The banality continues. Read Part 1 .
The Worst Singles of the Decade, Part 2: #40-#31
#40
Kenny Chesney & George Strait, “Shiftwork”
A stab at the working class blues still ends up on a tropical island by the third verse.
#39
Anita Cochran featuring The Voice of Conway Twitty, “(I Wanna Hear) A Cheatin’ Song”
In which a duet is formed from beyond the grave by chopping up bits and pieces of old Conway Twitty songs and reassembling them word by word.
#38
Billy Dean, “Let Them Be Little”
Thirty seconds in and you’ll be headed to your dentist for a cavity filling.
#37
Montgomery Gentry, “She Couldn’t Change Me”
Sorry boys, but “some hip-hop mess” would be a great improvement over this hillbilly trainwreck.
#36
Sarah Johns, “The One in the Middle”
Does anybody really need this gesture explained to them for four minutes? The whole point of using it is so you don’t have to talk to the person.
#35
Chuck Wicks, “Stealing Cinderella”
It’s hard to believe that you’re stealing Cinderella when you sing like you’re looking for Prince Charming.
#34
Faith Hill, “The Way You Love Me”
If my wife could only grant me one wish, and she actually chose for me to see the way that I kiss, I’d grant her divorce papers in return.
#33
Tracy Byrd, “Drinkin’ Bone”
Why come up with something original when you can just corrupt a nursery rhyme?
#32
Jo Dee Messina, “Biker Chick”
She’s not just any plain old biker chick. She’s a biker chick chick, a biker chick chick.
#31
Buddy Jewell, “This Ain’t Mexico”
You think he’s mad now? Wait until he gets to heaven and finds out God chose Pablo and Juanita to help pour out the rain.
“She Couldn’t Change Me”?? Seriously…a decade of Montgomery Gentry songs and this is the one chosen? I hope there’s more to come.
The Chuck Wicks comment made me laugh.
She Couldn’t Change me is still one of my favorite Montgomery Gentry songs. Wow.
I like ‘She Couldn’t Change Me’ as well, ‘Hell Yeah’ would have been my pick.
I agree with ‘Biker Chick,’ the most of all these songs. Releasing a song as bad as that is career sucicide. How can you take her seriously from now on or trust her instincts when she willingly sent that as a lead-off Album single to radio. Anyways, good list.
The Buddy Jewell song is atrocious. It comes off as ignorant at best and racist at worst.
Montgomery Gentry referring to “hip hop mess” is embarrassing too, considering that a lot of hip hop is better than a lot of country. Songs like this make country look narrow minded and possibly bigoted.
I did like Tracy Byrd’s “Drinkin Bone,” though.
“Shiftwork” should have been #1. Anyone can sing in a voice that boring. Oh, wait, that’s called talking, and most people talk a lot of interestingly.
Good list, although Faith Hill’s “The Way You Love Me” doesn’t seem like it deserves to be on the worst singles of the decade.
LOL at the Chuck Wicks comment.
No big complaints, although I almost complained about the Sarah Johns song. Then I realized I was thinking of another song, and kept it to myself. So far, so good. Still rooting for “Beer Gut” near the top of the list.
“Drinkin’ Bone” is a great song in my list, but that’s just my view.
I guess I didn’t mind the MG KC/GS or Billy Dean numbers. Loved the write up for the Faith Hill song. I was expecting to see the Buddy Jewell song show up near the top so I can’t even imagine how much worse things are going to get. I’ve got a pretty good idea about what I think #1 is. :)
Love the snark again, especially the Faith Hill one.
Ah…that Buddy Jewel song would be very close to the top of my list, probably even at the top (tied with another song).
Witty comments Kevin. ;)
I must say that LOVE that Faith Hill song… (The Way You Love Me is a fun listen for me.. oh well, different strokes i guess. haha.)
Hmm, that Chuck Wicks song was okay for me. The Sarah Johns song was a fun listen for me, but I never ended up getting the song, haha.
AND,
I wouldn’t rank the Messina song among the worst of the decade.. but thats just me. :)
Other than the Hill and Messina songs, I have no disagreements.
*that I LOVE
Continuing awesomeness. Only disagree with the MG song. Great choices and commentary so far! (Shiftwork may be my #1 worst, but I’ll have to see the rest of your list to remind me of more awful 00’s songs to be sure)
I actually like the MG song pretty well too. I typically like the songs that Eddie sings lead on though.
