10 Singers Who Were FORCED To Sing Songs They HATED
From forced performances to hit singles that became creative nightmares – we’re counting down the artists who had to sing tracks they secretly loathed! These iconic vocalists put on brave faces despite their true feelings about songs that defined their careers. Which reluctant hit surprised you most? Our list includes Robert Plant’s complicated relationship with “Stairway to Heaven,” Kurt Cobain’s frustration with “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Chrissie Hynde’s initial hatred of “Brass in Pocket,” and more surprising revelations about songs we all know and love! Let us know in the comments which musical confession shocked you the most!
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#RockMusic #FamousSingers #IconicSongs #RobertPlant #KurtCobain #ThomYorke #FrankSinatra #MusicHistory #ClassicRock #OneHitWonders #BandSecrets
@WatchMojo
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Which of these stories surprises YOU the most?
For more videos like this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UthtyplEVJg&list=PLmZTDWJGfRq1kEG4isoXYn2hu7mkMQlKO&pp=gAQB0gcJCWUEOCosWNin
@maymey
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I understand how an artist could get tired of playing or singing the same song over and over. But they need to understand who is paying who, and for what. They're paid by US to play the songs WE want to hear. WE'RE not tired of hearing them. (To quote Seinfeld, "You're not in the mood, well you GET in the mood!")
One way around this is for artists to list the songs that will be played, before tickets are sold. Then fans can make a decision.
@GrantKanigan
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
For the most part, (unless a song becomes associated with something bad), I’ll never get not playing hits. People love your music. Sometimes you don’t have to understand it. Just enjoy it.
@YouMe-ru6wi
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Yes I recall Ann Wilson from Heart has always hated the song "all I wanna do is make love to you" she has said many times that she hates having to sing it live. But just like with ALL musicians she knows it was a very successful and big hit and that fans wanna hear it so she sings it for the fans even though she personally hates it LOL😅
@djmarklaw1234
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I remember the flock of seagulls singer saying he hates "I ran" with every fiber of his being on a vh1 interview.
@dimitriberozny3729
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
REM’s best song was THEY PUT A MAN ON THE MOON.
@YoungRetyree
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Whitney Houston hated, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” when she heard the demo and initially refused to record it. Only after her producer Narada Michael Warden recorded the instrumental with his musicians did she decide to do it. And it became her seventh “Number One” hit, setting her streak of “Most Consecutive Number Ones” that is still unbroken to this day.
@Orcl1100
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Judy Garland hated “smoke gets in your eyes.” Which she sang on her television show. “And what the world needs now.” Which she sang on The Hollywood Palace. Her rehearsing the number is on here.
@johnhermanrichardson4764
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
In almost every case, it speaks to a level of immaturity leading to conflict within the artist. Imagine once pleasing the world with a monster hit only to later unload the stink bomb you don't see what others see in it, then proving so as your performance wanes. Seattle, in the end, is home to perhaps the greatest examples of this horrible phenomenon time and time again. Gratitude is an important and valuable lesson in this, admittedly, very troublesome, difficult world, but please don't treat magic to others like kitchen scraps from a bad dinner, eh? Show some class and backbone . . . it's a work ethic.
@brianfuller757
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Singers singing songs they hated is really a longer list than this. But a great singer owns it.
@adamkaunfer4384
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Rosemary Clooney hated singing the song “Come On-A My House,” co-written by Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian.
@raritypoo501
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Forced to sing? No. They chose to sing them for money. They kept singing them for money. Nothing else.
@ruthharris9664
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Creep was a hit
@youtuber2021
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
They may claim to hate some of their songs. But I bet it don't stop them collecting their royalties for said songs.
@BillGraper
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Rick Springfield's 1972 hit "Speak To The Sky" was WORLDS away from his future career.
@kyrkosekaterinaris1328
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
"Brass In Pocket" The Pretenders' biggest hit? In what universe?
@jamesdugas571
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Pat Benatar Hit with your best shot provoked violence and lumped her with hard rock a genre she strays away from
@PuzzlePeaceGaming
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I'm surprised Bobby McFerrin isn't on this list for "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He hates the song so much he refuses to sing it anymore
@PuzzlePeaceGaming
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
No Stairway!?? DENIED!!
@PuzzlePeaceGaming
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Okay, but, like…. they wrote the songs… if they hated them so much, why make them in the first place??
@haweater1555
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Dennis Deyoung either hated or refused playing "Mr Roboto" for Styx despite it being their signature mainstream chart hit.
@TJR-ClassicRockCorner0124
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Pete Townshend hated Dreaming From the Waist and Sister Disco
@DRCEQ
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Weird Al Yankovic hates "Girls Just Want to Have Lunch." His record label forced him to make a parody of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" after its massive popularity.
@911_In_Real_Time
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
WatchMojo must be running out of ideas because I swear I just watched a video about this exact same thing with the exact same songs and people mentioned. And I’m sorry, but “creep“ is definitely Radiohead’s best song. In fact, it’s their only good song, in my humble opinion. I have tried and tried and tried to find the slightest bit of interest in them post-Creep but I just can’t do it.
@AnthonyArena-g7l
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I don't know if "forced" to is quite the right way to phrase it. It is more like they were "contractually obligated" to.
@chrisk5204
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Gene Simmons (KISS) – I Was Made For Loving You.
@brandontuttle5571
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
"Weird Al" Yankovic was forced by his record label to do a Cyndi Lauper parody even though he didn't want to or his album "Dare to Be Stupid" wouldn't be released. He wrote "Girls Just Want to Have Lunch" and sang it in a purposely annoying tone as a big F You to them. He's never performed it live and considers it his least favorite song he's ever recorded.
