Overrated/Overplayed Part 2

As promised, here are the songs that round out my list of the most overplayed or overrated songs of all time. Enjoy!


4. "Get Ready For This"-- 2 Unlimited: If you have ever set foot in a sporting event or seen a commercial for the latest straight-to-video release of a movie about an animal that plays sports and helps the son of a recently divorced, attractive mom who marries the coach who acts as a father figure for the boy's sports team win the big game, then you have DEFINITELY heard this song. With its infectious melody, meaningless half rapped, half sung verses by some Swedish woman, it is impossible to escape. It has been used in countless commercials and sporting events, so much so, it makes "Rock and Roll Pt. 2" look like a late-night radio deep-cut. This song is the epitome of late mid-90's culture, custom made for Mountain Dew and an EXREME lifestyle. When this song plays, you can't help but envision a montage of quick cuts involving a chimpanzee or dog or tapir playing soccer or snowboarding. It is catchy as hell, and we all secretly have it playing in our heads when we are on a fast-break in basketball. However, if this song were to vanish forever without a trace, I think we would all be better for it.

3. "All Along the Watchtower"---Jimi Hendrix: Taking a Bob Dylan classic and injecting it with all the stereotypical 1960's psychadelia it could handle, Hendrix created an absolute monster. This song is the one that regardless of the radio station you flip to at any time of the day, it will be playing, usually only within the first 30 seconds. This song is not neccessarily bad, but neither is all that good. Taking Dylan's dark and menacing fable about the apocalypse and transforming it into a shrill acid test of a song, Hendrix is responsible for the score to every documentary ever made about the Vietnam War. Cue the images of soldiers in the jungle, and surely you will hear the opening guitar lick. This song is the musical equivalent of a 100 Grand candy bar. It's never anyone's first choice, and even when it is around the only time people enjoy it is because its probably the only option at the time.

2. "Dust in the Wind"/"Carry On My Wayward Son"---Kansas: These songs are tragically bad, because the guys in Kansas clearly think they wrote really good songs, and proceed to sing and perform them in the most serious way. These are the songs that "cool" hipsters say they like to be "ironic" along with pretty much any 70's era arena rocker. Kansas wrote the songs that would combine 2 of the most obnoxiously self-aware yet mindless genres: southern rock and progressive rock. Taking fiddles and southern harmonies and mixing them with organ solos and angular go-nowhere instrumentals in bizarre time signatures is the true sign of a Kansas (read: shitty) song. These songs however, have gone on to receive unreal amounts of classic rock radio play and have become staples of karaoke bars. One day those bars will be burned down, and those radio stations taken over by Ben Schultz.

1. "Sweet Home Alabama"---Lynyrd Skynyrd: The Grandaddy of terrible, overplayed southern anthems. This song would be a great example of overexposure, except it was never good to begin with. With its jabs at Neil Young (an actual, talented songwriter) and awkward sing along chorus, this song sucks from beginning to end. Radio. Commercials. Stadiums. Compilation Albums. Kidz Bop. Karaoke. Documentaries. These are just a handful of places where this song has been used and used and used again. There was even a movie titled "Sweet Home Alabama," a movie that if remember by more than 5 people today would be a miracle, but the point is that they could have named this movie ANYTHING, yet I'm sure the lazy producers were thinking, hey this movie takes place in Alabama, and there is a song about Alabama that everyone knows, so let's name the movie after the song and use it in our commercials. A "remix" of the song is even used in KFC commercials (doesn't the K stand for Kentucky?) What's worse is that since its inception, it has become a rallying cry for people from the deep south, and Lord knows those people should not be allowed to rally about anything. Overall everywhere you turn, you will hear this song, and more likely than not it will never go away, so your best bet is to ignore it, put on some headphones and crank up "Freebird".

Honorable mentions:

* "Let's get it started"---BEP: no song has become more played out in such a short amount of time.

*"Wonderwall"---Oasis: Let's face it, every schmuck with an acoustic guitar plays this song to try and impress high school girls. This is also one of Oasis' least inspired songs, and while a solid composition, may be the worst song on it's LP, and in the Oasis catalogue.

*"Song 2"--Blur: The worst thing here is that most people only know this song as "Whoo Hoo." Just a shame, considering that for about a 10 year stretch it appeared in every movie trailer and sports game released to the public.


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