So, there I was. At the gym.
I had my iPod on while lifting weights.
Suddenly, this guy was standing next to me looking like he wanted to talk.
I pulled out one ear bud and smiled at him.
He said, “Are you Christine Kane?”
I told him yes.
He said that he’d seen me perform and that he wanted to say hi. We talked a little bit about music. I thanked him for introducing himself, etc.
Then, as he was walking away he said, “God, it’d be cool to see what’s on your iPod.”
And I smiled.
When you’re a musician, everyone thinks that you walk around listening to Miles Davis or Bjork or Phillip Glass, lost in your own tragically hip taste in music.
Only here’s the thing:
As he said that, I was putting my ear buds back in to hear Ton Loc singing Funky Cold Medina.
And here’s the other thing:
Funky Cold Medina is not the uncoolest song on my iPod. (Now, an iPhone.)
This week, I was panting away on the elliptical. And, well, I’ll just go ahead and admit it right here…
Hannah Montana’s I Got Nerve came on and pretty much made my morning. (I turned my iPhone face down so as to hide her picture – lest anyone else who had “seen me perform” was nearby.)
I have musician friends who would crawl under a rock and die before they’d admit to some of their uncool iPod songs. In fact, most of them would mock me to no end for what I’ve written here.
So, I thought I’d open this one up to you, dear readers.
What is the uncoolest song on your iPod?
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How hilarious! I just came from the gym and Hannah Montana was playing on my iPhone while I was there. Actually it was mostly from Miley’s new CD, but some other Hannah songs played at random.
My uncoolness….Most folks would be surprised to find that sandwiched inbetween Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, Skillet and Aerosmith is the complete collection of the Carpenters and Carole King.
All right, look – for a short time, it was “cool” to think John Denver was uncool. Especially around here, when John Boy & Billy (redneck DJs) would make fun of him endlessly. But he was never actually uncool. He was a wonderful songwriter and great performer and activist. I’m really glad I got to see him perform before he died. Not every song was great, but Annie’s Song? It’s beautiful! John Denver was, and is – FAR OUT! /end soapbox
Boy, what a touch question. I’ve got thousands of songs on my old iriver. I am very ecclectic in my taste, everything from Ayub Ogada to The Ditty Bops is on that little hard drive. Basically once disco hit, I stopped listening to most pop music, and concentrated on world, new age, bluegrass, jazz, and folk.
Among the ones I’d least like to have others know about are:
Harry Truman by Chicago
96 Tears by ? and the Mysterians
Wipe Out by the Surfaries
Dog Eat Dog by Adam and the Ants
Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow
Tubthumping by Chubawamba
Our Lips Are Sealed by The Go Go’s
I Melt With You by Modern English
Lady by Styx
I am sure there are other songs on there that would cuase someone else to cringe, but these are a few of the ones I secretly enjoy.
Another thread that might be fun to start is 5 great songs on my mp-3 player that nobody knows about.
Colin–I am with ya on the chant, have a whole album on my Pod…love it, love it, love it…and it’s not uncool!
As for the uncool, guess my confession would include Sinead O’Connor–”Nothing Compares 2 U”. A few weeks ago it popped into my head while I was in the shower…I was still singing it 3 days later so I gave in and bought it. Love to sing the “fancy restaurant” part really loud and southern-like : )
I think I may have you all beat but first a few comments.
1. Hanana Montanta would be “too-cool” which is not necessarily a good thing.
2. Funky Cold Medina is awsome and I think it is too cool it is on your music player.
3. I think “musiclectric” may have me beat with “achy breaky heart” but maybe not.
4. I think a lot of the songs all of you posted are really cool, so am I totally un-cool?
6. I am with Jer, I am too cool to own an I-pod. They are way too expensive for a simple guy like me. I am plain old levis and cheap white cotton tee’s, not fancy pants. Plus they are evil because they don’t want you to be able to put your music on an MP3 player, and their software messes up all my other music players and I really don’t think this is an accident. So I-Tunes is banned from my computers.
So here it is: probably the most embarasing song that a 40 year old guy, still trying to be cool, could have on his MP3 Music Player: ( sing with me now if nobody is watching )
The song, “Come On Eileen” from the album “Too Rye Ay” by Dexys Midnight Runners.
Go ahead, try to tell me I am not un-cooler than all of you.
Definitely “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake. I don’t think anything comes close to this…
I thought I answered this, but no.
Most uncool song? Funky Poodle by the Wild Horses.
Popular in Cleveland in the early ’80s. Imagine a kind of ghetto-raggae song about getting seduced by a rich dame looking for her poodle in the ghetto!
“I thought to myself, this chick’s crazy! A poor dog like that would end up in burger king.” (and NOT eating there.. more as the tasty entry.
No I-pod. Does anyone remember Bob Weir’s solo album Heaven Help the Fool? I pulled it out from the LP pile a few days ago. “Bombs Away” sure sounds dated! Fortunately it had stopped spinning by the time my twenty year old niece arrived for a little visit. Still, I guess should rip that LP to mp3 . . .
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might be Giants. Takes me back to 1990 in a flash.
I just uploaded Rufus Wainwright sings Judy Garland to my ipod. Zing goes the hamstrings and my heart!!
My entry: “Sweet Home Alabama,” a hip-hop version by two obscure white guys who call themselves B.A.M.A.
