- Hey, you know that song that you really love?
Yeah the band that made it hates it.
Well of course that depends on what the song is,
but it might surprise you to learn
that some of the most popular songs
that put bands on the map were actually songs
that they hated.
So the question is,
why did they make them in the first place?
Well to find out, keep watching.
Here are 10 popular songs the original bands hate.
Number 10 is Shiny Happy People.
Sometimes one person in the band hates a song
that they have to perform
and then sometimes it's the entire group
that would like it to have a slow painful death.
Such is the case for the group, R.E.M.
and their 1991 hit, Shiny Happy People.
♪ Shiny happy people holding ♪
- The band's record company asked them
to produce a more uptempo pop song
for their album, Out of Time
and they turned in Shiny Happy People as a bit of a joke,
thinking it would get laughed at and ultimately rejected.
But not only did the record company
apparently love the track
but it became a hit single on the charts.
Since then,
the band has made several negative comments about it.
Michael Stipe, the lead singer even said in 1995,
that he outright hated the song.
The band even unanimously voted
that the tune would not be added
to their greatest hits collection.
More like shiny salty people, what's wrong with these guys?
Little gratitude goes a long way.
Number nine is Like a Virgin.
Many musicians secretly despise their songs,
saying little when they hear them in restaurants or clubs
and even agreeing to perform them through gritted teeth.
Well Madonna is not one of those artists.
In fact, she has been very upfront about the songs
that she hates, which includes her huge 1984 pop hit,
Like a Virgin.
♪ Like a virgin ♪
- During a 2008 interview with Z100 FM,
a radio station in New York,
the singer stated that she wasn't sure
if she could ever sing Like a Virgin
or Holiday, another of her hits that she dislikes,
ever again, later amending that statement
by saying that she probably would
if she was paid $30 million or something, end quote.
Madonna's even claimed that hearing the track,
while out on the town will upset her.
Especially if it's only being played
by someone that's trying to be respectful of her presence.
That makes no sense to me.
Hey Madonna, I'm playing this song 'cause I really love it.
Shut it off, I hate you, I hate everyone.
Number eight is Party In The U.S.A.
Written by Jessie J originally for her own album
but passed on due to not being edgy enough,
Party In The U.S.A found success in the hands
of Miley Cyrus.
Though the young singer wasn't the biggest fan of it.
♪ It's a party in the U.S.A. ♪
- Cyrus decided to put her song on her,
The Time of Our Lives EP, despite the fact
that it didn't really fit her brand
or represent where she wanted to go musically.
It was simply a track and she needed more of them
to complete the album.
In a later interview, she stated that she needed something
to go with her clothing line,
but she wasn't a fan of it or any pop music for that matter.
Saying that she listened to zero pop music in her free time.
Cyrus even called herself a sellout over releasing the track
and has often refused to perform it,
claiming it's not the sound that she wants to be known for.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a hip-hop fan and whatnot
but every time I hear, put your hands up,
I'm like, oh yeah sticking my hands up,
I'm gonna put my hands up, it makes me happy.
Number seven is Cherry Pie.
After being asked by an executive at his record company
to create a rock anthem for an upcoming album,
Jani Lane, the lead singer and songwriter
for the band Warrant, grabbed a pizza box
and scribbled out some lyrics on it in just 15 minutes.
The song he wrote was Cherry Pie
and it caught the company's attention,
to the point that they literally adapted the entire album,
around the marketing of it.
♪ She's my cherry pie. ♪
- They even named the record Cherry Pie,
despite the band's disdain
for the direction things were going in and the song itself.
Lane hated the tune,
especially after he gained the nickname,
the Cherry Pie guy and he couldn't stop people
from calling him it.
I'm not gonna lie, that sounds delicious.
And people call me the pumpkin pie man,
I'd be like, okay yes.
In 2006, he stated that he could shoot himself in the head
for writing that song.
Number six is I Kissed a Girl.
It turns out that Miss Katy Perry,
may not have appreciated kissing a girl
as much as she claimed.
Or at least, she's no longer a fan of the song
that she sang about it.
In 2008, the singer released the song,
I Kissed a Girl and it was swiftly a smash hit.
♪ I kissed a girl and I liked it ♪
- Perry's biggest issue with the tune is,
how out of date it sounds today,
as in the decade since it hit radio stations,
society has come a long way in accepting
that women can kiss other women
and it's not that big of a taboo thing anymore.
In an interview with Glamour Magazine,
she claimed that she'd rework the song
if given a second chance at it.
Bringing it more in line with where people are today,
conversationally.
