Songs you once liked that were ruined by the media?

[TN4U]

So, we all know that one song. Maybe you first heard it in a special place, or associated it with a special moment from your life. Or, it sounds so good, that others love it as well, and reaches the top of the Billboard charts, sometimes for many weeks. You can’t get it out of your head.

And then someone, usually from an advertising company, makes a bold decision to use it in a piece of media. Sometimes it’s the regular song, or other times, they change the lyrics with different singers. Or perhaps, the song you once liked becomes so overplayed on the radio or TV that you become sick of it. In extreme scenarios, the song is used in a controversial setting, and garners unwanted reactions both from fans and the artists themselves. The song you once liked simply becomes something you can’t stand, thanks to being abused or used in inappropriate ways.

What’s a song you once liked, that is now ruined thanks to the media?

 

[Belle T]

Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler was such a phenomenal song once.

Now it's hard to not listen to the song without groaning. Ignoring just how overused the song is both as a vehicle for advertising and as cliché licensed music that Hollywood producers insist we are still nostalgic for, the only time--and I mean only--it has ever been used in a way that was both thematically appropriate and in a way that was not absolutely horrid was in Shrek 2. Every other time, yes including the Mario movie, has just been absolutely awful.

 

[Chris]

Misery Business by Paramore. I went from loving it on the first listen to later hating the fact I couldn't escape it.

 

[Xara]

“Closer” by The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey and “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 ft. Cardi B were the first songs I thought of. Neither of them have ever been favourite songs of mine, but I liked them both when I first heard them. I even jokingly started calling “Girls Like You” my mom and I’s song, since it would always play on the radio at least once when we were in the car together, and never when she was with my dad instead or out by herself lol

However, both songs were ridiculously overplayed on the radio, in commercials for radio stations etc, and it wasn’t long before I couldn’t stand to listen to either of them. The radio stations I listen to would always play one of them every 3-5 songs or so, and it was just incredibly annoying. Thankfully, radio stations don’t play them as often anymore since both songs have been out for 5+ years now, but they still play occasionally, and I always change the station when they do.

 

[TN4U]

Here's one of my own lists with songs I can think of at the top of my head, though it's quite detailed as I'm an old rock music nut:

• "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin- The guitar solo near the end by Jimmy Page is widely considered to be one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. I would like it myself and appreciate it more, if it weren't played to death on all the classic rock radio stations like it currently suffers.
  • Classic rock FM stations in general are plain awful; you get the same 200-300 or so popular rock songs ranging from the '60s to '80s, and that's it. No deep cuts, no rare versions, and no new material that a few of said artists from that era still release to this day.
  • No wonder a lot of the older artists still touring only do their most-known songs in concert, though there are exceptions when it comes to some singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young, who have both done mostly newer-penned songs in their shows since the 21st century began.
  • Back to "Stairway" - I got a kick out of a joke involving this song in Wayne's World, where Wayne plays a whole four notes in a guitar shop before being stopped by the salesman, who points to a sign prohibiting people from playing the song. Fun fact: most home media releases have a generic tune in its place when Wayne plays, though the latest 4K release actually restored those iconic four intro notes. You read that right; Jimmy Page wanted royalties for those four notes to be used in the movie, and the rights didn't become settled until the 4K release.
• "Magic" by Pilot- A one-hit wonder from a forgotten pop band in 1974, it has since become one of the most abused songs in pharmaceutical ads thanks to Selena Gomez releasing a cover version back in her Disney Channel years.
  • A lot of these ads change the chorus from "oh, oh, oooh, it's magic!" to the name of their drug, making the song extra annoying. A recent example being "oh, oh, oooh, Ozempic!".
  • When Selena Gomez released her version, it was basically a tie-in with her lead role in Wizards of Waverly Place. As we all know, Disney covers are usually criticized for crummy singing and the producers changing the smallest innuendo in a lyric to something that makes absolutely little sense. It's sort of a shame that Pilot now carries this reputation thanks to this one song, as some of their band members would continue to collaborate with their producer and one of my favorite artists, Alan Parsons, in the '80s and beyond.
• "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne - Ozzy's discography is, well, interesting to say the least. The guy's known more for his outrageous personality, alongside the rest of his "interesting" family and this overplayed song. I hear it in sports arenas ALL. THE. TIME.
  • The intro, where Ozzy laughs like a crazed madman, is highly recognizable, and is a major reason why it became Ozzy's biggest hit of his solo career. It's also the reason why I grew sick of the song due to it being incredibly abused in usage, mainly in sports.
  • Some people only know Ozzy because of this song. The dude's got lots of other great songs, both with Black Sabbath and his own stuff through the '80s (some of which charted on Billboard's metal charts), though a lot of average people can only name this one song and nothing else. Look past this song, and you'll find much crazier content, believe me.
• "25 or 6 to 4" by Chicago- The most recently-used song on ads I can think of. Being one of the band's first big hits, it's more raw and loud in sound that some of their later stuff due to being released on their second album in 1970. I'm starting to grow sick of it thanks to... you guessed it, Amazon's crying baby ad.
  • The combination of horns, guitars, and Peter Cetera's vocals blend themselves together very well to make the song rather interesting, though unfortunately now every time I hear the song start, I have to imagine hearing a baby crying alongside it. Thank you, Amazon, for completely ruining a song I actually liked by repeating your annoying ad over and over every other commercial break.
  • Which Chicago song are you going to ruin next? "Liberation"? I feel that I need to be liberated from ads in general.
• "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees- How ironic that after a movie named "Stayin' Alive" was released (which has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and is considered one of the worst movie sequels of all time), the titular song by the Bee Gees would become a common way to portray cheesy disco things in general. I bet some of the Gibb family would roll around in their graves if they heard that fact today.
  • Well, it's an era that garnered controversy from rock fans and died very quickly after new wave took off, so seeing a disco movie being released in 1983 was bound to have this happen...