Like Christine, I turn my iPod upside down when their album cover comes up! I heard this song by chance in a Pilates class several months ago and had to buy it, as I was a student at the University of Alabama while the Lynyrd Skynyrd original was a hit. Any song I can exercise to, that mentions the Crimson Tide and brings back happy old memories, is great to me! But very uncool.
I have two (yes, two) John Travolta albums on my ipod. And I’m not talking about Grease.
Oh, I almost forgot, Michael Bolton Swings Sinatra. A classic.
You guys have mentioned quite a few of my own, but “Rainbow Connection” (Kermit) still does it for me, as do Sinatra’s “High Hopes”, Sammy Davis Jr.’s “I Gotta Be Me” and “Climb Every Mountain” (The Sound of Music) — all from my Pick Me Up Off The Floor playlist.
“Head Over Heels” by the Go Gos.
Berlin “Blowing Sky High” takes a close second.
Are you sure this can’t be traced back to me?
Wow! I’m amazed at the great variety of super-cheese we’re all listening to.
I have to say that it doesn’t look like anyone mentioned Elvis… until now.
I suppose it depends on your taste but I’ve got some early Elvis b-sides as well as some serious Vegas Elvis on my iPod.
Just imagine me running on the treadmill singing along poorly to ‘Way Down’. Uncool doesn’t begin to describe it.
colleen- I LOVE ELVIS! there, I said it
He and Barry each have a big part of my heart, lol
un-coolest song on my iPod- Take on Me by A-Ha; it’s the Britney Spears (I’m A Slave 4 U, Toxic and Boys) that make me flip the screen over though
and as for as Atlantic Starr, my high school boyfriend and I sang Always as a duet at one of our choir concerts- total CHEESE!
Recent iTunes purchases that may make you go “hmmmmm”- Dan Fogelberg’s Believe in Me, Gotta Go My Own Way from HSMusical 2, and Tommy Lee’s album Tommyland: The Ride!
okay, I’ve exposed way too much…..
Neat topic! Too many way uncool songs to choose from, but I enjoy ‘em all (along with the “cooler” stuff). A small sampling…
– “Little Arrows” by Little Leapy Lee
– “Indiana Wants Me” (I forget who that was, but such drama!)
– “I had a Dream I was a Beatle” by Donna Lynn
– The song/answer song combo of “The Wild Side of Life” (Hank Thompson) and “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” (Kitty Wells)
Oh my God!!! “Indiana Wants Me” — I haven’t thought about that song in years!! Sung by R. Dean Taylor, the ultimate in one-hit wonders — here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoeLOD9zD6A
I was a kid when that was a hit on the radio, and I remember when it came on the car radio the siren sounds drove my mom crazy thinking that police she couldn’t see were after her….!
Okay, I have to weigh in on this. I don’t have an iPod but my “uncoolest” song is “Nightshift” by The Commodores. I have no idea why I love this song so much but my husband thinks my unexplainable love for this song is hysterical. I guess I have a deeply repressed love for Lionel Ritchie. Can anyone say “Hello?”
Oh, God Lord, I just went back and looked at my 80s mix that I had made a while back. I think I have worse than “Nightshift.” I actually have “We are the World!” There it’s out.
C’mon, everyone knows the winner is “My Sharona”!!
Rori–That “My Sharona” beat is un-beat-able!! Now that you reminded me of it I want it on my iPod! Also reminds me of “Whip It!”
I end up with 9 days of music on the lap top, but keep the iPod to some really select 500 songs… but I ended up blasting myself with my son’s Inside Out by YellowCard…. we share the same iTunes account and it snuck into my top rated songs… scared the dickens out of me.
Dave
Rori and Amy
I saw the Roamntics play in the early 80’s at a dive bar, just outside of Atlantic City, NJ. My Sharona still rocks and reminds me of High School…
BTW I have the Punk Versions of “Come On Eileen” and “Take on Me” Two very COOL songs…
And not on this current play list but waiting on my computer is “My Cheeseburger” by the Veggie Tales, I love that song
Christina
Cool story
And who couldn’t love the cheeseburger song….especially the part about wiping the dirty cheese off just for yoooooouuuu…..
So now all we have to do is get Christine to record her version of the 10 cheeziest songs on this list …. Weird Al Yankovich watch out !!
Too funny, I’ve been inspired to download so many of these, so it will be quite a contest to determine the most officially uncool.
Right now I’m listening to Hank Williams Jr, “I’d love to knock the hell out of you”. 
I also like “Mind your own business”…. (HanK Williams Jr) and I have an unforgiveable amount of Willie Nelson loaded into the thing…
Okay, I just took a good hard look, and I think we can all agree that really, truly, I win.
1) The theme song from the Banana Splits tv show
2) Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush)
3) Rough Sex featuring Delicious (what was I thinking?!?!?!)
4) Waaaaay too many Megan Slankard songs… I purchased her album on itunes when she was a candidate on TLCs “What Not to WEar”. I have no shame.
I’m new to this site. Hello everyone!
I cannot BELIEVE that I am admitting this…on my iPod is quite possibly the worst song of all time….”Oops I Did It Again” by Britney Spears.
Shhh…don’t tell anyone!
The Partridge Family
Come on Get Happy!
“Dim all the lights” by Donna Summer. Oh my God, I have loved that song since I first heard it on the radio way back when. Also “Rapture” by Blondie, and “Magic” by Olivia Newton John. Love the Xanadu soundtrack.
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