Songs by unhip artists that are actually great.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

I think I'll start the ball rolling with 'You're my best friend' by Queen, which is actually one of the greatest pop songs of the 1970's (and, entirely responsible for the career of Jellyfish).

[mac56]

1. Huey Lewis and the News.

Yes, Huey Lewis and the News.

They recorded an "a capella" version of "It's Alright" by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions that's absolutely excellent. Completely blows out the cover by Stevie Winwood that came out about the same time.

Speaking of Winwood: "Back In The High Life Again" is a superb pop song. Warren Zevon had a great cover of it too.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

2. I would add 'Breaking the Law' by Judas Priest.

But I don't know whether I actually like the song, or just the majestic video.

[Whitacre D_WI]

5. Fie! Priest rules!

If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by,
You're thinking like a fool, 'cause it's a case of do or die!
Out there is a fortune waiting to be had,
If you think I'd let it go, you're mad.
You've got another thing coming.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

10. Ahem...

I'm aiming for ya
I'm gonna floor ya
My body's coming
All night long

[Whitacre D_WI]

13. Words to live by, my friend.

Words to live by.

[northzax]

28. hey Huey could play

I saw him with the Dead at Autzen Stadium in Eugene in 1993.

[Whitacre D_WI]

3. "Boys of Summer" by Don Henley.

Yes, I hate the Eagles with a passion normally reserved for child molestors and people named "Bush," but that's a damn good song. Sure, the recent pop-punk cover is crap; but the original is quite an achievement, especially when one considers the limited gifts with which Henley had to work.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

4. Yeah, I've always had a sneaking liking for that one.

[mac56]

6. I'll see your "Boys of Summer"..

and raise you "The Heart Of The Matter".

Totally agree with your assessment of Henley and the Eagles. Those two songs, however, are stellar. And if I remember right, Henley's a good progressive. (Hope I'm not wrong on that.)

[Spider Jerusalem]

30. And "The End OF The innocence" wasn't too bad, either...

Mainly liked this part, though.

O beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king

Have to like the very obvious slam on Ronald Reagan.

[LynneSin]

7. EXCUSE ME - but Queen was very hip I tell you

I love Queen - you want to bust on them, you're busting on me!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

8. No, I rather like Queen.

But I don't think they were ever considered 'hip'.

[LynneSin]

26. They were hip

only those who are unhip would think otherwise

[Screaming Lord Byron]

27. I never said I was hip.

Exhibit #1 - Marvin the Paranoid Android.

[Whitacre D_WI]

9. If you're just talking about "unhipness" rather than "crapitude"

I humbly submit "Around the Way Girl," by L.L. Cool J.

Now, I love Mr. Smith, but he doesn't get the same props from the hipster community as some of the more daring rappers out there. Nonetheless, he has a true gift with a pop hook, one which is best exemplified by this song.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

11. OK, I fixed it, there's room enough for unhip and crap.

[fudge stripe cookays]

23. I dig that song too.

I put it on a compilation tape years ago.

I have a goofy fondness for LL. So good even Luka Bloom covered him.

[Loonman]

12. Queen is culturally unhip or crap?

Then you must belong to a culture I want no part of.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

14. Were Queen ever hip?

I don't think they were ever hip, in the sense of cool, like a Lou Reed, a David Bowie. I think they were always too bombastic and successful to achieve hipness. What I'm going on here is that any of the hip people I knew as a kid always held Queen in disdain. Rock Journalists seem to dislike Queen also.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

21. Basically, I fucked this thread up.

[Whitacre D_WI]

15. "Careless Whisper" by Wham!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

16. Yeah, George Michael is a good case in hand.

There's a good definition of someone who is definitely unhip.

[Whitacre D_WI]

17. Sorry, you just said "George Michael" and "in hand" in the same sentence.

I couldn't read the rest of your post through the tears of laughter.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

18. Yeah, I must say, I never thought he was gay before he came out.

That was a huge shock, I tell you. I thought he was straight as a die! Straight as a die!

[Insider]

32. G. Mike: Kissing a Fool

beautiful song, and i guess he was hip/unhip, depending on your preference

[mac56]

20. You must be joking.

"I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet ain't got no rhythm..."

Some of the lamest lyrics ever written.

[Whitacre D_WI]

22. Should've known better than to cheat a friend

The wasted chance that I've been given
No, I'm never gonna dance again
the way I danced with yooooooooooo!


on edit: it's also got the second-worst sax solo ever (edged by a nose by Debbie Gibson's "Foolish Beat," which I also like).

[kmla]

24. But when you think about it, we could use those lyrics

to save millions on our justice system...

"You have been charged with burglary. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty, your honor"

"Not guilty? Well, then, let's see you do the bossa nova."

*defendent does freakishly disrhythmic dance, not even closely resembling the bossa nova*

*The court finds you guilty, son. Guilty feet have got no rhythm. Next case, bailiff."


If you were charged with a misdemeanor, you might have to do the box step. Charged with burglary? The bossa nova. And if you were charged with murder? You must dance like Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance. That's right - you must Riverdance to get away with murder...

