10 Popular Songs that Everyone Likes, But I Don't

First of all, I apologise immediately so don't go and write a huge article about how much you hate me. Unfollow me on social media if you don't like my views, like a normal person. But, again, this in no way states how I feel about the particular artist (unless it's U2, then it does)—I'm only stating how I feel about the songs themselves. It's going to be a top ten list with possible mentions of more in between.

Everyone has those songs that are by popular artists or artists that are universally acknowledged as great that they don't particularly like purely because it doesn't suit their ears. I hear people talk smack about Dylan songs every single day of the week and yet, I am saying nothing about it (except stay away from me, heathens). But, I have managed to compile a list of ten songs by popular artists that I have heard many times but have never been able to get used to.

The one thing that was difficult to articulate was why on earth I didn't like these songs, because I really wanted to enjoy them. Everyone else enjoys these songs and I felt like I was being a bit stupid for not liking them very much. I realised that I also have an opinion about these things, but it doesn't really say anything about the artist/band themselves since there are other songs by them I do enjoy. I find the reason I normally don't like a song is because of the way it sounds rather than the lyrics of the song. Hence, this is why I'm making a list of songs by popular/great artists that I do not like at all.

I'll be giving reasons for each of them and I'll try to reason with you throughout. I hope you can understand that I have listened to these songs over and over again—I could just never get used to them. They just don't sound right to me. I'm not telling you what to like and what not to like; instead, I'm telling you about how I feel about certain songs. Again, this is not about the artist (except U2. I'm sorry, this is a Bono-free household).

Also, you may find numbering but this is in no particular order. The numbers are there to keep track of the list.

1. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith

This song to me was just purely boring. I think it fit well with the film Armageddon but as a stand-alone song it doesn't really do a lot. It's a change in sound for Aerosmith but again, it sounds boring. I listened to the song a lot a few years ago hoping that I would like it because of how much everyone called it a "classic." But I just couldn't find it anything other than completely bland.

2. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness

I like the guitar in the background and the guitar solo is pretty good, but this is something I'd call "cheesy rock." The song is very typical and the sound is just cheesy. I remember listening to it whilst I was still in school and thinking that the song was alright. But I found as I expanded my view on rock from the same era, this particular song just didn't do it for me. It got pushed to the back because of its lack of anything. It wasn't doing anything I hadn't heard a million times before. The song itself doesn't have an exciting sound. This is something quite strange to say when you're talking about The Darkness, who are never boring.

3. "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John

Now, I think Elton John is great. He's one of the reasons I loved playing the piano when I was little. But I did grow out of him, sorry guys. This song, though, was always on my block list. It's an awful pop song that doesn't show off Elton John's poetic skills, or his piano skills, or his rock and roll skills. It's just a nothing song. It's bland and far too pop to be considered a good song at all. It's not like Tiny Dancer, or it's not like Bennie and the Jets, and it's definitely no I Want Love (which is my favourite Elton John song). I just think this was a very sad attempt at trying to be a crowd pleaser. Altogether, it is an awful song, though.

4. "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence

I can't stand this song, I'm very sorry. It sounds so damn depressing and just so badly executed. It's a cheesy attempt at trying to put together soft piano music and hard rock and it sounds awful. The song My Immortal, however, is so much better that I had trouble coming to terms with the fact that both songs are by the same band. The problem I think was that at the time this song was being released, it wasn't a new or exciting sound—it was the same depressing stuff over and over again. The song itself was badly written, badly composed and badly executed. It just didn't fit together well.

5. "This Ain't A Scene" by Fall Out Boy

I have pretty much always disliked this song. I don't know why but I think it's because of the terrible sound of the song. It's trying very hard to be 70s rock and roll and totally fails at it. To be honest, with a gun to my head I couldn't tell you a song I liked by Fall Out Boy. They've always been either thoroughly average or below average, but this song has to be one of their cheesiest and their worst. It's just noise, it's not even musically any good.

6. "Shadow of the Day" by Linkin Park

Another needlessly depressing song. I've never really listened to a lot of Linkin Park but this was one of the first songs I heard by them and it was awful. I like Bleed it Out, though, that was alright. But this song just felt like I didn't want to listen to it. The song was way too depressing with the background music, then depressing with the singing and then depressing with the lyrics. I felt I was getting depressed just listening to it. It was needless and the song itself isn't even that good at all; musically, it just sounds like a mess. I really did try to like the song when I first listened to it, but I just couldn't.

7. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana

I apologise to absolutely everyone in the history of humanity ever. But I just don't like this song. The song Lithium is more my thing when it comes to them but on the whole, I'm just not interested in Nirvana. Nirvana are the band you say you listen to in order to sound edgy and different. When in reality, the songs are really just noise. Smells Like Teen Spirit just sounds messy and not really very good musically to me. I've never really liked the sound of the song—it's almost like it's trying too hard that I became completely disinterested. It didn't invite me into the story like other songs do; it just made a lot of noise and expected me to like it.

8. "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" by Panic at the Disco

I have pretty much always hated this song. It's badly written, it sounds cheesy as hell and I always thought the song itself was very funny. I don't like the sound because again, it tries to do that awful blend between soft music and hard rock which ends up just not working at all. I don't like the way this song is laid out either, the overall sound is just very typical of early 2000s rock music. And it's damn awful.

9. "Dani California" by Red Hot Chilli Peppers

This is a shame because I really like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I think they're great. I just really don't like this song. Again, it's cheesy, it's not the great smooth sound of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. It's basically what happens when they try to do a strange fusion between rock and roll and country music; it just really didn't work for me. It sounds great the first time you listen to it and slowly declines after that. Once you start upon the Red Hot Chilli Pepper discography, this turns out to be one of their worst attempts. It's just a really annoying song.

More Mentions!

• "Still Breathing" by Green Day
• "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
• "From Yesterday" by Thirty Seconds to Mars
• "Love Me Do" by The Beatles
• "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran
• "Vertigo" by U2
• "Roll With It" by Oasis
• "Last Resort" by Papa Roach
• "Just" by Radiohead
• "Love is Blindness" by Jack White

10. "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen

I really, really, really like Queen, but I really, really, really don't like this song and it happens to be by Queen. I remember the first time I heard this song. I was still at school and it was around the time Michael Jackson died (I remember quite a few things that happened around that time). All I can really recall is thinking "who thought that this song was a good idea?" It sounds terrible. Let's put it this way, I'd rather listen to the songs from Hot Space than that. Unfortunately enough for me, I have to listen to it every Saturday since they blast it at work every afternoon. I find myself hating the song more and more as the weeks go by. It's so damn cheesy it's almost funny. Sorry Freddie, this song is, in my opinion, awful. But if you want to know, my favourite song by Queen is I'm Going Slightly Mad. Now that's a song (and a music video)!