All Songs Rewind: The Worst Songs Of All Time?

By Bob Boilen,

Robin Hilton, Carrie Brownstein, Stephen Thompson

Published August 6, 2019 at 4:00 AM CDT

Note: With hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton away this week, we've got an encore presentation ofThe Worst Songs Of All Time, from Feb. 2014.

Guitarist, actor, writer (and former Monitor Mix blogger) Carrie Brownstein joins us, along with NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, to do something we don't normally do: Talk about the songs we really, really don't like.

Our mission at All Songs is to bring you our favorite musical discoveries of the week. But after Stephen wrote his Good Listener column examining Starship's widely reviled hit single " We Built This City," we watched the comments pour in like an out-of-control fire hose, and got to talking about all the songs that drive us bonkers. It was so much fun we decided to continue the discussion here, with a look at some of the contenders for worst songs of all time, and why they stick in our craw. These are the relentless earworms — the songs you can't escape once they're in your head — or the annoying novelty songs. " The Candy Man," anyone? We also look at songs that take themselves too seriously, songs we used to love until they were ruined by a bad personal experience and more.

Please direct your "Dear Idiots" letters via email to allsongs@npr.org.

Bob Boilen

In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.

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Robin Hilton

Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.

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Carrie Brownstein

Carrie Brownstein is a writer, musician, actor, dog trainer and blogger for NPR Music. She was a member of the critically acclaimed rock band Sleater-Kinney. Brownstein writes NPR Music's "Monitor Mix" blog, and is a contributor to All Songs Considered. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, Pitchfork.com and numerous book anthologies on music and culture.

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Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the weekly NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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