[Whitacre D_WI]

19. Pretty much anything from Dio's tenure with Rainbow.

Especially "Kill the King."

[XNASA]

25. "Millennium" - Robbie Williams

Maybe it's because of the ultra-hip James Bond violin riff. Maybe it was the great video.

Maybe it's because if my Grandmother hadn't remarried and changed my Father's surname in the process, yours truly would actually be named 'Robbie Williams'...........but I dig it.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

29. Rock You Like A Hurricane

Go to north Florida and you will still hear this song played hourly on the radio. Every station.

I suppose that Scorpions may have been hip at some specific location at a particular time, but I don't know.

[WillParkinson]

33. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I love that song.

[bubblesby2002]

42. I love that song too!!!!

nt

[buddhamama]

43. "No One Like You" or "Coming Home"

are better songs, imo.

[chenGOD]

31. Justin Timberlake-Cry Me a River

Amazing production. And Justine definitely ain't hip.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

34. He didn't help his cause by using the most famous song-title ever.

[chenGOD]

35. LOL-true true.

But the production was great on that track. I tell you one thing, I saw the MTV awards from this year (maybe?) and I was impressed that they actually used real instruments for his song. (i know, it's sad when i'm impressed by actually seeing real instruments).

But yes, Justine needs to finish while he's mildly ahead.

[Tom_Foolery]

36. Andrew Gold's...

Thank You For Being A Friend

[Screaming Lord Byron]

37. I'll see your Andrew Gold and raise you one Gerry Rafferty.

You know, that one he did which wasn't Baker Street.

[Tom_Foolery]

47. Ahhhh, Gerry Rafferty...

Lead singer for Stealer's Wheel. Their one big hit was STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU. I love the '70s!!

[XNASA]

38. He was one of my favorite guitarists back in the 70's.

Especially for his work in Linda Ronstadt's band.

The leads in "You're No Good" and "When Will I Be Loved" are gems.

Not many people know this but, his mom was the singing voice of Natalie Wood in 'West Side Story' and of Deborah Kerr in 'The King and I'.

[Tom_Foolery]

48. Family Fued

Do you remember the time he was on Family Fued with Richard Dawson? I think it was in the early '80s.

[XNASA]

49. I didn't watch TV from..............

1980 to 1984. So I might have missed it.

[SiouxJ]

39. Queen unhip????!!! They were rock gods back in the day

Much bigger in Europe of course but still, they cannot be called unhip even in the states. Any band that can get beer swilling, face painting football fans off their feet yelling "We Will Rock You" should not be considered unhip. Like to see Justin Timberlake do that.

When I think "unhip" I think of like New Kids on the Block, Wham, Vanilla Ice, perhaps Nelson. You certainly cannot put a legendary, classic band like Queen in a catagory with the likes of them.

But you're right, 'Best Friend' is one of the greatest pop songs ever. They had lots of great songs.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

40. Yeah, I've taken a lot of flak on this one.

All I know is that when and where I grew up, they were deeply unhip.

[SiouxJ]

41. Geez! Where was that?

I grew up in Southern California and "The Game" came out just before my senior year (I think - memory is a bit fuzzy). It was huge! People had it blasting from their boomboxes for about a year. They didn't seem the least bit concerned that they would be called unhip for listening to it.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

44. Scotland. Queen were about three steps below INXS on the cool scale

and INXS were considered deeply uncool. People hated Queen. Now, of course, Queen had been massively successful over there, and their 80's work tailed off in terms of quality, so it may be a product of its time.

[SiouxJ]

45. Huh. Interesting.

I have friends that went to HS in England and Germany at the peak of Queen's 70's success and they thought they were pretty cool. Then again, they were Americans living in England. What they thought was hip might have differed from what the locals did.

[XNASA]

46. Hiya Sioux!!

Personally, I've never owned any Queen product. I did (do?) kinda like 'em, and really love Brian May's playing, but....

I never really thought that they were cutting edge cool. I sorta lump 'em in with the rest of the single oriented arena rockers. They were the best of the single oriented arena rockers, but still............single oriented arena rockers they were.

A guilty pleasure perhaps..............

[SiouxJ]

50. Hey you!

I never even thought of them as "arena rockers" but then again, I don't like labels. They are THE one band I wish I would have seen live though. I've heard from people that have, that they were amazing live. Well, if you don't own any, perhaps you don't know what you're missing. You might be pleasantly surprised. I don't think of them as single oriented at all. I mean, when they started out some their songs were so long that they didn't fit the "hit single" format. ("Prophet's Song and "Bohemian Rhapsody," both off "A Night at the Opera" (1975) were 8 and 6 minutes long respectively) True, in the 80's that may have been what they were going for, but I don't think they started out that way. I would recommend listening to 'Opera' and not 'The Game' if you want to hear them before they discovered their hit single formula.

When I think "arena rock," I think, oh say Kiss and Def Leppard. I don't lump Queen in with them. Freddy's voice certainly didn't fit the arena rocker mold. He had amazing range and control. True, they put on an elaborate show, but it didn't rely totally on pyrotechnics and loud guitars. It relied heavily on his showmanship. Sorta like Bowie.

I guess we are allowed to have differing opinions though, huh?