So in past years, I haven't had trouble putting together this list, most of the really bad stuff can be separated out quickly and dealt with as per 1992, 1996 and 2000 but this year...I had to work hard to figure out ten songs that I could even justify putting on a list of the worst hits of 1994...it's that kind of year but I did get there eventually and most of this list is just really saccharine and sappy music in pop and rock or the song just missed the mark.
A reminder of the rules, the songs must have either debuted on the 1994 ARIA singles year end chart or landed higher on the 1994 year end than they did in 1993. "Zombie" by The Cranberries is being left to 1995 as it is higher on the 1995 year end list than it is on the 1994 year end, also a song can't make this list if it's just boring...there has to be something actually wrong with the song,
So with all that in mind, let's get this show on the road, starting with...
Number Ten
Look...I tried...but when a song as saccharine and as tepid as this is the biggest song of the year in a year as good as this one for the charts...we got a problem...
"Lovr Is All Around' by Wet Wet Wet
This cover of The Troggs song was for the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and lyrically it is just the worst kind of pop music cheese in that it's not tasty or fresh but its out of date and there are visible signs of mold starting to spread through the cheese, he feels love in his fingers and toes and from there the feeling only grows only for him to realize that she isn't really recoprocating so he throws himself at her and begs her to let her love for him show. It's this weepy, insincere song that may as well be a simp anthem for the ages, I cannot stand it.
Number Nine
Moving away slightly from simp anthem territory but remaining completely drippy and overly saccharine....
"I Swear" by All-4-One.
Again another song toward the top of the year end chart that slipped into dippity doo, saccharine nonsense, this time a cover of John Michael Montgomery's 1993 country hit song of the same name and while the original is fine enough, John Michael has a sincerity that makes the song work however this pop cover from All-4-One has all the sincerity of a politician making a promise that they KNOW they are 100% going to break because they cannot stick by the promise...swearing by the moon and the stars in the sky is ridiculous and it sounds all completely fake insincere from the vocals. Blergh. Let's move on
Number Eight
At this point, Peter Frampton should declare a moratorium on people covering this song because nobody can cover it and do it well.
"Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain
I am sick to death of people covering this song and wind up making a bigger mess of it than Donald Trump trying to do foreign policy, this time we got the reggae version of the song which still takes out the sisncerity of the original and replaces it with this weirdly hollow sounding song that makes me wonder if they missed the love and sincerity in the Frampton original like that god awful late 80s cover did where it was all oversold annoyance. Ugh. There was no need for this cover, Peter Frampton, I am so truly sorry.
Number Seven
I am going to keep this one brief because just like the covers of "Baby, I Love Your Way"...there was no need for this...
"The Power of Love" by Beverly
We got two different versions of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit "The Power of Love" and I would argue that Celine Dion made the definitive cover of this song to the point we didn't need this screechy dancefloor ready cacophony complete with gang vocals and Beverly singing "I am your lady and you are my man" with all the passion of somebody farting post dinner courtesy of being bloated, it just sounds completely insincere and awful especially when you compare it to the original. Next!
Number Six
Doing this to a great song should be sacrilege...
"Twist and Shout" by Chaka Demus feat. Pliers and Jack Radix
I absolutely adore The Beatles cover of "Twist and Shout", a song that was originally recorded in 1961 by The Top Notes, and for Chaka Demus, Pliers and Jack Radix to grab up chunks of that song for this reggae infused nightmare where it uses to "Twist and Shout" as part of a song goading a girl into having sex with him and it's gross as hell, it's the sort of song that leaves a foul taste that lingers long after the song finishes and I want no part of it. Gross.
Number Five
With this next song, I will attempt answer the titular question and explain in no uncertain terms but why we cannot talk until the song quality improves.
