Making music isn’t easy. Sometimes you can go into the job with the best intentions and still not come out with what you hoped. Indeed, sometimes you can go into the studio to create an earnest, serious track and still come out with something funny.
That’s just what we wanted to highlight here. We wanted to showcase three songs from back in the day that were made with the best intentions but that came out rather goofy. These are three unintentionally hilarious one-hit wonders from the 1990s.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice from ‘To The Extreme’ (1990)
When the decade of the 1990s dawned, the people had their new hero. Sometimes a song comes out at the perfect time and that was most assuredly the case for Vanilla Ice’s all-time, ahem, classic, “Ice Ice Baby”. The track is a marvel. It actually displays talent. It just doesn’t display self-awareness. Ever since its release, Vanilla Ice (what a name!) has enjoyed a fine career but part of that is due to the irony and snickering this song engenders. Oh well!
“Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus from ‘Some Gave All’ (1992)
Has there ever been a country song that’s brought about such polarizing feelings? No matter your thoughts on the tune or its performer, it’s a fact that it rose to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not only a country success, it was a crossover success, too. But that doesn’t stop people from laughing at the track and Billy Ray Cyrus (father of Miley) for singing it. Catchy and even clever, the offering is nevertheless goofy and of the past now.
“Da’ Dip” by Freak Nasty from ‘Controversee…That’s Life…And That’s the Way It Is’ (1996)
Music fans of a certain age remember this song well. Some releases come with their own dances and this was one of them. Those who grew up in the 1990s will recall the lyrics, “I put my hand upon your hip / When I dip, you dip, we dip.” And as you remember you also wonder, “What the hell was I thinking singing that, dancing to it for a calendar year?” Ah, youth. Ah, stupid memories.
Photo by Robin Platzer/IMAGES/Getty Images
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