Cheeeeeeeeeese! Best overproduced bourgeois monster hit songs

[Bossy Monkey]

Poll question: Cheeeeeeeeeese! Best overproduced bourgeois monster hit songs

Or least bad, if you prefer. Or most successfully baroque. Or something.

For some childish reason, I only included songs I actually like. For some other reason, I just couldn't bring myself to put either "Good Vibrations" or "The Long and Winding Road" on here, though clearly either qualifies. For some other other reason, I was somehow able to keep Phil Spector out of the poll. Go figure.

Could have done the entire poll with nothing but rock bands playing with orchestras. "Conquistador," "Nights in White Satin," or that Metallica thing all leap to mind. I sort of meant "Dream On" to be a placeholder for all these, but included the ever-popular Other option as an alternative.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. how about anything by Journey

They're the kings of cheese rock.

[Bossy Monkey]

14. I gave them enough publicity in the previous poll

Best worst pop song: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=298652

[underpants]

2. I can't vote I have no idea what "Jet" is about

and neither do you or anyone for that matter.

[Bossy Monkey]

17. I'm sure this will clear everything up

http://www.amiright.com/misheard/artist/wings.shtml
Even better is this gem misheard from "Junior's Farm":
Ah, you should have seen me with the polka band

The more I learn of the actual lyrics of "Jet," the more I realize that you're right!

[MrBenchley]

28. Great site...

Everytime I hear "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Elton John, I swear there's a line in it about "No more Augie Doggie".

Thanks to your site, I find that I'm not the only one who heard that...and that it was supposed to be "I can't light no more of your darkness."

[supernova]

31. Jet was the family dog

at the time. A black lab, I believe. In the words of Paul: "It's just me singin' to me dog." :D

[Bossy Monkey]

34. Moot point anyway; I meant to put on "Band on the Run" (Oops)

Boy, is this thread going to the dogs or what? (Black labs, Augie Doggie) :)

[StopTheMorans]

3. IRIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm originally from the Buffalo area, and all I ever used to hear (before I moved here) was, "so, at least you guys have snow and the goo goo dolls". I hate them both:)

[meegbear]

4. Sting ... ANYTHING post-Police is bad

I bet you think this CD's about you ....

[Archae]

6. Best thing about the Police...

Was when they broke up.

Sting showed just how horrible he truly is as a "singer."

And Stewart Copeland went on to make some KILLER intrumental stuff.
(I totally enjoy his video game music, like for the "Spyro the Dragon" games.)

[jonnyblitz]

12. i agree! Sting is the epitome of yuppie corporate CRAP!!

:puke:

[Archae]

5. HOW DARE YOU!!

Thou must not blaspheme the most holy group, AEROSMITH! :-)

Seriously, I love "Dream On," and the orchestra version I think is great.

[kmla]

7. You completely forgot Meatloaf.

Or ANYTHING produced by Jim Steinman, for that matter.

If I hear "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" one more time, I think my brain will bleed.

[Bossy Monkey]

9. Nothing I can say; total eclipse of the heart

I said it was songs I like. Actually, I like "Two Out Of Three" and "Paradise by the etc etc". While both are certainly overproduced, I guess they just didn't make the radar compared to his later stuff, such as the one in the subject line above. Mostly, you can't overproduce Meat Loaf because his singing is so over the top that baroque furnishings seem only appropriate.

Wow, I wrote 4 sentences and each contradicts the others. I'm ready for the Bush Administration!

[kmla]

11. Hey - I'm impressed!

And you used the term "baroque"!

I actually didn't think I would see that word used in any of the DU forums today.

Don't be so rough on yourself - don't think of them as contradictory sentences. Think of them as "stream of consciousness" thoughts that were given life as printed word...

;-)

[MrBenchley]

8. Someone left a cake out in the rain....

HOW could you leave out MacArthur Park by Richard Harris?

[Bossy Monkey]

10. Oh NOOOOOOO

I never heard the word "best" associated with "McArthur Park" before...

