Song titles that hurt performance

[K.]

Can anybody think of a song whose title arguably damaged the song's performance?

I'm sure most people will post songs with controversial or scandalous titles (although I'd argue that such titles often help, like Ceelo's f*** you, for example).

There also periodically has been a trend of naming songs something unrelated to the actually lyrics of the chorus. I think this can sometimes work, especially for established artists. But sometimes it doesn't.

For example, lately I have been listening to Artifice by SOHN. The word artifice doesn't feature heavily (if at all) in the lyrics of the song. The song is still reasonably new to me, and while it is decently catchy, it's not a pop song where the chorus is stuck in your head for hours.

So the problem with the title, which I might otherwise appreciate, is that when I'm deciding what to listen to in my playlist and I see the title, I don't hear the chorus of the song in my head. I know I like it, but it doesn't inspire me to listen to the song in the same way. Does that make sense?

[Grün]

How to Touch a Girl - JoJo

Not that it would have been the biggest smash hit in the world, but after Too Little Too Late, she really could have had something going. I think the title wrecked it because it reads sexual instead of the song's true intent.

[Luckie Starchild]

^^ I'm sure it was a huge hit with child molesters though.

[Verisimilitude]

Britney's "Work Bitch" for starters, and that weird "Work Work" edit didn't help much.

[Luckie Starchild]

How about Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon-Bon?"

It sounds good if you say it with a French accent though... shake your bon-bon...

[Glove Slap]

George Michael's I Want Your Sex is a famous example of this.

Granted it reached #2 on the Hot 100 due to strong sales, but a lot of radio stations banned it or limited its airplay.

[JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME]

Apr 16, 2014 20:12:00 GMT -5 Glove Slap said:

George Michael's I Want Your Sex is a famous example of this.

Granted it reached #2 on the Hot 100 due to strong sales, but a lot of radio stations banned it or limited its airplay.

Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" faced similar difficulties due to its title. Some stations wouldn't use the word, instead introducing it as "the new single by Meredith Brooks" or as "Nothing In Between" (which was its clean title). Some retailers even refused to carry the single in the store when it came out.

[Deleted]

Apr 16, 2014 19:46:42 GMT -5 Verisimilitude said:

Britney's "Work Bitch" for starters, and that weird "Work Work" edit didn't help much.

Add 'If U Seek Amy' to the list. My controversial queen. :'(

[ListenToItTwice]

Apr 16, 2014 20:42:30 GMT -5 JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME said:

[
Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" faced similar difficulties due to its title. Some stations wouldn't use the word, instead introducing it as "the new single by Meredith Brooks" or as "Nothing In Between" (which was its clean title).

^ I've heard that on radio you can't say the word "bitch," but you don't have to censor it in a song. Not sure if that's true.

I wonder if "Girls Chase Boys" by Ingrid Michaelson will be hurt by the silliness of the title. There won't be much of a way to know, because she doesn't much of a history on radio, and sales are good so far.

I've always thought "Rockstar 101" was a dumbass title that made no sense for a Rihanna song and that that played a role in its floppiness.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Yet Bitch was a #1 pop hit and I think alternative too.

[sabre14]

Country music artist Clay Walker's single "She Like It In The Morning"

I guess that back in 2008 when the song was released, many stations programming only had a certain amount of printing space when showing a particular single on the programs playlist. So many stations listed this song as "She Likes It In The". I don't know for sure if it hurt the songs chances at being added at radio stations, but it certainly didn't help.

[kmbgs]

Ne-Yo: Miss Independent-->the song always lived in the shadow of the prior smash of the same name released by Kelly Clarkson
Ne-Yo: Because of You--> see above

[Luckie Starchild]

Apr 16, 2014 19:35:24 GMT -5 Grün said:

How to Touch a Girl - JoJo

Not that it would have been the biggest smash hit in the world, but after Too Little Too Late, she really could have had something going. I think the title wrecked it because it reads sexual instead of the song's true intent.

Another example of this is Michael Bolton's "Can I Touch You… There?"

[Green Baron]

Drowning Pool - "Bodies" (after 9/11, it was blacklisted and fell 9-20 on Active and 12-30 on Alternative, the biggest spin loss ever)
Bush - "Speed Kills" (flopped after 9/11, forced to change name to "The People That We Love")
Saliva - "Tick Tick Boom" (same thing)
Jimmy Eat World - "Bleed American" (same thing)

[Acid Eyes]

I've always wondered if the title of "Viva La Vida" limited its success. Granted, it's Coldplay's biggest hit, so it's far from a flop.

But for something that was played so heavily on the radio, I can't help but wonder how many people didn't know what song to look up when searching to download it.

[Lahey's Lucky Star]

Sept 15, 2014 21:27:03 GMT -5 Green Baron said:

Drowning Pool - "Bodies" (after 9/11, it was blacklisted and fell 9-20 on Active and 12-30 on Alternative, the biggest spin loss ever)
Bush - "Speed Kills" (flopped after 9/11, forced to change name to "The People That We Love")
Saliva - "Tick Tick Boom" (same thing)
Jimmy Eat World - "Bleed American" (same thing)

Same thing that could be said for Ke$ha's "Die Young": it looked like it would be on the veins of her next "TiK ToK" before Sandy Hook; after that, it just fell off the map, and the rest of the Warrior era. I still say to this day that the killer of Sandy Hook didn't just kill those children; he also killed Ke$ha's career.

[Deleted]

I remember Shadoe Stevens kinda laughed when he presented "Me So Horny" by 2 Live Crew on AT40 in 1990. That must have been an embarrassment to say on worldwide radio and in that era. LOL

[JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME]

"N____s In Paris" did face controversy due to it's title and it did well in sales. There were some stations that wouldn't play even the edited version. I forget which radio company came under fire for specifically not playing that song in their countdowns and then they had to issue a statement about it later on because some accused them of racism.

[Lahey's Lucky Star]

Sept 16, 2014 17:06:16 GMT -5 JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME said:

I forget which radio company came under fire for specifically not playing that song in their countdowns and then they had to issue a statement about it later on because some accused them of racism.

I know Rick Dees never put it on his countdown regardless of how many requests the song got.

[leonagwen]

Sept 15, 2014 22:32:52 GMT -5 Lahey's Lucky Star said:

Sept 15, 2014 21:27:03 GMT -5 Green Baron said:

Drowning Pool - "Bodies" (after 9/11, it was blacklisted and fell 9-20 on Active and 12-30 on Alternative, the biggest spin loss ever)
Bush - "Speed Kills" (flopped after 9/11, forced to change name to "The People That We Love")
Saliva - "Tick Tick Boom" (same thing)
Jimmy Eat World - "Bleed American" (same thing)

Same thing that could be said for Ke$ha's "Die Young": it looked like it would be on the veins of her next "TiK ToK" before Sandy Hook; after that, it just fell off the map, and the rest of the Warrior era. I still say to this day that the killer of Sandy Hook didn't just kill those children; he also killed Ke$ha's career.

No it didnt kill Keshas career.Ever hear the song Timber? Number one hit.

[Green Baron]

George Michael - I Want Your Sex?

[JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME]

Sept 17, 2014 19:49:14 GMT -5 Green Baron said:

George Michael - I Want Your Sex?

Very true. There was even a horrible clean radio edit which substituted "sex" with "love" in many places. I have never heard it, but based on how the song is, it would have only worked if George had re-recorded it with the substitutions.