What’s the other song its tied with Leeann? You can’t leave us hangin in suspense like that.
i like a few of these too..”Drinkin Bone” is one of the BEST singles of this decade IMHO
I like Billy Dean’s “Let Them Be Little”. I hear it and I think right away about my kids when they were little and it make me feel good. I don’t mind admitting that I like quite a few sappy songs. At 63, I guess I’ve become an old fart but I still have that curmudgeonly streak which erupts on occasion. If I put this song on a playlist, I’d follow it with the sassy “Let ‘Er Rip” by the Chicks.
I’m a Jo Dee Messina fan but “Biker Chick” was awful. Loved her 2005 cd “Delicious Surprise” which featured “My Give a Damn’s Busted”.
I think “She Couldn’t Change Me” is a great song, but otherwise, good list. I especially agree with “Shiftwork” and “This Ain’t Mexico.”
“She Couldnt Change Me” is a fun enough song. I dont think it’s horrible, purely average, especially when you consider the other material of the guy who wrote it (Chris Knight).
I didn’t even realize Chris Knight wrote that song. I can kinda hear it though.
I like the Faith Hill song. It reminds me of that golden age of 90s country music. I think if I heard that song on the radio now, I’d find it to be a breath of fresh air.
“Shiftwork” was simply a waste of time, not really a terrible song. “The One In The Middle” seemed to resonate well with the female singers in this area as I’ve heard it performed endlessly at Karaoke bars and in live performers by younger female singers.
The Anita Cochran effort was an abortion that should never have seen the light of day – the concept offends but the song itself was okay
“Biker Chick” is the only truly terrible song in this group, all of the rest have at least something to recommend them
I love Jo Dee Messina but I’ve never heard “Biker Chick” … probably because it flopped on the charts, but I kinda wanna hear it now lol
Although, I will probably like it =)
“She Couldn’t Change Me” is the best MG song … ever.
Paul Dennis: “The Anita Cochran effort was an abortion that should never have seen the light of day – the concept offends but the song itself was okay”
Sadly, it wasn’t an abortion. It slipped past amniocentesis right into our radios.
I think a lot of these songs aren’t bad though. They’re boring maybe, but they’re not really all that bad.
I’ll be impressed, though, if there are some inspired choices: Not Ready to Play Nice, for example. It’s the single most self-indulgent song in the history of country music yet it won all the awards even though no one ever heard it (which maybe is the reason it won all the awards . . .).
Once again, it’s hard to argue that “no one ever heard” a platinum-selling single off of a double-platinum album.
I think most of these songs are pretty poor, although Kevin’s list wouldn’t be mine (not enough Bucky!). But I’m enjoying it.
I agree with “Shiftwork”, “This Ain’t Mexico”, “The One In The Middle” and “I Wanna Hear A Cheatin’ Song”. I’ve never actually heard “Biker Chick” but I suspect that I’d agree with that one being on the list as well. The others aren’t really bad, just mediocre. I’m not a huge Montgomery Gentry fan, but I like”She Couldn’t Change Me” better than most of their efforts. Admittedly, that isn’t saying much, but I wouldn’t have put this particular song on the list.
Love the comments on the songs, particularly Chuck Wicks and Buddy Jewel.
But I have to agree with Casey about ‘She Couldn’t Change Me’. That’s one of the few decent songs they’ve done so I hope it’s not he only MG entry.
Great list can’t wait for the next.
OT: is that Jewel ad (left corner) confusing anyone but me? Rockstar favorites? Since when is Jewel a rockstar? And since when has the term “acoustic” been used to describe a smoking technique? Can someone explain this to me please?
Re. “Shiftwork”–I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard people sing that title, and left out the “f” (LOL).
As for “This Ain’t Mexico”–well, the less said about it, the better (IMO).
As much as I love (read: worship) Faith Hill, that song fully deserves to be on that list.
I love it, each and every song belongs on that list.
I agree with Paul on the Anita Cochran song – to electronically add Conway Twitty’s voice from bits and pieces of songs and interviews is just as bad as John Rich declaring Johnny Cash would have been a McCain supporter – just sacrilege to the men’s memories and legacies. But the song itself isn’t a half-bad effort and had she left Conway out of it, I’d be a fan of the song.
“Cringeworthy” is too kind for “Shiftwork”. That is far and away one of the weakest and sorriest excuses for a duet ever! They don’t even sound like they were in the same state when it was recorded. Faux duets are a huge musical pet-peeve.
Shame on Strait for having any part of that mess.
“Stealing Cinderella”… There’s not enough wine in California to go with that cheeze! Uggghhhh….
“Biker Chick”… Really, Jo Dee??
I like she couldnt change me. I had to laugh at the comment about Chuck Wicks, but I suppose the last laugh is his though, because he is boning Julianne Hough. Lucky Bastard!
“The Way You Love Me” isn’t that bad, but the lyrics do come off as a bit corny