Jefferson Starship's "We Built This City on Rock and Roll"

Regularly tops the lists of worst songs ever.

Why? It doesn't seem much worse than most of the schmaltz that littered commercial radio during the time period. And the lyrics are corny but idealistic.

Was it simply overplayed? Too long? Were the singers disliked for other reasons? Like having shitty hair?

I never paid attention to the lyrics, other then them building this city on rock and roll. I guess it just seems like a dumb song. Name some dumber songs.

I thought it was great when I was 10. But I liked Neil Diamond "Coming to America" better!

The song seems really bad when you compare it to Jefferson Airplane's stronger hits like White Rabbit and Somebody to Love. But on its own, it's not totally awful. But it's not great either.

It's a perfectly fine pop song. I loathe when people equate "overplayed" with "poor quality".

I’ll always love this wonderful commercial with this song

The song's lyrics are railing against shitty, over-commercialized, sell-out pop music made for mass consumption... which is exactly what this song is.

I long for the days when the hoopla was only knee deep.

Their earlier work was moody and edgier. They were "counterculture" from San Francisco and had that hippy/druggy thing going on. This song is hated because it defines when they reached full sellout/corporate bubblegum "rock". Plus it's a shitty song.

Like San Francisco music was ever not commercial. The Airplane was on a major label even before the Dead.

R8, and when Marconie played the mamba.

One pill makes you larger and

One pill makes you crap out a horrible song that undercuts everything to do with the spirit of rock and with your own legacy.

This song rode the wrecking ball into their guitars.

R10, you shit, a bad song may be "commercial" but that doesn't make it good or worthwhile.

[quote]R5: It's a perfectly fine pop song. I loathe when people equate "overplayed" with "poor quality".

And rational people loathe cunts who squat out a false statement she heard somewhere so she can make a meaningless declaration.

A terrible song may be overplayed AND poor quality, you straw-man-declaring, illogical sow.

Not sure how it was one of the worst songs when it reached number 1. It’s a great catchy song.

It reached number one, and so became a lightning rod for ridicule and scorn at how far this band had fallen into commercial pop from their edgier origins (as R9 says)—which the song is supposedly satirizing.

So the negative judgment is as much about the content as about the style, which is forgettable but not more so than most other top 40 songs of the time.

Since I was a child o thought this song was terrible on so many different levels. The video is so stupid, the music, the lyrics, the weird faces grace Slick makes in the video. The lyrics actually include the word hoopla.

The song was a joke.

Everyone was shocked to hear that kind of drivel from a group that was once doing things like THIS:

It’s shitty. I used to feel second hand embarrassment when I heard it in the 80s. It’s defenders probably like Phil Collins.

Some Phil Collins songs are great. I don't like this song, but maybe they had no idea it would be big. Maybe they *did* write it to discuss the topic, and then the song went big.

Phil Collins was the Ed Sheeran of his day. A talented male Brit who made MOR music that was usually too boring and bland to be good. But at least Phil did have some classic songs like In the Air Tonight, Against all Odds and Another Day in Paradise.

I think I remember reading somewhere that even Phil Collins got sick of hearing his music. If you lived through the 80s you heard his songs every five minutes.

I like We Built This City. It made my Mom, a Depression baby, sing and dance. If it mortified the baby boomers/yuppies, that’s gravy.

There were other 80s songs that were worse than this one

They may actually have been commercial sell outs from the beginning, but they were selling to 60's and 70's stoners who appreciated their sound and vibe when getting high. By 1980 it was glam hairdoo's and sequins and synthesized beat for the Regan years!

Grace didn't have a lot of input in the song. She was more of a back up singer. The song sucks.

It’s much better than “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.”

this is the kind of music playing at applesleaze when you're sitting alone drinking bahama mamas at the bar.

You people realize that WBTC is a self-consciously bad song and video?

It's not as bad as "We didn't start the fire."

It was no "White Rabbit"!

I think I read Grace hated it but loved the money. Same for “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.”

From Stereogum's analysis of every #1 song on the Hot 100 (more at link):

“The worst song of all time.” That’s what we’re supposed to say. Conventional wisdom dictates that Starship’s “We Built This City” is the absolute nadir of recorded music, the shittiest piece of shit that any musician has ever shitted out. In 2004, Blender put the song at the top of its list of the worst songs of all time, and VH1 built a whole TV special around that list. As a publicity stunt, Blender sent writer Russ Heller to listen to “We Built This City” on a loop for 24 hours in a glass booth that had been installed in a Manhattan Best Buy; it broke some kind of record. A few years later, the readers of Rolling Stone voted on the worst songs of the ’80s, and “We Built This City” won a blowout victory. In 2016, former Blender guy Rob Tannenbaum’s GQ oral history of “We Built This City” used the phrase “worst song of all time” in its headline.

