There’s been plenty of music tracks reviewed here on Freezenet this year. One question is, what was the worst reviewed all year? We continue the tradition of counting down the top 10 tracks that has irked us the most all year.
Last year, we counted down the top 10 worst tracks of 2014. While there was plenty to despise in those tracks, they aren’t the only tracks out there that sounded terrible. We certainly had a few tracks that really made us wish we wanted those 2 to 8 minutes of our lives back. So, without further ado, here’s the 2015 edition of the top 10 worst tracks we’ve heard.
10. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
[RIAA]
Kicking off the top ten is a track with an overused megaphone filtering on the vocals and a sudden ending. This track simply disappointed.
4.5/10
9. Phillip Phillips – Home
[RIAA]
This track earns its spot with unimaginative lyrics combined with hardly anything of interest throughout. While commercials may sample the only redeeming factor in this entire track, this track simply failed to impress as a whole.
4/10
8. Collective Soul – December
[RIAA]
Meaningless and pointless lyrics continues to be a theme and this track continues that theme. With vibes from a bygone and outdated era and an overall lack of emotion, this track proved to be bland and boring.
4/10
7. Ace Ventura & Captain Hook – The Jolly Roger (Original Mix)
[Commercial]
It’s not often a track from a non-RIAA member makes the list, but this entry certainly deserved its place. This track was long and had many build-ups, but zero follow through. As a result, this track contained nothing but boredom and disappointment.
4/10
6. Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
[RIAA]
This track could have been decent, but the vocals completely ruined the listening experience. The vocals were so bad, it dragged this track all the way down to being this far up the list.
4/10
5. Stone Temple Pilots – Between the Lines
[RIAA]
When this list was compiled, I knew I had a problem ordering the list after seeing the number of “4” scores. In fact, this was the hardest decision I faced: which was worse? The Stone Temple Pilots track or the Queens of the Stone Age track. Ultimately, this track won out because it sported fewer redeeming values and was, well, just plain boring.
4/10
4. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
[RIAA]
Considering pop was a near landslide on last years list, it may be a surprise to see far fewer pop tracks on this list. In fact, where are the pop tracks? Right here starting at number 4. A guitar that’s stuck in auto-pilot and vocals that just sounded awful certainly made this the worst track that scored a 4 here. It’s also a track with very few, if any, redeeming value.
4/10
3. Cage the Elephant – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
[RIAA]
How many cliches can one cram into a single track? Well, we don’t really know, but this track certainly put forth a kingly effort into finding out. With absolutely nothing positive about this track to be heard, this track snaps up the number 3 slot in our list.
3/10
2. Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
[RIAA]
A slightly older track to say the least. Still, this cheerleader anthem hit all the wrong notes. For us, listening to this track was akin to torture – so much so that we’d rather not go into any further detail.
2/10
1. Justin Bieber – Baby
[RIAA]
Speaking of torture, what could possibly take the number 1 spot in our top 10 list after such a train wreck? Well, it was probably no contest with this track that tortured many poor souls for the years after its release. Repeated plays of this track is enough to make many people violent, that’s for sure.
2/10
Honorable Mentions
There were a few tracks that still made is give a thumbs down that didn’t quite make the list. Here are a few that made us shake our heads.
Theory of a Deadman – Bad Girlfriend (RIAA) Dirty lyrics can make a track sound great. Dirty lyrics can make a track sound like it’s in poor taste. This was the later. Throw in vocals that are simply all too familiar and you got a track worthy of mention on this list.
5.5/10
Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk (Feat. Bruno Mars) (RIAA) When average backup singers are the best part of the track, you know you have a problem. The main vocals did its fair share of wrecking the overall sound and the flow was completely amiss here.
5.5/10
Coldplay – Clocks (RIAA) A track that starts off strong doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to end strong. This track is a prime example of this. With nonsensical lyrics and average vocals, this track manages to only prove to be passable at best.
5/10
Taylor Swift – Shake It Off (Commercial) With brass that wears out its welcome and cringe-worthy lyrics, the only thing this track was able to barely shake off was being placed on the main top 10 list. With very few ways to improve this track, this ended up being a dead on arrival track. The only thing that’s positive about this track was a positive attitude.
5/10
We hope you enjoyed this list. Stay tuned for the top 10 best tracks forthcoming in the new year! Also, be sure not to miss our top ten lists for video games in the coming days.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
