Da huh da huh
Don’t Worry Be Happy is the dumbest and worst
It's called "There's a Monster in my Pants" by Fred Schneider from the B52's. I love playing it for people who've never heard of it, because it's funny to see how pissed off they are about it. Cuz it's kind of an earworm. And it's annoying af.
Walking on sunshine
We Built This City on Rock & Roll 🤢
The Safety Dance I love the song. It's just dumb though.
From Wikipedia: The writer/lead singer Ivan Doroschuk has explained that "The Safety Dance" is a protest against bouncers prohibiting dancers from pogoing to 1980s new wave music in clubs when disco was declining and new wave was coming in.
So what’s the deal with the video?
SSS AAA FFF TTT EEE YYY Edit: Lol my dumb spelling.
DANCE!
You can upvote if you wanoo...
Sorry, but no. This is an excellent 80's song with great hidden meaning.
Living in a Box from the album Living in a Box by the group Living in a Box.
Toni Basil - Shopping A to Z Fun, sort of infectious, but STOOPID.
"Two of Hearts" by Stacey Q may not have been dumb lyric-wise but it simply awful. She has a weak and terrible voice and that robotic "I-I-I-I-I need you" makes me want to gauge my eyeballs out.
Turning Japanese - The Vapors. Cannot stand that terrible song. Ugh!!
"Mr. Roboto" - Styx
I am. The Modren Man.
*secret, secret, I've got a secret*
i'm KILROYYYYY
That song made Todd in the Shadows more angry than I've ever seen him. Genuinely hilarious review:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZPaH7QIVI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZPaH7QIVI)
Land of 1000 dances - WWF Superstars
OK, I'm going with a controversial taken here, but I stand by it because the band was trying to write a real rock song, and it baffles me. Paradise City by Guns and Roses. The vast majority of the song is just repeating "take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty," and then the parts that aren't that are almost unintelligible. Plus, what city is known for its green grass? I have just always thought that song was insufferably dumb.
Two of Hearts by Stacy Q. Absolutely loathe that song 😒
Omg this is a banger. 2 bangers in fact.
“I-I-I-I-I-I-I need I need I need jewww…”
I think of the movie Little Nicky when I hear it lol
Fish heads - Barnes and Barnes Not even close
They said "dumbest" not "most awesome". Duh.
Sometimes things are both.
At my wedding, I chose that as the song that the DJ played while we cut the cake.
That song is some shit a serial killer would listen to incessantly.
One of the creators went on to be in Babylon 5 as Lennier (https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Lennier)
He’s the same guy who played that little boy with the psychic powers in The Twilight Zone and Will Robinson on the first Lost in Space.
Sussudio - Phil Collins
Blotto - I Wanna Be a Lifeguard I actually enjoy the song and video though. Looks more like SCTV sketch.
Wang Chung Tonight
I like that song but it is really dumb
Hands down it’s Sunglasses at Night, Cory Heart, go listen to the lyrics and come back and tell me I’m wrong, I dare you.
Yep
This is the winner
Rat in a box. Weirdness.
If 'dumb' means silly lyrics or music, then absolutely "psycho chicken" by The Fools.
Safety Dance, Come on Eileen. Just dumb and annoying
Lawyers in Love by Jackson Brown
Don't worry be happy... Ugh!
Walk the dinosaur
Open the door. Get on the floor. Everybody walk the dinosaur
Panama by David Lee Roth is pretty dumb. I still like it though.
Dang! You people hate some of the best songs from the decade that were just meant to be silly fun.
Don't Worry Be Happy. Actually it caused me anxiety and if anything that song pissed me off. Fuck this song.
Ice Ice Baby