The true story of “We Built This City”- the most detested song in human history

You can pry my oversize DR issue of Emigre magazine out of my cold dead hands. Or when you pay me for it, because despite how much I love the d**n thing, I don’t have a copy of Illustrator any more.

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Not even the terrible Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch could destroy this song.

We had that magazine I think in the design room. I should have stolen… I need to find it again. That and they have a handful of other hard to find books.

I did steal an old copy of Art in America from the 60s. It was hard cover and had a huge Lichtenstein spread.

I am also a big fan of Tomato, which is a UK design firm, and who also makes up the core members of Underworld.

Their CD booklet of DUBNOBASSWITHMYHEADMAN has some great experimental typography.

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Ylvis is great. They are like a Norwegian version of The Lonely Island. What Does the Fox Say isn’t one of their best songs and it’s overexposure definitely soured it to many but I still like it.

The one that I despise more than any other… the one that causes projectile vomiting, seizures and fantasies of murder… is Tomorrow, from Annie.

All these others are just wannabes.

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I started to say that I don’t really like pop, but then realized that I do like some songs that are often categorized as pop. I guess it comes down to trying to define ‘pop’ as a genre. I don’t care for much top 40, although some songs I’ve liked over the past several decades have made it into the top 40. At least part of my dislike for pop is my perception that the lyrics tend towards the shallow and banal. I do like thinking about the lyrics(*), but I also accept that my tastes are not typical “USian.” (I don’t criticize anyone else’s taste in music, however. I know people that purposely seek out shallow music because they just want to turn off their brains for a bit. Certainly some of what I like falls into that category, but is still unlikely to be heard on the radio any time soon.)

I think access is essentially a succinct way of saying “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.”

(* - I swear I’m not a hipster or anything, but it’s a bit of constant amazement to me how often MusixMatch comes back with one of its “can’t find lyrics to this” messages when I send tracks at it.)

It still sucks, regardless to intent.

Amen, sister!

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I like Oh, No! It’s Devo, though it was showing the signs of the decline. Shout/Total Devo were bad, Smooth Noodle Maps was soul crushing. Never listened to Something for Everybody since I just don’t want to know.

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That’s my jam!

The graphics, I mean.

Mid-Late 90s UK design was fucking brilliant.

#Pink Jazz Trancers!

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I attended a Rammstein concert around 1999. They played a 25-minute rendition of Du Hast and spent half the rest of the concert running around the stage screaming and hosing the audience down with the help of plastic martial aids.

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Bleh, I always felt Rammstein was mainstreamed version of KMFDM.

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That was cool, thanks!

My biggest claims to fame are missing meeting Yoko Ono at the archive-gallery I was volunteering at, and having Starship’s manager ask me how to buy weed in Budapest at the first (what is now the) Sziget Festival.

Autographed headshots are $25 a piece. Custom dedications are an extra $5.


Pro-tip: I am NOT the person you want to ask how to buy weed anywhere.

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Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas. You have to be of a certain generation to fully appreciate this answer.

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I nearly got to interview William Shatner. I wrote for a paintball magazine and he was going to do a Trek themed big game with proceeds to charity. Friend who was part of making it happen (his parents sold Shatner horses) was arranging for me to meet him at a convention.

Sadly his plane was delayed and I had to wait until the next day - which fell on a wedding shower I had to go to. My own. Considering the wedding ended in divorce I feel like I made the wrong decision.

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With all the options being thrown around, I was surprised no one mentioned this one. Though I might file it under “causes the most mixed emotions” rather than “most detested”…

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I thought of two parodies for this song:

“We Suck These Titties To Rock’n’roll”

(Teenage moms breastfeed their babies at rock concerts.)

“We Built This City With Rotten Roles”
(Serial & B movie Actors/actresses sit in a Hollywood bar & gripe about the lack of respect they get.)

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I prefer the Dread Zeppelin cover of it, myself. No, I’m not going to link that!

You think it sounds bad now. Thank the gods you hold dear you weren’t my parents serenaded by the 5th grade “band” with that tune. We also were known to butcher “We Got the Beat”.

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