 

[Yanrima~]

The song that is ruined for me is definitely "Eye of the tiger"

It became a defacto overplayed and overused stock "training montage" song for any big Hollywood movies that have some sort of training arc.

Yeah, the song's pretty cool. But the fact that they overuse this song in most movies just wears off the appeal.

I didn't actually like the song, I just find the song good at times.

 

[QueenCobra]

I can’t tell if Family Guy ruined “Paralyzer” for me or made it better lol.

 

[TN4U]

The song that is ruined for me is definitely "Eye of the tiger"

It became a defacto overplayed and overused stock "training montage" song for any big Hollywood movies that have some sort of training arc.

Yeah, the song's pretty cool. But the fact that they overuse this song in most movies just wears off the appeal.

I didn't actually like the song, I just find the song good at times.

I consider “Burning Heart” to be miles better as it’s definitely not used as much, and its only prominent appearance in a film I can think of was Rocky IV. Funnily enough, it took me quite a while to check out the band’s other albums as I also consider “Eye of the Tiger” to be the most overplayed rock song of all time.

They released quite a few studio albums throughout the ‘80s, but that one song annoyed me so much that I went to check out other artists’ deep cuts instead. Oh well.

I can’t tell if Family Guy ruined “Paralyzer” for me or made it better lol.

What ruined that song for me was YouTube providing it as a default song for crappy videos throughout the late 2000’s and early 2010’s. Not as bad as “Dreamscape” by 009 Sound System, however.

 

[Kitsuragi]

being a rick astley fan is suffering

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

All Star by Smashmouth. I don’t dislike it but now I don’t like it either due to it being used in so many movies.

I seriously hate Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony because of how overused it is. There are other songs that also express pure joy that are often forgotten about, you know?

 

[seliph]

i don't let the media or anything for that matter ruin things for me. there's some songs i like that are on my super repetitive work playlist and i still enjoy them. i don't listen to the radio or watch a lot of tv either.

 

[Belle T]

being a rick astley fan is suffering

I've actually had the opposite experience with this song. It's because of increased media exposure of this song thanks to the meme that I've grown to appreciate Rick Astley as an artist (though this song specifically doesn't best illustrate it), and the meme itself is a practical joke that is ultimately just as fun to be a victim of as it is to actually pull off. I don't know, I just really like it.

 

[Kitsuragi]

I've actually had the opposite experience with this song. It's because of increased media exposure of this song thanks to the meme that I've grown to appreciate Rick Astley as an artist (though this song specifically doesn't best illustrate it), and the meme itself is a practical joke that is ultimately just as fun to be a victim of as it is to actually pull off. I don't know, I just really like it.

which makes sense, the problem is that i can't ever play the song around other people without them asking me if i'm trying to rick-roll them. like, no, i just like the song lol.

 

[TN4U]

which makes sense, the problem is that i can't ever play the song around other people without them asking me if i'm trying to rick-roll them. like, no, i just like the song lol.

Whenever I heard the song being played in the store I once worked in with co-workers who were around me, they would sometimes comment about the whole store being Rick Rolled. I find it hilarious, however, that even Astley himself became aware of the meme. He once came out of a parade float out of nowhere in one of the Macy's parades and started performing the song, therefore Rick Rolling the entire audience and viewers on TV. I bet he got a real kick out of doing that.

He's always been popular in the UK, though it didn't take until the meme came around on the internet would he become known in the states again. I'm also positive that another one of his big songs, "Together Forever", was also attempted as a Rick Roll due to the intro sounding similar, but never took off unlike "Never Gonna Give You Up".

 

[Croconaw]

What ruined that song for me was YouTube providing it as a default song for crappy videos throughout the late 2000’s and early 2010’s.

SAME. I forgot all about those default songs, and Paralyzer was definitely the most used. It wasn’t a bad song but I heard it so much, it got old.

 

[rocketspruggs]

I don't like how some channels on YouTube ruin perfectly good video game soundtrack by adding memetic sound effects, or something...like this, for example:

One YouTube channel just HAD to ruin the athletic theme from Super Mario World by sneaking awful hip-hop/rap music in the misleading original soundtrack video!

I didn't want to listen to the better original version anymore for a long time after that...

 

[TN4U]

I don't like how some channels on YouTube ruin perfectly good video game soundtrack by adding memetic sound effects, or something...like this, for example:

One YouTube channel just HAD to ruin the athletic theme from Super Mario World by sneaking awful hip-hop/rap music in the misleading original soundtrack video!

I didn't want to listen to the better original version anymore for a long time after that...

I also hate it when people take original versions of good songs and make trap remixes that sound awful. This is common on TikTok, and is also one of the many reasons why I don't use the service.

 

[Snek]

I also hate it when people take original versions of good songs and make trap remixes that sound awful. This is common on TikTok, and is also one of the many reasons why I don't use the service.

Same thing with Instagram. I don't use TikTok for many, many reasons but I do use Instagram and have the same issue.

 

[rosetti]

....DaRLIN hOlD MY HAAAAAND

I AM HAUNTED

 

[-Blue-]

Personally if a song was good before it became used a lot it's still good to me. There are a lot of really bad songs out there that stations used to play all the time (and maybe there was someone out there who really did like it) but I didn't care for and sometimes hated the song. It just felt like they were trying to play it so much that people started to like it because of repetition. And that actually does work sometimes sadly.

I'll still listen to a song and willingly, even if it's been overused in shows, if it's a good one.