Welcome to the fourth annual top 10 worst music we’ve reviewed this year. This year, we’ve reviewed a lot of interesting music from a large variety of genre’s. Some tracks are great, some tracks are innovative, and, as is the case here, some tracks just hit all the wrong notes.
At the end of every year, we look back to the year that was and wonder what was particularly memorable. It has been a sort of yearly tradition around here and this year is no exception. We start with what was the worst tracks we’ve reviewed all year, then we look at what was the worst video games we’ve reviewed all year. Going into the new year, we take a more positive tone and count down the top 10 best games followed up by a final top 10 best tracks we’ve reviewed all year.
This year, interestingly enough, the scores were a little higher than last year. No track went anywhere near as low as 0.5 as we saw last year, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have any nails on chalkboard moment while reviewing music. So, without further delay, here is the top 10 worst music tracks we’ve reviewed all year!
10. Kiss – Domino
[RIAA]
We’ve heard of Kiss (and really, who hasn’t?), so we decided to actually give this band a listen to see what the actual music was like. We were quite surprised how lackluster this track actually was. It did have half decent guitars, but little else was all that impressive.
5.5/10
9. The Wanted – Glad You Came
[RIAA]
We’re glad that this artist was glad we came, but unfortunately, the feeling just wasn’t mutual. Cliche’d lyrics is great way to get a track onto this list. While the main melody was decent to listen to at first, it was excessively repetitive. We mentioned that it was quite forgettable. It was with good reason and having to look up the track again just to remember what it sounded like pretty much proved that point to us.
5.5/10
8. The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979
[RIAA]
We heard good things about this artist, so we thought it would be a great idea to throw some music from this band on. What we ended up having was, by a hair, the worst rock track we’ve heard all year. While the stuttering effect did, at least, make this marginally memorable, the lyrics were unimpressive and the guitars used were just plain bland.
5.5/10
7. Neon Trees – Everybody Talks
[RIAA]
Pop music retakes control of this list with yet another flop of a track. This time, it’s mood mismatch between the lyrics and the overall sound itself. For good measure, the lyrics were slurred and the vocals hit some strange notes to help ensure this track got a solid footing in the one list on this site you don’t want to end up on.
5.5/10
6. Spice Girls – Spice Up Your Life
[RIAA]
The scores are beginning to creep lower with this older track. This track starts off on the worst possible footing imaginable with such awful lyrics and manages to claw its way back from the brink with the vocals. The lively sounds throughout the track do help, but the vocals and instruments couldn’t successfully get this track off this list.
5/10
5. Shawn Mendes – Stitches
[RIAA]
Reaching the top 5 of our list is this track that seemed to be inescapable at times. This track packs a foul punch with forced rhymes and cliches. The kick being too loud and the generic strumming did few favors for this track. The awkward ending pretty much sealed this tracks fate.
4.5/10
4. Fun. – Some Nights
[RIAA]
We continue to have little fun with pop music with this track. This track serves up a stylistic identity crises. This clunky listening experience gets worse with practically senseless lyrics. This track just leaves so much to be desired.
4/10
3. Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know
[RIAA]
It was quite a battle determining which track just misses the top 3 and which one clinches this spot for going down big. This track, however, manages to just edge out the previous track though the mumbling lyrics and really quiet backing instruments. Trying to get any meaning from this track was an exceedingly difficult challenge. The lifelessness in this track helped this track achieve such an extremely low level in quality. What was that? I couldn’t hear what was trying to be accomplished with this track!
4/10
2. Justin Bieber – Sorry
[RIAA]
If this artist was going for a lifetime achievement award for terrible music, this artist is doing an incredible job. For the third year straight, we have this all too familiar artist back on the list. This year, the artists track just barely missed the top slot for the worst track this year. While the piano was half decent and the vocals were OK, it was the mastering that completely wrecks the track. In parts, you can hear that awful pumping sound that turn this track from annoying to a painful listening experience. Further making this track particularly grating were the unnatural female vocal samples that just sound badly chopped. The only thing impressive about this track? It wasn’t the worst one we’ve heard all year.
3.5/10
1. Nicki Minaj – Starships
[RIAA]
This years winner for worst belongs to this track. The best part about this track was the use of overly used synths and cliche’s. It’s all downhill from there. Random out of place nursery rhymes thrown in with offkey synths along with sections that were far too brief took this track over the top as this years worst track.
2.5/10
So, for the second year in a row, RIAA music has swept the list of worst music we’ve heard all year. Mercifully, there were no honorable mentions at least. Anyway, join us tomorrow as we delve into the top 10 worst video games we’ve reviewed all year.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
