While critics and fans alike will claim that one song is “better” or “worse” than another, the truth is that musical opinions are just as subjective as any other type of preference. How else to explain the fact that so many number one hits have been ranked as some of the worst of all time over the years?
That’s why when Rolling Stone explored some of the “worst songs ever” on an episode of the podcast Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, plenty of bestselling singles were discussed. But, as music journalist and guest Rob Sheffield pointed out, “bad” songs aren’t always a bad thing.
“Bad taste is timeless,” Sheffield said. “Terrible songs are a long and proud pop tradition. It wouldn’t be nearly as much fun to be a fan of pop music if there was some kind of quality control that prevented songs like this from happening.”
Instead of choosing one “worst” song in particular, Hiatt, Sheffield and fellow music writer Brittany Spanos talked about some of their personal least-favorite tunes, even admitting that they’ve come to appreciate several of the songs they once detested (like Train’s “Drops of Jupiter”).
Some of the other songs to come up in conversation included such classics as Cat Stevens‘ “Wild World,” The Eagles’ “One of These Nights,” Styx’s “Come Sail Away,” and Bob Dylan‘s 14-minute-long “Joey”…but one song that really brought back memories for Hiatt was Billy Joel‘s 1989 number one hit, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
“When I was in like 7th, 8th grade, I thought that ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ by Billy Joel was a masterpiece,” he said. “You know, only later did I realize how many people despise that song and see it…as a part of this thing, which, you know, it is very funny if you read it that way. It’s like nothing was actually the Boomers’ fault. It’s a very funny reading of the song…look at all the stuff that happened, not us.”
“It’s just a litany of excuses for all stuff that happened to the Boomers, but…is it terrible?” Hiatt continued, adding, “I recently heard it and still enjoyed it, but I recognize why people hate it. It’s a weird, weird thing.”
As it turns out, even Joel himself isn’t a big fan of the song. As Smooth Radio reported, he once called “We Didn’t Start the Fire” a “terrible piece of music” in conversation with documentary maker David Horn.
“But, it started as a whole different song,” Joel continued, adding, “The original song I had was this country idea that I had. But when you take the melody by itself, terrible, it’s like a dentist drill.”
While many critics have agreed with Joel, nothing changes the fact that “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was a massive success. Not only did it become his third single to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989, but it was also nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year. And it’s still popular: At the time of this writing, it’s been streamed 685,077,182 times on Spotify. Not too shabby for a song that apparently sounds like a trip to the dentist.
Related: Billy Joel Refused to Play This Grammy-Winning ‘Gloppy Ballad’ for Years