"Can We Talk?" by Tevin Campbell
My answer to the titular question of is no...of course...not when Tevin Campbell sounds like a whiny spoilt brat who is upset that his first crush just rejected him for a dance at the primary school disco, he sounds pathetically prepubescent when he attempts to sing or rather begs for this girl to let him talk himself into her pants which brings me to the production which sounds dated back to the late eighties or possibly early nineties because let's face it...1990 and 1991 were still furiously trying to pretend they were still in the 80s, it's a slog of a song that deserves to be forgotten so let's move on.
Number Four
For a collab featuring three of the biggest names in rock, I am truly baffled by this song and how anyone thought this song was even worthy of release.
"All For Love" by Bryan Adams, Sting and Rod Stewart
For all the star power on this song and especially the run Bryan Adams was on wth hits in the early 90s I am baffled at how NOBODY connected to this song for the film "The Three Musketeers" couldn't think to make something that didn't sound so incredibly cheap and none of them appear to be able to harmonise especially when they all shout "ALL FOR LOVE!" amd the lyrics are just the same corny love song lyrics that just make me groan especially when they try to turn the Musketeers phrase "All for one and one for all" into their bastion of love. I have no desire to hear this song again. Blergh.
Number Three
Then again as far as bad love songs go...there's worse...like this.
"Always" by Bon Jovi
There's something about this song that feels so overly dramatic to the point that the drama feels so unearned it's almost to the point that it makes me laugh especially when the song opens up with those dramatic piano chords and Jon Bon Jovi whispering "This Romeo was bleedin' but you can't see his blood"...uh Jon, that's internal bleeding you might want to go and see a doctor for that one, he then goes on to sing that he is a fighter but wthout this girl by his side, he gives up then you aren't really a fighter, Jon...just somebody parading around like he is a prized cock but then does the whole "I can't go on" when shit gets serious.
As if all of that is not bad enough, we get to the hook of this comedic shamozzle described as a rock song where Bon Jovi goes into full on horny yowling cat mode with "AAAANNNNDDDDD IIIIIIIIII will love you,...baby...FOR ALLLLLWAAYYYYS".
The bad lyrics just keep rolling in here, it's never ending with this song like on the bridge where he sings if she told him to cry and die for her, he would. It's just over sold nonsense and he is painting her as controlling as hell. Save this song for where it belongs which is Home and Away...not on the charts.
Number Two
Ahh so Mr Adams, we meet again *cracking knuckles intensifies*....
"Please Forgive Me" by Bryan Adams
This song is just one of those songs where again the song doesn't earn it's dramatic pathos especially if she heard "Have Ever Really Loved a Woman" and noped right out of there or that Bryan Adams is referencing the first time he and this woman hooked up in the fucking first line of the song and goes to describe their relationship as only getting better and how he is so impossibly in love with this girl which leads me to ask what he is asking for forgiveness from this girl for? Did he force himself on her or something because he is in love with this song? That question is something I wondered because the song is so incredibly boring and Adams is just reminiscing and pontificating on their first kiss and having sex for the first time.
"Can't Stop This Thing We Started" and "A Night to Remember" are both far far better than this boring ass overtly dramatic nonsense.
Number One
It wasn't going to be anything else, this song is profound in it's absence of anything good and hence..
"Said I Loved You...But I Lied" by Michael Bolton
I didn't want to do this, I didn't want to put a song by an artist who toward the backend of his chart making career was the butt of a lot of school yard jokes in the mid nineties from kids who thought Michael Bolton's music was for their grandparents but "Said I Loved You but I Lied" was reprehensible rght from the god damn jumping, everything about this song is wrong, starting with the insincere vocal performance from Michael Bolton and the weirdly gooey production that feels you feeling sick in the pit of the stomache to the point it makes you want to wretch over the toilet bowl especially when Bolton is comparing love to candles where love is a flame that doesn't go out in wind or rain.
This song just feels gross to even listen to, every time I hear it, I want to go jump into a tub of disinfectant and hope the ache in my tummy goes the hell away.
It's the worst hit song of 1994 and I'm not lying about it.