[MrBenchley]

25. I blame that song

for all of Barry White...a huge lush orchestra sawing away and a small battalion of background singers, all to mask the fact that the person whose name is on the record can't sing hardly at all but has a good speaking voice...

[bif]

20. Yeah, MacArthur Park!

Absolutely can't listen to that anymore. And to think I sort of liked it when I was a kid.

[MrBenchley]

27. I still remember

seeing Harris do the song on the Johnny Carson Tonight show...and the sort of "what the hell was THAT?" feeling it evoked.

And yeah, I sort of liked it for a while too..

[Bossy Monkey]

40. Much much much more than you want to know about MacArthur Park

http://dav4is.8m.com/Music/macarthur.html
Forgive previous misspelling of title

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Sorry, But Your Choices Are "Ungreat"

Most of those songs are not overproduced. They may be maudlin or overly dramatic, but most of these are fairly tightly produced.

How you left Phil Spector out is a mystery. EVERYTHING he did was grosssly overproduced. He sucked the life out of a Beatles album with his puking all over it, for goodness sake. A BEATLES ALBUM!

Everything Jim Steinmann has ever touched is grotesquely overproduced as well.

And, even though i'll get flamed, a lot of Bruce Springsteen stuff from the mid-70's was incredibly overproduced. Not so much anymore, but even Born In The USA has too much faux ambience introduced. The drums sound like they're in a different county than the rest of the band and the guitar sounds like it's coming out of a paper towel tube.

I could think of lots, lots more. So, i went with Other.
The Professor

[Iris]

49. Libras unite!

I agree.

[number six]

15. It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys

OK, so they're a mediocre New Order, but come on it's a massive Catholic Guilt Nordic Disco Epic!

[AntiCoup2K4]

16. Guns N Roses - November Rain

Definitely an overproduced, Jump the shark moment for these guys.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. EEEEEP!

That is one horrible song, badly produced, treacly performed, and with the most out of tune guitar solo ever committed to tape.
The Professor

[supernova]

32. Wow!

I gotta go with this one too. Good call. Not to mention extremely icky, over-the-top video to match.

[Wickerman]

18. Lamplight Serenade from the first Kansas record

The only Kansas I can stand to this day. Oh, you said hit, nevermind - it might have been a single, hell, I don't know.

[rock]

19. Wasn't, in fact, "Conquistador" done with synths?

Although it did sound like an orchestra. (Maybe I'm wrong and it was a real orchestra. I just always thought it was electronic!?)

[ProfessorGAC]

21. No. It's An Orchestra

The entire album was a live performance with the London Philharmonic. I had that album back in the day. It's a pompous piece of crap. I regretted buying it then, and i only salve my conscience with knowing i was just a kid then.

The state of synth art (i am a LONG time synthesist) was insufficient to have created that depth and texture of string sounds back in the early 70's. Remember that 99.9% of all synths in use were monophonic back then. To have done that on synth would have required 150 tracks!

They could have used a Mellotron, like the Moody Blues did, but you can't get the shifts in bow attack and scale runs on a Mellotron. Because of the way that instrument worked, you really could only use if for padding by strings, voices, or woodwinds. (There were other tapes available too!)

But, Procol Harum definitely did that with an orchestra, both in studio and live.
The Professor

[mainegreen]

23. I dont know any of these songs!

Umm, I cant vote because I've never heard these songs. Of course I don't listen to radio....

[devilgrrl]

24. What about fuckin' Phil Collins????

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[kmla]

35. Just say the word...

Su - Su - Ssudio.

Excuse me? Could you repeat that?

:wtf:

I agree. There is no real reason for Phil Collins to be producing music at this point in time...

[Bossy Monkey]

37. I keep leaving Phil off every poll

He was actually the inspiration for the Pop Stars Who Should Retire poll (I think I know who kmla would have voted for on that one) but I forgot all about him in the short time it took to put together the poll. I think he falls under the same rubric as "McArthur Park" (ie, best?)