@jamesm654
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I agree with Stipe. I hated that stupid song too. It was so out of left field from REM.
@paulharper9711
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I read that Cheap Trick are not big fans of The Flame.
@katakisLives
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
This list seems to prove that a lot of singers don't seem to know a good tune when they encounter one.
@barbarabrown7974
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Ann Wilson is correct about her song on the list. It is a skank song. The woman uses a stranger to have a baby. Pretty sketchy. Still Ann does a really good job of selling the song.
@barbarabrown7974
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Another song that's a good song the artist doesn't like is Shiny Happy Peopke. The red head is Kate Pearson from the B52s, so it is a collaborative song. I understand that the song is more serious than it appears on the surface, but most people don't get it, so that's what Stipes didn't like.
@barbarabrown7974
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Zombie Zoo is actually a pretty good song. Pity Tom didn't like it.
@JosephMartin-o4l
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Patti Smyth (Scandal) and “The Warrior” anyone? Well, I suppose that it can be argued that it’s the video that she utterly hates with a passion. While that video is, indeed, a ridiculous thing, the entire song’s not much better (in my opinion anyway). 🤷♂️✌️
@txhuntsman
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Ann Wilson hated All I want to do and it was not a "Heart type" song and yet Ann Wilson still made it sound great. That is how you know how phenomenal Ann is. She literally could sing the phone book and make it great.
@michaellazor5667
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Nobody forced anyone of these artists to sing anything.
@kevinmoore8780
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
What's worse than Anne Wilson not liking ALL I WANT TO DO is how the producers treated her during this "second" period. And in some ways her band members too. She had gained weight and the producers didn't want to show her as much in the videos. They flash on her then cut away. They use light flares to hide her face. And we almost only see her face – no full body shots. And make-up especially on the cheeks to hide any weight gain. Often focusing on Nancy even when lead lyrics are being sung and we should be seeing Anne. In other videos she wears veils. YET ANNE WAS THE LEAD SINGER. You can see many of these techniques even in the video sample you have here. But you see it in most videos from this period. The worst example is These Dreams where they give full body shots and lingering facial shots on Nancy – options never used for Anne at this time. Those of us who really liked Anne Wilson's voice didn't care what she looked like. In fact most of us aged just as she did and she looked fine to us. But most important, her voice didn't age. It could be argued that her continued use of alcohol and weight gain was fueled by the fact she was being side-lined even though she was the lead singer.
@ericwalker8636
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
"Both HIM and… Sammy Davis, Jr. have a history…"?!
Sounds like somebody would benefit from a remedial English class.
@Revelwoodie
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I don't know…I don't think songs that bands hate performing only because they're sick of them should count. ALL bands get sick of playing their big hits.
@eyevocal
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Hell, Radiohead wrote and recorded "My Iron Lung" about their resentment towards "Creep." The Canadian band Spirit of the West wrote "Let the Ass Bray" about Thom's refusal to do the song at a concert.
@JohnPepp
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
"Stairway to Heaven" was played on the radio so much when it debuted to this day I can't stand it.
@cbgmp
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Eydie Gorme HATED "Blame it on the Bossa Nova" her biggest solo hit. She even butchered takes during the recording session so the label wouldn't release it.
Celine Dion had no interest in recording "My Heart Will Go On." She hated it, it was her husband who convinced her to record a "demo." She recorded the song in 1 take.
Madonna hates "Material Girl"
Mandy Moore hates everything from her first 2 albums
Amber hates "Colour of Love" and "I Found Myself in You" mainly because of the Berman Brothers
Billy Joel hates "We Didn't Start the Fire"
Nicki Minaj hates "Starships"
Justin Bieber hates "Beauty and a Beat" and only agreed to record it because it "sounded like a hit."
Toni Braxton hated "Un-break My Heart" and didn't want to record it. Diane Warren had to convince her to try it.
Cher hated "If I Could Turn Back Time" and Diane Warren had to beg her to record it.
@gfear24
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
If you ever want to know what hit song a singer/band hates the most, just look at the song that opens their concerts. They hate it, but they have to play it, so they get it over with right away so they can get on with the rest of their set.
@jimhunt1592
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I enjoy Shiny Happy People, but I hear it as a sarcastic take on happy talk. I'm sure you know some people who try to pretend their life is always awesome and nothing bad ever happens. I prefer honesty over happy talk.
@terrexcorbin
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Nope, if it's a song I hate, you're not going to force me to sing it
@Agnethatheredhairkid
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I don't like 'Creep', 'Shiny Happy People', 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' or 'Stairway To Heaven' myself. 'Stairway To Heaven' is overrated.
@ballybunion9
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
I don't know if he "hated" them but multiple biographies have said Elvis had to be talked into recording "Stuck on You," "Burning Love," and "Hound Dog."
@chema95011
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
'so far away' was absent from dire straits first compilation album and from their live abum 'on the night' (in fact it was never played at that tour). back then, when i was a teenager, i assumed that mark knopfler disliked 'so far away', but now i don't think so anymore, since he played it on some of his solo tours.
@siriosstar4789
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
Not sure I believe the authenticity of all this . This sounds like reading or hearing a rumor and then attempting to turn it into a fact .
Aside from the you left one out . SUPPOSEDLY , Jackson Browne didn’t like Somebody’s Baby but it turned out to be one of his biggest hits .
@bubbajoshproductions3990
January 21, 2026 at 3:29 am
For a long time Vanilla Ice with Ice Ice Baby too
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