In fact, one of the two singers of “We Built This City” has gone on record using similar language to describe the track. In a 2012 Vanity Fair interview, Grace Slick, the longest-tenured member of Starship, had this to say: “Oh, you’re shitting me, that’s the worst song ever.” (In 2002, she also said, “Our big hit single ‘We Built This City’ was awful… I felt like I’d throw up on the front row, but I smiled and did it anyway. The show must go on.”)

There are way, way too many terrible songs in the world for anyone to seriously argue that “We Built This City” is the worst one ever created. Anyone who tries to make that case has probably never, for instance, survived prolonged exposure to the works of KK Slider. “We Built This City” isn’t even the worst song ever to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (That distinction still belongs to Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler’s “The Ballad Of The Green Berets.”) “We Built This City” is, however, a very bad song.

these guys -- scottish...?? -- do a very listenable acoustic version?

But WAP, that one is art for the fucking ages.

Mickey Thomas used to set my loins afire. That was one hot little Georgia boy.

I don't blame Grace Slick at all for the direction Starship took in the 80s. She was in her 40s and knew her time on the pop charts i.e. the big money was coming to an end. She wanted to make a pile of $$$ and retire, and that's exactly what she did. She retired from the music business at the end of the 80s and ever since then she's been living a VERY comfortable retirement in Malibu. She was smart.

Compare that to Paul Kantner and Marty Balin who were still dragging their old asses onto the oldies circuit until they both dropped dead because they needed the money. Which life would you rather have? It's a business and you have to make certain decisions.

Mickey has seen better days. But then he did survive stomach cancer just a couple years ago.

[quote]and when Marconie played the mamba.

If Marconi played the mamba, it was likely the last thing he ever did.

An oral history of We Built This City

Jefferson Starship was their ‘70s iteration. By Sara they were just Starship.

My old boss went to a Starship concert and said Mickey Thomas was sick and it sounded like he was singing “Syrup” instead of “Sara”. He said it was a terrible show.

It's no Miracles. I loved Marty Balin's voice.

R30 doesn't seem to remember that Grace Slick said she was ashamed of the song and wouldn't have anything to do with it.

Yeah. Sounds like "Brilliant parody," all right, putz.

Disme-ehm-ber.....

We built thish schitty on hmm hmm ro-OLE!!!!!!

Calling it the worst song ever is somewhat overblown, but it definately is deplorable with a lower case d

We Built This City on Milk and Cheese

Plenty of hit 80s songs were worse.

Always liked it. Anything by Aerosmith is 10x worse.

I always loved the song and I still do. I remember first hearing it on the radio and wondering how such an odd-sounding song could make it to Top 40 radio. But as odd-sounding as it was, I still found it insanely catchy. I don't know why people pile on this song and give true shit like "Oh Sheila" by Ready for the World a pass. Now THAT is a horrible song.

Every 80’s song mentioned in this thread is a masterpiece compared to the gutter trash that’s on the radio in 2022.

the demo from Martin Page:

I didn't know that it was written by Bernie Taupin!

There are worse songs than this:

Tie a Yellow Ribbon

Sugar Shack

Barbara Ann

Louie Louie

Sugar Sugar

In the Air Tonight

My Way

Afternoon Delight

Have You Never Been Mellow?

and the real, true, actual worst song of all time, You Light Up My Life

Ditto. They weren’t the same once Marty Balin left. Two completely different bands.

I don't care what anyone says. I love this song. It's fun and upbeat. I also like Sara and Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now. Like Heart, they had some hits from 1985-1990 that I still enjoy.

[quote] In the Air Tonight

That's a great fucking song.

no fan of the early Jefferson Airplane would be caught dead listening to this.

Agree with r59. 1985 - 1994 is my favorite era of music; I was 15 to 24 in that span, so the music brings back good memories.

It's as bad a song as I've heard, but the hatred for it comes mostly from their having creating songs like the one linked below (their best, I think).

r61 lots of people who were stuck in the 60s hated 80s music. Doesn't mean it sucked.

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now is a fucking great song.

It gets on "Worst" lists because it really is a terrible song. It's not the only one, but it is really bad.

i liked 60s Jefferson Airplane had Volunteers and Crown of Creation lps and I like all the Starship hits too. i like the energy, the production the melody he vocal arrangement and Slick proves her versatility on this she sounds great! I didn't like Miracles at all - whiny awful melody that just repeats I loved Sara very haunting and dynamic melody

My mom loved "Sara" because that's my sister's name. Otherwise, she hated then-modern pop music: she was part of the Greatest Generation, and always complained that rock music was just people screaming. Her other favorite put-down of certain singers (Tiffany particularly raised her ire): "if she was singing for shit, she wouldn't get a smell!"

