Your Favorite Rock Stars Won’t Defend These 3 “Bad” Songs, but I Will (Hear Me Out)

Rock stars will have bad songs on occasion; that’s just the nature of songwriting and art as a whole. Sometimes a dud or two will make it to the airwaves or an album. When it comes to the following three songs, though, the rock stars behind them likely won’t ever defend them. I think that’s a little unfair, because there’s something to love about each of these “bad” tunes. Give me your ear (or your eyes, I suppose), and you might just agree with me in the end.

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“Lucky Town” by Bruce Springsteen (1992)

The entirety of the Lucky Town album from 1992 was, no matter how you look at it, pretty successful. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. The song’s fourth single and its title track, however, failed to chart. Bruce Springsteen himself even acknowledged during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1999 that not many fans loved that era of his career in which he wrote songs about being happy and fulfilled, with some domestic bliss mixed in. 

Springsteen was always known as being a voice for the people, crooning about everything from culture to being a working-class guy to heartbreak. I think the lack of love for this album is a little unfair; Lucky Town is a sigh of relief from Springsteen. The music on that album, including its title track, is genuinely good. I think this was a fine addition to his discography, albeit a departure from his usual sound. “Lucky Town” also boasts one of Springsteen’s finest guitar performances, too, in my opinion.

“Hold Me Tight” by The Beatles (1963)

In the early years of The Beatles, the Fab Four did have a handful of flops here and there before virtually every single they released became a hit in some fashion for the rest of the decade. But when it comes to “Hold Me Tight” from With The Beatles, songwriter Paul McCartney has never had fond words for it. He described the rock and roll tune as a “failed single” and noted that he doesn’t have much emotional memory tied to it. Just as well, critics at the time didn’t love the song, either.

Maybe I’m alone here, but I do quite like this song. It has that classic early Beatles sound, rooted in traditional rock and roll. The vocals are off-key, but that somehow makes the song sound more youthful to me. It’s a fine little piece of music history, at the very least.

“Earlybird” by Eagles (1972)

Part of what led to Eagles’ success in the 1970s was Glenn Frey and Don Henley being borderline obnoxious perfectionists. Sometimes that’s what it takes. These weren’t the kind of musicians who threw something at the wall and hoped it stuck. Everything, especially early in their career as Eagles, was meticulously composed. Enter one song, “Earlybird”, from the band’s debut self-titled album from 1972. It’s a silly song with some pretty cheesy stock bird sounds mixed in that made Henley cringe.

“Earlybird” was written by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, and in retrospect, Henley called the song “corny.” While I understand why this entry on our list of “bad” songs won’t soon get praise from one of the biggest rock stars of the era, I also kind of like “Earlybird”. Sometimes, being a bit silly and on-the-nose added some life into otherwise serious albums. And that campiness is what made a lot of country rock albums from the 1970s so unique and listenable.

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