Hit songs aren’t always popular with the artists who release them. In fact, some artists have gone so far as to say they hated their biggest hits.
When a song gets so big that it becomes all an artist is known for, it can be a mixed bag of emotions for them. The ubiquitous nature of said tracks can lead artists to hate one of their biggest songs. Some musicians eventually come around to the track, while others will never take to the song.
Keep reading to see three classic rock artists who have hated some of their biggest hits.
Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire”
Despite the fact that “We Didn’t Start The Fire” earned Billy Joel a Grammy nomination and a No. 1 hit, the artist has admitted on several occasions that he hated one of his biggest hits.
“I didn’t really think it was that good to begin with,” Joel said during a 1994 Q&A. “Melodically, it’s almost like a dentist’s drill.”
Then, during a 2021 interview on We Didn’t Start The Fire: The History Podcast, Joel compared the song’s music to “a mosquito buzzing around your head,” calling it “more annoying than musical.”
On top of that, Joel told Rolling Stone that the lyric-heavy song is a challenge to perform live.
“Sometimes I’m watching people sing along, hoping they’ll guide me,” Joel said. “Because you can get one word wrong and it’s a train wreck… It’s walking on a tightrope with that thing.”
Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”
In 1979, Queen released “Don’t Stop Me Now”, a track that’s only grown in popularity since its release. Freddie Mercury penned the lyrics to the track, and Brian May was admittedly not a fan.
“I didn’t really take to it in the beginning. I didn’t feel totally comfortable with what Freddie was singing at the time,” May told Guitar Player in 2021, adding that he “found it a little bit too flippant in view of the dangers out there of AIDS and stuff.”
Eventually, May adjusted his view of the song because he saw that it “gave people great joy.”
“I don’t have any quarrel with it now. And I enjoy playing it onstage,” he said. “… It’s wonderful that everybody wants to sing that. And in singing it with us, they express their own joy and their own determination to make the best out of their lives, and to keep on and not get knocked down by things. It’s an amazing kind of spiritual lift. That’s what the song has become.”
R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People”
Released in 1981, R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People” became a Top 10 hit for the band, but that wasn’t enough to make singer Michael Stipe like it. Decades after its release, the artist revealed that he kind of hated one of his band’s biggest hits.
“It’s a fruity pop song written for children,” Stipe told the BBC in 2016. “If there was one song that was sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for the rest of time, I would not want it to be ‘Shiny Happy People.’”
Over the years, however, the band came to terms with the track.
“We just made it a song about kids,” bassist Mike Mills told Rick Beato in 2024. “It’s for kids. ‘Shiny Happy People’ is a great song. I’m proud of it. We don’t hate it.”
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