Worst Hit 45's of all time

[radiofan]

It's been so long since I'd heard Brand New Key that I'd all but forgotten about it .... it would be in my Top Ten list of Most hated tunes.

One from the summer of '71 that became and remains an instant tune out is Never Ending Song Of Love by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends ... that damn thing was so overplayed not just on the
Top 40 stations (CKLG and CKVN) but you'd try to escape it and NW, WX or OR would be playing it! I'll have to look it up, but I'm pretty sure it was #1 on CKVN for 6 or 8 weeks .. .some PD
named Sykes was holding down the fort at 1900 West 4th then!

[Russ_Byth]

I've been giving this a lot of thought over the past day (well, not really) and while some of the choices of other posters surprised me, others didn't.
The song that I came up with is Broken Wings by Mister Mister.

[johnsykes]

I hated that damned song just as much as you did. I think you may be off by a bit - I wouldn't have had that on air if I were PD at that time.....likely you will find it was Terry D Mulligan who had the PD stick at that point.

By the way on a point re worst songs.....I was responsible for putting the CKVN Top 300 All Time Chart together, with of course, alleged assistance from our listener. I had Hey Jude as #1.....GM Ron Carabine raked me over the coals because I failed to put his favourite "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison as #1......in fact, I didn't even have it on the list. My failing really was, I liked the more older rock stuff ferom the 50's & 60's prior to the psychedelic (sp) era. Thank goodess CJOR got me out of there and back where I belonged in sports.

[Karen]

Two that come to mind instantly are You Light Up My Life by Debbie Boone and I've Never Been To Me by Charlene.

Add me to the list of Don't Worry Be Happy haters.

[skyvalleyradio]

jon - I dug "Lay Down" by Melanie & Edwin Hawkins SIngers for a bit, but eventually Melanie's moaning, groaning & "singing" put me off of this for good

radiofan - that had to be the most tepid song Delaney & Bonnie ever did and it made me wince every time it came on. I saw D&B with a killer band at the Gardens in the late 60's and they absolutely rocked at that gig!

Karen - how could I possilby forget Debby Boone. Thanks a lot - now I can't get the damn song out of my head!!!!

[RoadRunner65]

You got that right Karen. I really don't like that song by Charlene makes me want to puke.

RR65:)

[Big Voice]

Please add, In the Summertime and Pushbike Song by Mungo Jerry and Little Arrows by Leapy Lee.

[radiofan]

Here's a few more from the 70's ...

Desiderata - Les Crane
Telephone Man - Meri Wilson
Feelings - Morris Albert
I LIke Dreamin' - Kenny Nolan
Playground In My Mind - Clint Holmes
At Seventeen - Janis Ian
Tie A Yellow Ribbon - Dawn
Billy Don't Be A Hero - Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
Little Willy - The Sweet
Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver

[johnsykes]

Anything by Gino Vinelli - only reason we heard anything of his was because its Cancon. Not pop/rock or what have you.

[Mike Cleaver]

Hey everyone, I think we've come up with a new format to sell to the corpse: Music You Hate!
Positioning statement: We induce projectile vomiting with every song!

[hagopian]

The Pina Colada Song.Rupert Holmes
D’ya Think Im Sexy. Rod Stewart
Sugar, Sugar - Archies
Cotton Jenny - Anne
Snowbird - Anne
Knock three Times. Tony Orlando
The Homecoming - Hagood hardy
Anything by Patsy Gallant - and disco....oh, man, don’t get me started.

[johnsykes]

Can anyone tell me why Love Is Blue by Paul Muriat was ever played on rock stations of the day?

[jon]

Can anyone tell me why Love Is Blue by Paul Muriat was ever played on rock stations of the day?

Unlike the "narrowcasting" of the last few decades, "AM rock stations" of the 1960s were formatted as "Top 40", playing, in regular rotation, the 40 or 30 or 50 or whatever number of the most popular current hits in their market among people, typically in their late teens, who liked Rock and Roll. By the end of the 1950s, the Billboard Hot 100 used the same approach for the U.S. as a whole.

It was really a Variety format. If enough of the listening audience liked and/or bought the song on a 45 rpm record, it got played.

The broad range of musical genres is part of the magic of Top 40 radio. In fact, it even went beyond Music to some Spoken Word material, from stand-up Comedy routines to Stan Freburg's Theatre of the Mind to patriotic pieces like "The Americans" written by Gordon Sinclair.

[isthisthingon]

In that fairly brief era, they/I/we also played Jeannie C. Riley, Englebert Humperdink, Roger Miller, Tijuana Brass and Miriam Makeba in between Cream, the Doors, Otis Redding and Steppenwolf. All Top 40 hits, and all popular with the same audience. Maybe that was the magic format? Go figure.

[hagopian]

Pushbike song was “The Mixtures”.

Mungo Jerry...I like “Montego Bay” - by Bobby Bloom. Mo Bay was a real let down when I finally saw it for real.

Saw the Concorde land though, so that was cool. Jamaica. What a place.