That said, the only possible answer to "What about fuckin' Phil Collins????" is, "No thanks. He's not my type."

[FloridaJudy]

46. Oh yeah, his version of *Rag Doll*

Apparently left poor Tina Turner with bleeding vocal cords for a week. You gotta know the production is over-blown when Ms. Tina's glorious voice is overwhelmed by the special effects.

[HEyHEY]

26. Hot for teacher - Van Halen n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

29. You Lost Me With That Pick

How is that overproduced? The sound is very sparse. There's tons of room between the parts, and there's hardly any echo, reverb, or compression on the whole thing. Musically there's only 2 guitars, drums and bass.

So, what is it about that song that you hear as overproduced? Not criticizing! Just confused.
The Professor

[HEyHEY]

30. It's Van HAlen...always overproduced

Too many solo type riffs.....I love the song but it seems that they're trying too hard to be rockers in it. :shrug:

[ProfessorGAC]

33. I Think We Have Different Definitions of "Overproduced"

That would explain why i didn't understand. I think of overproduced as the culimination of too many parts, too much processing, and too much bad EQ'ing that turns the sound too blurry.

Phil Spector called it a "Wall of Sound". I call it a "Wall of Mush".

So, that's why i wouldn't call that song overproduced. (Or most any of their other stuff, for that matter.) Just a different definition.
The Professor

[HEyHEY]

36. Okay let's try

BIg Country - by Big country?

[supernova]

38. No,

I wouldn't call Big Country overproduced. Just big sounding -- close cousin to Phil Spector, but better done.

Overproduced - let's try The Alan Parsons project.

[HEyHEY]

39. heard of them but I'm unfamiliar with their work

[supernova]

42. Here you go

The Alan Parsons Project

This is a tough thing to say about the engineer of "Dark Side of the Moon" *runs and hides*

but AP stuff just sounds a little too easy, a little to perfect to me.

Go here for samples, esp Eye in the Sky

http://www.theavenueonline.info/site1/tao1.htm

[Bossy Monkey]

41. Alan Parsons produced "Year of the Cat"

so you know which way I'm voting

[supernova]

43. Oh geeze,

Thanks for reminding me. :P Now I'll have YotC stuck in my head all afternoon.

[Bossy Monkey]

44. PS I (and everybody else) also forgot Boho Rhapso. Oh well n/t

[mitchum]

45. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" beats even "Bohemian Rhapsody"...

as the most enjoyable example of pompous schlock

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

47. Can I just make a point about the goo goo dolls PLEASE?

Iris got Johnny Rzeznik out of a freaken two year writer's block. I think that in itself is beautiful. The song is perfectly orchestrated... they sat John down in a room with the movie "City of Angels" and a little while later he came out with a raw version of the song. The goo goo dolls have a lot of talent, and I guess maybe because I have four of their albums I can say this better than most.

Sometimes the stuff you hear on the radio isn't really giving you the whole clue of the band... there is a lot of hard rocking stuff in a goo goo dolls album. Back in Buffalo, they were part of the PUNK scene! They happened to write the song, Name and it got really big so people accused them of selling out...

I personally think Rzeznik is a lyrical genius. To listen to his songs, you can tell that he invests a LOT of time into each of them.

So I know I sort of hijacked your thread but I had to PR a bit.

[Bossy Monkey]

48. Z'all right. If you read my original post, you'll notice I said I like all

these songs. I especially like "Iris," and knew about the writer's block story and was impressed by it. I have no kick against the Goo Goo Dolls except for the name, and even they admit they picked it because it was the most obnoxious thing they could think of.

The poll is specifically about good overproduced songs. Heck, when I was a lad, back in the days of the dinosaurs, Jeff Lynne was my absolute ultimate hero, and I still like him a lot even while thinking his work with Tom Petty was, uh, ill-advised.

I probably shouldn't have put Cheeeeeeese in the subject line. I was just having fun. :)