She'd also remove some of the stereotypes
that keep her from regularly performing the tune.
Listen Katy, don't be ashamed,
you like that cherry lipstick.
Ah, ah, it tastes good, don't be worried about it baby.
Number five is Smells Like Teen Spirit.
As one of the most overplayed music videos on MTV
or at least when they played music videos,
it was little wonder why everyone seemed
to know about Nirvana's 1991 dreary hit,
Smells Like Teen Spirit.
♪ With the lights out, it's less dangerous ♪
- However the track was meant to be attributed
to the band, the Pixies, not the flagship tune
that defined Nirvana.
By early 1992, the single
and the music video put the band's album,
Nevermind at the top of the charts.
A moment where many point
to as when alternative rock entered the mainstream.
But in an interview with Rolling Stone,
just months before his death,
Kurt Cobain claimed that it was an almost an embarrassment
to play the tune, saying that there were times
that while performing it, he'd had the urge to stop
and throw down his guitar.
Despite this, Smells Like Teen Spirit,
is the biggest hit Nirvana ever released.
That whole decade was just super depressing by the way.
I remember listening to so many songs like him,
Marilyn Manson, I was just like, why's everyone so sad?
Number four is Stairway to Heaven.
After the tragic death of the band's drummer, John Bonham,
on September 25th 1980, Led Zeppelin broke up.
Since that time, a number of reunions have been attempted
with only a handful being truly successful.
One of the biggest reasons for that,
comes from the lead singer, Robert Plant's hatred
for what is arguably the group's biggest hit,
the 1971 ballad, Stairway to Heaven.
♪ And she's buying a stairway to heaven ♪
- Plant refused to perform the song,
which kept a strain on his relationship with his band mates.
Despite the fact that he was the one who wrote it.
He was quoted in 1988 as saying he'd break out in hives
if he had to sing it in every show.
In 2002, Led Zeppelin's singer pledged a donation
to a radio station in Portland, Oregon,
after it announced a ban on the song.
Calling his own tune, that bloody wedding song.
Hey man, I'll never play it, you wanna give me some money?
Just saying.
Number three is Creep.
It's one thing to hate your own song
but it's quite another to actively try to make it suck.
Pretty much every member of the band Radiohead,
disliked their 1992 tune, Creep,
even after it became their first song
to get into the top 40.
♪ But I'm a creep ♪
- Lead singer and songwriter, Thom Yorke,
actually called his own work crap
and would often verbally berate anyone,
who requested the band perform it.
Jonny Greenwood hated the song so much,
he literally tried to sabotage the recording of it.
In an interview, he claimed
that while laying down the track,
he hit the guitar hard, really hard.
What, like he punched it,
like da, na, na, da, da, I hate it.
On more than one occasion, the band has outright refused
to perform Creep during live performances
and have even gone on to call anyone who enjoys the song,
some pretty offensive names.
Number two is Wonderwall.
Okay this one just makes me sad,
'cause this is one of my favorite songs.
Released in 1995 on the album,
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Oasis's huge hit Wonderwall is known today,
as the song that screams '90s rock.
♪ You're my wonderwall. ♪
- Songwriter and lead guitarist Noel Gallagher,
has described the tune as being about an imaginary friend
that comes to save you from yourself.
However it turns out
that even back when the band was still together,
Noel's brother, the lead singer of Oasis, Liam,
would have preferred that the song itself was imaginary.
Liam's hatred of singing the song,
was something he often spoke of,
claiming he had violent urges,
every time a fan
of the alternative rock band yelled out lyrics
or asked him if he was Mr. Wonderwall.
Oh you're asking me that damn question again,
I'm going to punch your face.
When Oasis released their final album,
Dig Out Your Soul, Liam was proud to announce,
none of the songs sounded like Wonderwall.
And number one is Fight for Your Right.
Although they obviously somewhat believed in
what they were singing, for their 1986 hit,
Fight for Your Right,
the Beastie Boys are definitely not fans of the tune.
♪ You gotta fight ♪
♪ For your right ♪
- The trio of New York rappers wrote the song,
as a sarcastic take on stupid frat boys
with one track minds.
But somehow that didn't come through in their performance.
Listeners mostly took the lyrics
as true opinions of the band
and it became the party anthem across the United States
and soon after, much of the planet.
Michael, Mike D, Diamond was once quoted as saying,
the only thing that upsets me is
that we may have reinforced certain values
of some people in our audience, when our own values,
were actually totally different.
Fight for Your Right was the first major hit for the boys,
but they did their best to avoid it.
You might even say,
they fought for their right not to play it.
(laughs) We should end the video.
(slow music)