Here's a new musical meditation kinda related to both Crap/Not Crap and the Guilty Pleasures thread. I have a theory that--almost a religion, really--that ANY band, no matter how unredeemably awful, is at least POTENTIALLY capable of the stars and the coke aligning to produce that One Great Song. Of course, not every artist fulfills such potential(examples: The Eagles, Billy Joel). But they conceivably COULD HAVE.

So, the question is, What band that you absolutely loathe has that one song that inexplicably delights you? Ideally, it should be the ONLY decent song in an otherwise unlistenable oeuvre.

Here are a few on mine:

1. "The Working Man" by Rush

2. "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins

3. "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera

4. "Long Long Way from Home" by Foreigner

5. "The Kids Are Alright" by The Who
(okay, I kinda like "Naked Eye," too, but I really, really hate The Who)

"More Than A Feeling"- Boston

Perfect one, Cranius! "More Than A Feeling" really is a beautiful rock song. And all other Boston really does suck shit.

My vote goes to "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots. I'm pretty much helpless in the face of that perfect Page rip-off riff.

"a day in the life" -the beatles.

The Popular Recording Hits of Phil Collins, Solo Artist, Genesis Vocalist and Drummer - from the early and mid-80's.

Yes, including Sussudio.
Yes, including Land of Confusion.
Yes, including Easy Lover.
Yes, including Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now).
Yes, including Take Me Home.

Juke Box Hero - Foreigner.
This is NOT an endorsement of the entire song. Just the little guitar riff at the end of each chorus. That little 2 second appendix makes the entire song worthwhile.

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:
2. "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins

Weird! Just heard that one yesterday and it def. makes my list. I think what does it for me is that ghostly, looped vocal of Billy's. I've always wondered what that was, I googled it, and this came up:

Billy Corgan wrote:The most frequently asked question about "1979" is, "What is the 'ooh-ahh-ahh' sound at the end of every phrase?" Flood and I were tracking the song, and I started humming the "oohs" like a melody line. I sang them to tape, we sampled the pertinent ones, electronically manipulated them, and looped them against the drum beat. One of my favorite songs from the album.

So salut Billy for that little piece of looping, otherwise you suck!

2. Deep Blue Something- 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'

3. Stone Temple Pilots 'Unglued'

4. Whale 'Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe' I doubt many people have even heard of this shit, but I can honestly say this is kind of a cool song by a really, really terrible band.

5. Don Henley 'The Boys of Summer'. Don't know how Don pulled it off...

6. Nine Inch Nails 'A Warm Place' The only NIN song that doesn't sound like a pig getting fucked.

7. Lisa Loeb 'Stay (I Missed You)'

8. Green Day 'Words I Might Have Ate'

9. Erasure 'Always'

10. Placebo 'Nancy Boy'

mattw wrote:6. Nine Inch Nails 'A Warm Place' The only NIN song that doesn't sound like a pig getting fucked.

This abysmal track is actually a re-write of Bowie's very very good Scary Monsters-era instrumental "Crystal Japan".

cotton eye joe by the rednex
informer by snow
barbie girl by aqua

"Let The Eagle Soar" by John Ashcroft