[quote]Jefferson Starship was their ‘70s iteration. By Sara they were just Starship.

I will forever love "Sara." I thought Mickey's vocals were just gorgeous:

The only part I didn’t like was the radio interplay/traffic reporting that comes in. I’m in the Bay Area & kinda recall the traffic reporter’s voice as familiar. I loved Mickey’s soulful voice, especially on Sara & Fooled Around & Fell in Love (no that’s not Elvin. Bishop!)

Back then it was radio pablum and it was fine. Trying to fault it now for not being some musical opus is ridiculous.

I also love Mickey's voice on Sara. I can't imagine anyone else singing that song. He really does have an expressive voice. Sara is a perfect pop song and he captures the longing in that song.

Mickey Thomas on Elvin Bishop’s Fooled Around And Fell In Love was his best hit. There, something I do appreciate of Mickey - and I guess ‘Sara’ is sublime and beautiful listening to.

It's just a moderately tacky, commercial FM rock/pop song of the mid 80s.

The scale of derision it attracts from some does not reflect the song itself. That's about extraneous stuff, like the band's past.

I don’t like it, but my most hated “hit” song of all time is that fucking “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes.

I like how Grace Slick in the video looks totally bugged out and crazy , her voice is beyond trippy.

I had no idea that this song was considered the Worst of All Time. As a child of the 80s, that makes me happy. It WAS the worst. Not only for the shrill and repetitive lyrics, but for the crass commercialism and selloutism the song represents. I have always loathed this song and everything it stands for. Thank you OP. I now feel less alone.

This song is actually having a resurgence. Its absurd repetivity is ideal for TikTok and meme culture.

They call us IRRESPONSIBLE!!!!

Slick lamenting her drug days.

My god the music video is nearly 5 minutes long.

These are the deep cultural discussions that make DL worthwhile.

I despise this song. I remember being in 6th grade and having our elderly chorus teacher making us us do this song and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by Billy Joel in an attempt to make our concert more fun and upbeat, despite both of these songs being about 15-20 years old at the time. My 11 year-old self recognized the lyrics of both songs were created by adults trying desperately to sound relevant and edgy but failing. Yes, I was a snotty theater gay and rolled my eyes at most songs we did, but this one was the worst. Imagine a bunch of kids screeching out these lyrics.

"Last Game of the Season" aka Blind Man in the Bleachers is 70s, but we're talking about worst pop song ever.

Actually, it's tied with "The Christmas Shoes"

[quote]Regularly tops the lists of worst songs ever.

And yet you'll hear it played all the time, everyone knows all the words and impossible to get out of your head.

My friends always giggle when I tear into this song. Except, I always replace “rock and roll “ with “Diet Coke.” Try it, it’s fun.

This is a relatively more recent song, but I absolutely DESPISE it! They play it non stop at my doctors offices and the grocery stores I shop at. It's so repetitive, nagging, and annoying.

Damn, "Miracles” is still a vibe. It makes me want to smoke weed, open a bottle of chianti, and macrame or something.

Repubs hate this song with a passion due to its liberals San Fran. ties as well as lyrics such as "too many runaways eating up the night" & "playing corporation games" & "who counts the money underneath the bar". The song bashes the Reaganism that was going on in his second term & they'll never like it. Can't believe left wingers bash it as it's a love song to the left. Enjoy.

I think the left and right are united in hating this.

There is only one song I hate more.

Agree with earlier comments about prior output being much better. This little gem came out in 1981. Only 4 years earlier. What happened?

This is hardly the worst song ever, in a world where "My Humps" exists.

Yeah My Humps is probably worse and Butterfly by a crazy Town.

Funny thing is...a few years after "We Built This City," Grace Slick left Starship and got back together with the original members of the Airplane, and the result was a million times more awful and embarrassing than anything Starship did. The '60s were well and truly dead at that point.

There are a million songs worse than this. Remember Jenny from the Block? Also, everyone knows Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now is infinitely worse.

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now is a great song.

Isn't that the Mannequin song?

It probably suffers in public approval for that reason only.

R91 I think I disagree. Most republicans love this song - mostly because it's a bad and stupid song, displaying their lack of taste and intelligence. Ask 10 people how they feel about it, if 7 passionately despise it but three love or kinda like it, those 3 are most assuredly Republicans. Like a Roarsche Test.

WBTC is the Forrest Gump of songs.

Masturbatory Boomer shit, that is.

Who caresh they're alwaysh playing corporashion gamesh

Did Diane 'Can't win an Oscar' Warren write this one? Her paint by numbers shit was Starship and Heart's biggest chart toppers in the 80's. Sell out muzak.

R107, she wrote Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

And Diane only wrote two hits for Heart: Who Will You Run To? and I Didn't Want To Need You.

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